Thursday, November 11, 2004

god bless arafat... a fine man who had left us... and my camera which served me well... facts bout mt. ophir.... malay name: Gunung Ledang how high?- 1276 metres, 64th highest in m'sia... how hard? - 6th most diffucult to climb in m'sia... how popular?- most climbed mountain in m'sia... where is it?- located between the states of malacca and johor... fun rating: 4/5 **** my mt. ophir journal... --- day one --- book in amoy quee camp... hq ncc... we r gathering at cck mrt b4 going to amoy quee together.... spirit of swiss air.. hehex.. met alvin goh at petir lrt b4 going to cck mrt... accompany him to 7-11 to buy 1.5 litres of mineral water... on the way up the mrt... met the band ppl together with ms seah... feroz, justin,sathiya etc... entered qmoy quee camp and the malay ppl were eating on the way as they were breaking fast... we were the earliest school to arrive.. waited a while b4 everyone arrived... den we were given some briefing by the officer... followed by the air commander gary pek... had a overview of wad we'r gonna do for the next four days.... oh man.. soo excited.. we'r sleeping in the same place as the place which we slept for camp feast... sweet memories.. slept between cj and a central district cadet called viknesh... tried to sleep but viknesh was tossing his whole haversack and arranging his bag... woke up and found cj also awake.. so went to toilet together....then viknesh told us he got poker cards.. soo we played a few rounds b4 sleeping.. hahax.. --- day two --- cj and i were woke up at 530 am by alvin goh.... played too late last night... washed up den gathered downstairs for breakfast... went to cookhouse to eat... macaroni and horlicks... not too bad.. hahax there was a cat going around that place... cj and hida were soo scared... hahax cuz they'r afraid of cats... for me, i love cats and dogs.. hehez after that we packed up and waited for the bus to arrive... den we set off to tuas checkpoint to enter m'sia by the 2nd link... we changed bus after we entered m'sia... this one was more comfortable of cuz... on the way we talked alot... and also played cards (borrowed from viknesh)... the bus was generally noisy... den we had a stopover at yongpeng... bought alot of stuffs... alvin treated us to chewing gun cuz he lost the last round.... we bought snacks and even burgers... after tat ppl were eating and playing on the bus after a hour or so... we'r approaching mt. ophir already.... so when we could see mt. ophir from far.. every1 was excited.. den we frantically took photos from the beautiful scenery... after tat we reached gunung ledang resort... quite a nice place... sir said its 3-star standard... we put down our bags and gave our passport for safekeeping... we also got our room keys.. 3 person per room... im sharing room with naim and izzat from bedok view.... when i first entered the room, i was relieved to find a toilet... at least dun need to use public toilets... but.. the room is quite a disappointment.. cuz it looked so different from the pic we saw at hq... den our room light is also faulty... plus the air con which took ages to cool the room, its not tt good but is good enuf for us.. after tat we went back to haf lunch... here, the food is always served in buffet style.. the food was not bad lahx.. den we proceed up the forest to the adventure camp... at first we played the obstacle coruse.. the guide was always speaking malay and firman was our translator... the obstacles were crawling on the ground under the barbed wire(and made us dirty), crossing over a big log(which we did numerous times during the climb), rock repelling using a rope(very useful also), monkey bar etc... after obstacle course we did the web thing.. each person must cross over the other side without touching the obsatcles... rock climbing, and the best thing... flying fox!!! when its my turn,i felt kinda scared but anxious... the man asked me whther its my 1st time and i said yes... and i was finally jumping, the sir said 1,2,3 jump and i didnt hesistate and jumped down... tt was my time playing flying fox.. hahx quite fun.. after playing around for a couple of hrs... we all went back to our rooms for our free time.... we took a quick shower den rushed to the mini pool to play... at the 2 ends there r two goal posts and we played water polo... the chinese guys plus naim and izzat ys the other swiss malay guys... hahax at first we were thrashed cuz the malays played too well...den we relied on dan fu who jumped into the pool despite being allergic to chlorine to pull back scores... there were alot of fun and splashing in the pool and of us were enjoying... when