Gunung Tujuh. Crater Lake. Mount Kerinci. New house!
June 29, 2013
Mount Kerinci.
Kerinci, Padang, West Sumatra.
Indonesia.
Hey guys!
I wonder if there's anyone who would still drop by here for a read! I haven't been updating this blog partly because... I headed to Indonesia for a trek up to their highest volcano at the West Sumatra! It was a trip initiated by Joel and after gathering 6 people, we finalized our plan, started our adventure on the 17th June!
I wonder if there's anyone who would still drop by here for a read! I haven't been updating this blog partly because... I headed to Indonesia for a trek up to their highest volcano at the West Sumatra! It was a trip initiated by Joel and after gathering 6 people, we finalized our plan, started our adventure on the 17th June!
The 6 adventurers who went were Joel, Yutai, Ang, Cynthia, Shini, & I!
Abang En (Guide), Ang, Cynthia, Joel, Shini, Me, Yutai.
First and foremost... It was actually an affordable trek, I spent less than S$500 for the whole trip which was inclusive of air tickets! I had changed S$250 to spend over there but there was still leftover which I think... It was about at least S$50? I'm not too sure how much exactly was it since I had my money kept with Cynthia hahahaha, my personal financial planner, and... I didn't recount the leftover 'cos there's just too many 0s.
The trip lasted for 6 days.
First Day
We met up at Singapore Changi Airport at 5am in the morning since our flight to KLIA was at 7.10am. There wasn't any direct flight from Singapore to Padang, so we had to fly over to KL and then head over to LCCT (the budget terminal) for our flight to Padang. Okay, there was direct flight but it was under the Indonesia Airline, the one which starts with G and it was not cheap!!! So, the first day... We spent almost the whole day, from 5am to 12mn just for travelling.
The flights we booked had plenty of extra time before the next take off since we were afraid that there might be delay and whatnot, so we booked the tickets in a sense that we actually allowed ample time for some delays if there's any. Better to be safe than missing our flights! So finally, we landed at Padang at about 2pm Indonesia time, which was one hour slower. We were greeted by our guide and boarded 3 MPVs, 2 in each car and started the journey from Padang to Kerinci which was a 6 - 7 hours ride.
I was glad that the car Yutai & I boarded was driven by an experienced driver, his driving skills were good! Alright, finally set off to Kerinci which I was semi-conscious for the whole time since I didn't sleep the night before. The ride lasted more than 6 hours due to the congestion up the hill, there were just too many cars and there was an accident, one of the cars was totally smashed and was being towed. In the end, we only arrived the Family Home Stay at 12mn. Oh, one of our MPVs broke down too, the one Joel & Shini boarded so, Ang & Cynthia joined us in the car halfway thru while the guide and their car went back to pick up Shini & Joel. They only reached the home stay at least an hour later than us.
Ambulance spotted!
Condition of the house is good.
We finally settled down, paid the guide the money for the trek, bathed (was battling with the cold water because of their limited hot water, for 6 days), and ended the first day!
Second Day
We get to sleep in till 830am because breakfast was at 9! Breakfast served was Nasi Goreng (Can you believe it, eating rice as breakfast... Almost for the whole trip) with fried egg + some keropoks! Breakfast was done, and we headed for a trek up to Gunung Tujuh to catch the majestic view of the crater lake! The trek was not physically demanding, slow and steady, I'm sure anyone can do it!
Situated at Kerinci, Padang, Indonesia.
Some photographs taken before the trek!
Taking a break before continuing the trek.
The guide prepared our lunch, which he bought it (Nasi Padang) before the trek and set up for us at the crater lake. Once you actually stop moving, you could really feel the cold breeze from the wind man, and guess what? There was actually a group of kids, at the age of 12 but they ironically looked much younger, probably 10 year old. They trekked up to the crater lake, undressed themselves, leaving only undies on and dived into the lake omfg, we were all in our outershell, trying to keep warm but they literally hop onto the boulder and dived in straight!!! They were a cute bunch of kids, and even one of them (which my group claimed that he actually likes me) always tended to take photo, standing beside me, or that, Cynthia caught him throwing glances at me hahahaha.
Lake is as blue, accompanied by chilly wind.
The kid standing beside me was the one.
After accomplishing the trek!
