Dear Diary,
I have been climbing mountains every month since June till my father suggested to me to live in the jungle. I laughed at his remark unsure if he was serious about it or he was simply teasing me. You know I started hiking since I was 19 and I never stopped ever since then. I have always liked the outdoors. I am a gear freak and every time I have a new gear, I would be excited to try and test it out in the outdoors.
My latest gear is the Black Diamond headlights. It is 300 Lumens headlights that come with rechargeable batteries. My current headlight is Petzl but I do not find it bright enough because it is only 100 Lumens. I like brightness. I never like dimly lit lights or lamp. It annoys me. So I went hunting for a brightest headlight within my budget. I knew I had to buy something above 200 Lumens and I finally settled for Black Diamond 300 Lumens. It is bright, brighter than my Petzl.
So the recent hiking trip was to Gunung Yong Yap. This would be my last mountain to conquer under the G7 category. You know my mission is to complete all the 7 mountains by 2017. So I overlooked this headlight and only bought 1 set of batteries. Little did I realise, the higher the lumens are, the more electricity it uses. To be able to shine brightly, of course, it needs bigger electricity. That means batteries will wear out faster. It was my mistake for not thinking about it and my batteries died on me while I was hiking to reach the summit at six in the morning. I was worried. You know how dark it is in the jungle at 6 in the morning? You cannot even see your hand in front of you. Yes, that is how dark it is.
I was always in the first group, second to be exact. The first in the line up was a 22-year-old student from UPM. She carpooled with me and so, we kind of got along well. Coincidentally, both of us are fast, well she was faster than I am but we were always not far from each other. But I still consider myself fast because I am 40 and she is 22! Look at our age gap but I am still able to be 15 minutes behind her. Not bad for a 40-year old eh? So I was lucky I had her and two other hikers behind me. From their torch, I managed to hike safely and finally, the student lent me her spare batteries. I really needed those batteries. My hike became easier after that and my confidence grew. Let this be a lesson for me to bring extra batteries for my headlights for any future hikes.
The hike to the summit was tough. I literally had to use my two hands and two legs to climb as the inclination is almost 90 degrees. Imagine that Diary. It was like climbing a wall and I had to be a lizard. I controlled my breathing and I also controlled my steps. You know I did not train hard for this hike as the hike before this caused my knees so much pain that I had to give them a very good rest. I did not train at all for Gunung Yong Yap. Yes, I was worried how would I do but I have faith in Allah. All along, I said my prayers to Him quietly wishing that he would lighten my burden and ease my climb. He did and I still manage to be in the first group. Somehow, I am proud of myself. I do not look forward to being the first to reach the summit but I always try to be in the first group. I am competitive but I do know where I stand. I set realistic goals for myself to achieve. There were 32 rivers to cross and out of those, there were 4 rivers which were quite dangerous to cross.
It was raining when we started descending. It never stopped until we reached the starting point. During one of the four most dangerous river crossings, I almost slipped but I managed to stay calm and got a good grip of my footing in the water. If I had not gotten a good grip, I am sure I was going to be swept away by the current. The current was strong Diary and believe me people can get swept away easily if they slip. The water level of the four rivers reached my waist until it touched my backpack, can you imagine that? Because it rained, so the water level rises and that made it even more dangerous. Alhamdulillah, all of us were safe and there was no injury. It was not easy crossing rivers when it rain and water level is high. There are many cases where hikers got swept away and died of drowning. I have read cases like that in Gunung Tahan. Well, whatever we do, there will always be risks involved. Right?
Diary, I got to go. I am sleepy. I will write again tomorrow.
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