Hiking Gunung Datuk

Full disclosure, I am NOT a hiker/runner/work-outer AT ALL. So when my hiker/runner/deadlifter colleagues suggested doing this hike with them, I was straight up like 'no thanks'. But here I am, writing about his hike that I obviously went on despite my reluctance. I'll get straight to it then. But first, this is the last picture we took beside the parking lot on our way back, and it made my day (I love cattle in mountain settings).

I took a cab to Woodlands checkpoint at 5:30am, walked through immigration, took a bus to JB, did that side of immigration and got picked up by a colleague at JB Sentral. The drive to Datuk from JB is about 2ish hours. It had been 2.5 years since I last went to Malaysia (yes, ridiculous, I know) and I was instantly in love again. Malaysia is amazing. It's open and green and just fills you with so much joy and hope. I should really visit more often. Anyway, so we get to Gunung Datuk and I'm already feeling like crap because I know I'm the one in the group that's least fit aka going to be holding everyone back. But all this self-pity soon turned to rage and then exhaustion and hopelessness as the steep climb stripped away my breath and ignited fire in my thighs. And while it sounds like a motivational statement, it's not. There were points where I literally thought I was going to faint. I was hot and cold at the same time. I was drenched in sweat. My legs were jelly and cement. My heart was pounding swear words at my chest. Proof in the picture , it's hard work.

It took me about 2 something hours (I think) to get to the top. I'd like to think the view was worth it (it's a spectacular view, but would I do this to my body every again? Probably not). To top it all off, the summit is infested with 1083298 bees. They're swarming around everywhere, sitting on you, drinking your sweat. It's gross, but I was so beat that I couldn't be bothered to shoo them away (I was also terrified of being stung). And in the end, the sight of a bee feeding off my sweat arm was almost endearing.

So you see, the view was absolutely breathtaking (literally)

and looking at it again... I might just consider doing another hike. Maybe.

Can I just say 'started from the bottom now we here'? No? Okay.

Sweatily,

Niharika