Tour de Ophir (part satu)

Mount Ophir trail map

Over the weekend, me and my two old school mates headed towards Mount Ophir (Gunung Ledang) in Johor for some mountain trekking. We called ourselves the Commando, the Marathoner, and the Model/Bodybuilder. One is real, one is 'half'-real but training to be real, while the last is just a big fat dream. This was Marathoner's third Ophir climb (nobody knows why he's still doing it), but the first time for the two of us.

We set off early Saturday morning in the Commando's soon-to-be-scrapped Suzy Swift, reaching the 2nd link at around 8am. Up next was a quick breakfast of bread and eggs, and the Bodybuilder had some tongkat ali coffee to go along for that extra boost. :)

The drive to Tangkak town took about 2 hours. We wanted a heavy lunch, but couldn't find any decent places to eat. In the end, we settled for char siew/chicken rice in a forgettable eatery. The only memorable thing about that place was a boy who looked puzzled and asked us who we were when he saw us at the toilet. I guess they've not had customers for a while...

We reached the resort at the foot of the mountain at around noon and parked the car there. As it was the only Singaporean car there, the Commando was a little worried. But then firstly, even by Malaysian standards, it's hardly the nicest car around. Secondly, we didn't have any other choice since we were already there. And so, we packed up our things and got ready for the adventure. The Commando had a full backpack and army boots that befitted his name, while the two of us looked like we're going for a stroll at the beach with smaller backpacks and the Teva sandals we were wearing.

There was a signboard at the resort that says there're 3 types of visitors: the climbers, the campers and the quitters. The climbers are those who persist till the summit; the campers are those who climb some and find a nice place to camp; the quitters are whom the resort was built for (ha!). Even at that time, we were thinking that RM50 for a night's stay would make us really happy quitters. But that simply won't do, non? Certainly not when you're a commando, a marathoner and a bodybuilder - that would be scandalous!

Just before starting the trek, we saw another signboard. Ophir is, it says, the 64th highest mountain in Malaysia but the 6th most difficult. I'm not sure which are the top 5.. maybe Mount Tahan? We learned from the Commando that it's akin to climbing five Westin Stamfords. We also concluded that commandos don't exactly make the greatest moltivational speakers. Duh.

So off we went to find the rangers office. Initially it was steps all the way (the real trek hasn't begun) for about 20-30 minutes, and that was probably enough for the ultimate quitters. Then we got lost at a waterfall area with quite a few people frolicking and fondling in the water. Luckily a helpful Malay guy led us up the forest to the 'office'. We literally climbed up the forest through thick vegetation and dense trees. That was our first taste of the real action, and quite a rude shock as well. The Commando and the Bodybuilder had expected mostly relatively easy paths with the occasional obstacles. But it was the only way round!

At the rangers office, we joked about hiring the oldest, and therefore slowest, guide (guides are mandatory) and schemed at getting him to carry our bags for us. However, our hopes were dashed when we were assigned a young Malay guy who looks barely eighteen. And he had a backpack bigger than ours!

(This is becoming a longer than expected story, and it's getting late right now. So, I guess it's To Be Continued...)