beautiful of Malaysia: Mount Ophir,

Mount Ophir, or more commonly known by its Malay name, Gunung Ledang, is a mountain situated in the Gunung Ledang National Park located in Ledang District (northwestern Johor), Malaysia. The summit is located between the border of Muar and Malacca. Standing at 1,276 m (4,186 ft), with a clear trail leading to the peak, the mountain is a popular destination among amateur climbers. Mount Ophir is also the 64th highest mountain in Malaysia and arguably the most climbed mountain in the country, despite it having one of the higher climbing fatalities in the region of South-East Asia. Camping on the mountain has been forbidden after the death of campers who were crushed by falling trees in separate incidents.

A resort at the foot of the mountain was opened in the recent years. Called Gunung Ledang Resort, it offers decent accommodation and adventure programmes. However, the access to the top of the mountain can only be made through the National Park office, which is a few kilometres away from the resort. The trail from the resort has been closed due the death of campers.

Origins of its name

There are a few popular opinions regarding the origin of the mountain's name. According to one opinion, ancient history points to the mountain being the site of rich gold deposits, luring traders from as far as Greece and China.

In the 14th Century, the Chinese seafarers plying the Straits of Malacca called it Kim Sua meaning the 'golden mountain', possibly from the Hokkien or Taiwanese words: kim, or in characters 金 meaning gold and sua, or 山 meaning mountain . Another source said that the Javanese during the period of the Majapahit empire named the mountain Gunong Ledang, which means 'mount from afar' or 'the farthest mountain'.

The name Ophir itself is thought to have originated from any of these languages:

Hebrew, from אוֹפִיר transliterated to 'Owphiyr, or pronounced as ō·fēr, a Hebrew personal name

Greek, from όφις transliterated to 'Ofis, which means snake, possibly in reference to a local taboo warning against walking into or setting up camps in certain protected areas as it it said to be guarded by an army of snakes and creeping vines that move

Latin, from auferre, which means 'to be snatched away', probably related to the taboo as well.

Legend of Gunung Ledang

There is a popular Malaysian folklore which told of a princess with magical powers who resided on the mountain. She was wooed to be the wife of the then Sultan of Malacca, Sultan Mahmud Shah. However, she set seven impossible conditions for him as a means to reject his proposal.

The conditions were:

~A bridge of gold for her to walk to Malacca from the mountain,

~A bridge of silver for her to return from Malacca to the mountain,

~Seven large clay jars of virgin's tears,

~Seven large clay jars of betel nut juice,

~Seven trays filled with hearts of fleas,

~Seven trays filled with hearts of mosquitoes, and

~A bowl of the blood of the Sultan's young son.

Some versions of the legend say that the Sultan was not able to fulfill any of these requests, while others say that he was able to fulfill the first six requests (thus causing the ruin of the Malacca Sultanate) but could not fulfill the final request which would have required him to kill his son.

Yet another version says that the Sultan approached his sons sleeping body and as he drew close with a dagger in hand the image of the Princess appeared before the Sultan and said to him that she could not possibly marry a man willing to wound his own son before vanishing, never to be seen again.

The point of the story is that the Sultan was either too proud or too blind to realise that the conditions were the Puteri's way of turning his proposal down.

Folklore has it that the gold and silver supposedly found on the mountain are attributed to; and a testament to this story. Hang Tuah and his companions were also learning their silat martial arts here on the top of this very mountain with a silat guru, Adiputera.