School Break Tripping - 1

Broga Hill

Peace

School break was just over. There were no big plans for the family except for a few local short trips. It was actually a more preferable plan to avoid the hectic school break crowd and traffic trauma. And also steep suicidal hotel rates.

I dragged the whole house for a Mother Nature retreat that particular weekday morning. We scaled Broga Hill. It was Friday morning, when we left the house slightly after 8.00. People may prefer to be up there early admiring the phenomenal sunrise but for our first attempt, we find it better to trek up in broad daylight. Besides, we are amateurs and inexperience trekkers.

The drive from home was casual and short which took less than 30 minutes. Semenyih town was hectic with traffic commuting from sub-urban areas towards city center. The population has surpassed the road capacity. With ever growing housing schemes, the trunk road has choked.

Reaching Broga Hill carpark was a straight forward affair after paying the RM2.00 fee. Parking was ample, perhaps due to the late hour and non-weekend timing. We chose a spot nearest to the trail head but still visible enough from parking attendance view, so just in case if anything happen.

Anxiety crept in. Wife & kids were suddenly ahead scaling into the trail. I howled to them to keep it at a manageable pace since we don’t know how far and how difficult the trail will be. A signboard showed 1.7km to Bukit Broga, the peak I presumed.

The trail was covered mostly, and clean. Wide enough to receive ascending and descending trekkers. Some may be slippery due to the dry and loose soil. As a trail itself, it is always in its true nature form with ruts and gulley along the way. But still, a safe one for everyone as long as we watch our step.

Due to its short distance, an abrupt elevation gain is expected. The boys seem to have no trouble scaling the trail as it gets steeper, especially my youngest Padawan. He was the fastest and most energetic. The one in trouble was my dearest. Due to rare physical expeditious like this and retirement from previous hobbies, anyone can conclude to jump into labor breathing, nausea and discouragement. I decided to pull the brake on the chugging train to ensure that we continued on together. The progress was intermittently swapped with a few breathers along the way, plus loads of pep talk.

We finally reached the open area where suddenly the sky opens up revealing a different kind of scenery. A large green meadow of lalang covering acres of land, high and low. It was gorgeous. The first to yell about the discovery was of course my ‘personal Padawan trekker’. We relayed down the achievement to our fellow comrades who was struggling, but manageable in an effort to provide a boost for motivation. It seemed to work for a bit, but that was only before we notice ‘the wall’.

In plain sight, it may seem like an open and bare surface where we had to climb. Truthfully, it looked scary. Came closer, it was a bit difficult to climb due to the loose and slipper sand plus without any place to grab for hold. Obstacles were tackled in a jiff with patience and virtue. Alhamdullillah.

The boys and father decided to finalize our mission straight to the final peak where as the ladies had enough of climbing and gave way to the breezy escapade at the first peak.

Mission accomplished. The walk down was easy for most of them except my trying to control the tingling knee pain (aging factor). An attempt to lobby about our next outdoor adventure e.g. FRIM or Bukit Apek was flunked aside straight on. I think they had enough.

That's the final peak

One of the peak

More awesome place

Malaysia Boleh...Ubah! :P