Bukit Tabur East – The Early Days

Bukit Tabur East

This is by far one of the oldest and earliest memories I had when I started exploring the hills and mountains around KL / Selangor. Oldest not only in terms of time but also a fair representation of my actual fitness level a long time ago. Being an absolute greenhorn in outdoor activities accompanied by a group of crazy adventurous companions, I embarked upon this hiking trip up Bukit Tabur on a great Saturday morning.

Having the opportunity to explore Bukit Tabur more in 2016 and 2017, I think it’s quite safe to say that this was Bukit Tabur East judging from where the damn is located. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. There are basically 4 different distinctive parts of Bukit Tabur – East, West, Far East and Extreme (extended Far East). I’ve never been to the Far East and Extreme route before, but joined a group of seasoned hikers to Tabur East quite a number of times. I only managed to visit West once. West seems to be the more popular one, but I find East more interesting with a much more diverse track and difficulty.

Regardless of the location, Bukit Tabur can be considered as a very technical climb in the sense that you may go on all fours on a quite vertical ascend.

I recalled very vaguely that this hike was a last minute impromptu after probably a lunch gathering with friends. I was the least fittest among all of the hikers in the group, so this was more of a struggle than a typical day of workout for most. The hike up was extremely slow for me me but it didn’t dampen my spirit fighting through the almost vertical climb up to the highest level of this hill. Technical climbs excite me more than endurance based ones, so that was pretty much the biggest motivation I had during this hike.

The view was breathtaking, a glance I truly cherished every time I was taking a short break, catching my breath and to recuperate. It was mesmerizingly beautiful. An angle of nature where elevation gives you a grand perspective of the world. I guess with suffering comes ample rewards, in form of bliss and satisfaction through our vision.

Slowly but surely…

Photo by Isa Ismail

At a point, we broke into two different groups, each trying to conquer a different summit. We continued hiking till we reach a point where it was too dangerous to proceed. So we rested a little, contemplating whether we should take the risk, but decided otherwise. Safety always comes first, hence giving us the reason to start our way down. The descent proved to be much more difficult compared to the journey up, so we tread cautiously, grabbing at any trees or objects that we could reach.

Slowly but surely, we reached down in one piece and called it a day. It was a great hike and a great start to more great adventures in the near future.