How to Motivate Yourself To be Healthy at Home?

Yep, that is a mouthful of a title, we know.

Let’s be real, most of us are not productive at home. Home, for a lot of people, are a sanctuary or a place to relax and to be permissibly lazy without getting judged at. However, that has to turn around now that most of us are quarantined at home due to CoVid-19.

We are still expected to stay at home at least for the next one week. For those with a spacious living area, a backyard, or even a pool, being quarantined is probably the least of your worries. But for those of us who are living in a confined space, say in a condominium, staying healthy and keeping a sane mind can be tough.

We’re just going to share a few things we have been doing at home to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

  1. Set a daily schedule and what to achieve on that day
    • This is so important to keep yourself feeling productive throughout the day. Aside from your WFH (working from home) hours, maybe set a to-do list of what you want to achieve by the end of the day. This can be as simple as doing laundry, cleaning your room, finishing a chapter, etc.
    • This is also one way to avoid locking yourself on your phone all the time since we tend to be using our phone a lot now that we’re at home.
  2. Drink plenty of water
    • Although you’re not moving a lot, hydration is still important. You still have to remind yourself to drink every now and then.
  3. Practice intermittent fasting
    • This is something we both agreed on, since we are not moving as much as usual. We would skip breakfast and start eating in the late noon until 8pm or so. You can do the 16/8 or whatever time that you prefer, but you know… be practical. The purpose of doing this is to keep your weight from getting heavier due to limited movements at home.
  4. Experiment new recipes
    • Now that you’re stuck at home, don’t tell me you’re just getting GrabFood the entire time? This is the chance for you to work on them cooking skills, even if you don’t know how to boil an egg. Start with simple recipes, and work your way through. Who knows, by the end of this Covid-19, perhaps you decide to start your own catering business?
    • Also, I learnt to make my own smoothies and different brownies recipes using whatever ingredients I have at home during this time. Safe to say, I have my own Boost juice bar at home. Makes one a money-saving expert now, don’t you agree?
  5. Figure out a new hobby
    • Having plenty of time at home gives you the luxury of being able to grasp somethig new, something that you may have wanted to try for a long time. Maybe like learning a new language? or painting? crocheting? poetry writing? gardening? but please not hoarding… or shopping since a lot of things are on sale nowadays….
  6. Daily workout routine
    • This is so important! You need to sweat. One thing that your body may be missing out.. is sweating. I know that sounds disgusting but it’s so true. Being at home makes one really hard to workout, but you really have to for the sake of your body. It doesn’t have to be a tough workout, just a 30-minute simple workout daily to make you feel good about your body. We’ll give you some simple homeworkout routines we’ve been doing throughout this quarantined period:
      • Hot yoga
      • Hot barre
      • Hot pilates
      • Low impact/high intensity workout, such as:
        • Sit ups
        • Squats
        • Burpees
        • Plank
        • Push ups
        • Side kicks
        • Etc.. so many ways to do it
        • You can do them in like 2 sets of 10, just do them at your own pace.
        • Also, we like to follow PopSugar Fitness onYyoutube which gives out really cool yet effective home workouts for only 30/45 minutes..
      • Jogging in your backyard/living room (if you don’t have a threadmill)
  7. Meditation
    • A lot of people may think this is unnecessary, but meditation is important to give yourself a positive mindset, especially if you’ve felt anxiety or just simply overthinking about this whole being quarantined issue. To some, praying is a form of meditation, but to others, giving yourself merely 5 minutes during the day to just sit and reflect on yourself, focusing on your breathing is also a form of meditation. Different people, different approaches. You do you.
  8. Open your windows during the day
    • We know what you’re thinking… seriously? But yeah, this is to give yourself and your space some fresh air.
  9. Wake up early and dress up
    • This is probably the hardest to do. Being at home means laze around in our pajamas and waiting til noon to shower. However, in order to be absolutely productive, you need to shower the minute you wake up, and dress appropriately. Maybe not as fancy as you would for the office, but just as appropriate. Gives you a fresh mindset and it keeps the mood going throughout the day.

