Flying Hanuman – ziplining through and above a Phuket jungle!

What to do in Phuket besides the usual sun, sea and sand? Or the commercialised island hopping trips (because you’re not rich enough to rent a private yacht)? Or the glitzy cabarets and elephant shows?

What about the Flying Hanuman where you zipline through and above a Phuket forest? It was my birthday so my friends pretty much let me do whatever I wanted <3 When I saw the Flying Hanuman website, my first thought was, "WHY SO EXPENSIVE??" The full course of 28 platforms plus meal costs 3,490 baht. Take away the meal and it's 3,250 baht. A quick thrill ride would be 2,300 baht. But why bother? Might as well go the full monty! Through TripAdvisor, I found that it's cheaper by 500 baht to book via agencies, which we ended up doing. On the morning of our 8am adventure, we were picked up at our hotel and brought to Flying Hanuman in Kathu. Here we go..! Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - welcome sign

After registration and depositing our things into the locker, the guides helped us with our safety gear. Not unlike SkyTrex, which is much cheaper but way more arduous.

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - getting into gear

There were 3 other people in our morning full course group – a friendly couple from China and a beautiful Russian model. After a brief safety run-through, we were led uphill to the first platform. It was a less than 10 mins, but probably not the most awesome thing to do on a Sunday morning.

The fun part was, we saw a giant spider and a red land crab. Mother Nature is excitingly strange!

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - up the hill

If you’ve done any form of ziplining before, you should be familiar with the procedures. I didn’t experience the sudden fear of plunge as I did at SkyTrex’s first zipline.

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - Suanie ziplining

The guides were heavy on safety, which was fantastic! They know what they’re doing, and were very cheeky. Earlier on, I noticed one brought a soft toy monkey along. Later as I was ready to zipline across, he said to me,

“LOOK, MONKEYYY!”
“WHERE??”
“THERE!!!!” *points to his soft toy monkey which he’d placed on a branch*
-_-”

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - ziplining

Oh it was so fun! The views were fantastic, the ziplining part exhilarating! We went through 15 ziplines, 2 sky bridges, 2 abseil points among others. At one point, we had a 200m and 400m ziplines, one after the other!

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - with guides

An hour-ish later, it was over. I was surprised as I’d expected a longer time to complete the adventure. But I suppose we were a small group and didn’t have much waiting time. Still bloody fantastic anyway!

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - meal

We were given a free T-shirt as part of our package, and led to the cafe area for our fresh fruits and meal. The food was tasty (and slightly spicy) but I suggest to skip it if you’re on the 8am course and already had breakfast.

Flying Hanuman in Kathu, Phuket - Joyce, Suanie, Shirley

Super fantastic! I’d do this again anytime!

My Links for Flying Hanuman
Flying Hanuman website: *click*
Where we booked: *click*
My TripAdvisor review: *click*

Joyce blogged about the adventure. It’s in Chinese so I don’t understand what she said. But she posted photos of the hot Russian model.

Perting Waterfall (Lata Hammers) @ Bentong, Pahang

Happy Yen, our Chiling Waterfalls guide has been wanting to take us to Perting Falls. We finally made the hike on Malaysia Day; quite apt for what better way to celebrate Malaysia than seeking her natural beauty?

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers is still quite the hidden gem of accessible waterfalls. At the Karak highway, exit to Bukit Tinggi and follow the old road to Bentong. It is a quiet, beautiful stretch but be careful not to hit cyclists who love the smooth, winding road.

Coming from KL, you will pass by the Bentong hot springs on your left. A few more minutes and you’ll see signs to Perting Falls. Or not? I forgot, sorry. Here, GPS coordinates: GPS N 03 27.41’, E 101 51.85’

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - through rubber plantation

I didn’t think my car could go all the way so we parked before entering a private rubber plantation. Later in the afternoon going through the same way, it was exhilirating to hear the rubber seeds loudly cracking all over.

