Old man dato has a hill, ee aa ee aa oo,
He name this mountain after him, ee aa ee aa oo,
All six of us went up hill, ee aa ee aa oo.
When We went up, get tent up, set ourself down and get things done.
All us have some break.
Old man tu aa was careless, ee aa ee aa oo,
he did not look after the members, ee aa ee aa oo,
An accident happen and burn a tent, ee aa ee aa oo,
With we speechless, they speechless, no away to amend.
We up set, they up set, everyone was down.
Haiz, sad song, dunno how to sing.
well, Ryan I am seriously sorry about what happen to the tent.
Right after knowing this friendly bunch of people from x-youth team, founded by Ryan and his pals, and a late lunch at ulu yam, Ryan suggested that we should went up to g. Dato, which has a great view on on the Rembau town and the Melacca straits. Without much thought we agree to it, mainly because I did not even think and say, "yea, sure, lets do it" (forgetting that I did not actually sleep on the day before).
We went back on separate ways, and meet up again at ss17, Xin Yan place. We stuff our belonging to On Kee's van and head south to Seremban town. The journey like time files, with me enjoying the sleep back there. Once reach Seremban, Ryan and Xin Yan went back to bring some other equipments out that we will be using up in Dato, tent, lamps and bags, while we went to the bank and bought some dinner that can be brought uphill.
G, Dato is at Rembau town, sign board is all around there, and the place is actually packed during weekends, and there are too mid-night climbers going up hill for the view. The sleep on the way there was great (how often do i have chance to sleep when other people is driving?) We reach the office at night, which Ryan was greet by the authorities, seems that he is a frequent customer here. Since G. Dato campsite was at the peak and the only water resource available is a 45 mins away (1way) from the campsite, we will bring water up. We repack our bags, and start heading up hoping to get a campsite before the others did.
Welcome to Gunung Datuk, but the sign board outside wrote Gunung Dato.
The trail up G. Dato was up, up and going up. The first 30 minutes will be of 45 to 55 degrees sloop which is the easy one, and reaching check-point one will be of 60 to 70 degree, so no need to rush all your way up. Ryan was there teaching us the basics of uphill hiking, which is "small step, small step", which really works as by going at small steps, you won't strain your muscle, same concept of tracking. Going up half way, I face difficult breathing with the back pulling the muscle at my neck, stop stop, walk walk, I took about 30 seconds break for each few meters, while Chew having a walk of his life having a hard time with the cramp building up on his legs. Others? well, they seems used to it, and On Kee was speeding all the way up, (his normal speed was my twice or more, OMG)
Before reaching to check point one, I am partially dried out, and started to lag behind on the 60 degree climb and behind us a family pack was catching up (an lady in her 40's over take us like nothing, I'm so getting pawned that day). At check point one, we rested for 5-10 mins, before moving up. Again, we head off and straight head on to the peak, to ease the pain on the neck, I rest once few hundred meters only up till a point, which so much of good luck, an ant bite me up on the ass, which instantly give me a boost.
Some normal height that you will be about to see (taken on the way down).
Reaching the peak, we quickly set the tent up, 2 tents, 3 in each tent, which I never think of sleeping in one, until it was too cold for me to lie outside. The campsite was big, which able to hold about 50 with another smaller campsite behind the rock. We put out the banners and start off with the dinner. Food was nice, most likely because I am very hungry. And the view on top the rock was fabulous with the view of Rembau town. Looking for a warm drink before sleep, I ended dose off before the water was even cooked.
The next morning when I was awake, well, too late to stop the accident, a hole was burned on the tent entrance. The good side, a dust hole, which makes you easier to clean the tent; the bad side, the tent belongs to On Kee. (I only found it out when I was down hill. T.T)
Rise and shine, I took the breakfast while other starts to pack everything before we head up to the peak. With everything packed, we headed up the rocks. As there is much visitor coming up, there are stairs which tied down to the rock made for the visitors, some are shaky some are well slightly tilted so going up and down might be hard for some noobs like me.
Packing everything in to four backpacks.
A camping ground which the Malay family that overtake us on the night.
Chew half way up the second stairs which is a shaky one.
The peak, well, not crowded, but a lot of people do come up here.
Looking down from the peak.
Nice posed, wait, which one?
Whats the point of coming up here if its not for this?
Wow.. just remember a story Ryan said on the way up, "I carry a girl on my back, came all the way down as she was injured."
The peak was ... (go experience it yourself I would say, at least once)
Smile! Bravo for Chew and Lev, you guys made it up to the peak!
On the way down, we took about 1hr30mins. Which is three quarter of Ryan's timing. Back down, we wash ourselves and headed down to Seremban town for some Bak Kut Teh that is recommend by On Kee (he's the snake head here).
A stalker in the bathroom that I was in.
The second stalker
End Note:
If you are going to camp with a large group, you may need to call up to check if there is available space for you to camp. And as a reminder, there is once said that Hang Tuah leave his foot print out on the peak, and he leap to the beach; I would have guess that he use a glider instead, as the distance to the beach was slightly too far to be reached.
Contact number to check before going up, call this number if you are a first timer, do ask about how is the terrain condition, rain volume and number of people going up before you come to scale the peak.
A photo of Hang Tuah foot print, the one on the peak was slightly off scale as well due to erosion.
