Author: Ramon Fadli

We packed up camp in a dense soupy mist that morning as siamang gibbons (Symphalangus syndactylus) howled and hooted off to the south. The others played music once again as they took their sweet time to get ready. All we could do was wait in exasperation as their music once again drowned out the tranquil sounds of the forest. We finally set off a few hours later at 10:20, and by then the howls of the

We finally began the day's hike after an agonising wait for the rest of the group, who spent the morning dilly-dallying as if they had all the time in the world. We left at 10:15, more than two hours later than had been planned, and made our way down to the river that flanked the 'Rata Air' campsite. The riverside was quite scenic in the daylight, and the sunlight glinted off the pools of water that were partially barricaded

The day began with an arduous five-hour long journey from Kuala Betis in the back of a 4WD vehicle. The destination was a small village called Dakoh that was located within the Temiar settlement known as Pos Balar. The journey first took us deep inside palm oil estates along deeply rutted mud roads, and then into overgrown areas of fern and bamboo. Low-lying vines and branches arched over the road and

The hike to Mount Gerah (elevation : 2103m), the 13th or 17th highest mountain in Malaysia (based on prominence or sheer elevation respectively), almost always covers its sibling-peaks as well: Mount Bilah (elevation : 2077m) and Mount Bieh (elevation : 2073m); and is always referred to as 'GBB'. While the GBB hike normally begins and ends at the Temiar settlement of Pos Kemar just south of Temengor

The Titiwangsa Range forms the spine of Peninsular Malaysia and divides it naturally into the east and west coastal regions. The main section of the range runs along the border that separates the state of Perak in the west and Kelantan in the east. As you make your way up north along the state border, you will eventually come across two protected areas: Stong State Park on the east, and Royal Belum State Park on

We left Kagbeni (elevation : 2800 m) at 08:00, which was the latest recommended time to avoid the blistering Kali Gandaki wind that was bound to build up later that day. All we really had to do before we left the guesthouse was to repack and freshen up, as we decided to skip breakfast and instead have a much larger meal for lunch later on in Jomsom (elevation : 2720 m). The water pressure the night before had also