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I spend most of my weekends either with my family members watching television
the entire day and play football in the evening or go for a sleepover at my
friend, Karim's, house. In fact, as long as my memory stretches, I have been
spending my weekend in this rather unexciting manner until last weekend. That
weekend, I was in Karim's house and was introduced to is cousin Jamal. The
latter hails from Kelantan and very vivacious personality. He was full of
energy, enthusiasms and a bit of a dare-devil, as they say. I took an immediate
liking to him. Upon hearing of our boring weekends playing football and later
adjourning to our favorite mamak stall for a late night supper, Jamal suggested
e do something different. he is an accomplished trekker as well as a hiker. When
he found out about the Air Hitam hill, famous among trekkers, which ahs tracks
that reach right up to the summit, he virtually harassed us to accompany him.
Both Karim and I are basically couch potatoes and have no enthusiasm for such a
sport. But we did not want to disappoint Jamal and reluctantly agreed to go
hiking with him.
But it turned out to be the most interesting weekend I ever had. i did not
live to regret it ! It was a Sunday and the three of us were dressed in our
hiking attires, much to the surprise and amusement of Karim's parents. we told
them that their perspective of us as lazy bones and unadventurous would change
forever. They smiled indulgently. we packed a few bottles of mineral water and
some sandwiches.
The famous Air Hitam trekking area was fantastic ! There were many joggers
and fitness buffs as well as tourists who converge there every day. There were
clear racks that would enable trekkers to reach the summit without getting lost.
In fact, at certain points, there are stalls and rest areas where one can even
sit down for a light meal and drink. we did not make any stop as we were
determined to reach the summit. The mountain was not too high and thankfully the
dry weather had ensured the tracks were not slippery. we saw many exotic birds
and other creatures along the way, even snakes. Thankfully, we had brought a
long stick and a can of pepper spray in case we were attacked by wild animals.
We didn't need to worry. No wild creatures tried to attack us nor were here any
encounters with slithery creatures ! We also feasted our eyes on beautiful and
strange looking flowering plants and even picked some flowers for Karim's
mother.
We reached the summit two hours later. The scene was simply breathtaking ! It
was covered with light frost and the weather was rather chilly. But we were
sweating and actually enjoyed the cool air. Famished, we gobbled our sandwiches.
they never tasted better. After relaxing for about 20 minutes, we made our long
way down tot he foot of the mountain.
It truly had been an interesting as well as exciting weekend. Karim and I
vowed to go trekking every weekend to keep our body fit and our mind refreshed. |
