The Southern Ridges

Everyone around us seemed to have visited the southern ridges. All except us. And looking at the pictures they took just made me want to go take a look. It has been about a year or so (being pregnant and being a new mother again) since I had any semblance of an active lifestyle and I miss the satisfaction after working out a good sweat the right way. This surely excludes housework, getting a good facial steam from the frying pan, yanking two kids a pram and a humongous bag out with derod. So we made a date, albeit a difficult one, with our makan buddies (who happen to be exercise gurus running marathons), got my enthusiastic parents along and off we went a-climbing.

The carrier's a real asset in times like these. Doesn't she look snug! Since Rou's right in the middle of the must-taste-and-suck-everything phase, we bought an attachable bib specially designed for the carrier so we don't have to wash the entire thing all the time.

The "before" picture.

Immediately after we took the group picture, we walked up the slope scattered with these leaves. Gabe remarked "so many moons on the floor!" I thought it was a very interesting perspective.

Beng gong and Mui por acting as tour guides -- we asked them along because they've done this route a few times.

Blues and greens. How serene. Yet this scene supports one of the economic pillars of our country.

Everyone's attention was diverted to this family of monkeys. Apparently just a few moments ago, someone agitated one of them and got hurt as a result. Gabe was most fascinated at the sight of the animals.

Check out the crowd they gathered.

Education time: Look! Look! Look!

Our attempt at a family picture.

Everyone's transition lenses in action...

Papa and his little girl. The "little" part is rather emphasized in this picture, I'd say.

Little Gabe against the grains and grooves of the henderson wave.

Our guides for the day, standing against lush greens which are not something you see in aplenty everyday.

A penny for your thoughts, baby?

Landmark!

We walked along this endless bridge, snaking through the vegetation. It was nice, breezy and quiet; very enjoyable.

There was a part of the journey where all the slopes led us down, down, down.

Beng gong took Gabe on thrill rides, allowing the pram to roll down the slopes freely. The boy giggled and squealed with delight. This is one of my favourite pictures of the trip.

Trying to get everyone together for a picture...

That's us, probably 80 metres from derod and mei, who stayed back to take this picture of the group.

The bridge in the light of the setting sun.

The "after" picture. Rou's asleep, everyone else is trying to find a place to sit. For those curious ones, we didn't return by climbing up up up all those slopes. We took the shortcut by trudging up a huge flight of steps as the sun was setting fast on us. It was fun. I'd do it again!