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++a simple gal ++ ++living in her own world++ ++fun-loving yet withdrawn++ ++lively yet silent at times++ ++bimbotic at times++ ++coz reality is just too harsh++ ++but thank God I have you!++ *FM receiver & earphones* *wallet* *phone..Dopod?* *bag..crumpler?or timbuk2?* *digi camera* *new PC/lappy* *Phantom of the Opera* *travel* *spectacles* *..Him..* &...many many more...
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Tuesday, November 14, 2006
I'm back from the 4 day 3 nights at m+ 0phir! whoa...indeed a tiring trek, filled with rain, and long flights of 'stairs', endless trekking etc. However, I would say, it's all worth it. the trip started the night before reporting to the camp, as i mentioned. the next day we set off, and travelled on bus to the resort below the mountain. after reaching the resort, we had lunch amidst all the houseflies (they are humongous and there's alot of them!!!), followed by the students having a prepatory exercise before the actual trek. Anyway the 1st day was rather relaxing, but I had to have a migrain. ughh...so puked my lunch, managed to have a few bites of dinner only to puke them out few hours later, downed 2 painkillers and finally the pain began to subside... And so, after a good night of sleep for many many hours in the resort, I was fully charged up the next day. and off we go, heading up, uP and UP! Took some pictures along the way...as usual... me with the 3 cadets from my school...at the 1st restpoint...after a long flight of 'stairs'... at some areas we have to cross over the stream/river... nothing much for the 1st part of the trek...relatively easy, few hours later we hit checkpoint 4, where we were supposed to camp there. and so the cadets were given the whole afternoon to play in the river below, and to settle down in their tents, to cook etc... and so the teachers and the medics ventured upstream where it's more peaceful (without the students, everywhere is peaceful!=p) and we took in the nice scenery! and of course, i took this opportunity to pose for photos too! however, it started to pour around evening time, just after dinner. What a damper. I was also worried that if the rain didnt cease, we'll not be able to proceed to the summit too...a cold night, with some of the boys sleeping outside...thank God they didnt fall sick... the rain stopped and the sun came up the next day! the ranger gave us the go-ahead to trek up to the summit! The rangers were like monkeys climbing around, always so sure-footed, and always ready to help us whenever in need. Good job! and so, we proceeded to trek up...luckily we can leave most of our belongings in the tents in CP4, so all of our load was visibly and thankfully lighter. It was easier to climb too without our enormous and heavy backpack. we had to climb up this part called 'KFC'. Don't ask me why it's termed as that...but we had to climb up steps of tree roots, and be careful not to disturb the bee hive on a particular tree (some of the boys got stung though). at some parts, ropes were there to guide trekkers... and after a long arduous climb, we finished the KFC, to reach CP6... see the rope on the left?the ranger was scaling up the rope. we were supposed to use the ladders on the right though... But well, a chance for a photo shoot...hence I posed for a shot... catch the view below! and catch me if i fall! poor boy frm my sch was really strong mentally! despite falling and having scratches on his legs, he still managed to climb on, without any complaints or without giving up. Kudos to him! we were very near to the summit...at botak hill...very very near...but rather demoralizing, as we had to continue climbing, and the summit seems like so far UP!!!! "so near and yet so far"...never has this phrase seems so true to me... and finally!! we've made it!!! the summit!! finally! the view is simply breathtaking! we were in the clouds! on top of the world!!! < enjoying the well-deserved 100+ up there! I've made it too!! group photo...and the most astonishing thing happened...i was futher away from the whole group, slighly infront of them. when suddenly i saw that the ALL proned downed in less than 1 second! very fast and swiftly, all on them suddenly squatted down! I thought they were all posing for another shot, when I saw a cloud of BEES flying overhead them!!! I thought I only see this much bees in cartoons!! whoa...the bees flew just directly across them, to somewhere else. I speculated that the bees were being attacked themselves, hence they didnt attack. amazing manz...whoa... nice view! my typical pose... and so, after our 'lunch' we made our way down... this is a scary part of the trek...we had to climb up (or down) this boulder..of course, when i went up, I climbed a lower boulder, not as long as this. however when we came down, i was challenged, by one of the CLT and also by myself to overcome my fear. so i climbed the longer one down. this one as shown. almost 50m downwards...nothing below you but a free fall with rocks cushioning your landing if u lose your grip and fall...terrible manz...slipped afew times, especially after glancing down (bad move manz..) but in the end, I made it! yeah! the trek down was easier...a relief..however, it started to get overcast and dark clouds were gathering with the thunder rumbling...we hastened our pace and hurried to get back to our campsite..once we hit uor campsite, it started to pour seriously heavily! we tried to go down to the river to wash up in the icy cold water, but the water was flowing too fast and water level was rising at an alarming rate. so we got our students to leave the river immediately and go up to our tents area. it was really freezing cold...even under the shelter of a ground sheet shared by 2 teachers and 2 medics didnt help...when the rain subsided, we headed to wash up...but it was really too cold to go into the water, so i just used my mess tin to scope out the water..cold!!! we had just started to cook when the rain came down again. also, due to the dangerous condition of the river, we werent able to collect water. hence we had to make do with whatever we had, and just made 1 cup of cup noodles each. we had our noodles in the tent and talked about many issues. when suddenly, a teacher said, "what's the loud breathing?" and i looked at the entrance of the tent and saw a face...slight jolt of fear...and realized that it was the ranger who asked us to go around to check on our boys...creepy...and he asked us to tell the boys not to make too much noise, to go sleep and not to play with torches...really creepy...so we made our rounds and got the students settled in. i didnt even dare to go to toilet (makeshift one in the jungle) coz it's simply too creepy... thank God the night passed without any incidents...the next day we packed up and headed down to the resort! we were rather early and our pace was fast too! we had to carry our thrash down, normal, but mind you, the park rangers would check the thrash and account for them one manz...so duh! the twin waterfall! and finally..the stairs meant we're really near our resort... we completed it!!! catch the tallest mountain? we've scaled it, reached the summit...and came down safely! Thank God!!!! yeah!!! ___________________________________________________________________________ straight after reaching singapore, I headed down to meet the 2 friends for sushi! buffet!! yummy!! real full manz...satisfying also! haha...had a fun time tokking kok as usual...manz...also, my eyes were both red due to contact lens infection i think...really bad...arms and legs were aching like nobody's business...cant walk properly... met edwin also and told him about the trek...and my eyes were still red...vrey vrey tired... slept in today...managed to take a day off from school to recuperate...now my whole body is aching...eyes are still abit swollen and red...cant really open the eyes... and it's gonna rain here...hm...wonder how is the weather up there in 0phir? =p not going to climb there again for a long time at least! haha... Glad to be back! steph @ 11/14/2006 02:19:00 PM
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