Mount Irau

Mount Irau is the most challenging climb I have ever attempted. Having afraid of heights and being extremely clumsy, I am normally not too keen to have anything to do with climbing. I initially thought Mount Irau will be just like Penang Hill, a hike up the mountain for a beautiful view. Boy, was I wrong!

Like most of you, I have never heard of Mount Irau and didn’t even know there is such a mountain you can climb in Cameron. It took us about 9 hours in total for the trip up and down the mountain. We started off about 830am in the morning and reached the top about 130pm. We were very slow, busy admiring the view along the way and snapping photos.

Beautiful morning view on the way to Mount Irau.


Our clean shoes, before we start the journey.


The not-so-easy climb....and imagine you have to do this for 9 hours....

And it just kept going up...and up....

And then down......then up.....then down....never-ending...

Along the journey, the view was beautiful...

And it was extremely muddy....a perfect place for a mud bath.

We finally reached the Mossy Forest. It was unbelieavable, a real-life Lord of the Rings scenary.

Everything was so green.

3 Charlies-Angels-Wannabe

We finally reached the top after 5 hours! There are other groups at the top and some of us are fast to make friends....

The journey downhill was so much faster. We left the top at 2pm and reached the bottom of the mountain at about 515pm. Well, everyone was too tired to admire the view or snap photos. We just want to reach the bottom and go home!

It was once of a lifetime experience. The journey was fun, the mountains were gorgeous, the company was great (the singers showed off the voices by singing during the climb uphill), the air was cool and refreshing and there were no bugs or leeches.

Our muddy shoes after the 9 hours climb.

Bath Day

Last weekend was also bath day for the Spice Cats. The Spice Cats do not like bath day but its only once a month and normally they get special treats afterwards. Its quite a big effort, bathing four of them. Bathing Winter is so much simpler.

Its hard to snap photos of the Spice Cats when they are having their bath. I normally have my hands full trying to bath them and blow them dry. Managed to snap some photos in between bath and blowdry.

Sesame and Pepper looks amazingly alike when they are wet.


So is this Sesame or Pepper? Take a guess.

Garlic doesn't look so fat when he is wet.

Ginger normally hides under the sofa or behind the curtains after her bath. I gotta drag her out every single time for her blow-dry session.

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Can you get it for me?

Last night, Pelud was making these weird noises from upstairs. This is unlike the normal ‘meow’ she uses to call me when I am home. So I went upstairs to check. She quickly came to me on top of the stairs and looked at me. She then walked towards my room door, then looked up. I followed her eyes and guess what I saw.

The poor lizard knows its being watched and dare not move.

Pelud, looking at the lizard so intensely. She turned to look at me a few times, telling me to get it for her. But I told her the lizard is out of my reach.


Ginger was the first to come to check out what is the big commotion about.

Sesame and Garlic soon joined the crowd. Sesame tried to climb the wall but of course, he failed. Garlic tried to laser the poor lizard with his laser eyes.

The lizard escaped, unharmed.

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New Boss in the Spice Cats' House

Pelud now treats the Spice Cats house as her own house. She roams the house and thinks she is the boss. When the Spice Cats does something she doesn’t like or gets into her way, she hisses at them. When she feels like playing, she will jump on Garlic. When she doesn't feel like playing, the Spice Cats have better not get in her way.

I no longer have to worry that the Spice Cats will steal all of Pelud’s food.

Pelud now eats with the Spice Cats. She likes the Spice Cats sardines and tuna.

Garlic being the sweet cat he is, often let Pelud take his place. I think he has a crush on Pelud.

Garlic only has his turn on the food once Pelud is done.

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Infected

OK, I need to change this post. Pepper and Sesame are not infected with any bad disease. They are just infected with Ginger's famous unprincess-like sleeping position. And I do not mind if they do not recover from it. Hehe.....


As for the white patch, its the coloring of their fur. Its extremely curly and hard to brush too!

First that showed sign of infection was Pepper.

Shortly after that, it was Sesame.

Garlic has not shown any sign of infection yet. Now this is the favorite sleeping position of the 3 Spice Cats.

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Friends?

Ginger has been curious but very cautious from the start. She kept a safe distance from Pelud.


There are now some attempt of playing. There are also quite a number of hisses from Pelud. But Princess Ginger never hissed back.

Sesame tried to play but Pelud doesnt seemed interested. Pelud remembers that Sesame hissed back at her a few days ago.

Other times, all Sesame got was a few hisses in return.....he is still trying...

