My journey across farmland

Sunday, 09 August 2015
Venue: Copthorne Hotel, Brinchang, Cameron Highlands
Starting time: 7.30am

Last week, aku & other GSH telah bersama-sama ke Cameron Highland bagi menyertai Copthorne Run 2015 "The Journey Across Farmland”. And for the first time kami dapat berkumpul bersama-sama ke Cameron Highland, kiranya cukup korum lah walaupun tak semua yang join this running event.

This Copthorne Run is a 7km non-competitive fun run at the vicinity of Kea Farm where Copthorne Hotel (previoulsy Equatorial Hotel) Cameron Highlands is located. Of the 7km, 3.5km will be tarmac road and the remaining 3.5km will be trail through vegetable garden plots that Kea Farm and Cameron Highlands are famous for. The route also takes you through the location of the local movie “The Journey”. 

Trail run map

Before the journey across the farmland... still fresh & cute ;-)

For this run, we received one race t-Shirt, food coupon, run guide booklet and finisher medal. Cuma yang tak best nya, all the runners received finisher medal together with the race kit. First time masuk lari-lari kot received finisher medal before the race starts. Bagi aku, walaupun is just a fun run, finisher medal should be given after the race finish. Bukan apa, kalau dah bagi awal ni nanti akan demotivate runners yang nak join lari. Yelah, belum start lari lagi dah dapat finisher medal. Bukan masalah unfair kat sini tapi macam tak best. Sebab orang yang tak lari pun dapat, adoi.

At the starting point before the run

Kali ni runners tak seramai yang aku selalu lihat dalam most of running event yang aku pernah join. Maybe sebab non-competitive run and plus lokasi yang agak jauh dari KL. And after Hari Raya pulak tu, maybe runners will think thrice before nak join. Al maklum, nak kena fikir pasal accomodation, transport etc. And most important budget. Maybe to some of the runners agak tak berbaloi. Tapi bagi aku, anggap sajalah percutian sambil beriadah.

Although, only a fun run but still runners are provided with two (2) water stations during 7km run. The first drink station will be at the 3.5km check point (before entering the farm) and the other will be at the 5.6km check point. After the run, boleh claim food coupon for sandwich with chicken slice, pisang & mineral water. 

The beginning... 3km run descending tar road

Fun Run pun ada option kan, hahaha

Entering the farmland

Inilah kebanggaan kami

Another 4km to complete

Tak sangka pulak ada route yang kena lalu air, tak pasal-pasal basah running shoes aku... nyesal tak bawa la sportiva, huhuhu

 

Route thru the vege farm

My first run inside vege farm

Sporting brader ni bila suruh smile

Land Rover mampu milik pun jadi kan

Passed by Flower farm

Run & having fun, no rush

Lihatlah dunia... kebun ku luas terbentang

 

Passed by strawberry farm

Copthorne Hotel from far... tak rasa pun nak cepat sampai, hahaha

Take this route

 

Last route before ending run... Kea Farm... lari sambil shopping kt pasar

Lari pun belum habis tapi sempat lagi tu... nasib baik aku tak bawa duit, hahaha... ni lah masalahnya kalu lari lalu Kea farm

Finally, semua berjaya complete 7km

 

Pic with the tallest thermometer replica recorded in Malaysia Book of Records

Apapun, really enjoyed with the run. Eventhough only a fun run. Yang pasti timing memang out lah, but still less than 2 hrs. Normally 7km kalau tar road boleh buat 40min... emmhhh. Dah kata fun run kan, so, memang running with fun lah along the way, hahaha. I think, Copthorne Hotel should organize this race Across Farmland more often. Boleh lah kami ke Cameron lagi. Hahaha, alasan sangat kan nak gi berjalan sambil makan jagung bakar, makan strawberry + chocolate, borong ubi madu, fresh vege & jagung, makan scone kt YZ Agrofarm, jalan-jalan kat ladang teh, ish, macam-macam lagilah. Rasanya dah pergi banyak kali pun, the same routine I will repeat, hahaha. And it’s a must.

Anyway, thank you so much to Bungolale yang sudi menumpangkan kami seramai 10pax di teratak beliau di Ringlet. We really appreciate it very much Cikgu. Tak sangka perkenalan 3 tahun lepas hiking di Bukit Kutu membawa persahabaan yang erat hingga kini (ni kalau ayat cik Bungolale ya, hahaha). Next time kami datang lagi ya, alang-alang dah kasi green light ni kan.

Pagi yang Nyaman di Cameron

Ringlet - YZ Agro Farm 
Sunday, 2 June 2013 

Turun saja dari Jasar kami tak terus pulang ke KL tapi stay one more night kat rumah Cikgu Nisah. Package kami memang untuk 2 malam pun... hahaha. Tapi kalu Ahad rasa nye memang terus balik KL lah sebab esoknye dah keje. Penginapan yang sederhana dan cukup selesa walaupun terpaksa berebut bilik air... 14 people with one bathroom & one toilet... hehehe. Teringat zaman praktikal & mula-mula keje dulu... KLMJ. I missed that sweet moments. Kadang-kadang pengalaman lalulah yang menjadikan aku lebih menghargai apa yang aku ade sekarang, Alhamdulillah.

Di sinilah kami tumpang bermalam... Thanks Cikgu Nisah

View yang awesome ni was taken just in front of Rumah Cikgu Hanisah

A perfect view for a fresh morning start

The next day before balik, singgah dulu di YZ Agro Farm for breakfast & makan scone. Selama-lama aku datang cameron tak pernah plak terfikir nak makan scone kat sini... yang aku tahu strawberry, jagung bakar, strawberry milkshare, teh cameron valley... strawberry. Scone yang aku pernah makan pun kat Lavigne... sedap, crunchy skit & aku makan macam tu je. Tapi yg kat cameron ni pun lagi sedap juga & lembut sikit compare to yang biasa aku makan dan lagi best dimakan bersama jem strawberry. Lepas ni memang a must eat food kalau ke cameron lagi... yummy. Hari tu tengok blog Miza dia dah cuba buat... tiba-tiba macam excited nak cuba buat juga...hahaha. Tapi macam biasa lah, excited time tu jelah, nak cuba nye ntah bila.

YZ Agro Farm... Cafe inside the Farm, I like

Antara tarikan utama di sini... freshly baked Scone with Strawberry jam (RM3.50), dihidang bersama strawberry Tea... fuhh, memang terbaeklah

Nasi Lemak pun boleh tahan juga

Dah penat memanjat semalam... hari ni balas dendam lah makan sedap-sedap kan

Happy lah kan, perut pun dah kenyang

Daya tarikan utama di sini... Strawberry

Strawberries were planted nicely inside this farm

Freshly picked strawberries

Perut pun dah kenyang, strawberry & yang sewaktu dengan nye pun dah di borong... OK time to say goodbye to YZAF

We returned thru Simpang Pulai sebab nak pergi menjejak sejarah dulu... not everyone only 2 cars, the rest returned direct to KL thru Tapah

To be Continued...


Nota kaki: 
KLMJ - Kenangan Lalu Mengusik Jiwa

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.