Gunung Jerai with Pakciks!

I've just read an article that UN has come out with a statistic that stated Malaysia is the 9th Most Visited Country in 2011. Hurray! 'Some' Malaysians love condemning the tourism people for spending a lot but it seems that this fact by UN didn't get them interested? 

(Source)

Anyhow, 2 weeks back me and my Geng Pakciks went to Jerai Hill in Kedah for hiking. Jerai is almost 1000m height. I know that it would be difficult, but as I said previously, time with my Pakciks are moments that you need to cherished every moments I could. So I was up for it!


With a start, there are 1000 stairs that we need to go through before starting the hiking. But having a weak knee does not help at all. I'm truly sorry to Pakciks for them to bear with me waiting while I got myself up the hill, but seriously the pain was too much :-(

The route after the stairs is okay though. Sometimes it is steep, while some places are not. Still I would need to stop for once in a while (Sorryyyy again). Along the path, there are some kind of weird 'words' that were tagged on trees which I believe was the 'jin' or 'bunian' which were released by their masters as some people said this place was widely known for that purpose. Seram kan?


But the scenery, the structure and color is breathtaking. The trees are sometimes contrast in color even they are the same kind. That is simply weird, but interesting though. Many big, I mean BIG trees which must have been hundreds of years there. As it gets higher, the temperature seems to reduce and before reaching the peak, you'll meet again with stairs which are not as steep as the one at the start.


And at last, at the peak, at the summit of Jerai, I finally get it through! Hip hip, hurray! On top of the hill, there is a Residence Hotel. A nice place where you can see the paddy fields and seas. Superb. There are restaurants where you can enjoy meals (which I don't have the chance as the place were full) and mosque. Penat semua dah tak rasa bila sampai atas, it feels worth it.


After performing Zohor prayer, we decided to get down as we planned to go for a swim at the foot of Jerai. Believe me, going down is not as easy as climbing up. The pain on my knees was twice as before. I was tryingggg soo SUPER DUPER hard not to complain or moan as these Pakciks were moving quite quick and it would break my heart to disappoint them. 


I didn't remember how long did we take to go down, but when a lady at a stall asked the time we take to go up, Encik Nine answered with an exaggerated answer, and of course, the lady was amazed. Hehe. He thought the lady was asking about the time we went down. Tapi serba salah nak betulkan, biarkan je. Bagi that lady seronok, Nine pun seronok... Hihi. 


Instead of swimming, we simply 'took a bath' at the stream. Going there for a swim is something I would not suggest.


I know these Pakciks will MOST PROBABLY took a lesser time if I was not around but I'm 200% sure that they didn't mind at all, but still, I feel bad.
Maybe I should put a second thought next time to join this kind of activity. 


p.s. Waiting patiently for our Pakciks trip to Vietnam :-)