Garlic, on the other hand, made HUGE progress. I caught them kissing a few times! They are finally friends!

So Garlic got the 'Friendliest Spice Cats Award'! Well Done Garlic! Some cheese for you for your great success.

Pepper decided that she did not like Pelud and did not try to make friends. Everytime Pelud hissed at her, she hissed back louder. But there was no cat fights nor any attempt of cat fights. Just hissing. Pelud now roams the house freely!

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Pelud’s Exploration

After leaving the door open for 2 days, Pelud finally came out of the room to explore!

Pelud was very reluctant and extremely careful when coming out of her room the first time.


This close face off was by accident when Pepper was on her way to the stairs and came face to face with Pelud. It ended with both cats hissing at each other.


Took Pelud another half a day before she ventured down the stairs.

The next Morning, she came all the way down! She was very careful not to go too near the Spice Cats though.


Pelud went straight to the door and looked outside. The Spice Cats were all very curious with the new cat downstairs. Its funny how they all stared at Pelud. (My first 5 cats in a picture!)

What is she looking at?
(At this point, when Sesame went too close, Pelud turned and hissed at Sesame, warning him to stay away.)

Pelud finally settled down at the dining room. She has not ventured to the living room yet, where the Spice Cats spend most of their time.

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Pelud vs Spice Cats

The next one that was introduced to Pelud was actually Garlic. But Garlic pretty much stayed away from Pelud, because Pelud absolutely did not allow Garlic to go near her. So I did not manage to capture any photos of them together.

On Friday night, I decided to just leave the door open and let the cats know each other on their own.

Mummy, I see the hissing cat in there, can I go in? I know its dark, but I have my laser eyes with me.


OOoo....Garlic went in. Can we go in too?

Its kinda dark in there, we think its safer to go in together.
Sesame warned Ginger : Be Careful, the new cat is not friendly.


Mmmm.....at this point, I am actually quite surprised that Ginger went in first instead of Sesame. Ginger is normally the shy timid one.


In less than 2 minutes, Ginger went to sleep, in her famous position! Pelud is asleep on the chair. I am speechless!

Since I am going out with some friends, I asked the Spice Cats to come out of the room and closed the door so that Pelud can sleep in peace. The next morning, I opened the door again.

Sesame went straight to the food bowl that was just filled. Pelud did not hissed but she kept her eyes on Sesame.

Garlic did the same! So typical of the 2 fat Spice Cats.

When I checked on them again in the afternoon, Pelud decided to move to the other side of the room, further away from the food bowl which is the central attraction for the Spice Cats.

The afternoons are normally napping time for the Spice Cats. Garlic decided to take a rest under the bed frame, not very far from Pelud.

Ginger decided to nap at Pelud's bed!

And Pelud was sound asleep at the other corner.

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Pelud vs Sesame

Somehow, Pelud is less defensive against Sesame than Garlic. Maybe its because Sesame is younger, or maybe Sesame is has not been spayed yet. So I decided to try introducing Pelud to Sesame first.

Face off when the 2 cats met each other. Pelud hissed at Sesame, Sesame just sat there staring at her.

Sesame then started to explore the room. Pelud kept her eyes on Sesame. If he came too near to her, she will hiss at him.

I took the broom to clean the litter sand from the floor and Sesame went to hide under the bed. Pelud still kept her eyes glued to Sesame.

Sesame finally turned to look at Pelud.

The 2 cats faced off again, staring at each other.

Sesame waited till Pelud relaxed a bit and he crawled a little bit closer to her. I was pretty excited now, wondering what Sesame is up to. I was secretly hoping that he will go and lick Pelud, assuring her that he is a friendly cat and would not harm her.

He then stood up and went to the orange ball! And all this while I thought he was interested in Pelud. He was only interested in the toy! Pelud was too surprised to move or hiss.

After Sesame realized that the orange ball is similar to the ones downstairs, just of different color, he grew uninterested and sat down. They were both now extremely close! Pelud probably realized that Sesame is indeed very close.
Pelud hissed. Sesame hissed back.

Sesame decided that he did not like this unfriendly cat that kept hissing at him and decided to walk away.

He walked to the other corner under the bed and went to sleep!

I spent about 30 minutes sprawled on the floor, snapping photos. But it was pretty exciting. Sesame has made much progress with Pelud. But unfortunately, out of his own defense, he hissed back at Pelud towards the end, which makes her even more defensive. The next round, I think I will try with Garlic. Garlic is the sweetest cat you will ever meet and would never hiss back at any cat or anyone, no matter what you do to him.

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