The trek up to this crater lake was sort of a... Warm-up trek for Mount Kerinci, standing at 3805m! Basically, we spent the afternoon trekking, then heading back to the home stay village and to one of the "cafe" for dinner, not the typical cafe you see in town but they just termed the eatery some cafe place and they played super hip remix hits hahaha. OH YESSSSS, I ordered Mie Goreng and it was really delicious though it was actually instant noodles hahaha and their Mango juice was really solid. They literally juiced the whole mango for you and you get to EAT your drinks!!
Back to the home stay after dinner, packed our bag for Mount Kerinci trek the next day, bathed (with cold water and I was SHOUTING like mad after the first pour of water on my fragile body) and OFF TO SLEEP!
Third & Forth Day
We woke up slightly earlier since breakfast was at 8am and we had to start trekking early to prevent nightfall! Hmm, the same breakfast again and then, finally, setting off in the car by my driver since Day 1 (he became the main driver for the whole trip!) to the foot of the mountain and started trekking up!
In the car, on the way to the foot of mountain.
The trek was manageable and it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be! The terrain was alright, similar to what you always see in jungles, with thin tall trees which actually SWAYED as the wind blew like seriously, any moment, the tree could have just fallen. There were 3 posts and 2 shelters to get to, like a prominent resting place throughout the trek.
Shelter 1 was the place where we took our lunch break, we had... Nasi Capur or something, and met a group of other trekkers! Shelter 2 was our campsite, they got the tents pitched and secured for us! When we were about 2500m high, the weather was incredibly cold and we had to put on our outershell, gloves and buff! After about an hour or so, we finally reached shelter 2, immediately entered the tent and started putting on our thermal wear! You would just feel like staying in the tent for the whole night cos the weather was really windy, LIKE SUPER STRONG WIND and cold.
While waiting for our lunch to be prepared!
Signage pinned, backpacks unloaded.
Prepping for our lunch!
Happy me with my lunch on my hand!
Dinner was served in tent, they cooked maggie mee for us with a hard boiled egg, and I thought, that was it. Apparently, I was utterly wrong. After the noodles, they handed us white rice with sardines and I was like... "SO ERM, THIS IS ALSO PART OF THE DINNER? 2 SERVINGS AT ONE GO?" and yes... Bingo. Tell me, how can I lose weight after this trek? We probably gained weight instead, with all the nasi, nasi goreng, mie goreng, & keropoks!!
WE ATE, and prepared to sleep straight away since there was nothing else to do. Eat and sleep, best combination to gain weight. Short sleep for a couple of hours and I woke up because of my blocked nose. I couldn't breathe thru at all with my nose, both of the nostrils were blocked, first time ever. I had to clear my nose but it didn't really help and Shini woke up afterwards so we talked and then, Cynthia woke up too! I was telling Shini, the branches were like broken by the strong wind and landed beside our tent since we can see the shadows and I went to touch it LOL like touching the tent to feel if the branches landed there or that it's just the shadow.
Finally, short commercial break was over and we went back to sleep, though I did wake up at different intervals to check the timing and finally, our guide woke us up at 5am for breakfast and then the summit push! The morning breeze was cold as hell, the wind still blowing at us mercilessly, we, the girls, actually wore the thermal wear up for the summit push.
Pre-Breakfast for summit push
Disappointing, I didn't get to see a starry night sky.
The trek up the summit was alright until the point where there was no more trees and soil, just rocks! It looks like this...
Shini (in blue), Me (in red), Abang En (in orange)
He had to hold my hand, then interlocking our arms together because the wind was so bloody strong, we could have just got blown away any moment... Kid you not.
Pictures below are taken at the viewing point:
(& actually, we were waiting for Joel who had to take a dump during the summit push)
One glove off cos I had to take photo with my camera.
Shini, aka BFUFF
This was at the point that the summit push got a little tougher since the wind didn't maintain and still hurling at us. We headed up till... 3600m(?) before the summit, and Ang, Cynthia, Shini, & I decided to stay there and not gonna progress any further lol. We were freezing even though we had this small hole to hide, I was up at the further, even lying down, hoping the rocks could block the wind but actually, it wasn't much of a use. I was still shivering even with heat packs and I fell asleep hahahaha Cynthia was asking us not to sleep in case the wind was too cold and we couldn't feel ourselves. About almost an hour hiding there, Ang decided that we should just head back further down a little big where the wind wasn't as strong.
Photo taken after we headed further back down to avoid the brutally strong wind.