There are of course, other ways to keep yourself a healthy and positive outlook while staying at home, but these are just some of the things we think may be important to address.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and let’s survive this pandemic together!

Pine Tree Trail @ Fraser Hill

Hello! Welcome to another episode of….. ‘What Did We Do Last Weekend?’

Last Sunday, both of us were joined in with Yasmine’s brother, Qayyum and his friend, Asyraf to hike Pine Tree Trail, located in Bukit Fraser.

Apart from Pine Tree, there are several other trails that are available in Bukit Fraser for you hungry hikers alike:

  • Hemmant trail
  • Bishop’s trail
  • Kindersley trail
  • Abu Suradi trail
  • Rompin trail, and etc.

Anyway, the drive to Bukit Fraser is a bit of a pain and a lot of winding left to right. Heads up to those driving up Bukit Fraser: Please fill up your tank before taking the exit to Route 55 (if you’re coming from KKB) because there is no gas station along the way or on Bukit Fraser! However, there is a ‘gerai’/ road side stall that sells petrol for like RM 20/ 5 liters, which is pretty costly, if you ask us.

Finding Pine Tree trail is quite straightforward, and very easy to spot. You can easily Google Maps the location, which leads to a narrow road uphill, where you will pass by Istana Sri Pahang, and once you’ve seen TM Resort’s Bungalow on your right, you shall now find a parking spot along the road because you’ve arrived.

Pine Tree trail leads to two peaks: (1) Pine Tree hill and (2) Twin Peak. We were also told that ultimately, if you venture further into the trail, you will reach Gunung Semangkok. However, that is a strenuous 30++ km journey which would take almost one whole day for a round trip.

Here are some facts on Pine Tree Trail:

  1. Location: Bukit Fraser, Pahang
  2. Summit: Pine Tree hill
  3. Summit elevation: 1524 m (5000 ft) above sea level
  4. Distance: 5.5 km one way
  5. Duration: 2-ish hours (one way)
  6. Trail difficulty: Moderate
  7. Parking: Free, park at your own risk by roadside.
  8. Road condition to trailhead: Flexible pavement/tar road, so you’ve nothing to worry about.
  9. Map to trailhead: https://goo.gl/maps/CL6EZjAxJbqZhH446

Hiking Pine Tree trail has its ups and downs. However, is it worth the 1.5 – 2 hrs drive (depending on where you’re coming from) to hike this trail? Well, let’s see. While Pine Tree is not your typical Broga hike, we would say that it’s definitely worth the drive and time spent. Pine Tree offers a very scenic view of Titiwangsa range, and gives you a glimpse of that Mossy forest feels as you reach certain heights. We say that it’s not a ‘Broga’ hike and ranked it a moderate because it is not straightforward hike — which means that it is not a consistently uphill trek to the peak. The 5.5 km trail is an up-and-down trail, some of which are steep, some of which are the staircases kind, and these are usually the ones that test your mental strength.

The trail is mostly like this throughout.

Some flatter areas along the way.

This spot is a checkpoint. You will come across this ‘cave’ after about 1.5 km.

Qayyum and his friend, Asyraf who tagged along this time.

However, fret not, as the journey to the peak is of undeniable beauty. Not many people trek this trail, so you’re surrounded by deep-rich, organic, timeless dense forest. For us, the real fun begins as you’re about to reach the summit, because you have to scramble (ropes available to help you) your way through a 25-m drop of vertical wall. Careful your way up here, especially if you’re scared of heights.

Once you’ve passed through the hardest part, congratulations you’ve made the peak! Feast your eyes for a great view, and if you’re wondering what those tiny looking civilizations ahead are, that’s Bukit Fraser, and yes, you’ve practically hiked all the way from there.

If you have the strength and time to go on, proceed for 1km (30 minutes) for the Twin Peak. We were told that the view is just alike, although at a slightly lower elevation than Pine Tree Hill. Unfortunately, for us, we didn’t really have much time as clouds were moving towards us, and so we were afraid that it was going to rain soon.

The peak also serves as a camping ground, utilized by the folks we met when we reached the peak.

Some statistics on our journey back recorded using Apple Watch, in case it may be useful for you.

