Bismillah.
We hiked the Gunung Alai the other day! Yes you heard (or read, to be precise) it right!
One of my wishlists has always been to hike a mountain, not just the small hills. And I finally did it!💗One wishlist crossed!
There were a total of 18 of us friends so we went there with 4 cars. We started our journey from campus early, some time around 10pm and reached the meeting point at Restoran Kari Kepala Ikan Salim at 1am. I ate two roti canai kosong because one was just not enough to fill my growling stomach. The roti canai was damn good, but the kuah kari is a no-no.
Aside from us 18 people, we were joined together with 12 strangers along with 3 malim gunung (that's what they call the hiking guides). I spent RM65 for the permit and the malim fees.
After everyone had arrived, we followed the malims to the designated location. Unlike Berekeh, there wasn't a proper parking space here. It was more like the excess space near the village so I was feeling a bit off at that. If yall are wondering, this village isn't Orang Asli village.
The hike started at around 2.50 a.m. The earliest group arrived at the peak at 4 a.m. meanwhile me and my gurls and two gentlemen and one malim was the last group to arrive. It was around 6.10 a.m. and the sun had already started to rise :')
Anyway, we were suuuperrrrr thrilled as there were already many people there. A lot of them built their own pacaks to sleep under, but we don't have that so we just chilled on our rubber mat. The weather was extra colddd and I didn't bring my windbreaker so I was the only one hugging myself to keep me warm :') (Sofea lent me hers later though, what a sweet girl). The boys cooked us instant Maggi. Thank you guys!!
There a total of 3 checkpoints before finally reaching the peak. Someone built resting benches out of tree trunks at each of the checkpoint, so it was truly nice to be able to take a breathe after all those sweatings. The hiking difficulty level was moderate, I'd say. I definitely think Berekeh was a lot more difficult as it went like: /\ /\ /\ meanwhile Gunung Alai's trail is mostly what we would call "denai" and landai, something like this: __/ --/
The track was easy and well-identified. Honestly, I think you'd be just fine without a guide. Just be sure to apply for permit at the Jabatan Perhutanan.
The view you ask? Oh it was top-tier. A whole different level compared to Berekeh and other hills I've hiked before. Here, you can totally see the whole awan karpet. All the clouds were covering the forests and hills and it was SO FREAKIN PRETTY. Subhanallah.
We took LOTS of pictures, but lemme just kept them in my personal files. Can you see the two mountain peaks in the picture? That is Gunung Kerunai (1000m) and Gunung Kenderong (1123m).
