The Conquest of Bukit Pantu (Part 1)

Sunday 14th August 2011 was a memorable day. Not only because it was my grandfather’s birthday, but I think more so because we made a crazy decision. On the way to meet Aunty Sara and Uncle Zang, we picked up the rest of the team: Nana, Ben and Darren.


The obligatory “before” group shot at the trail head

New hiking shoes for the boys

Aunty Sara had mentioned taking up my father’s challenge of a 6 km hike, but she did say “we’ll see first at the first rest stop”.

When we started the trek, I was feeling regretful on agreeing to join the hike. I was already tired within the first 5 minutes because we seem to be going uphill with no end in sight. I felt ridiculous! We could have been so comfortable at home, but here we were asking for trouble.

I could tell Darren was regretting too because he was also complaining. In fact, he was already losing balance even when we were on flat ground! As for my other cousin, Ben, he was among the crazy people who enjoyed the difficult terrain. It was his first hike and he already managed to bounce ahead with Uncle Zang who was mistakenly named by Nana as “Ben”. So in our team that day, we had “Ben 1” and “Ben 2”. Sometimes, depending on how tired Nana was, it was “Big Ben” and “Little Ben” . . . .

We managed to finish the first trail moaning and groaning with lots of rest in between. This was bad! When we found the first rest stop, we were so happy we could fly! We drank so much water that our supply came dangerously low for the remaining trail. Nana even brought a plastic container of cake that Kendrick dropped on the floor. We ate sandy cake, but hey, no one’s complaining.


Aunty Sara’s tree hugger. This was even before the first rest stop!

Up some rickety stairs

All too soon, dream over . . . . Aunty Sara said “let’s go”. Without any discussion, I think, she decided we were heading towards Bukit Pantu. We all had no idea what was awaiting us! At least, I managed to check my facebook at the hut . . . .

Haiyo, another uphill trek. We went up, and up, and up, and up some more! As my mom didn’t take breakfast that morning, she opened a pack of chocolate fingers on the way and only ate 3 pieces. She made the rest of us finish it and made us gain what we lost!


Like I said, we kept going up and up and up . . . .

The second trail had soooo many uphills. I thought I mumbled in my mind, but apparently I voiced my incredulous thought – what kind of crazy people invented hiking anyway?! Why in the world did God think of when he created mosquitoes and leeches? What if there’s a snake? A lot of what ifs crossed my mind. But never mind, that’s just me.

Aunty Sara had the uncanny habit of taking pictures of funny things along the way. She stopped to take a close up of a dead flower on the trail. I was like “so what?? It’s just a flower! AND it’s dead!”

After what felt like 10,000km uphill, we reached Bukit Pantu! I finally saw a clearing with sunlight. The final uphill climb to reach the summit was so dreamy. I never thought I would be some place like this. It was incredible.


This was simply awesome! (Photo by Dr. Zang Zhuquan)

We hiked almost a total of 4 hours and 6 km to see this?!

Well, I guess it was beautiful view from the summit (Photo by Philip Tho)

At the peak, we did a leech count and found that only person had a leech bite . . . . Aunty SARA! The leech had her blood and is officially her relative! I became so paranoid about leeches after seeing it bloated with blood. Nana and Kendrick demanded for certificates to prove their suffering . . .

Because of my disgust at leeches, going back was indeed so much faster than going up. I think we made it in record time although coming and going was equally difficult.


It is easier to just slide down on your butt!

When we reached the canteen at Park HQ, we sort of emptied the fridge of their coca-colas. There were other tourists there having their lunch and they must have thought we were nuts. Uncle Zang was the only smart one among us. Instead of piling all the calories we’ve burned, he decided to nap under a tree instead.

After Bukit Pantu, I would think that any other trail would be a piece of cake. And coincidentally, all of us did receive a certificate of accomplishment from *SWCT Boot Camp® a few days later! And we are all superbly proud of Darren, he turned pro on the journey back!


* Sara Wong C. T. Boot Camp

Aunty Sara’s graduating class of 2011!

Words by Kenisha Tho
Images by Sara Wong unless otherwise indicated