Just to recap on the pros and cons of traveling/ hiking here:

  • Pros:
    1. Beautiful view (aren’t they all?)
    2. Mossy forest feels
    3. Cooler air (high altitude)….
    4. Which brings us to less sweating (but you will sweat nonetheless)
    5. Less human traffic
  • Cons:
    1. Long drive to trailhead
    2. Steep/ up-and-down hike
    3. Costly town
      • We say this because of the expensive petrol, and also for the meals that we had.
    4. Unavailable proper gas stations yet

All in all, we think that staying overnight for a weekend trip to Bukit Fraser is a more reasonable option, because you’ll be able to cover more trails than we did since most of these are relatively shorter trails throughout, except for Pine Tree. Pine Tree, as we’re told, has the longest distance among other trails. Plus, it makes a perfect getaway from your busy schedule for a quieter ambience that is only 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur. However, if you’re like us, not really in the budget for a stay in, Pine Tree is still worth the day’s trip because the view while hiking and at the peak is just amazing.

Go for it, you nature-loving wanderers!

Sunrise hike @ Gunung Datuk

Hello there!

Today, we’re going to tell you about our recent trip to Gunung Datuk, which is located in Rembau.

We woke up pretty early in the wee hours of Sunday morning as the drive from KL to Rembau took about 1 hr 35 minutes. We reached Gunung Datuk at 5am in the morning.

This is a signboard you’d not miss, which is located right at the registration hut.

Typically, you’d have to pay a permit fee of RM5 and to write down names before entering the premise. However, the registration hut was still closed at 5am, so we were only able to queue for that after our hike.

Climbing Gunung Datuk was, in our honest opinion, is challenging yet manageable.

This is because, Datuk is consistently steep all the way, in which we prefer, because it’s not like those mountains where you’re going up and down crossing hills to get to summit. It is a fairly straightforward hike, and not that long as well. But, in order to summit Gunung Datuk, one has to be mentally ready for a strenuous leg day and to be physically fit, as the hike down may tire your legs.

Here are some facts on Gunung Datuk:

  1. Location: Rembau, Negeri Sembilan (part of Banjaran Titiwangsa)
  2. Summit elevation: 884 m (2, 900 ft) above sea level
  3. Distance: 3.06 km one way
  4. Duration: Typically 2-3 hours. We took about 89 minutes to reach summit.
  5. Permit fee: RM 5 per person
  6. Parking: Free, but gets filled up very fast
  7. Road condition to trailhead: 2WD is permissible, but there are rough tracks which you may want to be careful with.

Honestly, we wouldn’t mind paying the fee at all because the trail was very well-maintained. We have to admit, the trail was very well-kept and has accessible, stable staircases at the boulder summit, which has a similar feel to the trail in Gunung Kinabalu, except — of course– for its distance and panoramic view. We were convinced that there were less trash around (except for one Kinder bueno wrap that we picked up on our way down), which is very impressive. We just love clean trails 😉

Anyway, summiting a sunrise hike is just like a regular hike, except that it requires headlamp for you to see in the dark. We were honestly quite surprised to see so many groups of people on our way up, also trying to catch the sun. But, we were even more surprised to see a lot more groups coming up on our way down. Gunung Datuk is a very popular hiking spot during the weekend, so you may want to come up a little earlier to avoid traffic.

There are many benefits to sunrise hiking, which we are very sure why there are others who have opted for this too:

  • Sunrise view is amazing. Gunung Datuk offers a 360 panoramic city view of Rembau district.
  • Cool temperature. Although this does not make you sweat less, but going early in the morning gives you less respiration because of the low temperature.
  • You’re more motivated because you don’t know how steep the trail is in front of you. Some people get demotivated easily when hiking steep trails, so this is definitely a major plus point!

Here’s how the entrance looks like from the parking lot. Registration hut is located ahead of the staircase. Bear in mind, our pictures are taken mostly during our hike down, so these pictures are backwards.

The trail situation right after entrance! Not steep yet as of this moment.

Ropes are available throughout the steep areas, so you’re pretty much in good hands.

