Gunung Besar Hantu (Ghost Mountain) Friday

Friday, October 12, 2007

My sister-in-law and her husband dropped by my house around 7:00pm with a tub of pumpkin rice cooked by my mom-in-law. They also brought one of their shop helpers along for the weekend, a strong young man we call ‘Joe’. He’s a 20 year old from Myanmar and has the kindest spirit you’d ever want to meet.

Our stomachs and our backpacks were full. We packed everything necessary for a two-night trek in the jungle. I stuffed in my pack a change of clothes including a long pants, 4 pairs of socks (I wear 2 pairs when walking in the jungle), sleeping bag and small mat, rain/wind jacket, mess kit, head light, and assorted odds and ends like whistle, lighter, and toiletries. I also packed some energy bars, a snickers bar, potato bread, and a couple of apples.
We left my house around 7:30pm and headed to the base of Gunung Besar Hantu. This mountain got its name by the Orang Aslii, Malaysia’s indigenous people, who claim there are ghosts or banshees on the mountain.

After existing the Cheras/Kajang Highway, we drove toward Hulu Langkat where we met up with 3 more cars in our group and then took a series of small ‘trunk’ roads, narrow roads that twisted through the foothills and countryside. We turned onto a one-lane track that meandered through banana, rubber, and durian plantations (being dark I could not see any of this). We reached the end of the small track and pulled into a small grassy driveway in front of an abandoned dwelling. It was 10:30pm.

The small house we parked near had a front porch and we all eyed it with interest because it had started raining about halfway through our journey. Dogs across the track started barking and heads popped out of the small Orang Asli settlement homes. They told us we could sleep on the raised porch of the old house, but there were 17 of us and not enough porch.

The door of the old house was locked and padlocked, but with a gentle nudge of the shoulder the door opened. I guess we were technically breaking and entering. With torch lights on we explored the musky, neglected structure. A few cheap, thin mattresses with unknown stains and burn marks littered the floor and leaned against the walls. The floor covering was indistinguishable because of the undisturbed dirt and dust blanketing it.

Through the front door a living area ran nearly the length of the house. To the rear, there were about 6 steps that led down to what was once the kitchen and dining area. Off both sides of the living area there were small bedrooms each containing rusty pipe bunk beds. More dirt and a few cigarette butts littered the floor. In one of the rooms a bluish color gecko about 18 inches long from snout to tail and covered with orange spots clung to the wall. The photographer in our group took several pictures of this lizard; it’s big eyes staring into the lens, toes spread wide.

Some in our group threw down their sleeping mats on the porch and some in the living room. It was getting crowded out there so I chose one of the bedrooms, the one without the gecko.

It was my brother-in-law’s birthday and we surprised him with a birthday cake. After everyone ate a piece of cake, told stories and settled down, a lantern was lit and sleeping bags were fluffed. Before I could even get my bag unzipped, snoring had commenced in the living area. Outside it was still raining and the frogs were singing. I snuggled into my bag and went to sleep wondering what I was getting myself into. I had never trekked overnight in the Malaysian jungles and never climbed a jungle mountain more than 250 meters high. I was used to long distance walking, but had little experience with big climbs while carrying a 20lb backpack. Did I have the stamina to tackle a 5000-foot ascent? The lantern died down. I lie on my side and fell into a deep sleep. It was 11:30pm.

----------

One thing I should note, everyone in the group was Chinese and most spoke only a little English. Most of the time I had no clue what was being discussed. Joe, the Myanmar fellow, spoke pretty good English and we had some nice talks together. Otherwise, I sometimes just felt like a tag-along following the group, reading faces and body language to figure out what was going on. If someone said something and everyone smiled or laughed that was good. If they all frowned or looked concerned, that was bad. I liked the smiling and laughing.

----------

I'll post the Saturday ascent and Sunday descent soon. In the meantime here are a couple of sites that provide a bit of sketchy information on Gunung Besar Hantu.

A trek up Malaysia's spooky mountain

"Gunung Besar Hantu" - Spooky Tales, Rat Trail

----------

Go to Saturday's Ascent Part One