Bukit Mertajam Recreational Forest - Taman Rimba Bukit Mertajam

Entrance and Location Plan of Bukit Mertajam Recreational Forest (Taman Rimba Bukit Mertajam)

Need a break from the normal Sunday long run. Decided to do a long run on a treadmill on Saturday afternoon. But it is a torture to do a long run on a treadmill. It is just too monotonous. Supposed to do 20km end up with 18km. Although the gym is air condition but the afternoon sun virtually heat up the whole gym room. It is like running in a oven after an hour. I am completely soaked wet after an hour. It is like leaking fluid through my skin. And I have to run more than two hours. Probably if I want to do another long run on a treadmill it has to be in the morning and not at 3.30pm in the afternoon.

So what to do on a Sunday morning after a long sauna run on Saturday. Do a hike or try a hill run, of course ! I missed mother nature...

The chalets and route hiking, running or cycling up the hill

Not visited the Bukit Mertajam (BM) Recreational Forest which is at Cherok To'kun of Bukit Mertajam for a while.  Rather than keep pounding the road every Sunday, time for a hike or a hill run. A change of scenery amd routine will energise my run next week. Reach Cherok To'kun at almost 7.30am later than I wanted. But the place is shady and not worried about the sun. Plenty of hikers and mountain bikers on a Sunday morning. This BM hill is always a hot spot for mountain bikers as the gradient is not so steep. However, it is not advisable to wear headphones while hiking on this hill as the bikers at times come charging down the slope. You will not be able to hear and avoid them.

Mountain bikers coming down the hill

Ambitious me. Thought my body would be able to run up the hill. The hill is just too steep for me ! So ? Power walk up the hill and take some pictures along the way. The consolation is I could overtake everyone that is in front of me due to better endurance. After the half way point, the air gets cooler and cooler. The attraction of the hike is the view of Mengkuang dam from a far. The only problem is that there is no signage to inform you about the view of Mengkuang. I remember the last time there was a signage there. If not, you will just missed it. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of development around Mengkuang dam nowadays.

View of Mengkuang Dam from the Hill

Manage to capture the distance and time on my Garmin watch. The max elevation is 545m and it is about 3.3km to reach the top and takes about 48 mins. But nothing attractive with only those red transmitting stations.

GPS recording of my hike

Transmitting Stations on top of hill

Decided to run down the hill but it is hard on the knees at times. While wondering around, I realise there is a area of the forest which I have never explored. There are actually jungle trails in the forest. I have always been just hiking the hill. I noticed some senior citizens were placing their hands on one big tree probably believing that they can absorbed good "chi"(energy force) from that tree.  But it was running really late and I am just starved with no food in the morning except water.  Just managed to cover a small section of the trails. Eager to explore more...

Jungle trails in the forest

Jungle trails in the forest

There is actually a tea shop that serves Chinese tea and some fruits stalls at the entrance. Nice natural environment having a tea shop in the forest. It blend with overall relaxing pace.  To fill my stomach temporary, I just bought a piece of papaya and rush home for brunch. Will be back the next trip to explore the jungle trails and have some tea at the place.

Tea Spa and Fruit Stalls