Bukit Bendera road march
I hiked and jogged up the north side of Bukit Bendera (Flagstaff Hill) in exactly one hour. I’d intended to ascend non-stop as fast as I reasonably could. In previous hikes and descents I’d stopped one-to-three times to rest or to watch monkeys. One time I carried a camera. So I spent about an hour and a half -or more- each trip, if I stopped once for ten minutes and again for five minutes — or twice for five minutes — or once for ten minutes. I never timed my ascents..
I’ve enjoyed watching the monkey families, listening to frogs and birds, looking downhill to George Town from certain places, admiring an estate near the top, talking to Malaysians who greet me and ask where I’m from. This time I wanted to just march uphill briskly, not stopping even once for five minutes, just to see if I could. It’s not a stroll in the park. My pulse was 168 bpm, and I was dripping sweat. Although George Town has been enjoying an easterly breeze, the wind was blocked by the forest of trees surrounding me.
On previous forays, I found that I could jog on the road where it’s level and almost level. This time I carried no water bottle or camera, so I jogged longer and perhaps faster on the slight inclines and a slight decline. JKR has placed small, orange distance markers each tenth of a kilometer after the first few. After six trips, I’ve become accustomed to the course up the ‘backside’ of the hill. I know where the 30% inclines are, where the monkeys come out around dusk, where the burbling brook and unseen frogs are, where the 2.4 k sign is erroneously repeated, where the rest stops are, where the 1927-built home is, and so on.
Around 4 k, I looked at my wristwatch and thought that I could likely reach the top within an hour. So I maintained my pace enough to arrive beside the police station in 60 minutes. I continued walking to the vendor from whom I always buy cold tea or water, and I was pleased with myself. After the usual half-hour of gazing down upon Air Itam and George Town, I began the 5.2km descent on the road, which I don’t enjoy. It just seems too jarring. I’d thought that walking downhill would be so easy before the first time I did so. But it’s just too steep to be enjoyable or easy until I reach the segments that are almost level. Returning downhill always takes as much time as hiking up because it’s not so easy on tired legs and I usually pause to watch monkeys’ antics.
Each time that I reach the motorcycle that I’ve parked at Rock Quarry Park or the Botanical Gardens, my legs feel worn-out, and I’m happy to sit on the saddle for the ride to home. The days that I hike up Bukit Bendera, I don’t swim at OceanView. †