Haha ok think i gotta write a few posts today...
And yes, i came back from the super fun and interesting but tiring ODAC overseas trip!!!
I'm so glad that i din miss out this OT cos previously my family planned to go to china during this period of time..luckily my parents postponed the trip...so i gotta go for this and yes like wat my seniors told me,it is indeed something we shouldnt and couldnt afford to miss..it forged a strong bond among us, i certainly enjoyed the trip and i'm very glad that we've became so bonded XD
well,jus a brief of wat we did during OT
3rd June,Sunday:
met up in school at ard 5.30pm,played some games which served to be an icebreaker for us and the 6 non-odacers,after that had dinner and we happily boarded onto the Singapore Zoo bus and off we headed to Batu Putih with us all chilling in excitement...oh yeah by the way..we din take singapore zoo bus all the way to Ipoh haha it jus fetched us to the custom.. XD
4th June,Monday:
Reached Ipoh at ard 7 had breakfast (roti canai) at Ipoh and after that we were brought to a route that links to the bottom of Batu Putih...haha met up with our damn cool and super imba guides and took a lorry to the starting point...the 'trip' took ard 30 mins and we were like suaku monkeys screaming and waving to those orang asli when we passed by the village haha super spastic but the ppl were so friendly and they did response haha XD
Started our climbing after everyone reached starting point...we expected to reach the first camp site which is a cave before it turned dark....at the start it was okay no steep or particularly hard trail,jus that the humid and hot weather made us all soaked in sweat...at first everyone was super high and energetic but somehow our speed was too slow and we were in big trouble cos we were lagging by 2 hours behind time,guessed it's becos it's our first time climbing this kind of mountain,and maybe because at the start all of us tried not to step onto mud so we slowed down at certain points,adding on is our fears of leeches attack haha after all the scaring sessions by our seniors...and all our bags were super heavy with all our food clothings and tents inside...crossed a few river/streams with crystal clear and cold water and it was very refreshing...
We walked for ard 6 hours with rest points and lunch break in between before it bloody started to rain...soon the trails become extremely slippery and muddy and it was tough for us to continue at normal speed...at some points of time we had to squat down and crawled through all the low branches and trunks and thr r always thorny plants along the ways and their thorns r super sharp >.< few of us kena 'molested' by the plants and it soon left 'love bites' on us -.-
after it rained everything became harder for us,it became very foggy as the cloud was low and the temperature dropped rapidly to below 20 degree celcius, it was definitely tough as we had to make sure we do not lose track with the person in front or the person behind so that we will not get lost in the mountain...soon everyone got tired,even those imba ppl oso,luckily everyone cheered each other on and we reached 1 pretty flat and big space..it was ard 5pm but our guides decided to stop cos they thought we would not be able to make it to the cave before it went dark and it would be extremely dangerous cos the trails leading to the cave would be very slippery..so we had to pitch tent in heavy rain the the sky became dark very quickly,we tried our best to pitch up the tent properly and shift all our equipments under shelter..however, all our tents were still wet and dirty as mud water flowed into them...in the end we had to stay in a very bad condition,it was very very cold and everyone was trembling,and we had to walk ard in the rain to cook and prepare for other stuffs...but still, we showed the correct spirit,everyone worked together and we were able to 'produce' our dinner-- hot stew with potatoes,tomatoes,instant noodles and mushrooms haha on a mountain with cold weather,it was indeed a bliss for us...after dinner we slept early,ard 9pm to prepare for the next day which would be more challenging...o ya,after dinner i felt something flowing down my thigh so i touched it,and to my horror it was blood,haha i pulled up my shorts and checked,and it was a leech bite..aiks the leech was lucky to escape before i found it,if not....wakaka...
