Gunung Murud 2,423m

Date: 29 Apr 2011 – 07 May 2011
Location: Gunung Murud, from Bario to Ba’Kelalan, Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak
Altitude: 2,423m
Difficulty: 8.1/10 (http://danlow.multiply.com/journal/item/50)
Hike duration: 5D4N
Camera: Canon Powershot G10
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3


Members: Dan, Khai Chern, Lucy, Ah Kau, Ah Tut, KL Tan, Steven, Uncle Yong and Lam WS
Guide: Veno + Edwin(porter) + Tony(porter)

SLIDESHOW

My reason to go there: Of coz to complete my Malaysia G12, as this is the last of the 12 tallest mountains in Malaysia for me to hike. I have heard of the beautiful scenery there, a lot of pitcher plants and the serene atmosphere of the villages. It would be the perfect get away.

My thoughts: Honestly I almost had an heart attack at some point of this trip due to many uncertainties, incoming flight could be canceled due to bad weather, porters did not wanna continue due to the weather, river water level could be way too high to cross, unable to cross rivers means no Gunung Murud, it would be too dangerous to goto the summit if there's a storm, most ppl don't see anything from the summit because of thick mist after 10:00am, outgoing flight could be canceled due to bad weather, risk of injury due the long muddy trek, worry for Uncle Yong, risk not being able to reach our campsites on time due to the rain+mud, etc etc BUT ! With a lot of luck, we have braved it all, seen it all, done it all .... I'm really proud with my team, everyone were really steady, dedicated, determined, calm and no complains, that's why they are superstars!

5 Days Trek log 
Day 1
5/2/2011 10:08 1169m De Plateau Lodge at Bario depart
5/2/2011 10:11 1169m Muddy 4x4 trail start
5/2/2011 10:45 1180m Muddy 4x4 trail end
5/2/2011 10:45 1178m Pa' ukat village arrive
5/2/2011 10:53 1177m Pa' ukat village depart
5/2/2011 10:56 1177m Muddy village trail start
5/2/2011 12:25 1249m Muddy village trail end
5/2/2011 12:26 1249m Lunch Day 1 break start
5/2/2011 12:50 1252m Lunch Day 1 break end
5/2/2011 12:54 1252m Muddy village trail start
5/2/2011 14:25 1214m Muddy village trail end
5/2/2011 14:26 1214m Pa' lungan village arrive
Time(hours): 4:17
Distant(KM): 11.90

Day 2
5/3/2011 9:51 1168m Pa' lungan village Batu Ritung Lodge depart
5/3/2011 9:54 1167m Muddy village trail start
5/3/2011 10:30 1174m Swamp Crossing start
5/3/2011 10:38 1177m Swamp Crossing end
5/3/2011 10:39 1180m Muddy village trail end
5/3/2011 12:11 1197m Lunch Day 2 break start
5/3/2011 12:31 1202m Lunch Day 2 break end
5/3/2011 12:32 1202m Muddy jungle trail start
5/3/2011 14:58 1242m Tea Day 2 break start
5/3/2011 15:10 1243m Tea Day 2 break end
5/3/2011 15:33 1226m River Crossing start
5/3/2011 15:56 1223m River Crossing end
5/3/2011 16:03 1227m Muddy jungle trail end
5/3/2011 16:03 1227m Long Repung arrive
Time(hours): 6:12
Distant(KM): 9.70

Day 3
5/4/2011 8:28 1163m Long Repung depart
5/4/2011 9:30 1173m Muddy jungle trail start
5/4/2011 9:30 1173m River Crossing 1 arrive
5/4/2011 10:21 1177m River Crossing 2 arrive
5/4/2011 10:46 1181m River Crossing 3 arrive
5/4/2011 11:07 1203m Muddy jungle trail end
5/4/2011 11:08 1204m Junction to Camp 2 arrive
5/4/2011 11:08 1206m Steep hike start
5/4/2011 11:29 1337m Lunch Day 3 break start
5/4/2011 12:03 1342m Lunch Day 3 break end
5/4/2011 16:25 2095m Steep hike end
5/4/2011 16:26 2096m Cut into Plank trail arrive
5/4/2011 16:26 2096m Muddy plank trail start
5/4/2011 17:31 2157m Muddy plank trail end
5/4/2011 17:32 2157m Steep hike start
5/4/2011 17:41 2198m Batu Linanit arrive
5/4/2011 18:30 2073m Steep hike end
5/4/2011 18:31 2070m Church camp arrive
Time(hours): 10:02
Distant(KM): 13.80

Day 4
5/5/2011 7:22 2078m Church camp depart
5/5/2011 9:24 2143m Kebun Batu arrive
5/5/2011 11:13 2423m Gunung Murud arrive
5/5/2011 11:13 2423m Lunch Day 4 break
5/5/2011 11:54 2420m Gunung Murud depart
5/5/2011 14:59 2095m Church camp arrive
Time(hours): 7:37
Distant(KM): 9.10

