a little trip up Fraser's Hill (episode 1)

A vacation log, dedicated to all who went for the trip

Time: 8.30am
Date: 2nd September 06

It was a cool Saturday morning. The weather seemed fairly good for camping. We were all very exited about the trip. Though no one in our gang ever camped at Fraser's Hill, we were all game to rough it out in the hills! We congregated at our church (Metrotabernacle), and did a check on our equipments;

Tents - checked

Lamp - checked

Stove - checked

Luncheon meat - checked (how could camping be fun without them luncheon meet!!?? 'm sure Lydia would say "mmmm... luncheon meat..." rather, she sometimes resembles the female version of Homer Simpson, without the belly - Thank God!)

Canned stewed pork - checked! (ooo... them oily fat fragrant pork!)

... and the list went on... All set and ready to go, we headed towards Kuala Kubu Baru, had our brunch and continued our journey from there.

... It was a while since the trip... my memory's a little faded now. But anyway, that was the first thing we headed for when we arrived - the Map!

"Where are we gonna go? Where are we gonna camp? Is there a place to camp? ..." These were the thoughts that filled my mind at that moment. Then, we headed for the tourist information counter and got ourselves some more detailed map. We decided to take the longest trail - whatever its name was... (the one where people usually got lost). But the guy at the counter (darn... can't remember his name - sorry dude) advised that if we insisted to take that trail, we'd better report ourselves at the police station.

Blah Blah Blah, after a long chat with the police, we have finally came to a decision - We would go ahead anyway! We took a sissy trail (Can't remember the name...) and then, followed by bishop's trail - I must say, climbing the stair case in my house was harder !

Not complaining... At least the air was fresh (until I started releasing a mixture of methane fumes ), and the scenery was green and soothing to the eyes. There were small streams of spring water at certain parts of the trail. Along the way, we were entertained by the Fraser's Hill Forest Philharmonic Orchestra. It was made up of a myriad of hums, buzz and chirps of different critters and plants. Best of all, we were rewarded with an awsome sight!

Notice the black thing in the picture? Well, it is a Malayan gibbon! As a season hiker, I usually hear their howls from a distant and never have I seen one of these before... But low and behold! There was not only one, but a family of them. There were four of them! Enough of gibbons...

We continued our journey. My poor friends had to endured my talking throughout the entire journey... Not to mention my addition to the fragrance of the forest - fart. I couldn't help it really... We were a few hundred metres above sea level. Preasure at such hights are usually lower, therefore, my fart happily leaked... ok.. enough of physics.

Along the Bishop's trail, we stumbled upon another trail that seemed more interesting. Despite the sign, we chose to be adventurous!

We went ahead into the forbidden trail. We were greeted by many many - and I mean many leeches! And boy, they were the most adorable creatures you could find there. They were cute, and slimy. They extended the tip of their body towards us as a gesture of their hospitality. Everyone of them were 'warm' and friendly, eager to greet us with a kiss. And above all, they Suck!

The ladies certainly felt molested by these over friendly inverterbraes. The situation was getting rather uncomfortable. The trail slowly diminished as we went in further. With the leeches surrounding us, we walked faster and faster hoping to reach the other exit of this trail alive!

Some of us were already victimised by the leeches... We knew we had to carry on, and we pushed on... until we came to a dead end. The trail was block by impenetrable bushes of thorns. "We have to turn back? And face the leeches? OH NO!".

This is a pure simple case of "Padan Muka" (translation: Serve you right!)... Dah lah orang letak papan tanda "Dilarang Masuk". (translation: despite the warning sign that says strictly no entry) Ko nak masuk jugak! Buta huruf kah? (translation: you chose to ignore it. Are you illiterate!?) PADAN MUKA! (translation: Serve You Right!) We really had no choice but to turn back.

hmm... the latter reminded me of repentance. I guess sometimes, we are all like that. Despite the prompting from God, we sometimes deliberately chose to be fools and disobey for whatever reasons, and later find ourselves trapped in a pit, and then blaming God for not helping us. In such case, one can either

a) deny God and choose to stay in the pit or,

b) repent, and ask for God to bail one out.

As for us, we obviously chose (b) - to turn back. We had to endure those nonsense that we endured on the way in - the Suckers. Life's like that sometimes, Ok... enuf of preaching....

Anyway, the weather got rather nasty that day. No matter what the weather threw at us, we pushed on. We came prepared! One came prepared as a garbage bag, the other - a confused between a I-know-what-u-did-last-summer and a tent, the other - a garden gnome, the other - ... well, he was just being vein, and the other -

err... He chose to go back to nature - Banana leaves. After being urban for a long time, it took him awhile to figure out how to use the leaves!

And finally, banana! He got it! What a happy man he was!

Thank God, we managed to find refuge before the rain got heavier! It was a wooden garage. The interior design was a classic.

It was getting rather late, and we haven't found our campsite yet! Oh dear....

Stay tuned for episode 2!