5th June,tuesday:
We woke up at 7am and began to packed up,all our bags,tents,equipments were wet,we had no choice but to squeeze them back into our bag and continued on our journey,before the trip,mr seet gave a slight brief, we were 2 and a half hours behind time...all our hearts sank when we heard that,we were dissapointed but yet again,we decided to push ourselves on for the trip...it was cold,temperature still below 20 degree,and the trails were even more muddy and slippery...we started at ard 9am and continued to climb on,thr were certain parts that were very challenging, at certain points, we had to climb up slippery hugh rocks beside cliffs in order to move on,and one slip would cost us some limbs or worst still,our lives...luckily everyone got through those parts although a few ppl slipped and almost fell,but fortunately we were able to make it..
As we continued to ascend, the trails became steeper and steeper,the weather became even colder and it was very demanding,especially with our super heavy wet bags dragging us back...i had to admit,day 2 was very difficult for me,probably i wasnt strong enough at certain points i had to stop and rest for a while before i could continue,and it delayed our speed,i felt so sorry for my climbing partner,Faizah, but i had to thank her as well as other ppl for cheering me on and i truly appreciate that...it really made me chill seeing us being so united,even for the non-odacers oso,we encouraged each other on and although several people were injured and sick,we persevered on and completed our target.
By the way, the views were super nice,as we were pretty high above sea level,clouds were floating through the mountains and it was super cool,to be in the cloud or above the cloud,and the sky was totally white and not blue,guessed our view was block by the cloud cover but indeed the sceneries were..amazing
Another interesting thing was that the vegetations changed with heights,at first,from the bottom to our base camp,it was tropical rainforest,ya dense undergrowth and all that,but when we ascended,the vegeatationgs slowly changed to monsoon forest and at the last part, i believed it was corniferous!!it's damn cool,i nv expect to see such forests in Malaysia haha but ya it was in front of us,those trees and vegetations that i only seen in movies or televisions before,it was very very beautiful and stunning,like movie scenes,and we were definitely amazed and enlightened by it...hehe i soon became hyper again and i believed all of us did oso...our climbing speed suddenly became faster and we were able to reach the summit at 5.30pm!it was indeed a great achievement for us as we were already lagging behind time by 2 and a half hours and we managed to make it to the summit before night time...haha after we reached the summit,nobody could hide our feelings,we shout we scream we ran ard like mad we hugged each other high 5-ing each other and yes,the atmosphere was so GREAT...even the guides oso,they couldnt hide their smile haha and i had to admit they r seriously damn good,and tough at the same time,even when we were trembling due to the super low tempereture(it was below 10 degrees at the summit) but they could still walk ard half naked or in singlet and don feel a thing..haha and they r really good climbers,they climbed in sandals,slippers and even normal white shoes,yet they could climb damn fast and steady,they din even nid to use their hands while our whole body were covered with mud and cuts...
yep since we arrived early,we could take our time to enjoy the views and prepare for dinner at the same time,the views were so stunning,we had a clear view of whole Ipoh and the range of mountains ard...it was simply beautiful...
Our dinner was great,pasta!!!!!with hotdogs and mushrooms...haha when they were preparing to cook i went to kacau oso,so i conveniently sat beside the indian pot and were busy 'koping' food haha...we ate a lot of hot dogs cos there were like ard 50 hot dogs thr hehe and we certainly enjoyed it...after cooking pasta we the 'cook of the day' used the soup left over to cook instant noodle...it was damn nice, and me,benjamin,dhilshad,arkar and josiah definitely enjoyed that..
We had NR tat night and it was inspirational and fruitful,we had a sharing cum reflection session and it was great..we sang a few songs cheered a bit,enjoyed ourselves and had a great rest on the cold mountain..
o ya,though it din really rain that day and it was quite cloudless, we din manage to see a lot of stars at night which is quite a waste..but then the night was beautiful...