Day 5
5/6/2011 6:44 2079m Church camp depart
5/6/2011 6:46 2079m Shortcut Jungle muddy trail start
5/6/2011 7:30 2160m Shortcut Jungle muddy trail end
5/6/2011 7:31 2160m Plank muddy trail start
5/6/2011 8:54 2045m Plank muddy trail end
5/6/2011 9:04 2020m Very Steep jungle trail start
5/6/2011 9:16 1951m Very Steep jungle trail end
5/6/2011 9:20 1941m Jungle trail start
5/6/2011 10:03 1723m Jungle trail end
5/6/2011 10:04 1721m Lepo Bunga arrive
5/6/2011 10:20 1723m Lepo Bunga depart
5/6/2011 10:20 1722m 4x4 trail start
5/6/2011 11:36 1247m River + Bridge arrive
5/6/2011 11:36 1247m Lunch Day 5 break start
5/6/2011 11:59 1250m Lunch Day 5 break end
5/6/2011 13:10 1517m 4x4 trail end
5/6/2011 13:11 1518m Jungle trail start
5/6/2011 15:46 1041m Jungle trail end
5/6/2011 15:46 1040m Ba'Kelalan village trail arrive
5/6/2011 16:23 1020m Ba'Kelalan Apple Lodge arrive
Time(hours): 9:38
Distant(KM): 18.20

Total Time(hours): 38:06:51
Total Distant(KM): 62.70 

Pitcher Plants of Murud

From lowland to highland, they are everywhere

Species list

Nepenthes tentaculata

Nepenthes chaniana

Nepenthes lowii

Nepenthes murudensis

Nepenthes muluensis

Nepenthes reinwardtiana

Nepenthes hurrelliana

Nepenthes stenophylla

Gunung Swettenham 1,961m

Date: 09 - 10 Apr 2011
Location: Gunung Swettenham, from Blue Valley, Cameron Highlands
Altitude: 1,961m ASL
Campsite: At the summit, good for 3 flys and 2 tents. Campsite is sort of like multilevel, should be nice for 10-12.
LWP: 1:40mins before summit at 1650m ASL
Difficulty: 4.7/10 (http://danlow.multiply.com/journal/item/50)
Hike duration: 2D1N
Camera: Canon Powershot G10
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3
Members: Dan, Hoon, Bun, Kong, Khai Chern, Lucy, Ah Kau
My reason to go there: Never been there, love to see what the place is like. I miss hiking mountains, camping, leeches, sandflies, water points, cooking, sleeping under the flysheet, my GPS, the feeling, etc…

Trek log - Ascend only 
4/9/2011 9:25 1396 m Car Park - leave
4/9/2011 11:24 1747 m False Peak - arrive [lunch]
4/9/2011 11:41 1747 m False Peak - leave
4/9/2011 12:24 1639 m LWP - arrive
4/9/2011 12:53 1639 m LWP - leave
4/9/2011 14:19 1961 m Gunung Swettenham - arrive
Total hike time: 4:53

3 Generations of palm flower/fruits 

Gang at the LWP

Squirrel like animal

just b4 dinner

dinner is served

Hoon kena sandflies

Pitcher plant

Pulau Weh 2011

A Mola-mole a.k.a Ocean Sunfish was spotted at 40m-47m

School of Jacks playing in the current, DM Yudi cling on to the reef..

Date: 29 Jan 2011 – 05 Feb 2011
Location: Pulau Weh, Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
Camera: Canon G10 + Canon Casing
Strobe: Fantasea Single Nano Strobe Set
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3
No. of dives: 7

My reason to go there:
Have been there once in 2009, miss the place, the diving, the people, the satay ….

Thoughts:
- Visibility was pretty good ranging from 15m to 25m, depending of the dive sites
- Coral reefs are healthy
- This place has the largest seafans to my opinion, rivaling the Similans
- Rich array of marine lifes … good mix of resident reef species and pelagics 
- The dive operator was easy going, but may be too easy going sometimes 
- Very happy to see so many dermatobranchus ornatus
- Extremely happy to see a Mola-mola, it was cleaning at 46.6m
- My first nitrogen narcosis, it was the 46.6m dive. My face and hands started feeling numb, and then a headache started to kick in, I knew it was too deep and too long for me, so after taking a few pictures of the mola-mola and a video, I started ascending slowly, the headache lasted for 30-40mins after the dive. But it was ok after that, I was able to do the next dive after the SI.
- There were fewer moray eels this time, perhaps they went hiding…
- Water temperature 26-27c
- There are 3 resident Leaf Scorpionfishes at Arus Paleeh now, we dive pass that location 3 times and on all 3 passes we saw the leafscorpion fishes
- Rough sea, it was hard for some of the divers to get onto the boat after some dives
- Was raining on and off for the first 2-3 days, and gradually got better and eventually all sunny before a day we left..
- Great dive gang, although they were all strangers from other countries.. . 

Bursting with fishes

Andaman sea have some of the largest seafans in this region

A Honeycomb Moray Eel, we don't see this species quite so often

dermatobranchus ornatus

dermatobranchus ornatus

Clark's anemone fish on fluorescent pink bubble anemone

dermatobranchus ornatus

Gorgonian Seafan

feather stars

Whip coral

A Mola-mola, a very very very lucky find

Common lionfish

Leaf Scorpionfish

Ribbon Eel

Common lionfish

Common lionfish

Tassled Scorpionfish .. looks those beard like looking tassles

Leaf Scorpionfish

a Crinoid Shrimp hiding amongst the tentacles of a feather star

phyllidia varicosa

phyllidiella zeylanica

A Commensal shrimp

chromodoris kuniei

phyllidia ocellata

chromodoris quadricolor

daddy if this kid caught a Orange-lined Triggerfish

Lots of other divers

Giant Trevallies

Chevron Barracudas, yeah like those we see at Sipadan

  Striped Large-eye Breams

Golden Sweepers .. like little glittering jewels

Penguin wing oyster