[svgallery name="Tahan Challenge Day 1"]
So we came back from our Tahan hiking trip last Wednesday. Many people ask me if it was fun and many that saw the photos posted up in Facebook said that it looks like fun.. 
I wouldn’t say it wasn’t fun… but many times during the hike is wasn’t so fun… I would say to date (besides giving birth) it’s one of the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Why did I do it again? Well…
So we took the KTM Senandung Malam from KL Sentral on Thursday night and arrived at Merapoh early Friday morning. We had to wait for the Perhilitan (Department Of Wild Life and National Parks) to open so we can ‘check-in’ and also declare all the stuff that we are bringing into the jungle. Yes, we have to declare everything… all the tin food, plastics, bottles and gas for cooking, clothes… because what goes in must come out. There are no rubbish collectors there so we’ll have to be responsible to bring out all out trash.
After that we took a ride into the starting entry point to the jungle in Sungai Relau, where we finally begin our very challenging hike into the jungle. Now come to think of it, the first day wasn’t so bad but it did feel like hell for me at that time. And it was also on that first day I got my very first bite from a leech! I was busy checking out Greg’s leech bites (yes he had a few going at a time) until Milx pointed out that there was one on my ankle and it was a GIANT one! Eeyucks! It was SO big even before it was done with me it was already the size of my little finger! We couldn’t go on because I couldn’t put on my sandals so we made some coffee and waited for that thing to be done. After we finished our coffee the leech was still going at my ankle and I was dripping blood all over the place… I couldn’t just pull it off, apparently if I do that the thing will leave it’s teeth on me and I’ll itch for days! So in the end another hiker gave me some salt and that did the trick.
The hike on the first day was quite challenging (for me), alot of up hill walk a little bit of steep climbing and many river crossings which was very slippery so made it quite dangerous. We finally arrived at out first camp site in Lata Luis totally worn out at about 630pm. I was so tired, my legs were killing me. We hiked for like 6 hours that day. Not what I would actually call a ‘warm up’ day! 
I was so tired… we set up camp had a wash down at the waterfall.. (Yes, noticed that I didn’t actually say bath…) But trust me, little did I know that that’s the last good wash I’ll have in a while.. Even the trip down to that waterfall is life threatening, many slippery rocks and steep slopes. We warmed up with some grub in out tummy and managed to make a small fire but soon retired for the night. I couldn’t fall asleep that night… I never knew that the jungle was SO noisy!! I could hear everything!! Insects chirping and creaking and some animal howling from a distance was quite unnerving. And on top of all that I could hear fellow blogger Life-trek‘s constance snoring!!! The next morning when I woke up, I was in pain… I was contemplating (and trying my luck) to see if I can stay there and wait while they complete the hike without me.. 
Greg said ok, he’ll stay with me but Jeff (life-trek) and Milx was silent. In the end we all packed up and was on our way to our next stop… not knowing that the hike that day was much, much more challenging then the day before. It was just up, up, up all the way.
Day 2
The journey on the second day really had me. No more leeches at this point but it was alot of very difficult climb, very steep and lots of roots that formed ‘steps’ which was quite difficult and some areas we have to use ropes to help us climb up. My calves were aching and soon my thighs too. We took many breaks which we paid prices later because we arrived at our next camp site in Kubang a little late. The place was not so spacious and water was scarce. Getting water at this camp site was a challenge in itself! We had to walk like 15 mins to get to the nearest water source, and when we got there we were really disappointed to find that the water was just trickling. On top of that we made a not so smart decision to camp a little far off from where everyone else. We thought we wanted a little ‘spot’ for ourself. Just as we sent up our tents our guide came to ask us to pack up and get back with the group. He didn’t say much and just insisted that we get back. We only found out later the next day that nobody camped at that place because it was spooky… So anyway.. after he came and asked us to get back we thought ‘what the heck’.. let’s get ‘cleaned up and get whatever water we can to cook our dinner then only we pack up to rejoin the rest of our group. Greg and I were the last ones left at the so called waterfall. By the time we were done it was almost dark. We had to find our way back in the dark and only armed with one headlamp for light. I was freaking out in the dark and it was a long climb back… and I bumped my head on a big fallen log. Not so funny.. When we finally got back with the group it was totally dark, I was feeling uneasy and disorientated. We had to squeeze 3 tents into a small clearing… not so nice, but we were all So tired and it was a lot of drama for one evening already. Just wanted to crawl into out tent. That night on top of all the insects, Jeff’s snoring… I could also hear animals running around out tents. Wonderful… Jeff said the next day could be musang (Toddy cat/ Palm Civet) or babi hutan (wild boars) looking for a snack from our left overs.
Another thing that I really suffered was my clothes could never dry. So much for Dri-fit or quick dry… Nothing actually got dried, not even a bit. So everyday after that I was wearing damp clothes. So I started to put 1 set of dry clothes to sleep in a zip lock back. Which I was very thankful for! My only comfort for the night…
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