Gopeng - Cameroon Highland Trek

Since the last 12 years I had adopted a new hobby of jungle trekking and mountain climbing.Ever since I had climbed many peaks and trekked numerous trails. I derived lots of satisfaction from this hobby as it brings me closer to nature and I had develop a robust health. There is nothing more peaceful and relaxing than to walk along mountain trails, listening to the sound of winds and enjoying the sight of beautiful peaks, valleys, fauna and flora.When I camp at night in the jungle, I listen to the music of the nocturnal creatures and fade away into oblivion into the darkness of the jungle. In the morning, the air was so fresh and crispy, that I feel like staying put for whole day in my camp.

One outing that I well remember was the Gopeng -Cameroon Highland trekking that took two days through undulating terrain. I started from Sungai Itek from the orang asli plantation trekking along a path until I reached the secong orang asli kampung not far from the mining dam that was built in 1930s. I slept in a vacant orang asli house and as I was already tired from the long journey, I slept very early that night. The orang asli woke up very early, so did I and getting ready for a full day trekking along Sungai Kampar. I shouldnot say the trek was tough, but it was an ardous trek with many hills to climb and shallow river to negotiate. The beauty of Sungai Kampar and the pureness of its water provided relieve from pain and aches.

After almost ten hours of walk , I reached Kampung Tengah, an abandoned orang asli kampung in the midlle of nowhere between Gopeng and Cameroon, with about 7 run down bertam houses ,all left vacant except for two. There were only two people staying in the kampung, an old lady with his midle aged son, for the rest had moved away.

That night I was given a hut , but with its made of bertam and floor of split bamboo, cold night air got into the hut and I was shivering in my sleeping bag. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a dog who got into the hut as the hut was the home to the dog. The next morning after a breakfast of ubikayu,I continued the next leg of my climb.

This time it was all going uphill right from the start. As the landscape got more hilly, the vegetation changed and the view got more scenic. The trek was quite treacherous as the ground was rocky and loose.At some places it became very difficult to get a firm hold on the stony ground. I tripped and stumbled many times despite moving at a slow steps.The final climb was the most difficult sheer slope with nothing strong enough to hold to and it took almost two hours of hard labour to negotiate this stretch.Upon overcoming this slope, the panaromic view before my eye was God's gift.Miles after miles I saw rolling hills and mountain peaks cut by deep valleys with riot of colours. The jungle was green and the sky blue. I spent two hours enjoying the view before moving the Orand Asli Village and walked another hour in the Baharat Tea plantation before hitting the main road Tanah Rata.

Sungai Sitiawan

I went back to Sitiawan last hari Raya. Sitiawan has always been a place I return to whenever I have the oppurtunity.Seeing the slow moving Sungai Sitiawan brings me back to my chilhood days along the river. This is the river that had supportd many generations of my family. My family relied on this river for their livehood. The river was teeming with fish and prawn and the riverbed with cockles. This had been our source of protein, indeed the only source. Whatever extra that we harvested from the river we sold them for cash which help our parent to send us to schools and buy other basic necessities. The river is lined with big area of mangrove swamp and the mangrove trees provided us with wood and charcoal that we sell to the town. Without the river I couldnt imagine what else we could do to earn that extra income. The river had always been the source of salvation and hope.

The river too was my only place of recreation when I was a boy. When tide was low we walked from one side of the river catching crab, prawn and catfish that hide in the water poodles. When tide was high we swam from one bank of the river to the other, always racing with each other laps after laps. We would then climb the tallest bakau and perepat and dive head on into the murky mud.There was complete freedom, as unlike a swimming pool there was no end where we could get to. After many years in the river I grew up to be a strong and robust lad in a fenceless playground where my energy was vented out in a healthy way. By the time I finished my secondary schooling, I was getting restless ready to explore beyond Sitiawan as I had explored every nook and corners of Sungai Sitiawan.

As I sat down along Sungai Sitiawan, the river was no more like before. The river was getting shallower and its flow appears lethargic. Nobody swim in the river anymore because the water was toxic. The fish had thin out and the riverbed was no more the home of prawn, crabs and cockles. The mangrove forest has no more luxuriant lustre, being plundered by aquaculturist that discharge toxic waste into the river. There was no life, no frollicking cries of young boys having fun in the water and no sampan moving about. Sungai Sitiawan has lost its magic past and nobody anymore depend on the river for food.