prelude: i decided to go on this trip the very last min.. just before i went on my cameron trip i suppose.. so i decided to go just like 10 days or 2 weeks before good friday.. was it a rash decision.. ha.. i can say no.. i took 2 days to think of whether i should go when my mom said i decide myself la.. well.. she said it unwillingly cause i asked her when she was watching her korean drama.. oh well.. i didnt dare go at first cox my mom didnt sound please.. but to think that i haf a long weekend coming up with no one to spend wif, i decided to go.. (probably a form of escaping from reality).. anw.. i went n got back..
day 1
sending hf to cc too.. she wanted to borrow sleeping bag n ziploc so she came over at 6.30 or earlier to do packing.. ha.. in the end she gave up on the sleeping bag n shared wif me.. haha.. reached cc just before 7am.. hee.. the bus was going to come at 7.30am to pick us up.. the first hiccup was it went to clementi cc instead of west coast cc.. ha.. wad a joke.. after getting on, it was a ride to tuas checkpt.. on a typical long weekend, one would expect a traffic jam at the checkpoints.. so we did experience one.. ha.. well.. we just played cards on the bus to waste away the time.. ha.. after going thru the msian checkpoint, we were suppose to change bus.. but cause of all the traffic, our dear bus couldnt reach the checkpt, so we waited at the canteen, before anione could finish our drink, we were told to abandon, i mean really ABANDON all the food or drinks we got to board the bus.. the tour guide was trying to explain some things.. which he kept repeating till i got abit sian diao by him already.. we took a public bus to board our bus which was somewhere outside.. ha.. stupid.. n hf was saying she wanted to try taking public bus.. ha..
den it was a ride to mt ophir.. with no stops in between.. heh.. so we just slept, talk, enjoyed the scenery.. by the time we reached the resort, it was noon time.. LUNCH TIME, means food.. all of us were famished.. ha.. well.. some called it the last proper meal before our ascend.. hee.. after that, we had some packing to do.. surrendered our valuables to keep in a safe in the resort.. den we were given our water n food ration.. it was alot n heavy.. sian.. some had to carry tent n stove.. we got rid of some of the unneccesary things fr our bags and was ready to go.. den we had to fill in some form to say how many stuff we bringing up, supposedly so that we can keep track on the litter we nd to bring back down..
den we embark on our journey.. upwards.. ha.. if only it was upwards only.. so to reach checkpoint 1.. it was a test already.. hee.. wif no prior training, it was mental work.. n to haf a partner whose bag is so much smaller than yours n his size is so much bigger.. ha.. i had to do more mental work.. though he offered to carry my bag, but i tot if i could do it myself, i would feel the satisfaction more.. so i pushed on.. well he helped me finish my 1.5L of water.. hee.. guess on the way up, without jinhsien pushing me on, i probably wanted to gif up climbing more... hee thanks.. well the guide's way of motivating us was that if we can survived the first half an hour of climb, we could climb all the way to base camp.. understatement.. well.. nothing he said from the beginning was worth believing.. heh.. the scenery was beautiful.. the waterfall n wind.. hmmm.. everyone was ever so glad to reach a checkpoint or rest stop.. ha.. den it was like photographs time.. haha.. it was fun just sitting there enjoying the breeze and scenery, quietly thinking of things.. sometimes i get lost in thoughts.. which got me home sick.. the whole time during the climb, my mind was on stepping on the right place, not fall over.. cause that's probably the end if u fall.. finally at base camp, we pitched our tents and when for a bath in the waterfall.. well the water was used for everything.. bathing, drinking, eating, washing.. sometimes it's better not to think of wad others did in the water.. u just pray nothing happens to u.. haha.. after the bath, it was time to prepare dinner.. which was cup noodles n some packet rendang.. ha.. those that u throw in hot water that kind.. hee.. one of the stove was faulty which made taion abit pissed.. ha.. just as we had just got everything in place to enjoy dinner, it started raining.. pouring to a certain extent.. well.. it always rains when our batch try to do some outdoor cooking.. so we problem solved n built a shelter wif ground sheet.. haha.. so when everyone else was inside their tent eating wad they haf, we were under the groundsheet cooking.. haha.. n the gas stove still works during the rain.. it was a funny sight to see everyone in raincoat or poncho, under the groundsheet eating.. ha.. jh brought chilli crab n tom yam flavoured cup noodles n it tastes wonderful.. hee.. marvellous.. after that, we clean up n got ready for bed cause we had to wake up at 3 or 4.. before we went to bed, jn, wk, hf n i played cards.. haha.. across the tents.. haha.. as the tent was on a slope, i think i was slipping down thruout the nite.. as a light sleeper, i could sleep much.. heh..
