070504: May was such an active month full of events; and this Bukit Tabur climb was part of that month’s activities. I only have time to blog it now. But better be late than not capturing it.
We had been planning this for a couple of weeks but the weather was not accommodating. At first attempt, one of our kakis who stayed the furthest (LJune), woke up at 5am disappointed by the rain. The night before Bel claimed that she was so excited she packed such a complete kit she would look like a professional climber. Few days prior to this KW even bought himself a new pair of tracking shoes. Phew… and the list goes on and on with every climber psyched themselves up nicely for this day. Damn, it had to be postponed.
Then, came the second attempt. The night before, I was so paranoid I went into the Government’s weather forecast site. And guess what? It showed ‘Rain’ again in the coming wee morning. ‘Damn’, I thought. I couldn’t take my heart to relay this sad news to the rest. Quietly, I went to sleep with all my ten fingers (and toes) crossed X_X, hoping that the Government keeps to its general trend of contradicting itself.
At 5am I woke up without any alarm, and to my surprise, it was all CLEAR! All preparation work was neat and complete. Most of us had to gather at my house as mine is the most strategic one. I even drew a map. The only tiny hiccup was LJune took a wrong turn, not because she’s like all-the-ladies-who-can’t-read-map (ouch, I’m gonna get spanked for this), but because she didn’t print the full page of my map!! Ouch, this is classic.
Oh, another tiny incident. Trista came last. As we were so excited, different people directed her to different cars. As it was also still dark (in the morning), the 2 cars zoomed away without getting her onboard! Luckily I realized, ‘huh… did Trista climb into that car??’. What another classic!
Anyway at slightly more than 6am we managed to gather and began our climb with all exciting juice over-flowing…
We had been planning this for a couple of weeks but the weather was not accommodating. At first attempt, one of our kakis who stayed the furthest (LJune), woke up at 5am disappointed by the rain. The night before Bel claimed that she was so excited she packed such a complete kit she would look like a professional climber. Few days prior to this KW even bought himself a new pair of tracking shoes. Phew… and the list goes on and on with every climber psyched themselves up nicely for this day. Damn, it had to be postponed.
Then, came the second attempt. The night before, I was so paranoid I went into the Government’s weather forecast site. And guess what? It showed ‘Rain’ again in the coming wee morning. ‘Damn’, I thought. I couldn’t take my heart to relay this sad news to the rest. Quietly, I went to sleep with all my ten fingers (and toes) crossed X_X, hoping that the Government keeps to its general trend of contradicting itself.
At 5am I woke up without any alarm, and to my surprise, it was all CLEAR! All preparation work was neat and complete. Most of us had to gather at my house as mine is the most strategic one. I even drew a map. The only tiny hiccup was LJune took a wrong turn, not because she’s like all-the-ladies-who-can’t-read-map (ouch, I’m gonna get spanked for this), but because she didn’t print the full page of my map!! Ouch, this is classic.
Oh, another tiny incident. Trista came last. As we were so excited, different people directed her to different cars. As it was also still dark (in the morning), the 2 cars zoomed away without getting her onboard! Luckily I realized, ‘huh… did Trista climb into that car??’. What another classic!
Anyway at slightly more than 6am we managed to gather and began our climb with all exciting juice over-flowing…
Beautiful KL skyline at dawn
The other side of the hill
Breaking of the day
Shiny lake backdrop
It doesn't look real, does it??
Group spirit 
Half-way through was already heavenly
Buddies shining along the bright light
It is real climb! Not a walk in the park. And bare hands too!
The most dangerous part. 
You can't imagine the lower part of this photo. It's an empty space all the way down.
Giving support so that they don't swing to the right, like in previous photo
Most dangerous ledge. Left and right is empty all the way down again!
Sigh of relief
It does look like a world of fantasy
Three fighters
Down to earth
Flexing muscle
Flexing joy
At 11am, we were a bunch of hungry wolves. What a beautiful brunch at nearby Batu Caves. You can't ask for more at that time. *Gulping*
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Despite the tough work, we never really complained. In fact, for some of us, this is the second time climbing. For Norman, he has scaled it numerous times. The view and the air were more than enough to persuade us to wake up at 5am. Heaven is indeed close, if we work hard enough.
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