Trekking the Mat Kilau Trail to Kuala Tahan (12 to 15 May 2013)

While" playing "around the Ulu Dungun area in Pasir Raja I came to know that in the good old days the villagers used to walk between Kg Pasir Raja in Ulu Dungun (Terengganu) to Kg Bantal in Central Pahang. The locals used to visit each other's village just for a game of football or maybe to attend a kenduri(wedding reception). Measuring the distance in Google earth shows that the trail is about 125 km long and about 88 km is on the river. That leaves ONLY about 37 km of hiking. Of course that does not include the up hill and the downhills so the actual distance over the terrain is probably 45 to 50 km.

Later I found out that this trail was established by the legendary Malay Warrior Mat Kilau while escaping from the British rulers. It took me many more trips to find out more about this interesting trail. Of course talking to the local villagers will reveal plenty but I have to filter the facts from fiction!

What makes this trail interesting is that we will be trekking up to the source of the Dungun River go over the watershed and then go down along the source of the Tembeling River.

About 2 months ago my partner in crime  Sunny Cheong and I met a guy by the name of Lan in Pasir Raja. We started a conversation and I expressed my desire to look for a local guide to guide us to Kuala Tahan from the village. He told us he know of an experienced guide and would introduce him to us.

Pak Tar(the old man on the right of Lan) has been staying in Pasir Raja all his life and used to earn his living by collecting rattan from deep in the jungle. He has several relatives in Kg Bantal ( a very remote village in Central Pahang). After meeting up with him a date was fixed for the trip....12 May to 16 May 2013. May is a dry month and would be good for the trip. Just before the trip Sunny Cheong managed to recruit one of his golfing friends another Cheong CB to come along. that makes it 3 of us.Pak tar wanted RM 700 to be the guide and I did not argue on that.

 

 So on 12 May 2013 we assembled in front of Pak Tar's house for the first part of the trip which is a drive in a 4 WD vehicle to Mat Kilau's grave for the start of the journey. My brother in law Ban Chet had come along to take the car home. I had prepared an equal pack of ration for Pak Tar as I wanted him to enjoy the same foof that we had. To my suprise he refused to carry his food. I had no choice but to carry HIS part of the ration ! 

 

We drove towards the direction of Era Keling which is supposed to be a waterfall and by the time we reached the end of the road it was time for lunch. for lunch I had packed 6 packs of delicious local food from the stall .

 

After lunch it was time to cross the first river and get moving . The first part of the trail is on abandoned timber track and is quite flat . We were making good progress

Towards the end of the abandoned timber track we came to Sg Temaka which is a small tributary feeding into the Dungun river. From here onwards we tracked uphill along this small stream.

 

All along the trail we saw Bunga Kuantum which according to our guide is peculiar only in this area

On the uphill part we took frequent rest and at one point managed to get lines for our cell phone. Ops normal call were made to our families.

 

 Even the guide had to take frequent rest...He kept saying "naik bukit susah lah"..meaning going uphill is tough!

 

My new found friend Cheong CB was in high spirits! He was doing Ok even though he was a tenderfoot in this game.

 

By the time we decided to set camp for the day it was almost 1830 hrs. Both the Cheongs had to make a shelther

I had my Hennessy Hammock which took only 3 minutes to set up.After all my years of jungle camping I had decided a few years ago that the only way to sleep comfortably and peacefully is a good hammock. No more rock or broken branches under the body..

 

 While they were all busy setting up their shelter for the night I did the cooking.It looks like I will have to do this task for the entire trip! Never mind..since I cook I always get the best and biggest share of the food.! 

On the second day we had a simple breakfast of Oats and raisin and commenced our journey at 0800 hrs. 

 We were told that we would reach a water source after about 3 hrs hiking. 

 

Well we took 2 hours to reach the water source and cooked lunch here.

 Lunch consisted of pasta with tuna and some cabbage leaves. After this it is more climbing...all the way up to Bukit Main Angin which is about 2900 ft high.