6th June, Wednesday:
After spending one nite at the summit,we had to go down to the bottom in 1 day time...and after 2 days of climbing,all of us were very tired,and we could feel the pain and fatigue in our thigh,carf and joints area...
we took a few photoes at the summit with our banner and had our breakfast which was cereal!haah it was great
Goin down though is faster but it wasnt any easier than climbing up...it added a lot of stress on our knees and ankles and i guess our joints are damaged pretty heavily..the trails were very slippery and we often had to grab hold the trees or plants nearby us so that we can stop ourselves from rolling down cliffs and steep slopes...we aimed to reach the bottom in 8 hours time but our first part was too slow,and again, we fell behind time,but this time round we have no option but to go all the way down even if we hav to walk in the dark which would be dangerous...
Walking down..or rather sliped and sliding down the muddly trails were horrible,our toes suffered a lot and unfortunately,some of us got our toes injured real badly..ouch..basically their toe nails jus came off..it's horrible and i could feel their pain when i saw their wounds ouch...other than that,some of us were not feeling well too,benjamin and sufiyan got fever and yong sheng, jaclyn and some other ppl also suffered from other injuries...aiks the journey down was tough and i kept seeing ppl in front of me slipping down the muddy trail and kena cut by leaves and thorns..luckily my shoes were good enuf to prevent me from slipping most of the time...
When we reached lunch point it was already close to 4pm,meaning we were damn slow cos from lunch point to bottom nids at least 3 hours...but no choice we still had to go down..luckily we never gave up and were determined enough to take up the challenge..we cheered along the way,helping and talking to each other along the journey...
at first our target was to reach bottom before night time but then due to our relatively slow speed,we knew we would definitely reached the bottom after it turned dark..so our target changed to cross the main river before night time...i knew everyone was more or less dissapointed to be slow again...but we picked ourselves up and pushed on
There were false hopes along the way as we kept hearing sound of water flowing and thought we reached the river before the expected time..so we got dissapointed repeatedly...
luckily it never rain,and we reached the main river at ard 7pm when thr was still light...we felt so relieved and enjoyed the cool water for a while before walking down
We took ard 40 minutes to reach the bottom and the sky turned dark halfway through the journey...so we had to take out our torch so that we wont bang into the trees...it was quite scary to walk in the jungle in the dark but we were motivated enough to reach the finishing point so we all speeded up and when we finally see the huts at the finishing point we couldnt help but started to scream and cheer,and cheong all the way up thr...everyone went wild and crazy and we screamed like free...forgotten that we were in a village and we were disturbing the residents haha couldnt control mar that kind of excitement..
I was so tired that after roll call, i immdiately lied down on my bag and rest and to my surprise,i see a clear dark blue sky full of stars...yes it's full of stars...it was totally cloudless and we could see every single stars...it was so damn nice...our seniors were right,it is indeed a-thousand-star hotel...i was completely touched by the scene,it's something that we cannot obtain in singapore and even in malaysia,it's rare to hav such clear and cloudless night...and i simply love it..
After that the lorry fetched us to Ipoh Recreation Park and we pitched up our tents and washed up..finally got to bath after 3 days on the mountain and all of us were so dirty,stinky and muddy.but cos we reached the bottom late our dinner arrived late as well..we had to wait until almost 12am before our dinner finally reached...but the dinner was great..haha at least it din fail to fill my stomach and the coke was aghhh~ damn nice~i hav nv found coke so nice before haha...
chit-chat a bit with the ppl before goin to sleep it was a great night...no more mud no more thorns and no more leeches!haha
7th June,Thursday:
It was meant to be a slack day,haha we had caving followed by white water rafting...after packing up we boarded up the bus and headed to Gua Tempurung,but sadly,benjamin and yong sheng couldnt join us for the activities becos they r suffering from fever and severe leg injuries respectively :(
haha we had difficulties climbing up the stairs,our leg muscles are all damn tight and tired...every movement of leg would cause a sharp pain in our legs haha so we did suffer a bit at first...the 2nd part of caving we gotta walked or even climbed through the stream in the cave it was fun haha but again it tested our leg muscles and we suffered a lot..haha sometimes we had to go really down and do commando crawling to move forward cos the rocks r really super low but it was super fun lar...
