Gunung Datuk for the 4th Time

For the third time this month, a group from my church (and other churches too) climbed Gunung Datuk. On January 1st, I had to be in KL. On January 24th, I had to work.

On January 29th, Eunice asked if I wanted to climb Gunung Datuk two days later. I told her I had to think about it. I didn't have to be in KL. I didn't have to work and I didn't need to accompany my mother in law to the hospital until 7.30pm that day. But still, it was rather sudden.

Friday morning, I made up my mind. I have NO excuse not to climb. So I called Eunice and told her that I wanted to climb. She quickly called KG and that morning itself, an email was sent out to all climbers.

Friday night, I couldn't sleep. Bad sign!!

Eunice texted me at 3.29am saying that it was raining at her area and that she didn't want to go. I texted back saying that it was dry at my place.

Still, I saw her at 7.45am. I suppose "somebody" managed to coerce her into going. Told her that she could read at the foothill while we climb.

Well, that never happened. Peer pressure prompted her to climb with us. Plus the fact that it was dry when we got there (though not totally dry. We kept telling her that the ground was wet because of the dew - err... she didn't believe us of course. I wonder why!).

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Seven of us turned up. KG, JasonW, SteveY, EuniceT, GraceT, FaithT and I. Numbers were few but given the fact that it was a last minute decision, it was a good size.

We started climbing at 8.47am.

As usual, my pace was super slow going up. Grace and Faith did not have much problems climbing. I guess that was because they are young and a lot lighter.

Because of our lack of sleep, Eunice and I both felt ill. I felt like vomitting my breakfast out but couldn't. Eunice felt light headed. We didn't push ourselves too hard and after a while, we were able to overcome our weaknesses.

It seemed like forever before we arrive at the HUGE rock. I kept asking if someone moved the rock to the other side of the mountain. Arriving at this rock means another 5-7 minutes of climbing.

We made it to the 1st summit about 10.47am - exactly 2 hours. Eunice grimaced at the time. Just a week ago, she took only 1 hour 40 minutes to reach to the top. She blamed it on her light headedness.

Upon reaching the 1st summit, I was simultaneously desperate for three different kinds of drink : 100 plus, coconut water, Hot Milo.

Eunice whisked out her flask and lo and behold, in it was HOT Milo!!! Phew! One third of my prayers was answered.

While the rest climbed higher, Eunice and I stayed back to take care of the bags. I didn't want to risk going up further because my feet have the tendency to get cramped when I use the ladder.

Going down for me was easy. While the rest complained, I breezily walked down. Grace and Faith tried to catch up with me but every now and then, I would lose sight of them. Of course, I would stop often enough for me to catch sight of them. Grace kept saying that she wanted to know the secret of my being able to go down fast. I told her that God is fair. If they could go up so much faster than me, then it is justified that I could go down faster than them.

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Grace somehow managed to find a pretty decent looking stick to help her with her descent. Faith tried in vain to look for one and she asked, "Where did you get the tongkat Ali?" Ha!!! She didn't have a clue of what that meant.

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We stopped for a short break at the "blue hut" - just to catch our breath and drink some water.

We saw a snake on our way down. It was a good thing we were warned about it by some climbers who were on their way up. This snake was about 0.75 meters long and was lying very still on a rock. We waited until it slithered off to one side before we continued with our journey. Thank God for His protection. .

Our total descent time was 1 hour 35 minutes. In total, I drank almost 1 liter of water, sweated like a pig - to which, Steve said that it was because I didn't have a good stamina!

The shower was cold! I literally danced in there. But it was refreshing.

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Faith's slippers gave way and I had to lend her my sandals. I heard that one of the soles of her shoes came off the week before and she had to go down the mountain with two pairs of socks! Poor soul! If I were her mum, I would think that mountain climbing is an expensive hobby.

We had lunch in Pedas before we went back.

Overall, this was a great climb, despite the fact that I didn't feel 100% great. I think it's because I climbed for the fun of it as opposed to "training for a bigger climb".