Trip Day One
So we got off the bus and excitedly hopped on to the wooden deck that seemed to be the grand foyer to welcome the breeze of fresh rainforest air.
Now that the day has come and gone, and many more in between, I still do not understand how we have actually felt excited for the days, and the afters’ events; if we had not been oblivious to the turmoil that was sailing steadily towards us I am ready to bet and arm and leg we would have not been smiling so gaily.
The first few events were actually quite fun, void of physical torture but nevertheless, were indeed invaluable for the tasks ahead.
“This is Dong”, wheezed Hazim. I swear, although instructed to say that, cracked me up. His priceless expression of disbelief (as if he was actually hoodwinked into saying such a strange array of words) and confusion fused together to form a rather constipated but amused expression.
“What?” inquired his partner.
“Dong!” repeated Hazim, with, once again a fresh new look of amazement on his face, quite impressed with the fact he was seemingly “clearing up” his partner’s doubts.
It is also quite eminent he agrees totally with his partner’s last remark.
After a few more rounds of introduction-based... games, I daresay, we settled into the Camp more so, with all appreciation and credit to the lunch that was prepared for us.
After so, we did several activities, worth mentioning, then again, not worth much ponder due to its apparent significance in view-point re-alignment.
The flying fox : a well-constructed instrument highly useful for covering moderate distances in a very short and exciting period of time without the use of electricity or alternative energy sources; it is by combining the laws of gravity and the ingenuity of well-designed rollers, carefully planned towers and an amazing hunk of steel woven finely into a thick, metallic rope.
White water survival training: I would prefer to call it rapids, instead of white water, but I’ve accepted it, due to their interpretation of rapids making up the “white” part of the river (mostly due to a large cluster of fine bubbles reflecting white light all too better than the rest of the river.)
What we’ve learnt is the technique to float past rapids by steering yourself in the intended direction, and to swim at a proper angle in relation to the river’s speed and direction to reach the adjacent bank as quickly as possible. This technique, however, works best with a life vest.
(More information on this can be found in Relative Velocity, an O’ level Additional Mathematics topic.)
Trip Day Two
I think it was 5.00 AM.
We were all still asleep. I heard a voice shouting the distance. At first I thought it was someone trying to wake us all up, but after listening to the voice monotonously for 5 minutes, one of my roommates sleepily announced:
“Guys, wake up. There’s a fire.”
So that’s what he was trying to say. Fire. It sounded more like, “Hyer – wire –hyer.” Really, I swear it sounded like that. You would probably agree too, if you were half asleep dreaming of a warm bed that did not feel like a bed at all (we slept on wooden planks)
There was no fire. It was just a drill. According to them, it was a purely randomly generated drill in order to train them as well as possible.
Something told me it was not so, as the drill was conveniently sounded a few minutes (perhaps 15) before our intended wake-up time. I believe this was a wakeup call in disguise.
The snaky people. Why didn’t we realise that?
ZZZZZZZ> >> > >> fast forwarded to the highlight of the trips events.
It was a terrible, 8 hour long trek through swampy, hilly, sweaty sun-scorched trails along the rainforests of Temburong.
I regret to say that there were no pictures taken during the course of this sortie, due to the fact that environmental conditions were simply unsuitable for a digital camera to exist in.
I’d prefer not to relive the moments...
We reached the campsite atlast.
After setting up our tents, we cooked a simple meal comprised of corned beef and rice, and some instant noodles, before I submitted to my declining health and collapsed into my sleeping bag.
The next morning, we awoke at 4am to repack the tents and head down to the river to raft downstream to the main camp building.
It was truly a Godsend.
Have I learnt anything from this?
1) If forced, I can do anything.
2) Fire drills should be much more alerting. The monotonous announcing of “Fire, fire, fire.” Gave away the fact that it was a drill, and not real.
3) Think twice before signing up for something that says “vigorous” in its description.
No, honestly.
1) I learnt that many things are possible if you only tried harder. If you fail yourself, your friends can help you back to your feet.
2) There is so much in life, we do not know. Even ourselves. And especially our limits and boundaries.
THE END