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - stream crossing

There’s a shallow stream to be crossed to get to the trail. The best shoes to wear are sport sandals (think Teva) followed by hiking shoes with a good grip. A waterproof bag is always nice but unnecessary for this trip.

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - course

The trail was well-defined, though with overgrown bushes on both sides. It’s a good thing, it means it’s not overpopular (yet). On one stretch, you walk past thick fern bushes taller than you. Just stride purposefully, don’t let twigs that scratch hold you back.

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - small stream

One way for us (including through the rubber plantation) was 5.1km which took us 1.5 hours. It was an interesting trail – spot the mushrooms, leeches, giant ants, wild boar paw imprints, rattan, spiders whose web strength are +1000 and so on. No worries about getting lost, just follow the river trail.

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - fallen tree

Navigating across this bunch of fallen trees was a highlight!

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - slope

Then there was a steep descent to get to the waterfall. Previous hikers with hearts of gold left ropes for a safer descent, bless you!

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - Happy Yen

That was where Joyce got a new friend, The Leech. And that was Happy Yen’s favourite pose.

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang

Behold the waterfall! The pool is much bigger than Chiling’s and was almost like a lagoon. The shallow bit is good and fine to chill and hangout. You could swim but be careful – the deep end is deep and mysterious. Lots of dead branches underneath and maybe even a hidden whirlpool especially during the rainy season. Perting Falls is no stranger to sad accidents.

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - activities

Just be aware of your surroundings and actions and you should be fine. You should be starving by now, so take out those food that you’d brought along for a fine picnic. Fuel yourself, body mind and soul!
/end hippy talk

And note these: Bring all your rubbish out with you. Do not wash yourself with shampoo and soap at the waterfall, you idiots. Be respectful to nature, your reward is your view in her unspoiled presence!

More importantly, do not be afraid to tell people off if they are wrong. Glaring at people thinking that they are inconsiderate, does not let them know that they are inconsiderate. Sometimes people need to be told. So say it out and make your voice count!

Perting Pandak Waterfall aka Lata Hammers @ Bentong, Pahang - group

Love from,
The Hippies.

p/s: Some photos from KY, Horng and Joyce.

Genting Trailblazer 2010: Suanie and Alex, proud finishers!

3 months ago: Signed up for Genting Trailblazer with Alex. Never stopped asking myself why.

29th Oct 2010:
Carbo-loaded at the Royal Oak. All legit, I assure you…

30th Oct 2010:
Evening: Drove up to Genting Awana to bunk with Gordon/Joyce, and Angela/Sarah. Thanks you, really appreciate it! Received race kit from Joyce who helped to collect it. Contains a T-shirt, a PowerBar, gels for muscle aches, discount vouchers for this and that and most importantly, a tin of Milo! Managed to fall asleep at about 1am.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Suanie, Alex and the Mini
Our ride. Just *had to* camwhore in the parking lot lah

31st Oct 2010:
6.30am: Woke up. Ate one sausage bun, 3 bananas and 1 Milo. Spent about 20 mins deciding if I should wear cotton Bootcamp T-shirt or almost dry-fit Genting Trailblazer Brooks T-shirt. Loyalty won.

7.45am: Made our way to the lobby. Bloody lift took forever, stopped at every floor. Lots of people taking part in the Trailblazer this year took the run+hotel package, it seems. Located the rest of the Bootcamp people. Made our way to the field. Bloody journey was an uphill walk, that was warm-up for me already!

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Adventure Map
The trail for this year’s Trailblazer Adventure, all 14km of it

8.10am: Registered (again) at the field. Lady was adamant that our bibs were pinned at a certain angle/ visibility. Got annoyed because it felt like public school all over again where teachers make you do things just because they can.

