Sengkang Babies

We did it! We hiked up Gunung Panti with the boys recently. Rated “simple to moderate”, this hill near to Kota Tinngi waterfall is 513m and will take 5 hours round trip. In contrast, Singapore’s tallest hill is Bukit Timah, read our 163m review here.

This milestone will lead us to many more summits!

More than the climb, more than the view, this hike made me super PROUD to be their Dad! It is not an easy climb but their resilience and attitude impressed me. We parents always underestimate the kids’ resolve and determination.

(Photo below) The trail starts on the right, there is a small path and we have added “estimated” GPS below.

Three minutes into our hike, we need to cross a stream and our socks and shoes turn soggy yucks! But once kids are conditioned that hiking is sweaty and dirty, it is so much easier to march forward and upwards :p

Take note we had started on the wrong path, otherwise we would have crossed the “Monkey bridge”.

We were supposed to link up with our volunteer guides from “Freewill Hikers’ Club“, but we park at the wrong corner. After asking around, we decided to follow the trail up the hill.

In the spirit of adventure (actually, we did not want to return empty-handed haha), we decided to do some DIY venturing. We followed a guide and his guests some of the way, and the local police who were practicing near the hills helped too. They must be wondering why this Dad is bringing three boys up the hills alone haha.

HIKING is a bit of Unknown, a bit of Adventure right :p

We try to spot the next ribbon and marking as we hike deeper. We would not recommend diy hiking, as it is easy to get lost as there are a few junctions along the way. When we are tired, anxious (or even dehydrated), we can easily lose our sense of direction.

Use our hands to feel, grab the branches to balance, give each other a helping hand. It is important to let kids understand that hiking is not walk-in-the-park 🙂

Uneven slopes, muddy floors, thick under-growths, mosquitos for companions. More than the physical climb, our mind is always scanning the path infront to avoid tripping or slipping. The roots and fallen leaves are especially slippery.

I need to constantly remind the kids to go easy on the jumping (Take care of your knees!)

HELLO Hiking, kids are in good spirits!

Rainforest Exploration

Huge tree trunks, some are so thick we need to skirt around.

Flora, some plants are interesting, moss or the star shaped flower.

Rich Fauna too. The millipede is 15cm (long!) and the Upsized ants look menacing! But the most eerie creature must be the blood-sucking leech (our video shows it trying desperately trying to latch onto us!)

Savour the moment, the nature and strive forward. The crickets and symphony greeted us along the corridors.
I purposely rotate the “leader” so everyone had a chance to navigate and lead our team, perhaps this will give them a sense of mission?

One hour into our hike, we found our guide Richard and his grandson Rain. I was really relieved that we were on the correct path all along.

Further up, we were fortunate to meet Gunung Panti’s guardian Angel too, 小黑 (Little Black).

Never give up, Just do it!

The last 50m is a 90 degrees rock wall!

Step by step, we slowly find our grip (and grit) and inch upwards. A sense of liberty and freedom as we try to defy gravity. Richard guided us where to place our balance.

Oh, it helps if you do not look down! As long as we hug the wall, we are safe.

Although tired, we must always motivate each other 🙂

Our hair was never dry once we started, 2.5 hours UP and 2 hours down.

Summit view,Boon Kang counting the number of Gunungs across the horizon.

Group photo at the top, friendly folks who help each other 🙂

(Image credit Freewill Hikers)

Video (link) : Our virgin hiking experience

Please remember to bring your thrash down.

After enjoying the fresh air, time to go down. We move gingerly down the steep wall, going down is harder than going up 🙂

Boon Yee and Boon Wee managing a smile. Halfway down, they unanimously say “YES” when I ask them whether they wish to attempt another hill.

As their Dad, I was beaming with PRIDE.

Fast forward to the end point, we can use Monkey bridge or sandbags to cross the stream. Adventures all the way 🙂

We started and end our hike in wet conditions. When we started, we had missed the monkey bridge and waded in ankle-deep water. At the end point, the torrential downpour was refreshing and washed away our fatigue 🙂

Introducing our hiking gear:
– Decathlon Quechua hiking shoes for the kids, from $17 onwards. Cheap and good!
– We had a 10L $3.90 bagpack (yes so cheap!!) for some snacks
– I got a 30L backback for the water
– Poncho
– I brought some salt-water for the leeches too (not sure whether effective)

Hiking shoes are a must, those wearing running shoes kept slipping.

This is my first hike in Johor too, glad the kids could accompany me. This climb would not be possible without the friendly “Freewill Hikers’ Club“. Subscribe to them and start charting more adventures ahead 🙂

The best way to train for Gunung Panti is combining Bukit Timah Hill (steepness) and MacRitchie Tree Top walk (distance and endurance)

We can start to look forward to more challenging hikes. From (L to R), hills in comparison. Bukit Timah, Panti, Ophir, Ijen, and Mount K :p

More tips about Gunung Panti and hiking with kids:

– Gunung is Malay for Mountain, and Gunung Panti’s Chinese name is 猪头山 (literally Pig Head!)
– Gunung Panti GPS “1.808107, 103.845048“, entrance to trail is next to Rainforest Resort.
– Hikers normally park along the main road, some will drive further into the small roads

– Climb to rock wall is 2 hours, add 30 mins to rope up last 50 metres
– My Fitbit signal was unstable, as a conservative estimate, we trek 15km and 150 steps (two way)

– Long pants or bermudas? Richard recommended that bermudas might be better as long pants might conceal the leeches!

