Because
of my backpack weight issue, I did not bring my sleeping bag with me and I
carry everything myself. First I don’t want to add weight to the porter,
because the porters are already heavily laden with food, and their camping gear
to support my team. Second I can also train my endurance to get stronger.
I
can feel the chill breeze blowing toward my hammock, and the base feels so so
cold. My socks are soggy, only one pair, can't use that for sleeping. So because of no sleeping bag, then I used my quick-dry tower as a blanket to warp both of my feet to keep them warm 😖
I
did not have a proper sleep last night. checked the temperature is around 22'C
so cold, just because of the rain.
Waited
until 5.30 am, I then get off of my hammock, and it was still dark, and wet. I
was thinking I should have gotten a cooker here so I can boil some water for a hot
drink.
At 6
am, my guide is awake. They start to cut new firewood and cooked rice for our
lunch later. I cooked two packs of instant noodles and drank a big mug of hot
milo as breakfast.
Looking
at the trail in front of me, it was where we came from yesterday and now it was
all covered with fog. I hope no more rain today, please give us good weather.
|
My breakfast, curry Maggie instant noodles, and Milo hot drink |
After
my breakfast, I wear my hiking clothes, pants and socks. And
starts to pack all my stuff into my backpack again. It is difficult to pack
when the surrounding is wet. And I can feel my backpack is heavier than
yesterday.
|
Spiders web and the morning dew |
The 2nd-day
trek covered an estimate of 6km, with 6 hours and 20 mins of moving time. We
trek from the abandoned logging road, and then move into the jungle along the
mountain range.
In the jungle trail is where the leeches came and embrace me
with open arms, or should I say open mouths. I have leech bite now and then, is
it because they have never seen humans before, so it got so active? My belly,
my arms, my neck, my tie, ankle, and feet (yes they penetrate over my socks),
all have leech bites. I normally use the "minyak kapak" the ack oil
to let them taste the power of the mint!
While
hiking, me and my team will check on our GPS devices to get an update on our
current location. My guide on the other way used their instinct, their brain is
the GPS. These hunters are so used to the jungle, they can easily recognize the
marks in the jungle.
At one point when I was following in behind, he stops and
showed me the footprint of deer, wild boar, dead animal skulls, old markings
from hunters, and animal dropping. Okay, I am impressed 😁
I
remember when we hike to a point, we manage to get a glips of the western Julan
waterfall. And can hear it roaring from a very far distance. I am extremely excited
to be able to see western fall from far away, after all these years of thinking
of her, wanted to meet with her face to face. Aduhh duhhhh... I just want to go
meet up with her as soon as possible. It lifted my spirit that time, and I look
back at my research team and motivate them for a while, then continue with our
hike.
The
route was a steady uphill hike along the ridge, it was very hard going through
a tangle of fallen rotten trees, a big patch of fern vegetation, thorns plants
and other delights of the jungle. I am constantly being attacked by leeches and
horseflies to suck blood from me. However, this for me will be the joy of exploration, the
experience I gain I will cherish forever, cause I am doing something that I
have a passion for.
From
this point onward, I can see more and more streams. My friend also stops to
refill their water, and for a quick break. It is always very pleasing whenever
I take off my heavy backpack on the ground and break for a while. This trail is
like a never-ending trail, I can hear the waterfall sound getting loud and
loader, and this also means we are nearer.
After
hours of trekking, we finally reached Camp no.2 and without wasting any time,
we put down our heavy loads and proceed to the western waterfall. This will be
another 2 hours to get there. The weather doesn’t look good, I am praying
inside me in hope that PuSa will bless me with good weather. But regardless
good or bad, I must go!
The
trail condition, now the surface has more loose rocks, muddy. Multiple streams
flowing down. This side of the hill has so much more water compared to the one
where we set up our camp no.1 with one wrong step, one might fall hard and get a
serious injury. Even though I am eager to reach the western Julan waterfall, safety
is still my priority. I constantly checking myself, but the damn leeches
somehow still manage to find a way to bite me, errrrrrr.....is very
annoying!!!
The
last stretch is a huge valley, full of mossy plants crawling all over the
trees. The droplets of the waterfall make this into a mossy forest. Everywhere
looks the same, it is not because of the roaring sound from the waterfall, it
will be hard for me to get a sense of direction in this kind of jungle. The
trail is muddy and slippery, with many big boulders that I need to carefully crawl
over using my arms.
After
two hours of hiking from camp no.2, we had finally reached the western Julan
waterfall. There she is just right in front of me. After all these years of
just reading books, looking at pictures, and watching clips on the internet.
She is now in front of me!!! I can't express how happy I am, this feeling is
simply amazing.
The
size of the Western Julan waterfall is something I cannot imagine by just
looking at pictures. It is huge, and the water that flows down from the top of
the waterfall, when it gets impact into another tier, some of it becomes mist,
the force is so strong that it created a force and blew the mist many meters
away. I cannot believe what I witness with my own eyes in front of me. Why on
earth can there be something so strong? The water is RANGING water, flowing
constantly down the river!!!
|
A better scale on how big the waterfall is |
Slowly
and steadily I descend to the base of the waterfall. The force of the breeze is
extremely strong, I am constantly being blasted by water mist from the
waterfall, it is really fun! I sat at one of the rocks, scoping the water to
wash my face, woooowwww, it is really cold. And then I take off my rubber
shoes, opss I found two leeches on the right and one more on the left. I then
soak both of my feet in the water, what a good way to relax my leg muscle.
After that, I keep on taking videos and photos of the waterfall to try to keep this
memory.
I
saw some of my friends and guide are still at the edge of the ridge, also
slowly coming down to the waterfall base. We all had a wonderful time enjoying
the strong breeze of water mist there.
The
time then was about 4 pm, and I can hear my guide calling me time to go back to
camp no.2 (2 hours) while still having daylight. Shit! I just remember I did
not bring a headlight, and my mobile battery just left about 20%. Guess this is
it... I slowly stand up, wear back my rubber shoes, and climb up.
Once
I am in the jungle again, it was dark, one weather is not good, two the day was
almost coming to an end. I then turn on my turbo 4WD mood and hike very fast I
manage to catch up with the guide, and my friends, and reached camp no.2 first
to set up my hammock.
That
night, it did not rain. I went to the river nearby to clean up myself. My guide
cooked dinner but I don’t know why I don’t feel hungry, so I skipped dinner
that night (maybe too happy seeing the western Julan waterfall). My researcher
friend also manages to get a lot of flora samples along the way and recorded
them with his camera. He even showed me a red shell carb, it was a land crab.
For me, I am glad to see that every one of us manages to achieve our objective.
Not
long after our dinner, it starts to pour rain again :S This is not good, as our
initial plan was to hike to the Eastern side of Usun Apau, and camp on top of
the Eastern Julan waterfall. We will need to cross two rivers from the western
and eastern Julan waterfall, but if heavy rain and the water level rise, it
will be very dangerous for us to do so. Especially in the middle of the
rainforest with dense vegetation.
That
night is the same as the first night. I sleep for a while, awake, and sleep
back again. Can't sleep properly, so I just keep on constantly checking on the
fly sheet to make sure that it has no rainwater leak into my hammock. I also
checked the temperature again, and it was around 20'C that night. Suddenly I
felt something bite my toe, I quickly switch on my headlight again to check,
and to no surprise, it was a stupid leech, and thanks to that fella my toe is
now bleeding. So I have to crawl out from my hammock (while still raining)
where is already so cold and look for my first aid to clean the wound and stop
the bleeding.
This is how day two of the exploration ends..
Telang Usan Tableland Exploration: