Sunrise Hike at Gunung Datuk

I went on my first mountain hike at Gunung Datuk on 30 May 2015. Gunung Datuk is located near Rembau, the highest peak in Negeri Sembilan at 884 m.

I bought all my trekking gears just a few days before the trip - a pair of trekking shoes, hiking socks, small backpack and pants. That's one of the rare occasion where I am wearing so many new things on me, not even during Chinese New Year! You can tell how inexperienced I am to hiking.

We set off from Marsling MRT at about 11.15 pm, reaching the start point at about 3.30 am. There were some traffic jam near the customs due to the long weekend, so it could have been a shorter ride. After some briefing by the trekking guides, we started the ascend at about 4 am. It was pitch dark at this hour, I could hardly see much ahead with a headlamp.

The Gunung Datuk Signboard

How much I could see in the dark

After a short walk from the starting point, the nightmare begins. I have read that the first one-third of the ascend is the most challenging due to steep inclinations. Indeed, it was so steep that I often find myself climbing on all fours, or using a rope to pull myself up the boulders. In less than 20 minutes or so into the hike, I was dripping sweat and breathing heavily. Occasionally I was questioning myself why did I put myself into such a situation - I would otherwise be unconscious in my cozy bed at this hour!

The hiking trail was well-defined, with red arrows and yellow tapes to keep you on track. When you see spider web in front of you, it's the wrong way. Sometimes when the path in front looks impossible to move ahead, look left and right to find an alternative path. When in doubt, upwards is the direction.

Most of the trip members are regular hikers, I think it's supposed to be an easy hike for them. Luckily there was a group of slower hikers whom I could hike comfortably with, it's really scary when you're all alone in the darkness. It is also more comforting when someone is supporting and suffering with you.

The ladders on the boulders signalled the end of our uphill struggle. There were 4 shaky ladders to climb before reaching the summit, I think it is less scary to climb up fast.

Shaky ladders

The ladders toward the summit

We took several short rests on the way up, and we waited for each other to make sure nobody is left alone. Overall we took close to 3 hours to reach the summit, so the sky was no longer fully dark. I think the regular hikers took about 2-2.5 hours to reach the top, rewarded with the night city view and the stars.

Morning view of Malacca City

It was very windy at the summit. I brought a windbreaker because I read about that before the hike. The summit was quite crowded with local hikers probably due to the holiday weekend, and that this is a popular hiking destination. I was quite annoyed by the smokers who polluted the otherwise fresh mountain air. Nonetheless it was nice just sitting around, taking selfies and taking pictures with fellow hikers.

Hints of sunrise

Very soon it was time for the descend. I struggled a bit when getting into position at some of the ladders. At first, the descend was quite easy, I could look around and enjoy the scenery around me.

Funky fungi seen along the way, and a suspicious looking egg

The torture began once again when we reached the steep segment. I had to squat down several times to descend large boulders, once even sliding down! There were several big hiking student groups going upwards, so we had to stop and wait at several bottleneck points. Although it is generally unpleasant to hike in a crowd, the Malay students were generally polite and friendly. Many of them would lend a helping hand if you need one.

A view of the path in daylight

Fellow hiker waiting for the upstream to pass

My legs turned jelly during the descend, but there was no choice except to keep going. Again I was slapping myself for getting into such a fix, but I figured I was better off just focusing on the next step and the next. I think I took around 2 hours to complete the descend, well enough time for some of the more experienced hikers to finish 3 bowls of chendol while waiting for the slower group.

After the hike, we headed to Malacca City for lunch and some R&R before heading back to Singapore. It was nice hanging out with the fellow hikers, listening to their travel stories and feeling inspired again.

Overall, it was a memorable experience for me being my first mountain hike. It was gruelling and torturous for me at several segments of the hike, but now I get a taste of what hiking is like. Yes I would like to go for more hiking trips in the future, but not without proper training like this time (I was totally unprepared physically).

Bucket list item: To climb a mountain - checked!