Friday Bungalow Climb, Kampung Lima Kongsi, 10 November 2000

It was a sick climb! It all started when I SMS-ed Dr. Francis to find out if he had any ride in mind on Saturday. He replied by asking me to call him up. So I called, and I was invited to join him to try one new trail at Kampung Lima Kongsi, Sungai Bakap! I was warned that the climb will be the most intense climb I would ever experience! So I braced myself and hopefully I would be able to survive in one piece. Well, I didn't!

The ride started at 1800hours, after I got off from work. It was heavy traffic jam. Doc called me up to see if I were okay. I actually stuck in the traffic. A 10 minute drive to Vipers place became an half an hour affair! I finally arrived at Vipers place after 20 minutes of squishing through the traffic. I thought there was going to be a huge crowd. Instead, only three of us, Me, Viper Ong and Doc!

The traffic on the road to Valdor village was heavy! I was thinking of following Doc driving to the trailhead and started from there. Instead, Viper Ong insisted I should ride with him to the trailhead! I look at myself. Bermuda shorts, LIMA 99 T-shirt and normal hiking boots, my weekday Batu Kawan training outfit! Boy it was going to be an unfair competition! If I whacked him, he's gonna close shop! Anyway, since it wasn't any race. I decided to follow Viper! Ong and I arrived at the trail head after beating the long queue. Dr. Francis was still fighting with the traffic on the road. We decided to go up first since time was kinda late.

It was a cement laid singletrack. The first half was okay. Not as steep as Batu Kawan or K2. I had no problem to keep up with Ong. In fact, we will chatting while pedaling up! Along the way, we saw a lot people coming down from the top. It seems like it was a favorite spot for hikers! It started to thin out as we climbed higher and higher. The honeymoon ended abruptly after we rode past the entrance to the Kampung Lima Kongsi niker club.

It was steep!!! My heart was panting like it was going to jump from my mouth! I only managed to continue few meters(!!) after ther club. Blame it to my heavy cigarette consumption at work just now. I felt like shit. I even threw out the water I drank few minutes ago! It wasn't a short climb. It was very much like the climb at Mengkuang Dam backroad. I even had problem to push my bike! I tried couple of time to climb to saddle but no luck. The climb was simply too much for me! Ong was no sign of him. Apparently, he was too tough for me to follow. I decided to take my time to push my bike to the peak.

The slope became slight easier once I was about to approah a hut in front of me. Didn't want to lose face, I climb back to the saddle and started pedaling. Surprisingly, the climb was back to normal again. Time was getting dark. It was only a short ride to the hut, less than 10 meters maybe? By the time I reached the hut, Ong was already descending from the peak. I decided not to continue since the time did not allow me to do so.

Ong and I were discussing about the climb just now. There were few branches at the place I stopped. We were thinking maybe we should explore the these one day. Ong said one of the trail would lead to Relau. I had no idea where was this place Relau, but I was pretty sure this Relau was not that Relau in Penang! Anyway, one thing for sure, I am going to come back again.

I have decided to make this trail my another secret training place. Wednesday and Friday Batu Kawan. Thursday and Friday Kampung Lima Kongsi!

Stay tuned!