Gunung Bunga Buah, not a walk in the park

Never underestimate a mountain, no matter how easy you think it will be, until you have really conquered it.

Looking for something to do for the weekend, I rallied my brother to climb Gunung Bukit Buah, nearby Genting. From the route map, it should look pretty easy with a distance of 6.45km from start to top. Yup, that's what the map spells out, but it just ain't so.

First, I don't know where to start. So I called Tony, who has climbed most mountains in Malaysia, for the route. Eventually, we did find the route, although it's a bit hidden. They had closed the main gate for the road leading to the rock quarry, so we had to climb a steep slope up to the abandoned tar road.

And from there, it's a one hour walk to the main jungle path. Along the way, we had difficulties walking through bushes, undergrowth. That made us skeptical on which path to follow. Luckily, some paper trail left by someone else, helped. We also have to contend with invasion of the leeches. Once in awhile, we'll stop to do a body check, and get rid of them. They were notoriously hard to kill too.

Along the route, we noticed wild beautiful orchids, with a big purple splattered with white. There's also numerous small cute colorful flowers. If I were into gardening, I would have brought back some.

The jungle path is where the real climb starts. We took a good 1.5 hours down, and up the muddy trail, so many times, that I've lost count.

We finally reached a rocky outcrop, and also meeting with a group of climbers who had started yesterday night. They had camped at the peak. I asked how long is needed to reach the peak, and they answered around 1 hour to 45 minutes.

But those guys were carrying bags with equipments. We carry nothing except water and some bread.

There's a feeling of remoteness and eeriness hanging in the air. Maybe it's because of the mist, or because of the millitary helicopter incident, which crashed nearby here years ago. Or maybe it's Lim Goh Tong spirit overlooking his property.

We finally reached the top after 35 minutes. The surrounding was enshrouded in thick mist, but not cold. At this point, I was regretting bringing only bread and water. It would be nice if we could have nasi lemak.

Soon, we hurriedly left the peak to go back. The rain came, and made the muddy trail muddier. No amount of shoe technology can beat the muds. I slipped a few times, so we really have to slow down.

On the way, we met with the previous climbers, who was suprised we made it back so fast. They had actually started the climb from goh tong roundabout, which I reckoned is shorter.

When reaching Awana, we gladly feasted on some mamak rice, bananas, and chestnuts.

Gunung Bukit Buah route is certainly harder than Nuang, although it stands at 1430 meters only. I think the hard part is all the bushes growing above the old tar road, because we were wearing shorts. Besides the path snakes up and down. So, folks, it's a good idea to wear full length pants or those body hugging ones. It's a good protection against leeches as well.



Start: Awana Genting...no, that's not the peak. The start is a small farm, just behind Hotel Seri Malaysia.


Genting Highland...just climb another 700 meters

Notice we were walking on tar road...

It says....explosives...

And this is the hill they blew up....

My mum would have loved this...

It gets bushier...with roads crawling with leeches.

The start of the jungle path...

My brother checking out for leeches.

Proof that we reached the peak.


The view from the top is pretty misty.

Rocky garden..