Bukit Sisek and Pelepah Waterfalls

Bukit Sisek is a hill of 411 m featuring the topography of some of the challenging hikes I have enjoyed in Malaysia.

This is not a post on how to get to Bukit Sisek. Rather, it is my ramble of a recount of my day up the hill and my visit to Pelepah waterfalls. It will be useful for you to pre-empt yourself before attempting the hike. Never mess around with Sisek Hill and Pelepah Waterfalls!

This trek happened in May 2018. Post may be updated periodically.

Crossing The Immigration

We should be across the causeway by 8 AM, but traffic jams along the way made it three hours later. 

Why would you subject yourself to this wait to spend a weekend in Malaysia? I want to hike that mountain, I mean hill *lol*!

The jam was unsurprising. It was a public holiday – Vesak Day – the following Tuesday after all. Take one day off, and you will have a very long weekend! Never underestimate the causeway during a long weekend.

We had lunch onboard instead of on the summit.

The Start of The Trail

The trek began with a river crossing. We had to dip our toes – along with the ankles and calves at certain areas – in and follow the path of a stream to shore.

Most of us were aware of the river crossings before the trip, but not the group of first-time hikers who were flustered by it. To several of them, their most challenging hike could have been Bukit Timah in Singapore, which required zero walking in water.

The hills of Malaysia do not have manicured paths like the nature trails of Singapore. It’s mud-travagant with rotting foliage, steep gradients and rocky paths that sometimes need all fours to get through. Don’t forget to throw in an occasional leech party. Surely, that is something the average Singaporean mum – aka my mom – would baulk at.

We went from the river to an expansive land filled with fruit-bearing trees, willowy trees with clusters of cranberry-like fruits dangling from the canopy. Edit: They are palm oil trees – money trees!

We strolled on a plateau until that rose exponentially into a tropical rainforest.

Along the way, the lead guide dropped tiny pieces of white paper like the breadcrumbs Gretel left behind in the forest. This trail would prove essential for us later in the day.

Sunbaked Orange Land

We were back under the sun and in a clearing. 

The forested trail transitioned into a spot of reddish-orange barrenness, like a bald spot on the head, with two murky ponds at different elevations. Our destination was through another forest from the higher lake; a forest flooded with hungry leeches.

Hungry Leeches

Eager bloodsuckers waved at us from every corner of the forest floor.

The first few trekkers at the front got away unscathed. But their movements awaken the leeches, famished from the lack of blood over the week.

The leeches moved with great agility despite having no limbs, lurking about and latching themselves onto the bare skin of unsuspecting victims.

I got away unscathed, no thanks to my hypervigilance, flashy tights and super-high socks. Some sneaky ones managed to crawl, undetected, to my thighs, but that was the last of them.

Summit

There was no ‘scenic mountain view’ from the summit at 411 m. Trees shrouded its highest point.

Journey to The Waterfall

Our arrival at the summit came with torrential rain. It foiled our original plan to scale down the hill via the shorter track to the waterfall. Descending this shorter but steeper and rocky path under wet conditions was deemed too dangerous.

Instead, we retraced our route back to the two ponds and took an alternative path.

By the time we reached the ‘bald spot’, the clouds had dispersed for a while.

This trail featured walking in the river.

We had to tread on wet and slippery rocks at a height above the river and scale over a massive rock wall. Some hikers gave up and walked in the waist-high murky water instead – another challenge by itself as you have to navigate with your foot underwater.

All the cautious treading and wading in the river led us to the rock wall. The only way across was to hoist yourself up with the slimy nylon rope dangling from the top and then make your way up by slotting your feet strategically into holes dug into the wall.

This is definitely not a climb for the faint-hearted! Someone from our group wrote a post here about her minor injury after losing her grip while attempting to walk across the rocks.

Some of the hikers gave up on the waterfall and decided to wait for the rest near the wall instead. 

The Waterfall

Surprisingly, the water level of the fall was not that deep. Locals were having fun and swimming in the brownish water, with some venturing as far as beneath the fall.

Getting Back

It started pouring again as we retraced our way to the starting point.

The journey back was worse this time, made more difficult by the dimness, incessant raindrops and slippery stones half-submerged in water. I kept wiping away the droplets that rolled into my eyes throughout the hike – and all that while focusing on the next rock to leverage on.

Most of the group had left for the bus by the time we reached the rest stop.

Lost in The Forest

We could have waited for the sweeper and the rest of the group to arrive from the other side of the rock wall. But we were young and foolish and decided to press on and chase the other hikers in front. There are paper trails to follow; what could go wrong?

Well, those tiny pieces of paper could be swept away by the downpour or covered by fallen leaves, for instance.

We reached a spot where the route forward diverged into two with no familiar paper markings.

One of us scouted the area for the missing paper trail while the rest waited for the sweeper team to show up. 

They never did, and it was starting to get late.

Back on Track

The downpour exhausted itself into a drizzle.

We returned to our last sighting of the paper trail to scrutinise the vicinity and found a dissolving piece of paper. The clue revealed another obscure path with several more pieces.

Hallelujah! We were back on track.

Wash Up and Home

For those who would like to clean up after Bukit Sisek, you could take a quick shower at a resort near the car park.

Unfortunately for us, the delay at the causeway and the downpour left us with no time for a quick wash-up.

We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant, where a joyous wedding ceremony was underway. A bunch of smellies congratulating the newlyweds. Then began the long journey back home.

The journey home was smooth sailing, and we were back in Singapore on the way home smelling like spoiled milk. Eww!

And that’s the end of our one-day adventure in Bukit Sisek and Pelepah!