The Back Lane

It's the school holiday. Bumi Bertuah is awfully quiet these recent weeks ever since the holiday season started. Many folks are heading in droves to neighbouring towns to enjoy the year-end break and spend good times with families.

As usual the "visit our country" or KKK campaign seems more of an afterthought and not charming enough. And yet there are so many eco- or heritage sites here that could be turned into attractive locations to visit, if only the infrastructures are properly set up along with some sleek promotions.

One of those places is the place that I enjoy and frequented every weekend. Bukit Shahbandar is an idealic area for trekking, eco tours and setting up of chalets, mini shops and restaurants if one were to think big. These would be the normal set-up for similar spots in many countries.

On a different note, I knew there are many different trekking routes in Bukit Shahbandar but I have never ventured out beyond the normal 9-hills circuit and to try the back lane. Last Saturday I was invited for the umpteenth times to join other trekkers on the longer route. And for the umpteenth time again I politely declined because I wanted to stick to my normal schedule.

But suddenly it hit my mind the next day, after a year running around here I realised I have never ventured beyond what I know of the place. So there I was on my own, following my instinct to try out the lesser known trail. The route was surprisingly well set-up, quite challenging, and took about 45-50 minutes when running or up to 1.5 hours if one is just strolling.

There are no map board along the trail although plenty of signs could be found showing the directions. A few more simple things like the map board and proper resting places would help to spice up the place and hopefully prevent from people getting lost here which is becoming unfortunately a weekly event.

There must be more than ten peaks to climb with the higher peaks having assigned names. There are also a couple of wooden bridges crossing small streams and three real steep climbs to make the heart really beating hard. This route is now becoming my new routine. The entire circuit takes about 2 hours to complete.