Irau...tHe Magical Mountain

7.30 a.m, Sunday, October 16th
Gunung Irau
Brinchang, Cameron Highland

Plan nak pergi Irau ni actually dah lama benar, aku rase before nak puasa hari tu lagi tapi biase lah plan jer yang gempaq tapi nak make sure everyone is available is really tough job. Last-last, after week by week emailing, we decided to make it happened last weekend, although, it was only seven persons could make it. Yelah aku rase kalau nak make sure everyone is available… ntah bila tahun agak nye. This time, without other GGK member, introducing our new members, Farah n Nir… I salute both of you for a really strong stamina without any training before.

A day before, we promised to meet up with our cute guide, Janggut atau nama sebenar nye Shahril. Since Uteh tak dapat jadi guide, so. dia pass it on the responsibility to Janggut to take over. Tak pernah kenal pakcik ni pun tapi we did communicate thru call n sms. As promised, we met at Restoran Ikan Bakar, Brinchang town. Ingatkan sorang rupa nye berteman with Borgon (not sure the real name of this uncle, aku rase sampai ke sudah aku tak tau nama sebenar dia). Started with Ice breaking, then…our plan for tomorrow and lastly Q&A session. Initial plan to meet up with him nak discuss pasal Irau aje lah but turned out termasuk juga citer pasal gunung-gunung lain di Malaysia. So, layan jelah. After about half n hour chit-chatting, kita orang pun minta diri sebab banyak benda nak prepare for tomorrow. Yelah nak packing lagi, nak masak nasi goreng bagai n blah blah blah. Rasanya, esok ajelah kita kenal lebih rapat yea.

Esok nye, we met with our guides, Janggut and Borgon in front of masjid Brinchang which was just opposite the Petronas. By the time we arrived, it was already 7.10 a.m, 10 minutes behind our schedule. Luckily 4WD masih tak sampai lagi, so, kelewatan kami takde lah terasa sangat kan. Ingat kan our guides only tapi Uteh yang pada mula nye kata tak dapat join pun ade juga and his not alone, siap bawa a few ORL geng lagi. Aku tak kenal pun. Rupa-rupa nye dia baru je habis activity Gopeng-cameron dia so sempat lah nak singgah kat Brinchang kejap before return back to KL. Nak make sure Cik Nurul & the geng are well organized by their team members. Bagus betullah si Uteh ni siap hantar kami sampai ke kaki Irau lagi.

Our shoes... still clean & clear before trekking to Irau

4WD sampai around 7.20 a.m macam tu, 20 minutes late than the scheduled time. So, sampai-sampai je kami trus gerak ke Kaki Irau menyelusuri ladang teh yang Indah. Kata Janggut kalau nak tengok Ladang Teh yang cantik kena naik dari Brinchang sebab nanti kita memang akan pass thru Ladang Teh masa nak turun. Tapi kalau naik dari Brinchang memang impossible lah nak buat day trip hiking. Paling minimum pun kena overnight. Lagi lah kami gadis-gadis yang ayu ni, agak-agak nye one night pun tak cukup… hehehe. Aku rase aku dah cuba nak cepat kan masa aku masa mendaki but Irau was different... so irresistable… I could not miss every single angle. Believe me, rugi tak bawa camera.

View on the way to Kaki Irau

We reached at the starting point or more precisely foot of Irau around 7.45 a.m. It took about 20 minutes from the Brinchang town to get here. You have an option whether to drive your own car or 4WD to the starting point. But, we’re not advised to drive our own car because of the road was too steep and rough. So, we decided to hire the 4WD at a cost of RM300 which can fit in 12 people at one time… luckily Uteh provided us with STORM, mati-mati aku ingat dia nak suruh naik 4WD yang angkut sayur which can be easily seen around Brinchang town.

STORM brought us to Kaki Irau

As we arrived, we warmed-up for a while and just then, started our hiking. The very beginning of the hiking, you will pass thru a very long wooden walkaway. This walk will take about 10min before you reach the real trekking. So, officially we started our trekking around 8 a.m. And now, the real hiking to Mount Irau is begun. By that time, I already too excited seeing so many mosses already covered-up most of the trees around the walkaway. Subhanallah, cantik sungguh. Gambar pun tak dapat nak menggambarkan betapa cantiknya ciptaan Allah ini.

Starting point at Kaki Irau

Mount Brinchang view

Beginning of the track... lot of roots

View inside the Mossy rain forest

Be careful not to step into the mud

This is only the beginning

Beautiful track

Kulat

1.55km more to go

 

Have you ever wondered why we step at the side?

