‘If you want something, don’t wish for it. Life is too short to wait.’ – Stephen Hines
This quote succinctly sums up our belief. With a love for adventures and varied experiences, I am constantly looking for interesting activities to engage in. And of course fitting my budget. Since I had never hiked up a hill overseas, the start of a brand new 2019 was a good time to try. For this, we went on a full-day trip to Bukit Senaling and Malacca one Saturday with a group we joined on Meetup for S$105/pax.
Bukit Senaling is located in the Malaysian state of Negri Sembilan. At a height of 394m, hikers are rewarded with beautiful views of sea of clouds in the horizon. Below is a lovely photo taken by a fellow tripper:
We set off from Singapore at 11pm on a Friday night with a supper break at Yong Peng town in the wee hours. After an uneventful coach ride with a couple of toilet breaks, we reached our destination with intermittent rest.
The hike started at close to 6am after a short safety briefing. Park permit and fees were included in our package so we need not worry about that. If you wish to head there on your own, the fees with breakfast is RM20 and without breakfast is RM15.
The hill is maintained by the locals with much of the trail in private land. Most of it is gently-sloped open track, with the front and last stretch having steeper terrains. In between, it is a mix of slopes and flat grounds. Directional and distance signage can be found along the way making it easy for hikers to find their way up or down. (Photos were taken during our descent as we made our way up in darkness aided by torch-lights.)
It takes around 45 mins or so to hike up to the summit. Being a hiking amateur without any special training, I ended up being embarrassingly slow. Yet it was under this circumstance, I experienced warm Malaysian hospitality. There were many local hikers who encouraged us along the way and a park ranger who accompanied me as I slowly made my way up. And I eventually made it!
The local breakfast of nasi lemak and teh-o (tea without milk but with sugar) included in the hiking fees.
Upon our descend to the trail head, we went to a nearby Taoist temple for a quick wash-up. The temple, Si Thian Kong (西天宫), is a 10-minutes drive away. The temple is new, and within the main hall, a few deities are worshipped. The few shower cubicles within the compound even come with instantaneous water heater.
As the temple is still in midst of expansion, they welcome ‘donations of tiles’, a popular way of fund-raising for Chinese religious buildings. Devotees pay a sum (RM30 or RM50 per tile) for their names to be written on a tile together with their wishes. Or otherwise, a small donation for the upkeep of the temple will be a nice gesture for using their facilities.
Thereafter, we headed to Malacca where we had a 4-hour eat, shop and relax break. Malacca (or Melaka) is known for its UNESCO World Heritage historic town centre and its mouth-watering cuisine, making it a popular travel destination in Malaysia and one of our favourites too. Despite not being a peak holiday season, the historic town centre was crowded with visitors.
Craving for Nonya food, we had lunch at Peranakan Place along Jonker Street, which claims to serve authentic Nonya food. Since there were only 2 of us, we each had a steaming hot bowl of Nonya Assam Laksa, shared a plate of rojak and ondeh-ondeh, washed down with a mug of cold dragonfruit juice. A satisfying meal and I loved the intense flavour of turmeric and galangal in the soup.
Thereafter it was shopping for us along Jonker Street. The mid afternoon weather was stifling hot with the sun shining mercilessly down at us. And of course, relaxed over a bowl of Chendol drizzled generously with gula melaka.
Then it was off to the sand dunes in the late afternoon. This is a spot that is growing in popularity thanks to Instagram at a 20-minutes drive from the historic city. Its name ‘Pasir Cantik’ means beautiful sand. To get to the ‘sand dunes’, be prepared to walk approximately 1.6km from the entrance.
Frankly there is nothing much to this place except photo-taking but who doesn’t like a nice photo or two?
Why is there such a beautiful stretch of sand in the middle of nowhere? Well, the sand was initially intended for a landfill but subsequently abandoned at the current site. During our visit on a Saturday, we spotted both local and overseas visitors to the place. Some of whom are dressed for nice shots, perhaps to feed their social media accounts. Families with young children were also spotted, a good place for family bonding if your little ones can handle the walk.
This place may not be there for long. There is a ‘For Sale’ sign at the entrance. And with most of the surrounding plots hoarded up for upcoming developments, it is only a matter of time, Pasir Cantik goes away for new buildings. So do visit soon if you are keen.
We were given an hour to have dinner at Taman Melaka Raya. After going around the streets checking out the various food outlets, we decided to follow the crowd and chose one which was packed with diners. Restaurant Congee Rice Noodles is a Chinese ‘zi char’ eatery where a range of dishes are cooked to order.
We ate their signature claypot ‘bee tai bak’ (RM8 for small serving) as a filler. The rice-based noodles in thick broth with minced pork and crispy salted fish was unique and flavourful. Another unique dish was their ‘mui choy’ kailan (RM15) preserves vegetable stir-fried with fresh greens and minced meat with cut chilli. We also had shrimp dumpling in bean curd skin (RM20) and iced herbal tea (RM5).
The trip ended with a quiet coach ride home.