day2
in pitch darkness and out torch lights we hiked to the summit.. checkpoint 4 to 5 was LONG .. ha.. but it was fun hiking in the darkness.. u could only see wad's in front of u.. as jh didnt haf a torch, i had to shine on his path at times, everytime we stop we turned off the torch, n u can never see anithing in front of u.. haha.. cool.. we had to cross rivers during that darkness too.. it tested alot of teamwork.. ha.. the sun finally came on at about 7am.. by then we were already climbing with all fours.. ha.. wk was saying why he paid 200 bucks to experience wad he had in burnei.. haha.. guess the highlight of the day was the vertical climbs using ropes.. i scrape my elbow the first time up.. heh.. n cause of the condition i was in.. didnt quite bother to wash my wound yet.. after the first vertical climb, there was many ladders n vertical climb to conquer.. the last vertical rope climb was about 2 storey high.. no safety harness or wad to protect u.. u only haf your hands n legs n that rope in your hands.. as it rained the night before, the rope was wet n slippery.. after climbing so much, my hands were quite tired already.. wif only that way up for us, i had to climb it.. i was SUPER AFRAID.. if i lose grip, i would plunge down, we all joked that we'll end up in the resort.. dont even need to carry our bag down.. ha.. we all tried to make it sound easy to climb up but it wasnt.. i still rmb as i was abt to reach the top, i suddenly could feel my arms animore.. i couldnt pull animore.. with 2 more steps to go, tai on was at the top pushing me on.. but at that point, i couldnt, i resorted to squating, which scared the people at the top, so they quickly pulled me up by reaching out.. which was pretty dangerous actually.. but i really couldnt feel my hands at that point in time, as if it was not mine.. it was freaking scary..
we finally reach SUMMIT before noon.. it was super cooling.. love it.. the view was great.. we were in the clouds.. haha. well.. a little accident happened at the top, jeff hit his head against the rock as wk, jh n to fell from the tallest platform.. the 3 of them fell on him.. heh.. luckily apart from scratches, nothing much happened.. den it was descend.. same route down.. i was kinda afraid n fearful of the vertical descend.. after wad had happened, i was scare.. to went down wif me.. well, he got to the bottom faster, after dunno how long on the rope, i asked how much more i had to climb down, he told me to look.. i took a peek.. i was freaking out.. my hands were tired n shaky already.. it was wobbling.. ha.. after much descend down n more ropes, i finally got to the end of it.. while waiting for the rest, to n i talked abt the experience just now.. n he was scare too.. haha.. it was great not carrying anithing to climb a mountain u noe.. haha..
after reaching back to base camp, it was packing n cleaning up.. hee.. which we were very fast at.. haha.. but having to carry the bag pack to descend was the most dreaded thing ever.. n it was more difficult to go down than up.. my knee started aching after a while.. well.. it was kinda injured during my placement.. heh.. with unstable knees, it means unstable ankles.. so it made the descend more scary n difficult.. ha.. we made a stop at twin waterfall.. magnificant.. ha.. didnt go n enjoy the waterfall cause i was tired.. ha.. i was one of the slowest when climbing down cause i resorted to bottom shifting at some points of climbing down.. ha.. it was a funny sight.. cause everyone else is standing while to n i were sitting.. haha.. it was pretty deceiving to climb from checkpoint 1 to the starting point.. cause it was LONG.. LONG.. jh was always saying we gonna reach the end but the end never came.. hahaha.. it was a relieved when we finally reached the end point.. YEAH!!!
then we checked into our rooms at the resort n got a proper bath.. haha.. think it was the longest bath i ever had.. haha.. had dinner after that.. k.. i ate alot.. till it shocked the whole table.. ha.. it was a never ending story after that.. haha..
after dinner many of them went to bed.. but the youngsters went on to party thru the nite.. we gathered in our rooms n played games.. haha.. we only went to bed at 12 i think haha.. we were died tired by then.. somehow i was quite awake.. it took me some time to fall asleep..
day3
last day.. had buffet breakfast.. not everyone woke up for breakfast.. haha.. den went exploring abit.. haha. bought some stuff.. den just rotted n we played cards again to waste the time we had till it was lunch time.. hee.. we finally checked out after lunch n boarded the bus back.. it was sad to leave the cool climate.. had a few stops at the town to try the chendol n other food stuff.. some not bad.. ha.. then it was a ride back to johor for a seafood dinner.. besides sleeping, we played cards again.. haha.. well, seafood dinner didnt really had much seafood except the fish n prawns.. hmmm.. cheated again?.. haha.. got to woodlands checkpoint.. it was jammed pack.. so many people.. haha.. it was more chaotic than tuas checkpoint.. hmm.. i DIDNT GET TO EAT DUNKIN DONUTS AGAIN.. sian been to msia the whole week but i didnt get to eat it one bit.. tsk.. haiz.. finally back home.. my bro came to pick me n hf up.. home sweet home..
melie
11:17 am
