Batu Pahat: Hutan Lipur

Four years ago, I often joined YT, who was preparing herself to climb Mount Kota Kinabalu, to walk up the stairs at Hutan Lipur when I was back to Batu Pahat on weekends. After her trip to Sabah, we still went there quite regularly. Later, the number of my returns to my hometown reduced and YT was busy with her family buisness. As a result, we hardly gathered for tea in town, let alone outing to the forest. Moreover, as she hurt her foot, we did not resume the activity since.

Recently, we talked about exercising again. Last weekend, we finally made up our mind to exercise again. Saturday morning, the sky was unusually hazy. I thought our outdoor programme might be cancelled. In the afternoon, the weather was much better. YT picked me and Mum, whom I had invited to come along. When we reached Soga Perdana, several cars were already parked there.

A few boys had cycled there. When I saw their bicycles, I began to miss the ones I had in the past.

As soon as I took out my camera, both Mum and YT said to me, "Don't take my pictures!" So, I photographed two cute monkeys instead.

Though I do not behave like a fish when I am in the water, I am like a deer when I see the forest.

Three of us actually climb steps quite a lot in our daily lives--YT in her double-storey shop lot, Mum in our double-storey house and I in my sixteen-level campus building. To avoid the crowd in the lifts before and after class hours, I always walk up or down the stairs, which cause my high-heeled shoes spoilt faster than my colleagues'.

It was a more pleasant experience to climb the stairs in the nature thanks to the fresh air, beautiful scenery and nice company. We passed by a petai (parkia speciosa) tree which was extremely tall. I told YT that petai is expensive probably because it is very difficult to get its beans which grow at such a hight.

Mum already breathed heavily during the first minutes. So she stopped at the first turning while YT and I continued our journey.

We two also U-turned at another turning, like we used to do. When we were about to make a same second trip, Mum received a call from Ping to inform us that we were to meet Leong's family at a restaurant by 6.30pm to celebrate Zer Yih's birthday. As a result, we had to leave earlier than planned.

Taking it as a warm-up, I was not too disappointed. My next target is to reach the top to see the panorama of Batu Pahat, a view which I had last known in December 2006.