8.15am: Amused at the crowd warming up aka dancing to Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’, led by a couple of (most likely Celebrity Fitness) instructors on stage who looked like they’d downed 100 happy pills for breakfast. Felt like I should be warming up but remembered that I’d rather die before getting caught grooving to Bieber, even if by my own reflection in the mirror. Recalled an exchange in South Park The Movie:

Newscaster: This isn’t the first bad thing to come out of Canada. Let’s not forget Bryan Adams!
Canadian rep: Yes, well the Canadian government has apologized for him on several occasions.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Original Bootcamp
Hello, beautiful CLEAN people…

8.25am: Went through check list: Partner Alex. 500ml Gatorade and 1litre drinking water. One PowerBar. Two PowerGels. Buff. Gardening gloves. Band aids. Shit loads of salt nicked from McDonalds last night ‘cos I hate leeches. Hate as in I hate war kind of hate. Yeap, everything sorted.

8.30am: … And the 1st category, the Men+Men were off, yeay!! Also contemplated hunting down the announcer and possibly finishing him off with my trademark STFU-You’re-Annoying-Me kick. Didn’t but can’t tell you what it is anyway because it’s trademarked.

8.40am: … And the 2nd category, the Women+Women were off, yeay!!

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Original Bootcamp at starting line
Did I mention, clean?

8.50am: People starting running so we started running. Announcer #fail. And we the Men+Women and Veterans were off, yeay!!
8.55am: Crap, I’m tired already.
9.00am: Bloody hell, how much more of this must I endure?
9.05am: You’ve got to be kidding me, right?

Walked/ jogged around the golf course. Apparently this was a mistake as you’re supposed to gain lead here, else you’d be stuck in the jungle trailing far behind. Which we were a lot. Why? Only because there are so many teams and only one trail. When the people in front slow down, naturally the people behind had to slow down or stop completely and wait around.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Suanie, Gordon, Joyce, Alex in the jungle
Entering the rainforest!

Once we entered the jungle, the human traffic jam started. Thought we’d be clever to attempt an alternative trail with some other participants, by going up the hill a bit to return to the group. Bit bodoh because by the time we reached the group, the human traffic jam had mostly dispersed and we were still the last few in the trail, haha.

At times it seemed like an endless UPHILL journey, z0mg. Where there were downhills, we tried to slide down when we could because it was so much easier that way. Of course it was muddy at a lot of places: so many people went on the same trail. In fact there were 2 hills where we were supposed to haul ourselves up, that I thought was the most difficult. It was unbelievably muddy and I could not get ANY grip. Combine this with a lack of upper body strength, well it was very tough.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Really didn't want to go down
Err do I have to go down THIS one on my arse??

In retrospect, those 2 were the only tough bits for me. Actually I found the trail to be fun. Long and tiring yes, but for some reasons I’d expected worse. Benefits of psyching yourself up, perhaps. Painful too, because I’m not used to going uphill and downhill THIS much. Never even did Gasing Hills, heh.

Mud and dirt and scratches? Used to them so they didn’t bother me at all. Saw a few baby leeches writhing in the mud, ewww. Jovial Genting Trailblazer committee member told us that we were going through a 130-year old rainforest. Also pointed out a HUGE tree that looked like a descendant of the Magic Faraway Tree.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Suanie down the slope Genting Trailblazer 2010 - the magic faraway tree
The easy parts!

We probably annoyed some people because we were rather noisy. Heh what to do, too excited mah. Actually I just tried to keep my spirit up the best way I know how: talk crap. When you have pseudo confidence, the real thing follows rather quickly. Trust me on this one! I believe it’s mega important because if you’re new to the whole thing, your morale takes a beating after a while. Kick Miss Negativity out the door as soon as you can; she has no place on your mind or in the jungle.

Take a breather, enjoy the sights and sounds as the jovial G.T. committee member kept reminding us. After every hurdle, tell yourself that it’s just the beginning (because it was!!!). Laugh and joke with your fellow participants, lend a hand or a leg or a bum if you see that they’re facing difficulties. Look out for the person in front and behind you; it’s not cool to kick them down to get ahead.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Beginning of obstacles route
The beginning of the obstacle course!

