Journey to Broga

Has been a while I didn’t wrote about travelling blog. After long waiting and finally I have time compile and complete this article. Journey to Broga is a last minute plan. Received friend call late midnight and I felt glad and surprise. This is the place I want to visit long time ago. Perform a simple packing and ready my camera gears. In order to see the sunrise, we shall depart early at 4am.

Pit Stop No. 1: Broga Hill

Wake up at 3:30am in the morning and as schedule departs at 4am from KL City, meet up with another member at Cheras, Leisure Mall. We have total four (4) persons include me in this journey. Initially, we are not sure how to go Broga, all thanks to smart GPS phone. Finally successfully lead us to Broga Hill.

Broga Hill, sits on the boarder of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan State. It is situated 1.6km from Broga Town, 50km from Kuala Lumpur City Centre and approximately 33km from Seremban Town. Broga Hill is getting famous now a day, believed due to below factors:-

1. Attracted Thatch Grass Landscaping

2. The Easier Mountain Hiking for City’s People

3. Destination Spot for Avid Nature Photographers

4. Observation of Sunrise and Sunset

5. Others… Please leave your comment if you know

We arrive the based or starting point at 5:15am, first sight in front of us is palm oil trees. That is the place we park the car (parking fee RM3.00). Ouch! I forgot bring my torch light. Force to walk in the dark. But not worries, we are not alone. A lot peoples is about to start their way to the peak with us.

At first, you will go thru a palm oil trail. Then, a jungle trails. After the jungle trails, in front of you is a wide and clear view mountain. This is Broga Hill’s peak no.1. Proceed and follow the routes, you should able to reach peak no.2 and follow by peak 3. Peak no.4 will be a little bit challenges as one part you need depending on the rope going upwards. And finally you can reach the highest point of Broga where you can see a signboard written “Welcome to Broga Hill, 400m”. A 1.7km distance from the based to the highest peak took me about 40 minutes and this is the easiest peak I ever climb.

If you are not aware, Broga Hill has total 4 peaks. Peak 4 is the highest point of Broga Hill. Mark it as 1280 feet or 400 meters from sea level. After choosing a nice terrain and path, we start setting up our camera gears preparing for sunrise shooting. During waiting, we saw a lot hikers moving in and filling up every corner of the 4 peaks. I don’t expect so huge number of hikers. Rough figure calculation, not less than 1000 hikers visit Broga Hill just morning itself.

I though the highest I go, the best for us to snap or observe the sunrise. I am totally wrong. The best peak to snap and observe the sunrise is peak no. 2 and 3.

7:30am, the sunshine begin shining up peak no.3, I called it “The First Light”. Unfortunately, peak no.4 has totally blocked by trees at far mountain. We only can see the sunlight thru the slits in between of trees.

8:16am, we start descending from Broga Hill peak no.4. Continuously snap the Broga Hill scene from different angle.

If you ask what the MOST in Broga Hill is? I would say…

- The most Hikers; easiest trekking trail.

- The most Photographer; you can see most of the hikers holding DSLR, Wow!

Alright, let see what you should bring:

- Trekking Shoe

- Extra T-Shirt

- Drinking Water

- Torch Light (If you need to walk in dark)

- Basic First Aid (Just in case you need it)

- Energy food (Chocolate, Packing Foods, Burger etc)

- Your Camera

Let see what you should not do lists:

Let see what you should not do lists:

- Do not litter

- Do not destroy the plants and wildlife

- Do not mark rocks or trees

My advice to you…

Before decide make your trip to any peaks, hills, mountains, highly recommended make some research. Such as the distance, the terrain, the tallest point, what to bring, estimate the journal time, safeties, etc.

Pit Stop No. 2: Broga Sak Dato Temple

As soon as we reached the based (car park), our next destination will be the famous Broga Sak Dato Temple. The temple located at 1.6km from Broga Town and 3km from entrance point of Broga Hill. You should able find the way by follow EES (East East South) direction.

The Broga Sak Dato Temple built 140 years ago and it has rebuilt in year 1991. The spectacular temple design has become one of the landmarks in Broga. The temple surrounded by lush green hills of tropical rainforest and combination with rockies mountain.

Today, Broga Sak Dato Temple still continues developing. A giant “Sun Wukong” or “Monkey King” statue was built at the top of mountain. If you can recall “Monkey King” story, “Sun Wukong” was born from a stone. Broga Sak Dato Temple has fulfilled the scenario. A truly fairyland you shall never miss it.

Last Pit Stop: Broga Town

Broga is a small town, the population majority is Chinese. Natural of business is agricultural, mainly rubber estate and palm oil. After visited the Broga Sak Dato Temple, we make our way back to Broga Town. This is where we drop by filling up our hungry stomach. We saw a lot Seafood Restaurant, but were closed in day time. Then we had our lunch at Broga Open Market. The food is normal and price is slightly cheaper than KL City.

Way Back to Kuala Lumpur

On the way back to Kuala Lumpur, most of the time I am in sleeping mode. This is not because of tiredness but it is due to not enough sleep last night. I really enjoy so much on this journey. I felt so fresh and loving so much the natural environment. And very thankful that we have really nice weather makes the photographing perfect.

Photographer: Simon Liew & Chrys Chin

Shooting Date: 23rd May 2010

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