Bukit Melawati aka Tabur..

Thats me posing at the edge of the cliff , probably about a hundred plus metres above ground (to be more accurate, 200 metres above sea level). Any mistep would mean bye bye bye (N'sync tune~)..and this is my second time here..why would i come to this place again? because, its worth it..not that going this place is worth my life, but its worth la..The place? Tabur aka Bukit Melawati..a third time? err, no thanks..too risky ><"

I duno about you guys but i think there are two reasons to climb this hill..First: the scenery is awesome...seems like one of those scenery from those ancient China kungfu epic battle series kinda thingy...Second: climbing Tabur would mean that youre climbing probably one of the longest Quartz hill in the world..HELL yeah!whats better than climbing a giant cystal? I guess, you guys must be thinking "if i mine this place, i'd be rich!"..But actually, these crystals are nothing more than just clusters of quartz or silicon-oxygen tetrahedra (SiO4) la..common stuff..and when u think of it as it being just Quartz, its like "alah, quartz only ma..no big deal.."

As to hiking technical issues, i would rate this place anywhere from lower medium to dangerous..How come two extremes? cos the begining part of the climb is safe.. mid climb onwards gets tougher by the minute and up to points where youre life is dangling on a piece of rope or at the grip of your arms and shoes ..we're talking about a few hundred feet drop if you make any mistakes here.I would really recommend Tabur for great sunrise and scenery shots; which i think you can already know from the pictures in this article..Sunrise shots would mean that you'd have to start hiking about 530/600am in the morning(darkness)..hiking in the dark is possible because like i said, the earlier part of the hike isnt that difficult/life threatening (so, for beginners, mayb u can hike up until the part it starts to get dangerous, U-turn and go back using the same way u came from)...p.s.: Dont worry about missing the views as they can all be seen during the easy climb part..Go slow lo, if dun hurry actually is nothing wan..we went during ghost festival month tim ; )

Tabur has 10 levels actually..level 8 cheats because that level has an additional level called level 8+ ..the hike doesnt stop after level 10, so technically, there are more than 10 levels..Hiking @ tabur would require you to go light and have great hiking shoes..gloves are an advantage for those have precious tender nails/fingers..hiking during rain is STRICTLY PROHIBITED..hiking there with someone who is familiar with the place is recommend although not necessary cos its pretty straightforward actually..just keep following yellow sprayed arrows on rocks..which ultimately lead you to a downward jungle slope-->to someone's huge orchard/dusun-->basically, going round tabur hill and finally coming back to the place where you started..I found the dusun particularly interesting because the place is filled with different kind of fruit trees..If u can recognise fruit trees like i do, you'd find rambutan, durian, petai, starfruit, cempedak, ciku and mangosteen trees..

As for location details, all i can tell you is that Tabur hill is located near Taman Melawati which is pretty near the Zoo Negara (National Zoo).I cant help you on details on the direction; other websites can ..but what i can tell u is that, the hill borders 2 very different view..on one side, the city..and the other, nature..the catchment of water seen here is actually a dam that supplies water to the city..interesting ya?..Lastly, the last few photos illustrates the dangers of Tabur and some of the group pictures taken for both of my hikes (for da record)..Looking back at the pictures make my knees wobble;i cant believe i did that,2 times somemore..but it was really great experience..Notice some pictures how high this place can be..