The trip was actually planned a month ahead of it's date by one of our class member Sayuti Azlan. After feeling so bored and cold (17.7 degrees celcius!) in Kelantan during the semester break in January 2014, he decided to post this on facebook.
(Translation : Assalamualaikum everyone... Don't you guys want to go somewhere next semester... There's no harm of doing so in the early semester... Maybe we could frolic in the water and sleep at the beach... Quite interesting isn't it... Any other ideas...)
We've then decided to go to Gunung Arong since two of our classmates went to the mini mountain sometime last year including Mr. Sayuti himself.
Thus, the planning begun. We've created a name list for record and ideas on activities were posted on facebook and whatsapp.
After one whole week of planning and dealing with the University's HEMA department (somehow..), the 'rewang' or 'gotong-royong' to prepare the BBQ begins.
The first thing we did the next day is pack all the tents, foodstuff and our backpacks. The journey took us about 2.5 hours from Skudai by car.
Gunung Arong is located near Teluk Gorek where legend says that the camp site can be seen from the top of the mountain (pergh! Translation: Wow!).
At first sight, the beach was breathtaking with towering Casuarina trees and powdery sand. Soon after we met the site owner, the tents were set up near the water (about 10 feet from the sea) which made us worry that the tents would be flown away by the strong wind.
The wind was so strong and unforgiving that it made us shed tears (literally!) due to the scattered silicon dioxide grains that made contact to our cornea (amboi.. amende aku mengarut ni. Tranlslation: WTH?).
Feeling excited and curious, we changed into our male bikinis and just like a pack of heat-stroked baboons we waddled to the waters. The water was rather murky and the base, muddy since it is located at a strip of mangrove shoreline. Nonetheless, we're at the beach baby!
Some of us rented the kayaks provided by the resort, while others were throwing sands at each others' faces. The fun goes on through the rainy evening until our stomachs were crying for food.
Mr. Soon initiate the barbecue frenzy, after he religiously fanned the marinated chicken pieces batch by batch. There were mainly barbecued chicken and sausages, but they were more than enough to make us grow a full grown food baby as each person was allocated 5 pieces of chicken and 14 sausages (woot woot?).
We barely slept through the night, accompanied by soothing karaoke songs provided by our neighbouring campers and woke up at 300 hours for our hike.
The mountain hike started with a short warm up after being briefed by Mr. Latif who is the leader of the expedition.
With the help of our trusty flash lights, we walked through the villages and successfully avoid all the warm & grassy cow dung along the trail. The night was so silent and windy with only the sounds of our footsteps and crickets accompanying us, together with the gloomy shine from the moon and stars.
The "mountain" was not really a mountain as it only took us about 45 minutes to get to the top, it stands at a height of roughly 800 feet. There was a gazebo where some of us slept in as there was about one hour left before Subuh.
We hike down the trails after we witnessed the jaw dropping view of the sunrise along the horizon. Some of us were such in a hurry (I don't know why..) to get to the beach that it may have caused one of our friend Mr. Hadhrie to twist his ankle. We saw humongous trees which may have been older than the Ancient Egyptians (kot laa..) as they were about three fully grown man hugs in circumference.
Some of us went for a swim at the beach while others walked briskly to the camp site (I just realized that we may have adapted some of the Japanese 'no time to relax' attitude). The tents were then packed and the gazebo where we had our barbecue was cleared from any rubbish (good job guys..).
From this trip, I realized that I can do something that I would have never think of which is climbing a mountain (although small) and it proved that nothing is impossible if you really put your effort and focus on it. I also realized that there are some seriously beautiful places near Segamat that are still untouched and you should never consume half-cooked barbecue chicken prior to a mountain climb (bad..).
The end.
Gunung Arong is located near Teluk Gorek where legend says that the camp site can be seen from the top of the mountain (pergh! Translation: Wow!).
At first sight, the beach was breathtaking with towering Casuarina trees and powdery sand. Soon after we met the site owner, the tents were set up near the water (about 10 feet from the sea) which made us worry that the tents would be flown away by the strong wind.
The wind was so strong and unforgiving that it made us shed tears (literally!) due to the scattered silicon dioxide grains that made contact to our cornea (amboi.. amende aku mengarut ni. Tranlslation: WTH?).
Feeling excited and curious, we changed into our male bikinis and just like a pack of heat-stroked baboons we waddled to the waters. The water was rather murky and the base, muddy since it is located at a strip of mangrove shoreline. Nonetheless, we're at the beach baby!
Some of us rented the kayaks provided by the resort, while others were throwing sands at each others' faces. The fun goes on through the rainy evening until our stomachs were crying for food.
Mr. Soon initiate the barbecue frenzy, after he religiously fanned the marinated chicken pieces batch by batch. There were mainly barbecued chicken and sausages, but they were more than enough to make us grow a full grown food baby as each person was allocated 5 pieces of chicken and 14 sausages (woot woot?).
We barely slept through the night, accompanied by soothing karaoke songs provided by our neighbouring campers and woke up at 300 hours for our hike.
The mountain hike started with a short warm up after being briefed by Mr. Latif who is the leader of the expedition.
With the help of our trusty flash lights, we walked through the villages and successfully avoid all the warm & grassy cow dung along the trail. The night was so silent and windy with only the sounds of our footsteps and crickets accompanying us, together with the gloomy shine from the moon and stars.
The "mountain" was not really a mountain as it only took us about 45 minutes to get to the top, it stands at a height of roughly 800 feet. There was a gazebo where some of us slept in as there was about one hour left before Subuh.
We hike down the trails after we witnessed the jaw dropping view of the sunrise along the horizon. Some of us were such in a hurry (I don't know why..) to get to the beach that it may have caused one of our friend Mr. Hadhrie to twist his ankle. We saw humongous trees which may have been older than the Ancient Egyptians (kot laa..) as they were about three fully grown man hugs in circumference.
Some of us went for a swim at the beach while others walked briskly to the camp site (I just realized that we may have adapted some of the Japanese 'no time to relax' attitude). The tents were then packed and the gazebo where we had our barbecue was cleared from any rubbish (good job guys..).
From this trip, I realized that I can do something that I would have never think of which is climbing a mountain (although small) and it proved that nothing is impossible if you really put your effort and focus on it. I also realized that there are some seriously beautiful places near Segamat that are still untouched and you should never consume half-cooked barbecue chicken prior to a mountain climb (bad..).
The end.
