Impertubable

“You should apply for medicine course with that”

I can still hear the echo of that in my head. The words from my Bio teacher when I came to collect my SPM result. Hmm.. maybe I should have.

“Control freak”

Then again, I’m glad I didn’t. If I applied, and I got in, and succeeded in becoming an MD, I don’t think I can handle it. Here I am today, sitting here, thinking.

“What if I can’t save people I hold dear?”

If I’m an MD, and I can’t save them? I’m very sure I can’t take it very well. It’s pretty much gonna crush me and I’ll be devastated.

“You can’t play god, you can’ t save everyone”

Yes. I know. Still, I don’t think I can accept the fact that, as someone, who is suppose to save people lives, can’t save one of his own…

Well, that’s my opinion. Knowing myself and how I deal with things, that’s my conclusion. And yeah, come to think about it, I’m pretty glad I made the decision which I’ve made. Selamat berpuasa.

"About 11AM?"

I’m gonna be late. I missed out a few things which I needed to pick up earlier. So, there I was asking for a little bit of time extension. Its Day 0. We’re planned to leave Selangor for Taman Negara Sungai Relau, Pahang — now with a slight time delay. My bad. He.. heh. Anyway, 30 minutes later, we’re off to our destination. I took the role as the navigator — as if I’m good at it

"Let’s take Kesas, OK?"

That was one of my earliest task as navigator, choosing the route — how hard can that be right? He.. he… Since we’re from Shah Alam, the easiest route I knew was using Kesas highway, because it’ll take us straight to MRR2. So, there we were, driving through Kesas, MRR2, Karak….

"Eh, Fraser’s Hill. Dah penah pegi?"

Yup. Since, we’ve never been to Fraser’s Hill, so we decided to take a detour. He.. he… There’s one challenge though — we didn’t know how far it was from the junction where we saw the signboard… Ngeee… After a few turns (many actually) we managed to arrive at the entry gate to Fraser’s Hill. It was about 2:40PM…

"Traffic going up at odd hours,
Traffic coming down at even hours…"

We’re just lucky enough to arrive at almost the right hour. Basically, it wasn’t long before we could make our way up to Fraser’s Hill. Nice. We had lunch at Fraser’s Hill, then we took some pictures — a must! A few camera shots later, we’re back on our way to Taman Negara…

"Err…Kitorang baru turun dari Fraser’s Hill…"

That was the response we gave to our guide when we received a call from him. He.. heh… He was expecting to see us today at Taman Negara, to have a little chat before the hike… but looking at the circumstances… We think not! After a few more hours of driving, we arrived at Taman Negara — which I nearly missed because I drove right pass the turn into it… He.. he.. We’re there at about 7PM. There was a bus from Politeknik Muadzam Shah and two 4 wheelers from Bomba. We heard that Majlis Sukan Politeknik were sending a few batches of students to climb Mt Tahan as well. None of the chalet (I think that’s what they’re called) were available, so we had to drive to Gua Musang and find a place to rest for the night… — after having dinner first of course

"Err… Cik.. Bilik saya ni tak kemas lagi…"

The place is called KESEDAR Inn. I had to change my room since it was a mess. We also decided to leave after having breakfast — even though we initially thought we should leave at 7AM. I took the key to my room, got cleaned up, do all the necessary stuffs, and went to bed.

"6:30AM.. I’m gonna miss this bed…"

Day 1. Kinda hard to leave the comfort of the bed, especially knowing what I’m going to face for the next 3 - 4 days. Got cleaned up, had breakfast and head straight to Taman Negara. Administration for the entry was unbelievable. Nevertheless, we still need to go through it. We finally met our guide. Azman. Cool guy. :D.

"Tabur je kat sini, nanti dia datang kira…"

So, we had to declare all the things we’re about to bring in. I do mean every single thing. :D. The plastic bags, shoes, socks, attires, bottles — everything. A few minutes later, we’re all done. We had to sign our declarations and off we’re go on a 4 wheel drive to Kuala Juram, the starting point of our hike. We started our hike at about 11AM.

