500 meters rambling from Taman Rawang Perdana to the trailhead, pass through a drainage tunnel underneath the Rawang Bypass highway then hike up on a steep wall retainer next to the busy highway on top of Bukit Matt (200m) for a gorgeous view of the highest viaduct highway in Malaysia. Going down is a challenge too. You either choose to hike down from the same route you came from or you could hike down on the other side of the hill then crossover to the other side of the road through a path under the highway.

• Location: Rawang Bypass aka Rawang-Serendah Highway
• How to go: Waze for “Rawang Bypass Trailhead”
• Attraction: An instagrammable view of the highest elevated highway in Malaysia
• Difficulty: Easy walk but climbing the steep wall is challenging, not suitable for children
• Distance out and back: Estimated 3.28 km
• Time spent: Half day trip
• Caution: Slippery steps in the water tunnel and steps at the retainer wall
• Tips: This place is very crowded during the weekends and public holidays. The best time to enjoy this place is on weekdays.
• Leech level: none
• Entrance Fee: none

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View of Rawang Bypass. November 3rd, 2021

Craving for a quick around the city? Then you should try this hiking trail.

The route is not properly laid out though and I am not sure who discovered this spot first either. Interesting hiking places just popped out from everywhere on social media during this pandemic. People are looking for more gateway options.

Set your Waze to Rawang Bypass trailhead, park your car and walk for 500 meters along the access path to the highway, walk through the water drainage tunnel on the right side of the highway. There’s a small asphalt road next to the highway, just follow it and you’ll see the tunnel. Out from the tunnel, proceed on hiking up the retainer wall.

It was an easy hike for me but please be extra careful as the steps might get slippery. Nazirah fell butt-on right in the middle of the drainage. While climbing the wall I couldn’t help thinking that whatever we were doing here is dangerous. Climbing up the steep wall while holding on to the rope is not easy if you kept looking behind, especially if it is raining as the steeps might get slippery.

We always see the tall retainer walls against some hills along the highways and it never occurred to me that I would be climbing one of them one day but yeah, it felt good to just go along and do it.

We won’t understand the journey until we’ve taken it

We choose to hike down from the hill, walk under the highway bridge and cross to the other side of the road. At 11 am, a noticeable scorching heat generated by the road, the cement wall and the stones made me feel like hiking in a concrete jungle, not enough greens to shade this area.

A short trip like this help to break my daily adult routine and train me to be more spontaneous. I often feel high and dry while handling daily never-ending chores and responsibilities. Spontaneous mentality may sounds childish to us adults, while a monotonous lifestyle would seems normal and acceptable.

Be more spontaneous.

Spontaneous comes naturally for children, while we adults have to put extra efforts to break our ‘adult routine’ habits. My tips on how to be more spontaneous in our life :

1. Start small. It is okay to start small each time. Try something new every day, adopts the “there’s always the first time for everything” mentality. I was comfortably stuck at home during the MCOs (movement control order) period, binging on foods and Korean dramas. After a year, I felt depressed, useless and trapped. I need to heal myself and I was looking forward to a long hike in the forest. I started off with a 30 minutes walk in the park at least 3 times per week to build my stamina and gradually increase my steps according to my body strength.
2. Do what you want. Be a little selfish, do what you want and not what others want you to do. You know yourself better than other people. Be curious and rebellious, do whatever makes you happy.
3. Plan things aka dream things. I write down everything that comes to my mind. Ideas, anger, frustration, life dramas, dreams etc. With this busy mind of mine, planning things helped. I plan to be spontaneous.
4. Explore. Be present and explore your surrounding. Take note of everything going on around you, notice all the small things and how everything is interconnected to each other.
5. Be curious and wonder. The more you explore the world the more curious you become. You’ll be spontaneous effortlessly, blame it to the need to feed your curiosity.

Have you tried this hiking spot before? I would love to hear your hiking story and do share it with me.

Until the next hike … stay safe dear readers.

Cheers

MM