Hutan Lipur Kawang Papar, Sabah Borneo

Its been a while since I updated my blog. But actually we still continue to hiking to various places every other week. We even spend our Hari Merdeka on 31 August 2016 hiking to Hutan Lipur Kawang in Papar. Its a guided tour headed by En. Rosli Abdulah..you guys can search for him in facebook. A really cool nice guy too! There are a few trails available..we choose the shortest one which is 7km which is rm70/pax..there is also 9km (with river trek) and so on..We would be aiming for the 9km trip after this as different trails uses different routes. so the 7km trail would not be the same experience as the 9km trail so to speak.

The trip started at the parking lot of Hutan Lipur Kawang where we were brief of the routes and the do's and dont's..then lunch were distributed which include water, sandwiches and snacks..what strike me as very original is the use of a sort of ice cream hon for the guides to communicate with each other. We have 2 guides for the trip..En. Rosli was the one upfront and Julie was the sweeper (a term I recently learn..hohooo..maksudnya tukang sapu orang paling belakang) They will communicate using the said hon..i forgot 2x hon means what..but during the hike I remember one time we basically stop dead because there was too much honking going on. It seems that some of my hiking buddies went and make their own trail in the forest, so Julie was basically honking to let them know where to gustan (go back) to.hahaa

Anyway, melalut suda..after the briefing at the start of the hike, we were ushered into vans and send to the starting point some distance away. Then our hike started from a gravel road, passing someone's garden/kebun then up into the forest. I must say for me the beginning was always the worse because my body goes into this shock of why are we exercising..but once that wear off..you get to enjoy the scenery and stuff..hehee. What was unique for this hike was the guide..He likes to stop and rest while waiting for everybody to catch up and then gives his life metaphor or explain the scenery around us. The hike this time was kinda calm and mellow..enjoying being in the forest,etc..we even learn about correct way for stretching..and did our stretching under a Bambangan tree.

 

 Then the rain came down by the afternoon and turn the calm atmosphere into a low budget action movie audition which includes tripping in mud..jatuh on my butt..water everywhere..This was the first time we had rain during our hiking..so at last we were able to rasmi our poncho which was in our bag for few months already..just waiting to be use! I think the guides were amused at how well prepared we were..pulling out our ponchos of different color..In the end we ended up looking like pokemons / telletubies. Friend of mine Miss H was hysterically laughing at Mr. M for looking like Pikachu..not realizing herself that she was wearing a yellow poncho as well and looking like another Pikachu yang terlepas.Hahaaa.. When we pointed out that she was also a Pikachu then we all started hysterically laughing again. Other people who were hiking with us probably thought we were a bit crazy..

Part of what makes hiking fun is that you get to meet new people and we learn a lot of new terms in the world of marathon and hiking from a new friend made during the hike. A few stops notable along the way is the old signage, Pulau Mayat (because it looks like a person laying down) and a very old grave..which a guy in the group interrupted the briefing by noting that if the trail is longer than this, his batu nisan is ready..which made us laugh at an inappropriate place..

The hiking ended in Hutan Lipur Kawang where we wash our shoes..etc.For future I learn that it is best to bring a spare change of clothes and soap because always..always ending up smelling funky by the end of any hike.Hehee