 

At the peak we could use our hand phone again so we took a 15 min break . At this point Pak Tar the guide decided that based on our good progress we should be able to meet up with the boat man by tonight. He made a call to the boatman and requested the boat to be ONE DAY earlier..This is the border stone which divides Terengganu and Pahang. After this is it is down hill all the way. the track is quite well defined. At once stage I was stung by some bees. Luckily the others were quite a distance behind me and I had to shout to divert their treks to avoid being bitten by bees.

 

 There was quite a bit of undergrowth along the way but towards the Pahang side the jungle is still primary.

Kuala Gemala

Soon we realised that it was a mistake to arrange for the boat to come a day earlier. Cheong CB had cramps and we actually wanted to set camp at Kuala Gemala when we arrived at about 1530 hrs. Seeing that the morale was low, I decided to cook some hot food and we had a good rest before setting off again.

 The water in the streams here is very clean. I drank water direct from the stream.

 

We managed to coax out tenderfoot to life again. This time we were trekking along the Sungei Chey. By now all our shoes were wet . Fresh elephants tracks were sighted. We could smell the elephant here.As it was approach dark I decided that we should camp at Kuala Chey for the night. From Kuala Chey to Kuala Lurut where our boatman is will be another 2 hrs walk.

 

Some parts of the river can be quite deep....... it was very slippery as we walked on top of the rocks.

 

By the time we set up camp it was almost dark. The guide took the initiative to trek down to Kuala Lurut to assure the boatman that we are here so that he wont leave without us. Actually I thought it was unnecessary as the boat man will never leave without us (We had not paid him yet!)

 

Next morning we decided to enjoy the morning at Kuala Chey. We woke up late..at about 0730 hrs.

 

I found that in the darkness of the night I had tied my hammock just on top of some elephant dung. Luckily there was no smell! But I do feel some softness whenever my buttock touched something when the hammock swings.Real SHIT lah.

 

The river here is prestine......

 

We were enjoying the lovely swim on the clear water river . Not a sound of traffic or hand phone ringing! Share prices could bottom down so what.......Not a worry in the world!

 

The depth of the river is just ideal for a swim.

 By 1o00 hrs we started our trek along the Sg Chey again . This time we had to walk on the river.

 

This is where the local cap Gajah rubber shoes were idea. it provides better grip on the rocks as we went along. A walking stick makes the walk easier too.

The wild elephants had just passed us maybe two hours ago. Just compare the elephant feet to my foot!

 

The walk was slow and tedious. one wrong step and a fall is almost certain!

 

Soon we sighted OUR boat. No more walking.. Everyone felt great. We cooked lunch at Kuala Lurut before we boarded the boat to take us to Kg Bantal. Cost of hiring the boat from Kg Bantal to Kuala Lurut is RM 400.

 

Our boat man was En Noh..a very friendly guy.

 

By now all of us had enough walking so sitting on a boat is pure haven!

 

The boatlady (whatever she is called) can really multi task. She can help to navigate the boat through the shallow water, fish (very handy with a jala/casting net) and cook!

 

Lady at work....

 

And this is the result after just 10 min of "working".This is going to be our dinner. We traded away our spare sardines for some real fish! 

It took us about 3 hrs to reach Kg Macang Periah , a village just across Kg Bantal. this is where En Noh stays and we were offered either to camp near his house OR stay in his house.

 

We decided to stay a night at Noh's house. After all her wife cooked us a nice dinner with all the fish that was caught on the way home. We were really impressed by the hospitality and the kindness shown by the Noh family. Thank You very much En Noh! 

Next morning we took a "Bot Sewa"..literally a water taxi to Kuala Tahan. kit was another 3 hours of river cruising pleasure!

 

At Kuala Tahan we had arranged Ban Chet to drive my Ford ranger to pick us up.Luch at one of the floating restaurants was great .

