Gunung Lambak

Gunung Lambak is a mountain at Kluang, Malaysia, a 510 meter tall mountain, 135 kilometer from central Singapore. The shortest trail to the summit is only 1400 meter long! A good portion of the trail is very steep, as indicated by the terrain map, and there are ropes to assist climbers.

Gunung means mountain in Malay. 

Gunung Lambak Terrain

Getting there

Even though Malaysia is only 20 km away from our place, going there is an international travel, one needs to have passport to travel there by car or on foot. The other important thing to do is to download an offline map in case of no data on cellphone or GPS. 

Getting there is not hard but crossing the border check points in early morning was really frustrating and a big hustle. It took us 2.5 hour to get through Singapore check point and the Malaysia check point, a total of 1km in distance. 

The rest of the way was easy - good highway, beautiful landscape along it. 

Trailhead

Without zoom in on Google map, initially I picked Gunung Lambak as destination, and we were directed to the foot of the mountain in a residential area. Realizing the problem that Google gives the closest point to the summit of the mountain, we reselected the destination as Gunung Lambak trailhead.

The trailhead is near a water park, and has a carpark, and there is big sign by it. Following the paved path up, we were on the way to the summit.

The sign at trailhead

Climbing via the steepest trail at Gunung Lambak

The initial portion of the trail is paved, and has a stream running by it, a beautiful, relaxing and soothing environment. Then it turns steep really fast, we got on the first steep section of the trail. The slope is 45 degrees or larger. The good thing is that the trail is covered by tree roots, and there are ropes installed along the trail at steepest section. 

I was trying to keep pace with Lily, and quickly ran out of gas! I had to stop and rest for ~ 5 minutes before my heart rate lowered to below 100, and restarted climbing in a much slower pace. 

Then we got to a level section, and half way to the summit. Turning right, there is a half way rest area, with a big gate Welcome to Gunung Lambak, a man made pond and a gazebo. We rest a bit, took a few pictures, and took the trail on the left hand side, the second steep section, which leads to the summit the fastest. The trail on the right, the one goes through the sign, is a longer trail, and much more gradual.

The steep trail section is similar to the 1st steep section, but steeper. I put on gloves, and used the rope for assistance. After a total of 1 and half hour, we reached the summit -- the view was spectacular …. vast green land on the right, and the town on the left. 

It always feels good when we are on a summit, big or small!

View of the plain from Gunung Lambak

higher than the peak!

Our trail in the mountain

Notes

1. We chose a different rail to descend -  the trail head is on the other side of the hut at the summit. It is much gradual, and about 2 times longer, except one short very steep section

2. To avoid the jam at the check points returning to Singapore, we stayed at Malaysia until night - visited Tanjung Piai, and had dinner on the return road in Malaysia. Few people at border check points and we crossed both check points in about 10 - 15 minutes around 8:35pm. 

White-Crested Laughingthrush

We saw this cute bird about two years ago when we first visited Bukit Batok Nature Park. Last week we went there again and I wished I could see the cute birds again. While we were walking around I heard bird calls sounded like theirs, but I saw none.

As we walked onto a paved narrow path, a group of white crested laughingthrushes were there right in front of us, flying in and out of woods, and a couple of them walking along the trail towards us, eating insects in the fallen leaves. One flew right in front of my eyes and landed on a tree branch at my eye level a couple of meters away, and then started preening. I saw it clearly - white crest on its head, red eyes, broad, elongated black eye mask, black beak, black legs, red brownish feathers. 

I took out my Sony Alpha, and snapped away. I stood there still. It did not notice me, and preened itself freely and thoroughly, occasionally raised its head to look around. I was so still, another thrush walked towards me, only inches away from my feet! I did not know until Lily told me about it. I aimed my camera toward the one by my feet.

It was a highlight of our pleasant day there. I made a short video from the photos with music soundtrack.

A juvenile thrush by my feet 

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle is ~ 42 miles southeast to London. It was built on an island in a small lake by River Len, in Kent, UK. It was first built in 857 AD, more than 1200 years ago. Lily and I went there with a tour group. The tour included stops at Leeds Castle, Dover and Canterbury. We liked Leeds Castle the most.

Leeds Castle is more than a Castle, it also has beautiful gardens, trails in the woods, sculptures scattered in many places. We only visited the Castle in some details, but not the surrounding areas due to tour bus schedule constraints. 