LOL THE TREK BACK DOWN WAS EPIC. I thought I was gonna die while making my way down because even when I seated down, preparing to just to use my butt and slowly move down, I could feel that I was still gonna get blown away... Until Ang came over and held my hand to lead me down so it would be more stable, for me lol. There was a part, the 4 of us had to stand up, walking side by side in straight line to overcome the wind and backtrack down LOL seriously, as the wind blew, WE IMMEDIATELY STOPPED MOVING and as the wind stopped, we quickened our steps and make sure we progressed quite a fair bit before the wind hit us again hahahaha I SWEAR WE THOUGHT WE WERE GONNA DIE, whenever the wind appears. I WAS TELLING MYSELF,"OMG I HAVE YET TO SHIFT HOUSE MAN, PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE RIGHT NOW!"
We had to wait for the rest to descend from the summit...
Fret not, apparently, we survived.
The rest of the team, Joel, Yutai, & the guide continued the summit push and they came back saying, slightly further up, the wind was even stronger... Until they reached the summit, then the wind died down. I'm glad that we actually didn't progress on, otherwise... We might just die there lololol THE WIND WAS NO SHIT SERIOUSLY STRONG I SWEAR SO PLEASE BELIEVE ME NOT THAT WE ARE WEAK AND COULDN'T ASCEND TO THE SUMMIT BUT ALWAYS, SAFETY FIRST.
Okay, so after 1.5 hours, the guys finally descended from summit to where we were waiting for them and then, we continued descending back to shelter 2 for lunch before the further descend back to the foot of the mountain! Hmm, lunch at the mountain was... Mie goreng & Nasi with ikan bilis I think. LOL 2 servings again, people who can eat more should actually join this trek. You literally eat more than you trek HAHAHA
Descending down the mountain was quicker and we got back to the home stay at about 5 - 6pm! Finally, a good shower before we went out for dinner with the guide! Hmm, and that basically ended our day 3 and 4 for the Mount Kerinci trek!
Fifth Day
Also the R&R day after the trek! We woke up at 9am, had banana pancakes for breakfast instead, since Joel asked if we could have some changes to the menu hahaha but thanks to Joel, we had our breakfast only at 11am since he thought we would all wake up really late lol. We played dai dee in our room to kill time, and we actually bet on our pancakes hahaha but of course, we bet for fun, otherwise Shini would have nothing to eat for breakfast anymore hahahaha, the ultimate loser for the game!
Done with breakfast, chilled at the living room watching some Hong Kong movie on the cable TV, then Shini, Cynthia, & I walked down the street to the plantation to take some photos! We had too much time to spare since the muslims were having their Friday's prayer and we gotta wait for our guide to be back before bringing us to the town which was about an hour car ride away.
Cynthia's standing along the roadside
Shini
Soul, & Me
Shini, & Cynthia
Piggybacking time!
"This is my plantation!!"
Reached the town, pretty much... Nothing there hahaha just like some small town with shophouses. We had late lunch at some famous Nasi Padang place, yup... We had rice again and I really had phobia eating Nasi Padang, Nasi Capur, back in Singapore/Malaysia for the time being. We went to buy sarong, some bought the portable stove and it's really PORTABLE hahaha good for camps, and... Hmm.. Sewn on Mount Kerinci badges... We had corn from the roadside stall while on the way back to the village, thanks to Shini's craving... That's about it, for the R&R day!
Finally, mission accomplished.
"I AM eating corns"
Late lunch which means late dinner. We had dinner at about 9pm at the same cafe place. This time round, 5 of us ordered Mie Goreng, only Yutai ordered some Nasi Ayam, don't what special set or something! Hmm, we didn't get our bucket of keropoks hahaha probably because the first time there for dinner, we actually FINISHED whole bucket of their keropoks LOLOL like seriously, I don't think that bucket of keropoks was for sale but we still paid for it since we cleaned the whole container.
This summed up day 5 before heading back to the home stay to pack up our backpack, bathe and catch some winks before setting off to Padang at 2am, to catch our flight at 2pm!
Last Day
We were supposed to wake up at 1.30am to prepare and set off, this time round, alarm was set by Cynthia and this super blur sotong, set it at 3.30am LOL thankfully, the night before we asked the boys to wake us up in case we oversleep and yes, they knocked our door at 1.50am HAHAHA we jumped up and prepared ourselves in the speed of lightning. Then, I asked Cynthia, how come the alarm didn't ring, she checked it and told us... She set it at 3.30am unknowingly. LOL must be too tired but yup, we were all on time anyway!
