Dumbo up the Hills - #8: The Three Towers

The Air Itam Dam was full of surprises.

My uncle (also my hiking coach) revealed to me on this particular occasion that there exists another TM service road branching off from the circumferential road around the dam. It leads to some communication towers at the nearly-highest point of the hill.

We went up to the dam by car, then embarked on our conquest of yet another TM service road. :-D

The road was very steep. One of the steepest I had climbed so far.

At a point not very far from our destination, my uncle decided to pause there a moment and carry out his elaborate stretching routine (I never quite understood why the stretching does not come before the climb... perhaps because the air is fresher up on a hill and more conducive to his elaborate routine).

Having nothing to do - and not wanting to carry on ahead by myself - while waiting for my uncle to perform his stretching routine, I decided to explore a small cement path that branches off the service road nearby...

The path was very tranquil and beautiful...

The path had been descending with a rather level gradient, until the point shown below in the picture, where it starts ascending by way of some stone steps. Before I took off on this path, my uncle had informed me that it eventually leads to the same spot we had visited on the previous occasion: the One Thousand Two Hundred Steps. So I turned back at this point.

After my uncle's stretching routine, we continued onward and shortly after, arrived at the "top". There were three communication towers situated nearby one another (I think they belong to the three major mobile companies: Celcom, Maxis and DiGi).

I was suddenly not very sure if it was legal for hikers to be using this road. But a TM 4x4 Land Rover happened to pass us by a couple of times, and the TM people inside took no particular notice of either us or the other hikers, so I guess it is kind of "unofficially not illegal" for hikers to use that road. :-D

Anyway, here's a reassurance to any TM big-shots that might be reading this: we leave nothing (not even footprints, because the road is tarred) and we take nothing except a few photos of the scenery (but no photo of the communication towers). Hopefully that makes you feel better. :-)

I particularly like the following picture: