s C r e a M o P u N k

Thursday, November 22, 2007

song of the day: toploader - dancing in the moonlight

WOOHOO BACK FROM THE 5D4N PAHANG CAMP! XD
it was fun, dangerous, fun, tired, fun, hungry and fun again!
made lots and lots of new friends (especially malay) too!!
i'll post this entry in a diary and timeline format.

17 NOV
travelling on the train from 6.15pm - 3am.
it was my first time travelling on a train eh! (except for mrt/lrt)
long distance ah! we played cards etc to burn time.

my daidee! lol

inner preview of our carriage

18 NOV
we had a small nap in the hotel following with a breakfast and started planning for our cip at the orang asli there.
took a long coach ride to a place before walking a few km to their kampong.
there wasnt much of a culture shock for me lah cause i somehow expected it to be that way.
no clean water, hardly any electricity etc, so nothing much to expect.
at least in my mind i know they live a simple life lo.
they speak malay so we had our malay friends to translate for us!
yeap some pictures for you!

walking towards their settlement

pok pok gek!

a typical house there

house visit

sending greetings to the people

a place where they call home.
just a living room with lots of things, it can accommodate bout 5 people in the night.

mehhh mehhh~~ we saw many goats there too! shy muscled animals. lol.

a mother hen and it's chick!

coconuts they pluck from the trees can be served immediately!
here we see the people chopping the coconut and served us the juice!
the juice tastes like sparking mineral water.
imagine it's like sprite with a plain water taste.
the flesh of the coconuts tastes great too!

the guys!

after the house visit, i felt really lucky to be born in singapore.
such a safe place with essentials easily at our fingertips, it's not surprising why many take things for granted, with me included.
after this, i'll cherish what i have and at least, not to waste any food!
and trust me people, you can do it too.

19 NOV
we took a trip from our hotel to kenong rimba park, where we're suppose to trek and camp at the cave.
the highlight of the day or perhaps the camp was the trekking part.
it was woooo fun yet very dangerous.
we had our lunch before starting to climb the hill at 1.30pm (it was 583m high)
climbing this hill was challenging as we do not have ropes or any special equipments.
all we have are our hands and legs and we prepare to conquer this hill!
needless to say, our hands got really dirty after climbing.
after overcoming some difficulties at some small cliffs, we reached the top at around 3.45pm.
i was in the first batch of people (group radiate bout 40 of us) to climb up the hill.
the 2nd batch was only an hour behind us so when we started going down, they were coming up.
there were human errors where the route got congested as it only allowed 1 to pass at a time.
it got pretty messy and there were a lot of waiting time, especially when climbing down the cliffs which were kinda difficult.
with US knowing it and unable to do anything, it was nighttime and at around 8pm, we couldnt see anything without torchlights.
it was not easy to climb up the hill, let alone climbing down.
what makes things worse was the arrival of a THUNDERSTORM.
our track got so slippery that we have to squat and slide down the slopes.
it was really dangerous too as some small errors can cause you to fall several meters down into the darkness in which the unknown lies.
everyone was even though scared and worried, we stayed calm and kept cheering and encouraging one another.
i was stationed at a slope to ensure everyone gets down and therefore, i was the last man on my group.
eventually after several slopes and sliding down, i made it back to camp at 12midnight.
imagine trekking from 1.30pm - 12am with 1 bottle of water, it wasnt easy at all.
i was already shivering by the time i reached camp.
took a shower and ate my so called "dinner" before heading down the place again as the 2nd batch (group thunderstorm) were still up there!!
i was the last man of 1st batch, the first man of the 2nd batch will reach at a time later than me.
with my handphone with me, i used the lights to shine the way for the people in the 2nd batch back to camp.
eventually, everyone made it back to camp safely, with bruises and cuts on our hands and legs.
the last person of the 2nd batch reached the camp at 4am.
personally i find this trek challenging and fun, it was really treacherous too.
the organisers didnt think there would be a jam at the cliff, nighttime will come and even a thunderstorm.
all these in my opinion could be prevented with better planning.
imagine trekking from 2.30pm to 4am. >.<
the innovian spirit however was great.
though there were tears among the people, nobody went hysterical etc.
after the end of the trek, i felt really proud of everyone and we were indeed SURVIRORS!

the bridge into kenong rimba park

kenong rimba park

huge tree root!

climbing

and climbing

jack, hafiz and i!

hani! notice i was sitting on a tree trunk. lol.

jack :D

20 NOV
the highlight of the day was suppose to be the white water rafting which was what i look towards to the most.
in the end, group radiate didnt get to do it due to the delay, BREAKING DOWN OF THE TRUCK, and a heavy rain.
this can be prevented too!! ZZ.
we were split up into 2 small groups to reach a coach via trucks where it brings us to the river.
i once again was in the first batch and we reached there in 30mins time.
jack and zijie was in the second batch and reached here only after 4-5hours time.
the truck that carried them actually broke down.
they had to go down and help push the truck etc, under the rain.
HUMAN ERRORS AGAIN.
some people felt stupid by paying money which was meant for the trip, to help push the truck.
white water rafting according to many, was LOADS OF FUN and was something not available in any parts of singapore.
duh! in the end, only group thunderstorm got to do it.

back at the hotel, we took a quick shower before having our dinner.
at least this is something good for we had STEAMBOAT!

dinner!! with zijie, reagen, raj as background.

hafiz!

afterwhich we started our campfire indoors!
the campfire was high high and high with lots of funny things and activities.
of course, there were performances by various small groups too.
my group, team ALPHA put up a dance item!
hints* i choreographed quite a lot of moves okay!
especially after the part where we squat down.
look at the video!! and SPOT ME! :D
dont fail me okay haha!
pause the music at the side if it's still playing ->>

21 NOV
packed up and took the train back to singapore at 1.30am
pahang was really a memorable trips for all of us, especially the trekking part where everybody went through SO SO MUCH TOGETHER!
GROUP RADIATE AND TEAM ALPHA!! ^^

last group RADIATE photo at kuala lipis, pahang before the train comes.

thats all for now.
ADIOS PEOPLE! IM BACK :D

-just when i needed you most