This time, we only had 2 cars to send us back to the airport, Shini, Yutai, & I took the car with the same experienced driver, whereas, Cynthia, Ang, & Joel had boarded the car which picked Ang & Cynthia on the first day, claimed to be a reckless and an unskillful driver hahahaha but anyway, the road was still kinda bumpy and rocky, I couldn't really sleep!
Halfway thru the journey, this Joel Li hopped to our car and squeezed with me and Shini. As we were driving down the mountain (Our home stay was situated at 1300m above sea level, which actually, you would still need to be in jacket because of the cold air), WHOA, goodness, the hot air greeted us and the car didn't have air con switched on at all. IT WAS THE HOT AND HUMID INDONESIA AGAIN, like seriously. The heat was ridiculously and everyone was perspiring like mad.
Finally, back to the Padang town, and we were still super early for our check in, so we had our breakfast at some hostel where finally, we actually had wifi to access hahaha. The quiet moment, when everyone started using their phones and to find out that the haze back in Singapore & Malaysia was harming everyone with PSI as high as 400, and it actually hit 700 in Malacca, and Muar area in Malaysia because of the forest burning in the North Sumatra. We were at the West, that was why we were blessed with clear blue sky!
TADAHHHHH, FINALLY, long hour ride and another long day of catching the flight, from Padang, Indonesia to KL, Malaysia and finally, back to Singapore!!! Erm, so... After landing in Singapore, I actually had to go back to JB in Malaysia HAHAHA I almost died of travelling lol.
AND YES, FINALLY, BACK TO OUR HOMELAND AND THE FAMILIAR ENVIRONMENT, NO MORE NASI GORENG, NASI CAPUR, NASI PADANG!!! I GET TO EAT CHINESE FOOD, WESTERN FOOD, AND NO MORE INDONESIAN FOOD OMG GOODNESS so yes, back home and I realized... I was gonna move house in 3 days time so... I couldn't enjoy my rest at all, and had to wake up early almost everyday to pack and shift the stuffs over, until the day I shifted into my new house.
The links below are the photos me & Yutai took during the trip.
It's all Facebook links so, if you're not our friends... I don't think you can view the album hahaha then too bad for you.
x
Yes, finally, 2nd part of my post!!
As you know, today is Saturday and I'm already shifted into my new house, after pretty much delay but yup, I'm already here so... Embrace the moments now.
This is a glimpse of how my current new room looks like!
My room is in white, the built-in wardrobe, the study desk, are all in white. My bed frame was also built instead of buying the instant one in-store. The frame was actually cushion type, and it's in grey as you can see, and I got a solid color, in sort of darker shade of Pink, it doesn't look like bright red in real life. There's my 40' or 42' TV hung onto the wall, the name pasted on the wall was recycled from my 21st birthday party which Shini, aka my BFUFF made as part of the decor. Then, on top of my bed frame was all my plushies!
Ironically, I hated plushies when I was young because I was kinda boyish back then, like I didn't like to wear dresses and stuffs but as I grow older, it was like... Since I'm gonna have a room for myself, plushies can be brought out and be part of my decorations! Here they are, sitting on top of my bed frame, the sheep were from New Zealand, I bought it when I was there this year in Feb, the lion was from South Africa, my 2nd bro bought it, the tiny bear was from Korea, the bear museum, which my aunt bought it this year as well, in March, the other bear, with clothing on was from Charlie Company, OCS Social Night... 2 years back when I attended it as Thomas' date and the rest... LOL I don't know where and how did they arrive.
The flowers on the left was actually my mom's, her friend bought for her during her birthday last year and the other 3 flowers on the right, were given to me from Edwin Sng, my PBYX SKK, during my 21st birthday as part of the surprise hahahaha. I still have half the space to fill up, it's time to get more soft toys already HAHAHA. Initially, I still wanted to get some instax pasted onto the wall but I'm seriously lazy to pick out the nice ones and plaster them onto the wall without leaving marks on it and I haven't get the 3M stick on thingy so... I shall wait. OH YES, there will be a swing chair in my room, ordered almost a year ago & it still hasn't arrive, hopefully, it won't be too big for my room :(
Alright, that's about it!
I spent almost 2 hours to compose this and still not bathed yet hahaha. Maybe... Next time... I will come back to show you guys the interior and exterior of my new house! Hopefully, I don't get lazy taking photos of it hahaha and school is starting soon... So... LOL nothing is promised.
Have an awesome weekend, enjoy tomorrow!!
xx.
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