The tour of the castle started with a narrated slide show giving a brief history of the Castle during King Edward I period. Then we went through the Castle room by room, as well atrium, basement. The last private owner of the castle was Lady Ballie, the decorations are mostly from her time at the castle.

The outside views are more interesting to us.

Outside look of the castle

Inside of the Castle

Sculptures 

Surroundings

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric stone monument  about 90 miles west of London. It was constructed about 3000 BC to 2000BC, likely used for religious ceremonials. It constitutes of vertical stone columns ~ 13feet tall, with horizontal stone slabs on top of the vertical columns. A unique feature of Stonehenge is that its structure is aligned to the sunrise of summer solstice and sunset of winter solstice.

Despite seeing Stonehenge on postcards, national geographic documentary, I was still mesmerized by it when I was there in person. It sits on a vast open land - a simple abstract being with nothing else around it for kilometers, revering people walking slowly around it in solemn silence. 

Stonehenge - viewed from northeast

I got there at a good time, it was sunny and with clouds moving in and out, adding the variation to this monument. British heritage foundation has done a great job to keep the site free of commercial buildings encroaching on it. The only commercial building is the visitor center about a mile away and well designed to fade in the surrounding.

I went there solo with a tour group from London, and had only about 40 minutes at the site, more than enough to walk around to take pictures but no time for immersion into the environment. I walked around slowly, and asked a few solo tourists at the site to take pictures for me, and in return taking pictures for them. 

If I have gone there by myself, I would go to the exhibits at visitor center to know the Stonehenge better both historically and culturally. I would walk to the Stonehenge instead of taking a shuttle (to save time for my tour). I would also sit on a stone bench or grasses to immerse into the environment for a few minutes.  

Standing in front of the Stonehenge at its northwest side

 

a ranch north of the Stonehenge

open land around the Stonehenge

Royal Parks at London - St. James Park and Hyde Park

St James Park and Hyde Park are two of the royal parks in London that made great impression on us.

St. James Park is a relative small park, about half mile long from Buckingham Palace to Horse Gard parade, and quarter mile wide from birdcage walk to The Mall. The center piece of the park is the St. James park lake, tall trees line the lake shore, bushes, flowering plants fill the space. The lake is a paradise for many water fowls  - ducks, gulls, herons, pelican, Egyptian goose, Canadian goose, bar-headed goose,  and birds - wood pigeons, black-billed magpies, European robins (much smaller than American robin), rose-ringed parakeets … I went there twice during our London trip, once by myself, and once with Lily.

St. James Park  Northeast end - Horse Guard Parade, White Wall, London Eye in the back ground

St. James Park Southwest end - Buckingham Palace

Pelicans, Herons rest on the rocks in the lake

Duck island Cottage

Egyptian Geese

Common Moorhen

Black Necked Grebe

Bar Headed Goose (standing)

Heron

Male Wood Duck

AEuropean Robin was singing in front of Buckingham Palace - the night of Queen Elizabeth's funeral  

A lighted royal blue sculpture

Rose Ringed Parakeet - watching a woman breast feeding her baby 

Hyde Park is large, 1 and half miles (2.4km) long and three quarters of a mile (1.2 km) wide, about 16 times larger than St. James park! It has one large lake - The Serpentine - the name tells it - it is a long narrow snake-shaped lake. The park has many expansive open spaces for sport or children activities, and wooded areas, with quite a few sculptures, some small gardens - rose garden near Queen Elizabeth Gate, and the elegant Italian Garden at northern end of the lake. Kensington  Palace is on premise, at west end of the Hyde Park, with its own garden, pond and statues. There are many water fowls there, almost the same type as those at St James Park.  I went there twice as well during our London trip, once by myself, and once with Lily.

Statue of Achilles near Elizabeth Gate

Memorial of Prince Albert  - Queen Victoria's Husband

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

The Arch - a live heron happened to stand on it 

July 7, 2005 London Bombing memorial

Egyptian Geese

Canadian Geese

Swan at the side of the lake

A heron on a wood steward in front of the Arch

An European Robin chirping out loud

Common Starlings at a café by the lake  

Japanese Tit  

A sawn at the pond in front of Kensington Palace

The Italian Garden at the back

Sculptures at Italian Garden

The Italian Garden at Hyde Park

Police on Horse