Most importantly, pick up after yourselves, you lazy bastards. We saw leftovers of shoes (because you were too cheap to buy a good All-Terrain pair), water bottles, PowerGel wraps… Hello, if you can bring them into the jungle, then you can bloody well bring them out right?

Throw rubbish everywhere like that, not shy one ar?

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Down the obstacle slopes
After the slopes in the jungle, these babies are not a problem!

I wore tights and shorts on the outside. Great decision to double up for the bottom because of the sliding. My shorts ripped at the few final obstacles, how ironic? My pair of All-Terrain New Balance is intact and served me well. Should have worn thicker, longer socks. Gardening gloves was a handsaver, it allowed me to grab branches and other stuff easily without hesitation.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Cold water in trench
And the chilly water hits you like that…

I downed 500ml Gatorade and maybe 300ml water after that. Didn’t need water stations, not that we saw any for the most part in the jungle. Swallowed one pack of PowerGel, nasty stuff ewww. Didn’t really notice a difference, or perhaps it worked in the background. Only felt a bit hungry about an hour before the end.

Got out of the jungle, had to go through a route in the open air that is under the sun to reach the obstacles course. Mid-day sun is no fun! I’ve different skin tones now. Burnt a bit of my face too.

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - In the trench
“Is that an eel or are you just happy to see me?” Sorry, can’t resist!!

Obstacles courses: plenty of trenches filled with water, baby hills, things that you have climb above and over. Got thoroughly wet. Hit my toes against a rock when I jumped into the trench. Missed my footing, lost my balance and unceremoniously fell hard into the water as I was climbing over the ropes. Think I was grinning ‘cos you know, I’m crazy.

Lots of friends cheered us on by the sidelines, yeay! So it was mostly a fun-to-complete rather than racing-against-time thing.

And by the way, what was with the people who skipped the obstacles?? Why did you sign up for Genting Trailblazer for, then?

Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Alex, Suanie, Cynthia, Kevin finishers
Champions in our eyes!

1.10pm: Ran to the Finish line with Alex, yeay!! Actually I don’t really know what time we finished. Dzul just counted for us, so I guess it was 4 hours 20 mins? Honestly I thought we’d do better. You know, in under 4 hours. But whatever, YEAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Collected our Finisher medals, a thin and really cheap-looking piece of wood on a colourful band that looked like it cost RM2.00. Whatever, YEAY!!!!

Had fun and adventure with a GREAT partner, Alex and GREAT Bootcamp friends. YEAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Final unsorted notes:
All the Bootcamp in the world DID prepare me for Genting Trailblazer. Photos from Selva, Zairinator, Cynthia, Alex and Rozinah. Yes I’m in f- unbelievable pain now. Yes the pain will go away, I know that. No I’m not joining again next year, ask me again next year.

Suanie and Alex for Genting Trailblazer 2010!

I first heard of the Genting Trailblazer last year when one of my Bootcamp buddies, Ean Mei participated. Running through a jungle, up and down hills, jump into natural mud baths… HELL YEAH SIGN ME UP!

Unfortunately I wasn’t fit last year (kickstarted my fitness journey only in August 2009) plus it was too late for me to register. Well even if I had the chance to do it then, I wouldn’t have because I’m chicken shit. Not one for tough work, really… my Mom didn’t tell me anything about that when she gave birth to me so I didn’t sign the consent form to go through hardship.

… but this sort of things sounds just right up my alley. So this year, I mustered up the courage to sign up for Genting Trailblazer 2010. Found myself a partner for it even, yay! Say hi to Alex!

Suanie and Alex @ Changkat BB
Suanie and Alex at Original Bootcamp‘s 1st Birthday Bash! Photo by Joyce.

Alex is a fellow Bootcamper, though he’s in the Petaling Jaya Alpha (5.45am) platoon and I’m in Petaling Jaya Bravo (7am). I’d warned him that I’d be doing this for the fun and adventure of it, not for any kind of competition. Our own time and pace and all that. He’s okay with it and we’re good to go!

