Bukit Kiara Park--Hike for knowledge

21^st July 2016 is a date that I would certainly remember. My girlfriends from secondary school (Wahidah, Ida, Azira), a new friend, Amalina and I went to Bukit Kiara Park, Kuala Lumpur for our first hiking trip together. Alhamdulillah for this ultimate opportunity.

It was not only our first hiking trip together but also my first personal hiking trip without any organisation managements, etc. in Msia. We planned it through Whatsapp messages and when the day arrived, we thought we were totally prepared. Turned out that was only half true.

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Since Azira was the driver, she had to go around the residential area to pick us all and we were on the highway at about 8:10 am but reached Bukit Kiara around 9:45 am because we were stuck in traffic for 30 minutes and were confused with directions a bit. In addition, some of us are not morning people so it was not remotely warm start but we were all fine after we reached our destination. Everybody was intrigued on what was coming on our way. We settled down, got our bodies warmed up while surrounded by most B.K residents doing their morning routine exercises.

We then walked around the park, searching for an entrance since there was no board or anything like it to ease us as beginners and strangers to this new place. We found an elderly Indian man and asked him our ultimate wonder. He was very friendly, the way he talked and smiled while giving us directions on how to get to the hiking trail and how not to get lost because there are a few trails that would determine on how long we will be in the forest.

Wahidah had a selfie stick and was really excited to take pictures of us on our way in to the forest. I was too.

From right: Wahidah, Ina, me, Ida and Azira

So, we headed to a pavement road and walked for about 5 minutes before we heard people talking amidst trees beside the pavement. With no further due, we all decided to follow those two guys whom were talking and go from there. It was pretty steep trail and we were losing our breaths so we took our first break and saw another two elderly Chinese men whom walking on the same trail as us. We said hi and joked about following them since we did not know about this forest. Surprisingly, these two gentlemen said yes and even volunteered to be our guidance till our way down.  I was the first person after Uncle Roger and I must say that he is quiet a talkative person. He asked questions and gave advices to us like we are all his grandchildren. I was pleased to hear those because he talked about real adults’ life and it felt like a sort of awakening moment, a turning point or a slap in the face.

He said things like we must use our youth years wisely by travelling the globe and learn about other cultures, expose ourselves to new adventurous physical activities just like hiking instead of lepaking in local malls and be socially impaired; humiliate unique traits in people while do not realise that respect must be earned and differences must be cherished. Uncle Raymond told us that he hiked Mount Kinabalu when he was 16 years old. I still waited for an ice-cream truck passing by my house when I was 16. We were dumbfounded by these two men. Uncle Roger added that he studied in England and worked in Australia, fully English educated but he never forgets his roots; Mandarin language, his fatherland(Malaysia) but he complained about how close-minded our community nowadays , like the war has never taught us anything. Most families are super conservative that they do not allow modern adjustments to be taken respectively. Like I said, a slap in the face.

Uncle Roger(front), Uncle Raymond(back) and us with sticks like pros

We took breaks and the hiking trip took about 90 minutes and we sweat off good. All Rendang, Ketupat, Lemang, etc. gone for good. I personally felt energised after we finished hiking. The same energy channelled equally for us take more photos on a hanging bridge in the middle of the day.

This trip did not end there. We craved for a decent lunch. Azira drove the car all the way to The Curve, Damansara as directed by Ina (Wazer) and we had a fine lunch and we discovered a tradition for our group, we changed plates clockwise until our own plates reached us again. I exchanged food in restaurants with friends before but in a sloppier way. Thanks to Ida. So, it was a good exercise and a brilliant time spent together.

I learned my lessons and I know hiking is my hobby, seeing the nature is one thing because it soothe our biology with fresh abundant oxygen in the air but I remembered a quote stated 

“you are no better than dumber you before you learn new knowledge until you practise it”. 

Let us all practise things we learnt and use our youth years for a better older us in the future.

Au revoir.