We're almost there

The butterfly resembled the mosses

Zoom-in... Subhanallah, so amazing

View of Titiwangsa Range on the way to Anak Kaki Irau

Ulat Gonggok... so beautiful

The beautiful bunga bulu-bulu

Nice creature

You could see pitcher plant almost everywhere

The track

So many roots you have to pass thru

Almost everywhere you could see beautiful view

The trees are covered with mosses

Another 0.95km to peak of Irau

This is not beginning anymore

Kami yang maintain

Awesome

About 3 hours trekking, we reached at Anak Irau. Opps… this is only the half way. Kalau ikut initial schedule we’re supposed to reach at 11.30 a.m but maybe due to phorography session, we reached at 12.30 p.m, one hour late from the scheduled time. We rested about half and hour like that while enjoying nasi goreng kampong. There’s nothing you could see from Anak Irau since the view was blocked by the trees. Suddenly, out of nowhere, ade sorang mamat ni tiba-tiba keluar dari semak. Dari cara dia bercakap nampak sangat dia ni berlari-lari kot masa nak naik tadi… dalam termengah-mengah tu dia citer yang dia dah sesat mula2 tadi sebab ternaik Gunung Brinchang dulu. Lepas tu dia rase macan dah salah naik dia turun balik and naik balik jalan yang betul ke Irau. Fuhh... giler kaki gunung. Kalau aku lah... memang tak naik lagi dah... next time ajelah jawab nye yea. I was told by Borgon, this mamat group was OGKL... He just assumed by just looking at their character. After a few minutes, another one guy came and later followed by the other one. Althogether, they were three of them. Giler... naik tak saing. I was just imagined lah if anything happened to one of them, how they manage to help each other. Emmhh... maybe dah biasa kot... suddenly aku teringat citer 172 hours...hahaha.

Already halfway... Mini Irau or Anak Irau

Mini Irau

Forget about them, after our short lunch, we proceed our hiking to puncak Irau. That time already 1.30pm. The trip from the Anak Irau to the peak actaually can be made within half an hour but biasa lah... I couldn't resist to stop and taking pictures. There ara so many magical things not to be missed. But, I swear to myself the return trip will be no more photoshoot because we will shoot straight away decend without stop... hopefully.

Track on the way to the peak

Kat atas pokok ni

Awesome

We reached at the Irau peak around 2.30 p.m. Continue makan-makan lagi but this time no more nasi goreng... maggi pama plak... Layann. Sempat juga secawan kopi radix panas. Thanks to guide yang bawa semua kelengkapan dapur... tak sia-sia kami hire korang... hehehe. Kalau ikut kan jadual we’re supposed to reach peak at 1.30p.m but this we’re really behind the schedule. That time, aku memang dah dapat agak we cannot finish at 4.30p.m. Takpe lah yang penting, we have guides to guide all of us on the way back. Masa kami sampai tu, the 3 mamat yang kami jumpa kat kaki Irau tu dah buat2 tido kekenyangan kat atas tu. Nak tunjuk sampai awal lah tu. Masa kita orang sibuk-sibuk amik gambo, pandai lah plak bangun nak amik gambo juga. Last-last kena amik our group photo dulu... hehehe.

Congratulation ladies

After trekking... please compare

 

We started decending at 3.00 pm. And we need to be fast or else we had to walk in the dark. That time dah agak mendung skit. So, we pack everything and started to decend. Masa tu aku agak ke depan juga lah saing with Janggut & Farah but emmhhh... janji tinggal janji... aku terpukau kat satu view yang sangat awesome. Macam dalam citer Avatar pun ade juga lah... tak boleh miss ni. Kena tinggal pun takpelah but fo sure still ade Borgon and the rest kat belakang. This time we decending together back to Kaki Irau. Memang sangat mencabar jalan nak balik ni sebab hujan dah mula turun after we passed thru anak Irau. We had no choice other than to wear it our raincoat to cover up our valuable camera n handphones since the rain is getting heavy. And this time, takde masa dah nak fikir pasal selut dah... semua main harung jer. Actually, masa kita orang kat puncak Irau tu, kt bawah dah start hujan dah sbb kita orang perasan byk sgt lopak air macam baru jer ade. This time you need to be more extra care since the roots were slippery, so, you need to hold something to be more stable.

View of Banjaran Titiwangsa... very awesome

Fanstastic view on the way to the Irau's peak

Alhamdulillah, we arrived at kaki Irau around 6.30 pm…2 hours late than our schedule. Janggut and Farah dah sampai 20 minutes earlier. Sampai2 jer aku baru prasan yg janggut ni baru nak call Abang 4WD kami. Masa tu aku fikir abang tu dah gerak rupa nye… dia tunggu call dari kami. So, boleh bayang kan masa tu dia dari tanah rata baru nak gerak… lepas tu dia cakap ada tanah runtuh pulak on the way nak ke Brinchang. Aku budget kena bermalam dulu lah kat kaki gunung ni sebelum turun bawah. Bayang kan lah tengah hujan dengan suhu yg mencecah aku rase 10 deg C juga lah masa tu and kami Cuma pakai rain coat duduk dibawah shelter yang Janggut & Borgon buat utk kami berteduh sementara tunggu 4WD. Adalah dalam sejam setengah juga kami tunggu… fuhh. Memang betul2 mencabar lah, I never experienced before. Sungguh aku tak menyesal…

Nak balik dah

View after just after the rain

Just like the magical world in Avatar

On the way back to brinchang, I choose to stay inside the 4WD because that time seriously aku dah sampai tahap sejuk giler. Since not everyone can stay inside so, first come first serve lah. The rest you have to stay outside. About 20 minutes macam tu, we reached Pekan Brinchang. Luckily there’s nearby Masjid where we can clean up the mess before back to KL. Still have time to take shower. Around 9.30 p.m, after short closing ceremony by our guides… we headed back to KL through Simpang Pulai since not advisable to take Tapah if travelling late night. Thanks to Janggut for voluntarily offering to drive my Car until Simpang Pulai before before exit to Plus Highway. I was thinking that... Sempat lah aku nak rest sekejap... last2 kena teman kan dia borak2 until Simpang Pulai.

Alhamdulillah we’ve conqured Irau, thanks to our guides & Congratulations to everyone.