… on Halloween this year lah, not now. So let’s see, we have about 3 months to train for this shindig. Nick suggested jogs and runs through FRIM and Bkt Gasing, while me and Alex’s vision of training has more to do with beer down our bellies. Well then, wish us luck!

skytrex adventure @ taman pertanian malaysia, shah alam

As some of you already know, I have the unfortunate tendency of saying ‘yes’ to some things before giving them much thought. That was how I ended up doing the SkyTrex Adventure a couple Sundays ago with some of my OBC friends. I had no idea what it was… something about ropes, dangling wires, dangling planks, up to 22m above ground…

What’s more, we ended up registering for the Extreme Challenge. BootCampers mah, damn fit mah, lansi mah, can do more mah… Never mind that the brochure recommends that you do the Big Thrill before going for the Extreme. Haiyah, two or three additional challenges only what… can one lah!

SkyTrex Extreme 01

Bloody hell. SkyTrex was a huge slap in the face for me ok. Perhaps I didn’t show it, but I went home feeling rather deflated and disappointed with myself for not being able to complete all the challenges. That’s right, I cheated. Didn’t take the chicken exit, but I skipped about 5 challenges which according to my friends who completed them, were the toughest of all the challenges. Thinking back, I don’t think I could have done them then. Maybe next time lah. Errr next time? Probably never, lazy already.

After we were geared up and shown how to use our harnesses and cables, we had an easy trial run before our first challenge. Those were damn easy, I skipped and hopped through them. Hah little did I know.

The first challenge was hauling your arse up a long-ass ladder made of massive PVC pipes. We were stuck there for a while because there were 21 of us, and only one person could go up at one time. Some of them made it look so easy, e.g. Yati, Hafiz’s wife. So I tried to copy her style but massive phail, unfortunately. You’re supposed to kick yourself up to get to the next rung, right? Well I ended up using my arms a lot because gravity can be unkind.

SkyTrex Extreme 02

The second challenge was a long flying fox across the stream. To me, it was the second most difficult challenge because I have a slight fear of heights. I got up there, prepared myself to fly (so to speak) but somehow my legs wouldn’t cooperate. Want to go, don’t want to go, legs akin to trembling jelly, wondering if I could just go home now, wondering wtf was I doing there on a Sunday morning when I could be sleeping or eating bak kut teh…

Then I heard my name being screamed from far below. I could make out Farhanah from OBC KL Alpha’s face and voice as she encouragingly urged me to take the next step forward. It was by coincidence that some of the OBC KL platoon recruits were doing SkyTrex on the same day as us, though at a later time.

Okay lah. Squat down… buttocks back, lean forward and… FLYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!11111111

Damn fun lor.

SkyTrex Extreme 03

My arms nearly gave way at the 2nd massive ladder up. It was the longest and most difficult for me and it took everything I had to get to the top. As Fireangel was at the same station as me, she took the ladder with the smaller PVC pipes and I took the one with the large massive pipes. That killed.

Another flying fox, and I decided to take a short cut because I couldn’t balance myself at the hanging barrels. I could see Bev et al struggling at the more difficult challenges. So I zipped through a flying fox to a station where a tiny ladder was waiting for us and ended up following behind Tate and his fiancΓ©e.

The rest of it was actually pretty okay. The only parts that hurt after that were my hands because the RM3 gloves we bought were sucky and only covered half our fingers. If you’re planning to do this, I suggest that you bring your own, better gloves (not made of cotton though).

Sorry, not much details of what we did because I’m in the process of blocking the painful ones out πŸ˜› Also not a lot of photos of us in action because I didn’t bring my camera while doing the challenges. But here’s one of my bruised and battered left arm…

SkyTrex Extreme 04

Whine whine whine. Okay lah it looks worse than it actually is, heh. Well, at the end of the day I had fun. Might not do it again because I’m a lazy @#&*@#, but at least I did (some of) it! Hehehe thanks people πŸ™‚

For more information on SkyTrex Adventure, check out the website here. If you ask me anything not already listed on the website, I’m most likely to ignore you πŸ˜›