Datuk-Angsi = Good!
Not for the faint hearted, but the Datuk-Angsi 3d2n trip certainly was great. Great view, nice non-stop staircase climbing (can prepare for vertical marathon there!) and fabulous company certainly made the trip more interesting.
First day, we met up with the Ophir people at Kranji MRT at the same time. Talk about an illegal gathering, there were 30 over people with gigantic bags sitting together in the MRT station, and making much noise. Well, it can't be helped, all were too excited about their various trips, and meeting new people, and saying "Hi" to old pals once again.
Wai Kei was there when I arrived, and Zhi Han arrived shortly after. Soon, Nasri, Hui Qin, Ang (her bro), Liquan, Heng Jie, Suji, Tianqi and Peiyu arrived. Noel was the last, nearly made us damn scared that he was late, 'cos we were rushing for a train after all.
Soon after, our motley gang of 12 set off! Albeit, with only 11 tickets for the KTM train ride, 'cos Wai Kei last-minute joined in for the trip. We were very relieved to have gotten a ticket for her, else it would mean an early return trip back to Singapore for her.
The train ride was smooth and good, with cool air con in the passenger cabins, but not for the cafe! Argh. We ended up in the cafe cabin due to the ease of having a table in front of us to play bridge, German bridge or "dai-dee".
The train ride felt really fast due to the amount of time we spent playing cards in the sauna-like cafeteria, and despite that, we managed to continue game after game of bridge. Never-ending, monotonous...? Maybe. But definitely fun. Esp. the higher levelled bids.
Soon enough, we reached Tampin at around 2pm, and we got off to have our lunch at the nearby Muslim store just opposite the station. Managed to get the taxis in at 3pm, which was about 1.5 hours later than initially arranged.
Managed to reach Gunung Datuk at around 3.30pm, and the trek started soon after. It was just an endless, mind-numbing, uphill climb. All the way. Talk about "killing fields" x2. Nevertheless, we managed to grit our teeth and chiong to the top in slightly more than 2.5 hr, fast and efficient. And the view up there was simply too great to be described in mere words. As they say, pictures speak a thousand words, so hold on whilst I upload the pics below.
After setting up the tents and climbing to the summit for some photo taking and videoing of the surroundings, we got down to prepare dinner, and it was already dark. Sunset was great, but food certainly warmed our bodies. The cold winds battered our wet t-shirts. Soon enough, we were dry and the piping hot food was a blessing. And talk about good reception up at Datuk, managed to send SMS-es back home, but ended up sending many of the same messages just because I keep receiving the error "Message Not Sent". Geez. I'll get a heart attack when the phone bill arrives, that's for sure.
After the dinner, which started at 7pm and lasted 5.5 hours into the night, with interesting food such as carrotcake, 宫宝鸡丁, pasta (with lotsa sauce) and shark's fin, Noel, Peiyu, Suji, Tianqi, Zhihan and me went up to the summit to see the stars, but the cloudy sky obscured most of the stars.
Nonetheless, me and TQ were extremely fortunate to see a shooting star whizz just above us.
A wishing star = a wish to be made. And hurriedly too.
The cold winds up at the summit forced us to descend, as sleeping unprotected at the summit would definitely cause hypothermia, something which we would not want to happen.
Slept from 1am to around 8.30am, woken up by the sounds of laughter and smell of food. Actually, I did not want to get out of the warm cosy sleeping bag, but soon after, could not resist nature's call of hunger.
We were playing our daily (or is it hourly?) dosage of bridge in the 8-man tent (which is so comfortable, I would consider this tent over the ones we have in our store) when we heard another group coming up. As expected, the ODAC group was up, and I saw Ning Jia together with 2 of my Batu participants, Bevian and Janice.
ODAC came up, and we were already packing up, and ready to go. Downhill was much quicker than before, and we managed to hit less than 2 hours for the downhill with only 1 rest stop. Soon, we were at the base of the mountain, and all went to wash up at the nearby toilets.
The toilets which we arranged did not arrive, but ODAC's 5 cabs did. I asked one of the drivers regarding the 3 cabs which we arranged, and we were allowed use of 3 of the cabs first, at the same price we had paid for our trip to Datuk from the train station at Tampin.
