03 October 2007

Trip to Mount Santubong

Mount Santubong (Malay: Gunung Santubong) is a mountain in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is located about 35 km north of the state capital Kuching.

Legend

A legend often associated with the mountain is of two beautiful princesses, Santubong and Sejinjang. Santubong was an expert weaver while Sejinjang was an excellent rice tresher. One day, they had a quarrel and exchanged blows. Sejinjang swung her tresher which hit Santubong's cheek. Santubong threw her weaver at Sejinjang, hitting her in the head. Putting an end to the quarrel, the King of Heaven cursed both of them into mountains. Santubong turned into Mount Santubong while Sejinjang was turned into Mount Sejinjang. It is said that Mount Santubong resembles a woman lying on her back.


My Journey

I t took us about 30 minutes drive from Kuching town to reach the bottom of Mount Santubong. We reached there about 7.45am, and started to hike up following the tracks provided with the safety signs.It was drizzling rain along the journey to the top!


My advice to those who wants to climb this mountain must have good stamina. Do not eat oily food such as curry, sarawak laksa..these might causing u not feeling well.

There are about 15 pits stop. At the beginning of the track, the condition still acceptable for everyone. When comes to the middle of the journey, the paths covered with a lot roots and have to be very careful on every step for not fall down.

There are a lot of stairs hanging on the stone wall for us to climb to the top. The highest is about 2 storey's high. I was so worried about the safety of all climbers.



It takes between 3 and 4 hours to reach the summit and slightly less to descend again. Climbers need to take plenty to drink and some food to keep going.



A BBQ has been built at the top but begin your descent by 3pm to get back in the day light and avoid stepping on snakes that cross the path sometimes.