There are a few signboards indicating the distance towards summit, which can either be motivating… or demotivating. Your call.

Trail gets steeper after the first 0.5 km or so. Time to work on them legs! Or… getting some hiking poles can be very helpful too.

But, fret not! There are flat areas to help you recover… although, just for a short distance.

You’ll know you’re close when you see this staircase. You’re literally there.. already. Just a few more staircases to go.

Also, don’t worry on the staircases as they’re very sturdy. We’re told that the staircases were recently upgraded because before that, they were just ladders. Like….whut.

First aid kit to the rescue… for those who are injured. This is located right at the entrance to a campsite area. All just before the summit.

The campsite area. Once you’re here, you’re just a few steps away from the summit.

Ta-da! The signboard of dreamssssssss. However, this is not really the the ‘peak’. The highest you can stand on is on one of the Boulders located at the back of this signboard. However, hiking out of the jungle and into this exposed area can be a little dangerous during night time and even sunrise as the wind is very, very strong. So, please be careful when hiking around this time.

On our very last staircase towards the boulder peak.

Spamming some summit pics!!!

Then, after enjoying our sunrise view, and taking memorable pictures, we started hiking down at 7am.

And…. the hike is done and dusted!

That’s it for now! Let us know what you think of this hike.

White water rafting @ KKB

Last Sunday, both of us and a couple of our friends (Luqman Aidil and Hariz Rokman) decided to try out white water rafting at Sg. Selangor, Kuala Kubu Bharu with Xventure Mind tour group.

There are several other locations that provide commercial white water rafting trips across Peninsular Malaysia, namely in Ulu Slim, Gopeng as well as KKB. But, the Selangor River in KKB is among the best if you’re one of those daredevils that want to go for the hardcore straight away.

Kuala Kubu Bharu is located in Hulu Selangor, about an hour-ish drive from Kuala Lumpur. Honestly, our trip was pretty last minute, but fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of crowd particularly on that Sunday, so we managed to join in with a couple of foreigners on our raft. There were two groups including ours, and each raft was filled with 5-6 people, as well as a guide (steerer) and a captain. The guide and captain were part of the tour group, yet they were professional and very reliable so we were pretty much in good hands. Both of the guides and captains make us feel really safe in this somewhat dangerous sport, so even as first-timers, you should not worry a thing.

Essentially, for a price of RM175 per head, this was what we got:

  1. Duration of rafting: 2 hrs
    • We didn’t really expect it to be long, but it was definitely tiring as we were expected to be alert at all times, and to heed the orders of the designated captain in which we were briefed on what to do during the safety briefing.
  2. Rafting difficulty: Class 1 – Class 5
    • We experienced different difficulty levels from easy, straight forward rapids to some violent rapids. Bear in mind that the water was very fast-moving, although this may depend on the season.
  3. Lunch provided
  4. Snacks provided during our rafting break, where we stopped at a waterfall.

Without further ado, let’s get right into the pictures and videos:

This is everyone in the 10 am slot!
Rafting mates
During our safety briefing
In the midst of a Class 3 rapid.
Honestly, our guide was doing most of the steering and we’re just always looking out for cameras!
The guides from each boat will alternately take turns to continuously take pictures and videos throughout the rafting session, so fret not about not getting your photos.
Going into a Class 5 rapid.
In the middle of our rafting, we took a break to a nearby waterfall somewhere along the Selangor River. We were provided biscuits and water here.
Towards the end of our rafting session, our captain purposely capsized our boat, and we swam all the way until the end point. It felt really nice tho, to be floating in the water.
And… we’re done! Here are pictures of our rafting mates and our guide and captain.

Overall, we had a great time. We honestly recommend you thrill-seekers to try rafting at Selangor River, especially if you haven’t. Even our foreigner buddies said that this was the best water rafting experience for them despite having done 4-5 water rafting in the US prior to this. As for us, we will definitely try rafting at other places, because it is just too exciting. Believe me, this sport is intense as we all ended up exhausted after paddling through 8-9 rapids throughout our 2-hr session. But, we’re not complaining as it was definitely worth the price and experience!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more.