Pizza Hut was our lunch at Tampin, where we walked out from the station to have the magnificent meal. A great climb needs a good meal to keep one's engine going, not to forget that we'll have another one the next day. On return back to the train station, we bade farewell to those returning to Singapore, whilst we played cards, or slept, while waiting for our train ride (1 stop only) to Seremban.
Upon reaching Seremban, we went to the bus interchange to find the bus ride to Gunung Angsi, and then moved on in search of our rest station, an inn or hotel. We finally decided on Angsana Inn, about 5 mins walk away from the bus interchange. And this inn sure is good, with 2 double beds, attached toilet with hot water bath for RM110 only!
Dinner was originally supposed to be at Secret Recipe, but we changed to Bee's, which is more economical. Nonetheless, the food was good, and PY, TQ and I rushed to The Store (yes, a supermarket!) for some supplies for breakfast and mobile lunch.
Then we had a mini-birthday celebration for Ang, Peiyu and Suji. And it seemed more like a candle-like celebration than anything else. And the night was great, comedic and entertaining. Nothing beats having that with friends in a hotel room, surely better than having that on top of the mountain (maybe?).
The next day was our trip to Gunung Angsi, and we took the TransNasional bus to the base of the mountain, and tried to find the ranger, but to no avail. So we just whacked our way up to the water-crossing point and campsite area. After passing the normal trail meant for students and average hikers, we hit the slopes of Angsi, and the "Staircase to Heaven". Or make it limitless. We just went up and up and up and...the signal to HQ was upwards all the way. A relief came when we stopped at a flat area, but after a turn it was uphill again. Definitely not a good place to get motivation. 
When we reached one of our rest stops, it was already closing in on 12 noon. Due to the need to rush for the 4.30pm bus at Seremban, we gave ourselves a time limit, after which we have to rush downhill to catch the buses back to the town. We decided to have a rest, and push on for another 15 more minutes to see where the summit was. By then, we had already climbed for about 2 hours. A slight drizzle greeted us, but we were not to be stopped...not after pushing on so hard uphill.
On pushing further, we managed to reach the gully, which is a sign that we are arriving at the summit of Angsi. Alas, on crossing the gully, it rained heavier, and we had to beat a hasty retreat as the route become too muddy and the ropes slippery. We went back down to the bottom of the gully, where the rain stopped....momentarily.
A sigh of relief, but we quickly had our food and Ferro Roches, and went downhill. En route down, we were greeted with heavier and heavier rain, and drastic measures had to be taken. I quickly wrapped my small pouch in the plastic bag I brought along and everything just went under my tshirt to prevent direct contact from the rain.
The downhill was not easy, as the Angsi dry trek became an Angsi Waterfall trek.
The heavy rain reduced visibility, and suddenly it reminded me of my Bong experience. Both Nasri and I had endured that weather, and this really seemed deja vu. My specs started to fog up, which was quite bad, but I managed to continue moving at a relatively fast pace downhill. The easiest route to take was along the path of the water, which were initially steps we had took uphill. Now, all it became were small waterfalls and rapids.
Luckily, the rain lasted about 30 mins only, but we went on a brisk pace due to the slower speed during the rain. When we reached the first of 2 river crossings, the water level certainly shocked us. It went higher than before, and the rock path was not easily seen.
The 2nd water crossing back to the campsite was pretty dreadful. Fast waterflow (something which I can handle, due to the sandals) and higher than normal levels. Even the rocks which we used to cross cannot be visibly recognised, like the previous river crossing. We crossed in a line, having people stationed at different points, hand-in-hand, to cross safely. Soon, we were back at the base of the mountain. As I was buying the burgers, a TransNasional bus sped past us, but it did not seem to be the one we were waiting for. The actual bus arrived after our burgers (piping hot!) had arrived and distributed. Good food, good trip on bus = Great day! (Minus the rain please).
I must conquer Angsi someday, perhaps today was not meant to be.
So we managed to get onthe 4.30pm bus, met up with Noel, who had gone on a movie-shopping trip in Seremban, and took the Seremban-Tampin-Larkin bus home. Home sweet home....Yea!
Current Mood: 
Exhausted
Pensive
Sick
Sad
Confused
Happy