after that we had a great great great lunch!!!rice with curry chicken,sausages,mixed veg and egg!!and also cold drink!haha i was so hungry tat i ate 2 rounds haha it jus feel great to hav my stomach filled...
after that went to white water rafting..we went to the place from Gua Tempurung by lorry haha the journey was super super super fun cos we were all standing up on the lorry so along the way,when thr were low branches or leaves we hav to bend down to dodge them...and cos it is super unstable to stand on the lorry,when the lorry speeded up or when the road is not flat we would experience violent shaking haha it was super fun!
the lorry trip took abt 20++ minutes i think and the sceneries along the way is super super nice...how i wished i had a camera wif me,i would take more than a thousand photoes,though it's jus a kampong at the bottom of the mountain..typical malay atap house and stuffs but it seriously makes me feel so comfortable and at home...i miss tat kind of feeling...havin experienced urbanization for so long,i guess this kind of real peaceful moments is essential for all of us...sometimes we jus nid to take a rest,like a slow walk in this kind of environment,it seriously help to relax ourselves and i felt so great and refreshed..haiz..i guess i still love kampung more than city maybe...to lead a peaceful and 纯朴 kind of lifestyle..it's jus great...no stress,everything also can relax...and enjoy...
white water rafting was seriously the most fun activity of the whole OT,we rafted in a river with strong current and lots of rapids haha it's jus so coooooooooooooooooooooooool and we got a super crazy and funny 'captain' who will push ppl down the raft for nothing haha,poor jia qian was the victim..but it was really damn fun he taught us to do a lot of stunts,like spinning around and the special high-5 and stuffs...the guides and the captains woo they really rock!
haha we were damn lucky that it never rain until we got up the shore haha and the rain was super heavy...then on the lorry back to the cave we went crazy again..as usual haha...
After washing up we went to Ipoh Parade to shop and eat!ate buffet with ben,alex,jason,shi han,kaili,jolene and fanny.haha couldnt eat much,probably stomach wasnt used to it,kind of wasted..it was abt31.68 ringgit per person...but then the dinner was super fun,haha we talked all kind of crazy stuffs and i liked it haha
Hmm the Pacwest company booked a super VIP bus for us but the bus could only contain 26 ppl so 7 of us and mr seet had to share the other VIP bus with strangers aiks a bit sienz...cannot talk without restriction...then in the end we jus slept,and the bus driver drove damn fast sia,he only took 4 hours from Perak to Yong Peng which is like o.O then reached customs at 4am,also quite crazy,freaking fast then in the end we reached school at 5.30am haha then everyone slept in the canteen and wait for the sun to come out before we can wash up...
Arkar and company helped us order mcdonald breakfast and after that we had our washing equipment session! it was quite fun lar playing with water haha...
Overall,OT is super duper fun and fruitful,enriching and useful at the same time,it helped us to become tougher and stronger,both mentally and physically and most importantly it bonded our batch of provisional instructors as well as the 6 non-odacers who joined us,bet they had lots of fun too haha we r glad to hav u guys with us also!
Really wan to thank a lot of ppl for the trip,the OT chief for organizing this trip,teachers,treasurer,our leader,calvin,our various ICs like first aid IC and pioneering IC for teaching us all the skills necessary for outdoor adventure...my climbing partner,Faizah,those who cheered me on during the trip(which is basically everyone lar XD) haha OT wouldnt have been so fun without u guys!we rock!haha!
Who wants kuji kuji?we wan wan!
Josiah Denise
Jason Siew Hwee
Louis Ivie
Matthias Fanny
Benjamin Shi Han
Sufiyan Jia Qian
Calvin Yanni
Nazri Rachel
Chia Weei Faizah
Benedict Dhilshad
Arkar Syazana
Zhan Liang Hui Yi
Darryl Jolene
Yong Sheng Jaclyn
Alex Wan Ping
Wye Min Kai Li
32 ppl,3 teachers,4 guides,4 activities,1 mountain,1 cave,1 river,1 trip
Batu Putih,we came,we saw,we conquered
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