Mount Me

I'm back at work and I had a splendid holiday!!! I got a call from a good female companion last weekend and she wanted to spend a night or two somewhere far from the city. We share a common interest of jungle treking and basically, the nature. She was back in town for the long break. And she added, she would want something preferably near a beach and the forest. I hate it when I get last minute calls and tall orders like this for the very reason that it is almost impossible to secure rooms or chalets especially during holidays. She figured I could create miracles.

It was, however by sheer luck that I got a chalet at Gunung Gading National Park. It should be noted that there are only 2 chalets and 1 unit of hostel available. I suppose the reason for this is obvious. The National Park Department does not want too many visitors at a time to ensure the peace and quiet is maintained. That was what I was told.

I tried every other places I knew, even Bako and as expected, no rooms were available. But thanks to Mart J he managed to organised a chalet at said place. That's the good thing about knowing someone in high places for times like this. I heard about this place but I have never got around to visit.

The best thing was that by the time we checked in, most of the visitors were checking out or had already checked out. Leaving just us and two German couples. You could say, we had the entire Gunung Gading, all 900 metres of it, 4,104 ha of forest, its waterfalls and the beaches to ourselves.

We checked in and didn't waste time and did the summit trail which took us 3 hours to the top. It was nice. Very nice. Tiring but nice.

But see, there is a reason why woman are sometimes considered lacking in practicality and the comprehension of logical matters. My female companion who was too overly excited about the place, forgot to bring along a jacket and by the time we reached the summit, she was shivering cold - which was good for me, in a way. Frankly, it really wasn't very cold but it was just nice to sit there and enjoy the peace. We were so taken in by the unadulterated and absolute beauty surrounding us, we didn't speak for a few minutes.

The view from the top was just breathtaking. Better still with a can of Tiger or three.

On our descent, we did the waterfall trails and passed a few gushing and refreshing waterfalls. I thought why settle for something mediocre when one can get to the best and so we walked deeper into the forest and finally arrived at this one up there. Walking in the forest reminded me of one of my favourite fairy tales - Hansel and Gretel. I think we may have played our part very well. Wait!!! Weren't they siblings??? You, yeah. You!!! 'That' was not funny at all!!!

It had already passed noon when we got there so we lunched. I tell you, lunching accompanied by the gushing sound of the waterfalls is just heavenly. The water was cooling and fresh...we were naked.

I was expecting to stumble upon Gunung Gading's unique selling point - the Rafflesia but luck wasn't on our side. I didn't get to see any. We did, however, stumble on one or what was left of it. It wasn't pretty at all. And it stank, big time.

By the time we reached base camp, we were literally fucked. Sweaty, sticky, achy and fucked. But in a very nice way.

That night, we drove over to the beach and had seafood for dinner. The moon was up, the tide low and plenty of Tiger to waste.

I slept just fine. Thank you.

P/S : To my Hindu buddies, Happy Deepavali and to my Muslim compadres, Selamat Hari Raya. This is late, I know but I'm sorry boy's I was not in town.