Tracking in Kubah National Park

I went to Kubah National Park this morning with a few of my cousins and friends. (For info about the national park, click here.) There were eleven of us, so we bought group entrance ticket which costs RM4 per pax. Our destination was the 'White cloud' waterfall. In order to reach there, we walked along the main track before diverting to follow the waterfall trail (Refer to map below). The entire journey to reach the waterfall took about an hour and half.  

The main track is tar coated, but it is not easy to walk as it's considered quite steep to me. (I'm not really an outdoor person and so my stamina is bad.) It is about approximately 20-30 mins walk before you reach the waterfall trail.

Trees releasing lots of oxygen. One really feels very 'refreshed' although it's tiring walking up the track.

Along the track there are signs showing the distance. These little things are important to keep one moving.

Keep walking until you see this

There's a small hut just next to the signboard for visitors to have a short rest before continuing the journey. From here onwards, it's walking on real jungle track. It's rather slippery due to the morning dew and one has to beware of the 'little vampires'---leeches.

This is the beginning of the proper jungle track. There are other many interesting stuffs in the jungle such as:

I did not manage to take any photos from here onwards because I had to focus on the track as some parts were really slippery and also for the reason that I had no more excessive energy to think of other stuffs except telling myself to keep going. And after walking for about an hour or less, we finally heard the sound of water flowing.... and there it stood, right in front of us: 

The waterfall is about 10m high, flowing down from sandstone onto a shelf of granite. The water is cool or should I say a bit icy as it's still early in the morning (we reached the top at around 9am). But one has to be careful up here as the rocks are very slippery. Almost everyone had fallen at least once. However, the view is really scenic up here.

Close-up of the waterfall. It's really pretty, don't you think so?

After spending for about an hour's time at the waterfall, we started our journey back to the park headquarter. This time it was even more challenging because the jungle track is ascending in height (descending when heading to waterfall). I did not even care to look at those interesting plants along the track. I just told myself to keep going and keep moving, taking just very short breaks in between, fearing that once I slowed down or rested a little longer, I'd lost the momentum and might even gave up. The last few two hundred metres were the toughest to me. Basically, I was dragging my legs to move. The track became very steep and I kept telling myself 'you're almost there, just push a little more'. When the little rest hut came into view during the last 50m, I could feel myself draining up and I felt like quitting. But then an inner voice arose 'keep going, keep going' and finally I managed to pull myself through.

Although it's an easy task for many, it's not for me. I'm happy with myself for being able to complete the track. Ironically the experience of walking the jungle track is very similar to my PhD journey. I'm now in the middle of last few hundred metres. It is certainly not easy for me but I'm still hanging on. I have to keep pushing and keep going! Don't take too long a break so that the momentum is not lost. I'll be there one day!