– Have ample rest to catch your breath and let body accustomed to heights. Kids, especially tend to overestimate their own fitness and like to dash from point to point

* It is very humid under the canopy, drink plenty of water

– Touch wood if we are lost, kids should follow stream downwards until they reach village or settlement. That will be our meeting point. (Please provide guidance for me if my understanding is wrong)

* You may wish to cool down at Kota Tinggi Waterfall, a short 5 min drive away

Read all our hiking stories HERE, Kawah Ijen is recommended.
More photos have been uploaded on our Fanpage album. We hope more families will pick up hiking too.

Hiking is like parenting, we all have our summits to conquer, I am always telling the kids that although the end destination is nice, we must always remember to savour the journey.

To all the DADs out there, Happy Father’s Day 🙂

*updated Jul2016 – we submitted Gunung Belumut too (1000m)

ps.. Follow our Instagram tag #SengkangBabiesJohor for more JB adventures

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Growing up, our parents are our role models, we emulate what our Dad or Mum does.

If we do not agree with what our parents are doing, we might strive to do better when we become parents ourselves. Be it good or bad examples, we all learn through mistakes and experiences.

Is there an instruction menu for Parents?

I truly appreciate the challenges of parenting after I become a Dad myself.
Looking back, my sibling and I must have driven my parents up the walls with our antics 🙂

Subconsciously, we tend to pass down values from our parents to the kids.
To my kids, I always encourage them to be adventurous and follow their dreams.
If they should falter, just climb up and try again.

With enough nurturing, I do hope they will be there to take care and cherish each other.

Even with four kids, we are still learning and improvising our parenting skills everyday. Every child is different and has his or her own individual character.

Let us share some of the important virtues and milestones which I pickup from my own parents.

1) Spiders and Enrichment, which childhood memory sounds more fun?

I lived in a Kampong before moving to a HDB flat when I was around 5 or 6 years old.
Childhood days in a HDB neighbourhood were fun and memorable.

I know the importance of a happy childhood, and we make an effort to ensure our kids’ childhoods are memorable (and not all about tuition).

My Dad would bring us hiking and fishing whenever he had free time. Although he might not say it, but I now understand he wanted us to enjoy the great outdoors and be more “rugged and independent”. I am now encouraging my kids to take up sports (hiking, jogging and cycling) in the hope that they will improve their mental resilience.

No xBox and Gameboy, no problem.
We just improvised and improvise our own games, police catch thief, marbles and hide & seek.

As long as we were “adventurous”, our curiosity (and mischief) knew no bound.
Yes, we stole mangos from neighbours’ trees and dropped water bombs onto unsuspecting pedestrians too!

2) Brother, you can count on me

As my parents were busy with work, my younger brother and I needed to “take care” of each other from young. Besides looking out for each other in school and around the neighbourhood, we were forced to rely on each other for support. As a result, we became more street-smart and resourceful.

Unfortunately, kids nowadays are more pampered. They just need to shout “Mummy, Daddy can you help?” whenever they hit an obstacle. As for me, I always encouraged them to do some research (among themselves or even Google) before they approach us for answers. We discourage spoon-feeding in our home.

As the saying goes “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime“.

3) Kids grow up too fast, and preparing for the future

Play aside, my parents never fail to relay the importance of “saving for a rainy day“.
And just like our parents, we encourage the kids to start saving from a younger age.

Their “ang pow” money (bonus) are all deposited into their own bank account.
Their balances from their daily pocket money need to go into their own piggy banks.
I always joke that we parents are like CPF, we enforced compulsory savings for the little ones 🙂

They might be too young to understand retirement planning now, but (like CPF) cultivating a good savings habit would be the first step toward financial prudence.

And talking about the future, if there is something else which I can do for the kids, it would be for my spouse and I to take care of our own retirement needs, so that our kids need not be burdened with our aging expenses.

The fact is Singapore is growing older with more senior citizens, and smaller families.
This mean lesser abled-bodies to support the economy and support their parents.

As such, it is important that we need to plan for our own retirement expenses now.
As I was going through the latest CPF initiatives and options recently, I came across CPF Life.

It is an annuity scheme that provides a monthly payout from age 65 onwards. As my mom just turned 62, I got her to apply for CPF LIFE.

Under this scheme, my Mum can choose to stop working and still have a steady payout for life when she turns 65. With the monthly payout, there is more stability and assurance for her golden years.

Likewise, when I reach retirement age, CPF LIFE will likely be part of my retirement plans.
It does give me the flexibility of deciding how I wish to spend (or grow) my money. The two images below will share more details.

Here is a short summary of CPF LIFE. Based on our desired CPF LIFE monthly payout and CPF balances, we can choose from a range of payout options that suit our retirement needs.

The CPF LIFE Standard Plan gives you higher monthly payouts for life and a lower bequest, while the Basic Plan offers lower monthly payouts for life and a higher bequest.

We have chosen the Basic Plan as I suspect my Mum still intend to work for some time. When I reach my sixties, living expenses should be higher. I might wish to work longer to keep myself mentally alert and earn some pocket money. Either way, I would prefer to leave more money in the pot for my kids.

More details about CPF LIFE can be found at this link.

And apart from relying on my monthly payout from CPF LIFE, I have my investment plans to ensure my retirement expenses will be adequately covered.

The above parenting list is never conclusive, and we are continuing to build our retirement nest. There are always more things to learn and adapt, what are some other values which you wish your child to inherit?