My first hike up Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut)1976.

Second hike - 1980.

It was in 1976, when I made my first hike up the Maxwell Hills. It was after our LCE examinations and we had a long school break. A few friends and I planned to make the trip which was to be on a Saturday.

 

When the actual day came, there was only two of us who were to make the hike. It was me and a close friend from Aulong, Khairuddin Mat Isa. After we safely parked our bicycles, we began our hike at 8.30 AM. Being 15 years old, we were young and eager to make the hike. We followed the normal road up, not daring to use any short-cuts through the jungle. There had been several people who had gotten lost while using those short-cuts.

We were not alone, though. There were many people who hike up the hill that Saturday morning. Other than many students or young people, there were also the elderly. Khairuddin and I walked slowly. Being our first time, our legs hurt but we took many rest, then, continue. As for drinking water, each of us had a container but we would consume the water quite fast (those days, there was no bottled drinking water other than fizzy drinks).

 

View of Taiping from Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill)

We reached the 12 KM station after three hours walk. The first thing we did was to refill our water containers from the Rest House toilet tap. Then, we look for a spot to rest. For lunch, I brought bread with sardines while Khairuddin brought instant noodles. We tried to light a fire but failed to do so. So, we ate the instant noodles raw and dry. Hah!

By 3.00 PM, we began our journey down. It was cloudy but it did not rain. The walk down was faster but we felt hurt in the knees. We rested several times and continue. Somewhere along the way, we spotted a scorpion by the side of the road. It was about 6 inches long and looked very menacing. After we passed Tea Gardens, a Land Rover came by us and stopped. Since it was not full, the driver offered us a ride down. We gladly took the offer. The driver asked us to get off just before arriving the Base Station because he did not want his supervisor to notice us taking the free ride.

 

From left - Rajisvaran (hidden), Karunamurthy, Roslan and me(1982).

At Tea Gardens with friends - 1982.

 

I remember I hiked up at least two more times in the 1980s. After that, I took the Land Rover because I usually I visit the Hills alone. On a few occasions, I tried to walk up but only up to the 1 KM milestone. Even that was very tiring.

(old pictures obtained from FB posts).