Hiking up Gunong Nuang 4898 ft

My friends Martin Lee, Doc , Yeow and gang were training for their China Hiking trip in October. It was part of their fitness test for the trip. Since this trip coincided with my off days I took the opportunity to go down to KL for this trip and at the same time to pay a visit to our son Alwin at Monash Sunway. Gunong Nuang is the highest hill in Selangor. One can go up to the peak either from Ulu Langat or from Janda Baik. For our trip we started from Janda Baik

 

There was a heavy downpour when we arrived at our RV at the Mac Donald's restaurant in Genting Sempah. The twelve of us lingered around at the nearby food court while we waited for the rain to stop. Some of us were already making plans to proceed to Raub for a good makan ifthe rain does not stop by 1000hrs. Well the controllers upstairs decided that we should go hiking and the rain stopped at about 0830 rs. We then proceeded to our starting point at Janda Baik. The first river crossing was at the starting point so all of us wadded across the river barefooted and put on our shoes on the other side of the stream.

 

Doc, Yeow, ST Chan and Kok Meng were in high spirits at the starting point.

 

The trail started at a small vegetable farm. The track was wide and clear.

20 minutes later we arrived at an Orang Asli settlement.

 

We had a short rest here to wait for the slower trekkers to catch up.

 

Shirley and her family came along. She is a very fit climber.

 

Soon after the settlement the trail narrows down.

 

after about an hour of trekking we came to a waterfall. Here we had to take off our boots again to cross the river.

 

The rocks just below the summit

 

Hiking on a ridge before the rocks

 

And this is the view from the top of Gunong Nuang

 

Martin just before reaching the top.

 

At the summit another group from Raub arrived . They were using the trail from Ulu Langat so it was rather crowded at the top....now who says it can be lonely at the top!

 

It was a good trip. At the end of the trip for being good patients who took the doctor's advice on doing more exercises we were given a treat by Doc at a good restaurant in Bukit Tinggi. 

Helping Hands........

 I had a group of friends that came up over the weekend. We went trekking up Gunong Berembun. After the end of the trek we met up in my house and had a mini party. At the back of my mind I was thinking I should take this opportunity to roll the hulls of my catamaran to it's side so that I could apply more layers of glass to the bow of the hulls.This problem has been tickling me for a while.I tried to squeeze myself in but I cannot work. Tried looking for some smaller persons but they don't know what to do.The best alternative is to lay the hull on it's side and crawl in to work. This was recommended by some earlier builders and in fact it is also written in the plans.

After a good breakfast I took them to my boat shed and briefed them what needs to be done.

The idea is to roll the hull on it's side at the rate of 30 degrees per movement. I was the cheer leader and was giving the command for the movements. Actually the hulls are light but the more people I have the merrier! This picture is the first  tilt.

Now the second tilt..another 30 degrees.

And the final tilt. Easy does it.

Mirror mirror on the wall.....who has the fairest bum of them all...

Next I have to reposition the two completed beams to my garage to make space for me to work on the boat. This is where friend come in handy too...

  The beams are now safely secured in my garage and will be brought out for the final assembly of the catamaran.

Trimming the Hulls

The flat panels that were made were slightly bigger than what is required. After the hulls were completed the panels had to be trimmed. To trim the hulls a diamond cutter had to be used. In the earlier days I tried to use the jigsaw and it was a complete disaster. Every meter or so I had to change the blade.

 

I even had a student doing boat building in the university on vacation coming over. As usual he does not know anything outside the books so every little thing I have to teach and demo to him before he can do.No problem on that...it is part of my contribution to society!

 

 The trimmed hulls looks very smart!

  

Next, the bulkheads had to be reenforced with wood.  This is to allow stringers to be placed on top of them and later the hull top is built. we can then jump and run over it.

 

I always run out of clamps . In boat building no matter how many clamps you own, you are always a few short!