Things to Do: Hike Gunung Brichang

Gunung Brinchang

1/7/2016

Hiking Down a Mountain in Cameron Highlands

Let us always remember that unity is our fundamental strength as a people and as a nation. - Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj

Time was running out, our bus was in a few hours, what to do? Either walk up the trail and try to hitch hike down, or take a taxi up as far as possible and hike down... decisions, decisions...

As per usual, the day started out slowly as we made our way to get an "early" breakfast. Finding the only open restaurant that serves an English breakfast to satisfy Liz, Callum, Pringle and Jake, we devoured an unsatisfactory meal.

Decisions, decisions... do we hike up the 2 hour trail and make our way down via the road OR take a taxi up the winding roads as far as possible, then hike down. We chose the later.

Waving down a taxi, we came to a deal each paying 8 RM to take us to the strawberry farm which is closest to the top. Pringle was adamant that we must visit a strawberry farm as all he wanted to do was pick strawberries. Well it turned out that when you have to pay a few RM to pick them, it no longer becomes a priority. So skipping the strawberry farm and passing some goats, we made our way along the road to the top. Roughly taking 30 minutes with the boys pressing ahead and Liz and I taking walking selfies further behind. The boys are always in some sort of rush!

Passing by the Mossy Forest as it was closed for maintenance (I've read it's been closed for a while). Like most things we wanted to do in Cameron Highlands it was either closed, or not what we thought it was supposed to be.

Once at the top, in order take in the view, you needed to scale this steal, rusty viewing tower. After a couple quick snaps of the view, we made our way down passing other exhausted hikers who decided to make the climb up.

One by one, we started our descent down the mossy, spongy terrain. With each muddy step we became more unsure of our decision as we weaved our way around the trees trying not to slip. Of course in typical Jake fashion, he made his way to the front of the group and the boys decided it was time to leave us behind. The trail became increasingly easier as we made our way down. With the boys well ahead, Liz and I started taking the only photos of our entire journey, basically a lot of selfies and photos of each other. Once closer to the bottom, we made our way around the water treatment facility and onto the road. The boys sitting alongside the road, waved at us then continued walking well ahead. We all grabbed a bite to eat at the KFC down the road, before trying to catch a taxi back.