CONCLUSION

The Mat Kilau trail is a great trail. On a scale of 5 I would grade the trail as 4.5. it is clean and unspoilt (yet). For future hikers, please keep the cleaniness of the trail. we took out all our rubbish.It is quite a simple trail to hike and the ascend is not so steep. I have included the GPS waypoints for the trip but I would strongly advice the use of a guide as the trail has several sections of undefined tracks.

WE SHALL RETURN TO THIS PARADISE SOON!

 GPS WAYPOINTS

N 04.50667 E 102.91438  Started hiking from here 12 May 2013  1230 hrs
N 04.49591  E 102.91244    1305 hrs
N 04.48772  E102.91389   1335 hrs
N04.48280  E102.90651     1405 hrs
N 04.48211  E102.90340   1425 hrs     Sg Temaka
N04.47820  E102.89943   1512 hrs
N04.48033  E102.89656   1539 hrs
N04.47693  E102.89598     1625 hrs
N04.48112  E102.88708   Camp 1st night
N04.47854  E102.88136   13 May 2013 0845 hrs
N04.47062 E102.86865  1130 hrs    Bukit Main Angin
(Dont confuse with another hill, Gunong Main Angin!)
N04.4777   E102.87850   0920 hrs
N04.4711  E102.97705   1000 hrs
N04.47057  E102.86430  1220 hrs
N04.46667  E102.85754   1305 hrs
N04.46564  E102.84475  1520 hrs Kuala Gemala
N04.44758  E102.81648   14 May 2013 0945 hrs
N 04.47700  E102.65318   1350 hrs
N04.45250  E102.82542  Kuala Chet 1820 hrs
N04.45071   E102.82586  camp 2
N04.44363  E 102.80067 Kuala Lurut
N04.47553   E102.65188  Macang Peria
 

KC Foong's visit

 I came to know KC Foong through the MBS Loop a couple of years back. He is about 10 years my senior and we were from the same scout troop...10th KL (Air Scouts). He stays in Auckland and earns his living by ticking the volcanoes( geothermal engineering). Over the weekend on his way back from Redang Island he poped in to pay me a visit. Knowing his love for the great outdoors I had planned some activities for him. First I took him out to the river.

 

Well I am impressed. He can handle my single seater kayak like a pro! Too bad it started to rain after a while.

 We took shelter in a fish farm and from here I bought a 1 kilo Sea Bass (Siakap) to be steamed for dinner.

 Next day I took him to the Cemerong Waterfalls and we hiked up the 350 m waterfall.

 KC is no tenderfoot at hiking for I know he does quite a bit of hiking back in NZ

 This is the claimed highest waterfall in the country (maybe not true..I had seen bigger ones in Sarawak)

 Lord Baden Powell would be proud to have KC as his follower. I could see that he lives by the scout laws and is still very much a scout at heart.

OOps ..a slight error !

 The plan says "cut the upper portion of bulkhead No 2 and fit that section last". I forgot to trim the bulkhead and realised it only now. the reason for leaving the section empty initially is to allow the beam to come in and be fitted.

 

So now it is the difficult task of "destroying" part of the bulkhead !

 

 Finally this is how it should be. as I go along I find bits of mistakes here and there...nothing major yet so far . I am sure if I ever build another boat I would know how to read and interpret the plans more accurately!

Building Bunks on the Left Hull

 

Next on my agenda is to build the bunks on the hull. The idea is to get as much work done inside the shaded shed before getting the hulls outside to be joined.

 

The interior of the hulls are still bare at this stage. these two hulls will eventually serve as my guest rooms. Now this will ensure maximum privacy for my guest.

 

As per the plan, 6 mm ply is used to make the bunks. The measurements had to be correctly measured before transferring onto the ply to be shaped. This is a tedious process as I will have to climb two ladders to get in and out of the hull. The first photo shows the ladders.

 It takes several trips in and out to get a good fit on the bunks

 

A layer of wood stain is applied onto the marine ply. It gives some protection and also looks good.

