There'll Be Another Time...

Date: Sunday August 25, 2002
Destination: Supposedly Gunung Tahan (Pahang)

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't hop into the plane with the CIMP team that went up Gunung Kinabalu. That trek went into the annals of the CIMP Treking Club as one of the greatest feats ever achieved. Some misguided ones even thought that that was the trek of the century. I missed that trip, so what. No one knew I had other (better & bigger) plans up my sleeve. And as the way things are, the future can only get better. Hence, Gunung Tahan.

       The thought of going up Gunung Tahan had been on my head for a while. Many have asked me to organise the trip, but I always waited and waited for a most appropriate time. And this year proved to be a good time.

       Why was this year appropriate? The CIMP people, that's why. When you've been on a few treks with different people, you know when you have good people around you. We've got really good people in CIMP. So we went to Gunung Tahan because they were people who asked for it, there were people who would not be around to do it if we didn't do it now, there were people who had got nothing else better to do but to join on another trek, there were people who would only go up to so many mountains, and there were people whom I'd like to go on another trip with. So if you are a CIMP Trekker, you were the reason for the trip!

Another reason why we did it this year was because Year 2002 is dedicated as the "International Year of the Mountains," so I guess the only logical challenge was to trek up as many mountain peaks as possible. From January to April 2002, the CIMP Trekking Club scaled the heights of Gunung Ledang, Gunung Datuk, Gunung Nuang, Gunung Irau, Gunung Kinabalu and the lesser Klang Gates Ridge. That's 7 peaks in 4 months. We followed that with our adventurous conquest in rain and mud to the top of Gunung Besar Hantu (Big Ghost Mountain) in May 2002. So how was CIMP going to top that? Well the plan was to go up 5 peaks in 6 weeks! Why? Coz we're CIMP!

So before the Gunung Tahan trek, we did several pre-treks up various mountains. The following treks were made between July and August, 2002:

We scheduled the Gunung Tahan trip from August 24-29, 2002. Sadly, as of 19 August 2002, I was not able to join the much awaited trek of the year.        As much as I wanted to be on the trek, I had to miss the trek and the 9 brave souls who were attempting the mountain. Between the role as a trek advisor/organiser and a daddy, there is no question as to which role I would choose first. My family duties come first, and I had to tend to my little baby girl, Shieh Jeanne [age 3 months] at this time.

       Gunung Tahan remains just that: a mountain. It will still be where it is today.

       So with that, I can only say that those who went were all deluded individuals. They think they have embarked on CIMP's Greatest Trek or even the Trek of the Century for that matter. But they are wrong. They may have made a stamp in CIMP's history books, but that is all. There will come another time when I will conquer Gunung Tahan. And there will come a time when I lead the CIMP Trekking Club on it's greatest challenge.

Who Went on The Gunung Tahan Trek Without Me?
Nee On, Sze Ning, Adrian Wong, Amos Ho, Nazrul, Jensen, Su Yuen, Bernadette and Don

Related Website
Don Mah's Travel Log: A Week in the Jungle with the CIMP Trekking Club