Saturday, 16 April 2011

Can children climb Broga Hill?

Oh YES chidren can climb Broga! Our youngest climber was just 2 years old. With help from his mum, he made it most of the way by himself. Our 3 year old climbed almost the entire way with little help.

We arrived Broga at 7:30am, although ideally 7am would be better coz it gets hot.
the start of the climb. palm oil estate and the jungle in the first 10-15 mins of climb.

Anyway, I discovered that my daughter and my bro’s 2 older kids, just 5 and 7, are way way fitter than me! They ran while I was taking it step by step. (Man! I’m so UNFIT!) There times when they were a peak ahead of me!
Altogether there are 3 peaks at Broga. I think the longest climb would be the climb to first peak. That climb is steep, and some parts very sandy/slippery!
Once you make it up first peak, the rest of the climb is much easier, although the constant climbing can be tiring for an unfit person.
beautiful view from the top


2nd peak, where we were off to after the short break on 1st peak.

3rd peak! the children's favourite !
Children loved 3rd peak, coz there’s a tiny portion where you have to use ropes to help you over the boulders. They absolutely loved that.
All together we took 3 hours (up and down hill), which included stops for sandwiches, lunch, snacks, drinks, and chit-chat.  I think my children alone would have done it in much shorter time, coz they were running most of the way.

Be extra cautious on descent.  Coming down was a little more tricky coz the path is mostly sandy, so it was a slippery descent. On certain paths where there were hardly any clear steps, the children took the opportunity to slide down. And mind you, they did it at quite high speed, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Almost like sledding on ice! Haha… (I overheard some adults saying “we should try sliding too but none did. Haha..
Sliding down some paths
Climbing down carefully  
Journey Down

Lastly I think anybody can do Broga, coz even little Lo who’s 3 and half made it all the way (but it included several tiny falls) and sheer determination, coz he practically crawled some of the steeper paths and all without complaining too!
Little Lo (3 yr old), refused to be carried, and climbed like this most of the journey

Things to bring along if you’ve got young kids climbing-
1) power drink (ribena)
2) junk food for motivation 
3) chocolates for energy 
4) tissue for emergency toilet breaks
5) wet wipes to wipe off dirt and sand
6) change of clothes coz they can get really dirty, especially if they're gonna slide 
7)  band-aid
8) hats - it does get very hot
 9) good shoes!
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To cool off after the climb, we proceeded to the Sg. Tekala waterfall at Hutan Lipur. Very suitable for children as it has a lovely, shallow stream with lots of sand for play.
Sitting on a rock, rowing an imaginary boat with 2 twigs.
Then we headed off to the famous ikan bakar (grilled fish) shop located behind the Chinese temple. We were very hungry and ordered about 5 fish cooked Asam, tomyam, spicy bean sauce, steamed and nyonya. Very fresh.
This is the restaurant which serves good ikan bakar in Broga

The children did not want the day to end yet, so we went to the rabbit funland, where they fed and petted goats/kids, rabbits, ponies and monkeys. The highlight was watching newborn rabbits….and of course chillin in the hammock with an icecream after a very long long exciting day.

newborn baby rabbits

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