  

Here the bunks are ready. At the same time I applied a layer of white epoxy paint to the side of the hull. Notice the voluminous space for storage below the bunks

 

Actually it is quite spacious inside the hull. there is standing room in the middle of the hull.

 

 Next the side of the hull is cut to prepare for the insertion of the two beams.

 Now this beam entrance has been cut the left and right hull has been decided. Do you think this is a right hull or  a left hull?

Shaping the Gypsy Rudders

  This year the Monsoon has been quite bad since October last year until now with the improvement in weather it is time for me to start building my catamaran again. To regain back the momentum, I started with the shaping of both the rudders. the rudders were shaped from a big piece of wood measuring 1100 mm by 300 mm. The wood that I had selected for the job is Balau hitam which is a all weather resistant wood.(same as those used for the main beams)

 First the shape of the rudder had to be drawn on the edge. I then used a planner to give it the basic shape

 It is quite a slow process as the wood is hard.

  

This is half done!

 

 A sander is used to give the final finish .And this is how it looks like when completed.  Now I have to do the same process all over again for the second rudder...the joy of catamaran building...always have to do twice the same work!

Now I have two identical rudders.

The Third Day Bicycling in Holland

 

The weather when I woke up was gloomy. The famous strong winds of Netherlands is here. It was raining slightly and there was some snow as well. Never mind..I will decide after I had  my breakfast at the hostel. Breakfast was a simple affair with good healthy food.

 

While I was having breakfast I met up with another bicycle tourist from Germany. He had just retired at 60 years old and is seeking some adventures in his life. we were heading in almost the same direction towards Hoofdroop. The distance from Den Hague is about 55 km. Now that I had completed my breakfast and the wind is howling, I decided to take a train to Laden which is 25 km away. that means i will have only 30 km to cycle today.

So it is pedal back to the train station where I came from yesterday, bought a ticket and boarded the train for the 20 mins ride to Laden

While standing on the train I met a young lady doing law at the Laden University. We started chatting about the Dutch education system. Soooo good. They were paid quite a sum of money to study in the University. No need to burden the parents. It is all inclusive..fees, food, transport and accommodation. I only wish it were the same here in Malaysia!

 

The GPS bicycle route on my Garmin seems to be playing havoc when I started to ride my bicycle again from Laden to Hoofdroop. It kept pointing me towards the car highways (which do not allow cycling). I had to use my cow sense to get back to the bicycle path. While struggling to get the correct path GPS assisted, I had to ask for direction. There comes this lady on a bicycle at  the deserted country road. She was heading towards her house boat. Looking at the bicycle path map located by the road side she explained to me how to use the Dutch bicycle path to travel along the most scenic route. All you have to do is to join up the numbers on the route and follow the signs joining the numbers. Simple enough but when I rode along I found that locating the road numbers were quite difficult...esp when the weather is less than cooperative

This is how the road side map looks like

Dark clouds were looming again in the horizon. Within an hour it started to pour. GPS says I ma about 5km to Hoofdroop my destination for the day.Then it poured and the wind speed picked up. It was impossible to cycle in this weather and also it became VERY cold. There were no shelters around. My good friend Keith Yim had told me many time he will be standing by for me to call if the weather turns sour and he will just drive up to pick me to the comforts of his home. No..I cannot give up when it is so near.I decided to fold my bicycle(advantage of a folding bike) and started to hitch hike. Within a few minutes a van stopped and offered me a lift to Hoofdroop. This kind soul says it is the first time in his life giving a lift to strangers as it is not a safe thing to do in Holland. I told him I used to give lifts to hitch hikers in Malaysia and this must be some sort of repayment for me! Well he brought me to the village center in Hoofdroop. After a meal of Mac Donalds I cycled to my host Keith Yim's house. Sorry for not having photos of the bad weather but I did not want to damage my camers. believe me....the weather is real bad!

Here I did my shopping for some cheese to bring home. Next moring Keith drove me to the Schipol airport and I departed back home to Malaysia.