Hello Good Times: Bukit Pelindung, Kuantan

Bukit Pelindung is a reserved forest near Teluk Cempedak, Kuantan. It offers several hiking trails which include a tarred jogging track all the way up to the hill top, or two other jungle trekking trails that lead to Teluk Cempedak beach from halfway of the hill. Since we opt for a more adventurous track, and we would really love to see the sea view from the hill, we followed the tarred road until half way, then turned into the woods, which we found two jungle trekking trails.

It was a really quiet day. I was with Mean and her younger brother, standing at the entrance of Bukit Pelindung, amidst the housing area, which is very similar to Bukit Saga and Bukit Gasing at this point. We hiked our way up on the tarred road, while capturing some photos of pretty little flowers along the way. Chatting with Mean and her brother about their experiences on this hill, they told me this was the venue for their school's sport activity- "merentas desa" during secondary school years. Mean told me with grin, on how she was dying, forcing herself to run up this steep hill. This reminded me of my times during National Service, when I was 17 years old. Time really flies, all the teenage dreams, laughter, and fun, were left behind now. Almost 10 years already. Good old days, I supposed.

Mean wanted to show how steep the road was

After half an hour, we reached the halfway of the hill. There was a resting bower and a map board on several trails leading to different destinations. Here, both of us bid goodbye to Mean's brother, since he was rushing home for some chores, while both of us started the jungle trekking.

Everything was good in the beginning, not until I found some white papers writing some scriptures, hanging on the trees along the trail. I tried to ignore those papers, without telling Mean this. Unfortunately, the sky was getting darker, and we heard thunder.

"Is that a thunder?" Mean asked.

"No, keep going." I answered. Yes, I cheated her, I want her to focus on the route, since she would be panicked easily.

"Run, or walk faster, I heard something from the wood." Mean said.

"Don't be nervous, it's normal to hear something in the wood. Fallen leaves, perhaps."

Now, in front of us, two paths to be chosen. The first thing that came up in my mind, the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. It was exactly like the poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Feeling undecided, we kept looking up and down. Trying to remember the simplified map that we have seen just now, which was not really useful in this situation.

"Wow, this really looked like the poem that we have learnt in secondary school."

"I remember the poet chose the path that was less traveled by."

"But sorry Robert Frost, we are timid little girls. Let's go with the one with more traveled by."

We walked really fast in the wood, then I tripped and injured my ankle, since I was wearing Mean's shoes and it were slight big for my size. Luckily, the injury was minor. We continued the journey together, to another diverged paths again. This time, we saw a signage "walking trail", pointed to the right path. We followed it, but the path was getting shady, and looked less trampled. Mean started to worry, and she suggested to walk back.

"No, don't worry, I believe it can lead to the way out, since it had signage just now. We can't give up."

"But it looked like a wrong way."

"Let's go a bit further, okay?"

After 15 minutes, we saw sparks of lights through the trees. It was the sea. The trail now led to the stairs, which allowed us to walk down to the beach. Again, we saw some white papers jumbled up on the stair, Mean picked it up and it was the scripture. Frantically, she threw it away. We guess some people went there for prayers, or some accidents may have happened there before.

Of course we did not forget our mission too. A lot of rubbish was seen at the bridge, since it may be a good spot for a rest or picnic. We started to clean the area up before heading home.

Some murals that we saw in the wood