Jungle Hike/Trek

I went for a hike/trek yesterday in Bukit Tinggi with Abel and Ian. Just the three of us, and boy, was it a fun experience. I guess most of you know that I’m not the physically active kind of person, and doing an active jungle hike/trek (well, it was more of trekking) is the last thing I would do.

Wouldn’t blame you if you thought so about me. I thought so myself too. But when Abel asked me along, I just said yes, packed my bags and go.

If you asked me now, I wouldn’t have missed it for any thing in the world (I had to cancel 2 important appointments for this trip – 1 in TTDI, and another in Section 14)

Abel and Ian in front of the 1st waterfall (I’m obviously the cameraman)

We trudged up a from an orchard somewhere off Bukit Tinggi (before the fork to Bukit Temran). Initially, it was a path to the waterfall. Being adventurous, we went into the jungle past the first waterfall. Then as the path went deeper into the forest, we followed the river upstream. Over the rocks, pass the trees, etc. It was strenuous to me that after a while, we stopped and rest.

The picture above was just the beginning point – the journey to the first waterfall is unimpeding, but as the forest got denser and denser, the path got harder and harder. We stuck mostly by the riverside, and only went in the jungle when there was no other way to go upstream – a wise thing to do, because we found out very much later, from the owner of a church camp in the orchard, that there were tiger sightings in the jungle we were in.

Danger!
A jungle trek wouldn’t be much of a jungle trek without its dangers. Thorns and brambles aside, I slipped and nearly got swept away by the extremely strong current of the river rapids when crossing. It was fortunate that I managed to grab hold onto a rock on one hand, and my other hand found Abel’s hand (who was already past the river). Well, what can I say – I have great friends. But then again, I’ve learnt to respect the awesome power of the upstream river – its strong and if it can sweep a giant tree trunk down stream, you’re no match for its power.

Of course, that was one incident. There were countless others, like when I sometimes felt a little unbalanced walking on dead tree trunks (by the end of the hike, I was practically hugging a tree trunk to cross the river), and losing energy during the hike/trek.

Reward!
But of course, for everything that has a high risk, it usually comes with high rewards and payoffs (except perhaps robbing a bank, or killing someone). I guess the reward is the journey in itself. After some time, we found ourselves in some kind of lagoon/lake, and there, we had quite a bit of fun. I mean, take a look at the sequence of these pictures:

Before anyone shouts “Seduction of the Innocent!”, these pictures were posed. I specifically asked Abel to sit on the dead tree trunk and Ian to swim towards him. The water was icy cold – perfect for a swim after a long and arduous hike.

Doing Something Different
As you know, my skills in life lies involves writing software, and logical stuff – not physical activity. I’m more of a Trekkie than a trekker. In fact, I’m a lousy hiker/trekker. There were countless times that I slowed the other two down, but both Ian and Abel were extremely patient people. Abel usually took lead while Ian took the tail. Me? Middle.

This is like my 3rd hike/trek in my whole entire life. But hey, at least I did something different. I mean, wouldn’t life be extremely monotonous if you just sat there and typed away in front of the computer the whole day? Sometimes it takes courage to take the plunge, and do something different – if you want your life to change anyways.

Some people just sit and moan about how rotten their lives are. Well you know the answer – change! Do something different!

Throughout this trip, I learnt what great people I have as friends. Abel, being the more experienced hiker/trekker, kept motivating me with the Big Mac at the end of the journey (not my kind of motivation – the Big Mac is no motivation for me. My bed is), and Ian would be there behind me, should I fall. Great people indeed.

Oh, speaking of the Big Mac – Abel’s mother called midway, and we were having food at a McDonald’s somewhere near. And she thought that there were McDonald’s in the jungle (it was actually at a highway layby), LOL. Ah, the powers of globalisation!

Ending

The cost of each wound is the cost to heal it – which I didn’t work it out as I’m too sleepy

• Number of Abrasions: 23
• Number of Bruises/Contusions: 19
• Number of Lacerations: 7
• Number of Leech Bites: 0
• Number of Punctures: quite a lot, on the hand, thanks to some thorny brambles
• Pants: Torn to shreds
• My bed and warm baths: PRICELESS!

I’m bruised and sore, but damn, it was worth it! I came back today with 12 emails in my inbox