razi had a moment of madness and threw the ball away and lost it.. the other guys had their royal rumble and they anyhow pushed ppl into the pool.... when everyone finally had their fill of madness and fun, we all returned to our rooms to rest and den haf dinner afterwards... we went to the shops nearby to buy a ophir shirt... they all choose maroon with black but i chose navy blue with white instead.. who noes all the swiss ppl wuld buy the same color.... dinner was also buffet stlye... we kept reminding ourselves to enjoy the meals cuz the next few days will really suffer.. hahax.. after tat we had a breifing on the climb in a very cold and freezing room by the owner of the resort himself... he showed us wad we can expect of the climb.. i looked worried when he mentioned we haf to climb a 80 feet rock cuz im scared of heights.... we went outside to collect our rations after the briefing.. outside the room, theres 2 insect terminators which were zapping hornets non-stop.. and den there were lots of them lying around there.. dead... so gross.. our rations includes 6 cups of maggi hot-cup all chicken flavoured(yucks!), packets of milo, cereal, nescafe and mineral water etc.... after tat we went back our rooms to pack up for tml.... bcuz i brought a smaller bag.. dan fu they all keep blaming me and said my bag was lighter and they haf to carry heavierthings... but finally we managed to squeeze alot of stuffs in my haversack and all set for tml.... after tat im supposed to help them refill a bottle of water but i didnt cuz naim abandoned me after he used the public phone and i also dun wan to go myself.. so they kept blaming for the next few days in the campsite... went back to retire in the now extremly cold room and extremly comfortable bed(no such thing in the tents)... --- Day 3 --- woke up feeling very cold... washed up den went to haf breakfast... after tat we fall in outside with our heavy haversacks den began on a 2 1/2 hr trek to the campsite... the 1st part of the route was rather easy... we had to climb a total of 531 steps to reach the 1st checkpoint... and only till that part, mr pun already surrendered and went back to the resort.. haix... we rest for a while and i also took some pictures.. after tat the route was tougher... no more concrete stpes... we haf to rely on branches and rocks... the paths were also quite muddy.... the trek was generally okay.. but as every1 was not used to such trek, we were getting tired.. plus that heavy haversack... it was tiring.. but to think of it now, the trek was chicken feed compared to the one next day... during the trek.. the ppl in front encountered a blue snake and we were delayed for a while.. too bad didnt get a glimpse of it... and finally... we reached the campsite... there were many tents.. the tents at the other side belonged to central district which was climbing to the summit... we chose our 4person-tents and den unpacked... after a short briefing by clt zul.. we cant wait and rushed to the river.. the so called river was made up of a pool and den small rapids... theres also a part upstream where we can play but we left it for the gurls instead... the water was ICE-COLD... so cold that we screamed when they splashed at us.... the other guys from st pats, cat high, acs were more daring and they jumped straight into the pool instead... and den they were splashing and swimming around... as i was too anxious to join them... i left my camera in my pocket.... i realised and took it and wanted to put it on dry land... i also snapped a shot of dan fu at the rapids... which unfortunately became my last shot... as i was going back to dry land.. i slipped on a rock where alvin also slipped earlier... both my hands were in water den.. and i was holding my camera in water.. there goes my camera... arhhh pure unluckyness... cuz the man at the customer service told me to get a new 1 yesterdae... darn him.. had cup noodles for lunch which was prepared by alvin... it was getting dark the skies looked as if it wanted to rain... we went back to our tents to rest... we also had some entertainment cuz cj brought the poker cards up.... after playing awhile we heard the sound rain dropping.. so we hurried out to keep our hanging clothes... the rain kept getting heavier and we had to stay in our tents.. somemore the damn tent keep leaking water inside.. the other guys wore their ponchos and stayed outside... the rain stopped and we had our dinner early at 5+... alvin prepared it again... after that the rain continued to pour throughput the night... and sooo we were stuck to playing poker until tiredness finally had the better of us....

Andy Chong blogged @ 1:51 pm