Monday, May 9, 2011

Adventure at Gasing Hill

On Sundays, my friends and I would try to spend our mornings hiking at Bukit Gasing (Gasing Hill) in Petaling Jaya. It is a small hilly forest smacked in the middle of a suburb. It's nice to be able to enjoy a natural surrounding without having to drive a long distance.

Recently, I led 2 friends for a hike there. We took an unusual trail and ended up an an eroded part of the hill. We got lost and found our way out. But it was the wrong way out. We ended up in Kerinchi Hill (the other side of the Gasing Hill) and had to hike for another 45 minutes before we managed to get back to where we parked our car. I found it being quite a nice adventure even though one of my friends got grumpy and was complaining all the time when she found out that we were lost. Ha ha....it makes me realized that different people deals with problem differently. I was glad that I was able to see it as an opportunity to find the trail that lead to Kerinchi Hill.

While trying to find out way out, we managed to stop to take photos of the unusual, beautiful flowers we saw along the way. All 3 of us are gardening enthusiasts so it was really fun that we were also enjoying the beautiful wild plants we saw. We couldn't resist taking out our mobile phones and snapped away.



At the entrance of Gasing Hill. It says on the arch that this is an educational forest.


Signages at the entrance to this forest reserve

At the entrance of Gasing Hill Forest Reserve, there are various beautiful flowers and foliages planted by volunteers. These are some of the plants we saw.


I don't know the name of this plant. But the bright-colored, big blooms easily drew attention of hikers.




Fuschia Zinnias are aplenty too.


This is another bright colour plant that I like. Would anyone know the name of it?


Mother-in-law Tongues lining the trail at the entrance, welcoming visitors to Gasing Hill.





The eroded part of the hill that we came across. We had to cross this section of the hill to get to the other side.


My friend (in orange coloured attire) was crossing the eroded hill.


This photo shows the other side of the forest where we came from before crossing the eroded hill.


Flame of the Forest on the branch


Flame of the forest


More Flame of the Forest blooms


I don't know the name of this violet bloom but I find it attractive.


Nice white wild flowers form a carpet in this section.


A ball of wild, fluffy pink.


I found out from an article on Hijjas Kasturi's famed garden named, Rimbun Dahan (The Laden Bough), that this is the yellow bloom of the Deillenia (Simpoh).






The yellow Simpoh bloom will turn deep pink as it matures. The seeds within ripen and become food for insects (as seen here, the ants) and birds. The leaf of Simpoh is traditionally used to wrap food, and you can still find tempeh (fermented soya bean) sold wrapped in daun simpoh.



This is when all the seeds have dropped off.

All in all, it has been an educational outing for us ~ in terms of learning the local wild and cultivated fauna of flora and also how to cope in the forest when we got lost! Looking back, I had a good time during this outing!

14 comments:

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Thanks for sharing such beautiful flowers... I recognise one or two, mimosa, hibiscus.... and that violet is like senduduk.

kitchen flavours said...

Such an interesting outing! Never knew that Gasing Hill can be so beautiful, passed by many times! I need to build up my stamina before I could even think of hiking across it! Beautiful flowers. Thanks for sharing, I'll look at Gasing Hill differently now! :)

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

I never knew that there is a Kerinchi Hill. Oh how different Bukit Gasing look now. So many floras to enjoy.

Autumn Belle said...

This is the place I'd love to go too. Your photography is superb!

I think the flowers are
1. Tunera subulata (lidah kucing)
2. Crossandra infundibuliformis (fire cracker plant) - the orange colour flowers
3. Senduduk - violet flower
4. Bidens pilosa - the wild daisy

J.C. said...

Thanks, Autumn Belle. Your knowledge of plants are impressive!

PinayinTexas said...

Nice shots of those lovely flowers! I'm sure you had a very exciting and informative outing!

Sunita Mohan said...

Crossandra is the name you're looking for that orange bloom. I just realised how many plants we have in common. We have so many of those mimosa pudica ( touch-me-not)too. And the Cinderella Weed. The Simpoh bloom is new to me though.

Stephanie said...

Flame of the Forest is my favourite here. I enjoy treking Bukit Gasing also. I don't think I remember seeing zinnia there the last time. You are fortunate to see so many beautiful blooms! Next time bring along your camera, you may just lost your way again hehe...

One said...

Oh! I missed viewing all these beautiful photos! You haven't been posting for a long time, ya?

The last few macros are spectacular. Did you say you used your phone? But the photos are very clear!

J.C. said...

Hi One, yah, I have been slacking in blogging. Sorry about it. I will try to improve on it.

I did use my Sony Ericsson handphone with 5 megapixel to capture these photos. I am amazed at the quality of it too. It's not a high end mobile but the photo quality is very good indeed.

J.C. said...

Hi Steph, the Zinnias and many other flowering plants are planted by volunteers at the entrance of Bukit Gasing as a way to beautify the place. There's also reflexology pavement built along the path for those who are brave enough to walk over it barefooted.

Biren said...

Hi JC, thanks for visitingmy blog and leaving comments. I remember Gasing Hill and used to hike up there so long ago. We always ascended via a certain section from a street and so I do not recall the entrance to the park. There were lots of mimosa and flame of the forest. People used to put egg shells at the tips of the Mother-in-law's tongue. I wonder if it is still done :)

miruku said...

I don't recognise the flowers except zinnia. All beautiful photos, thanks for sharing.The last one with seeds is very geli~

BIA said...

Hi JC, Thanks for sharing such beautiful flowers.Do you have seeds to share? I live in Portugal.

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