"Kita rentas 4 sungai sebelum Kem Kor…"

Hurmm… The first river, I took off my shoes and socks. The second river, I took off my shoes — since I’m no longer wearing the socks. Sungai yang lepas-lepas tu… Basah pun basahlaaaaaa…. A few rivers and pacats later, we arrived at Kem Kor about 3:30PM. Penat la jugak…. Lucky enough, once the tent has been set up… hujan mencurah turun… Ada orang yang dah lepas mandi, baju kering pun dah tak worth it — dah basah balik. :D. Luckily bawak baju extra — so it wasn’t that bad after all.

"Kita mula tadi pukul 9"

Day 2. The rain had stopped at about 5AM, so, we’re kinda lucky this morning I guess. Our midway checkpoint is Belumut. That’s where we’re headed today, we’re gonna have a long break for lunch there. Throughout our hike to Belumut (and the summit of Tahan of course), we met the participants from the Polytechnics. Tak cukup masa … jadi takde la nak cakap banyak-banyak pun… he…. he… Sekadar "Hi" je…

"Okeh, kita makan tengahari sini"

At about 12:30PM, we arrived at Belumut checkpoint. Guide masak nasi goreng yang sangat banyak, walaupun kitorang dah masak our ration. But, the nasi goreng didn’t go to waste, we met some more members of the Polytechnics group. Being good samaritans, we offered them the nasi goreng. An interesting feature of this checkpoint is the existence of a Hooked-Billed Greybird (I’m not sure this is the correct species, but that was what I was told :P) or known as Merbah Rimba. The bird is so used to climbers that you can feed it by hand — even though I don’t think this is a good practice. After lunch, we continued our journey at roughly 1:30PM…

"Selalu orang tertipu kat sini la… diorang ingat dah sampai Bonsai…"

We arrived at the first location where we can see the mountains surrounding us. The trees are shorter now, and yes, there is a tree that looks like a bonsai tree. If we weren’t told about it earlier, I know for sure that we would’ve assumed that location as the Bonsai checkpoint — but the lack of a sign board would’ve given it away for those who are looking for them ;). We arrived at the actual Bonsai checkpoint around 4:10PM… And yup…we took pictures.. heh.. heh… — hey, who wouldn’t right?

"Yang mana satu Bukit Botak?"

We were checking to see if we could see the last checkpoint before the summit. Azman showed us where Bukit Botak is… but I’m pretty sure I got it wrong and was looking at the wrong place.. heh.. heh.. :). By 5:45PM, we arrived at Bukit Botak. We took about a 30 minutes break. Fill up three 1.5L mineral water bottles to bring to the summit. It was about dusk that we started to make our move to the summit… and the hike was longer than expected because we’re busy taking pictures during sunset…

"Untung la korang..bukan selalu dapat view macam ni…"

Yup. We’re very lucky. Very lucky. We’re having clear skies and the view was AWESOME! Absolutively awesome! I would’ve never imagine watching sunset near the summit of Tahan… and yes more pictures!! We finally reached the summit’s marker at about 7:30PM. It was already getting dark, so we took some pictures (as proof of our climb!) and headed to the campsite location. We set up tents and started cooking dinner….

"Cerah ni Man… nampak bintang…"

I gave a quick answer to the guide’s question regarding the skies that night. Well, he had some stories to tell about himself.. and we managed to give him short pep-talk. Interesting stories. Very interesting. So yeah, the clear skies and twinkling stars did help in boosting the effect of the pep-talk. Ouh yeah, did I mentioned that we had clear skies and no rain? Yup, we’re that lucky.

"Jom tengok sunrise…"

Yes. We had sunset. Now, we’re watching (and definitively taking pictures!) sunrise at the summit of Mt Tahan. The view was breathtaking. A view that I once thought only possible through special effects in movies — but this one’s for real. Cold morning. No rain. Clear skies. What more can you ask for? The guide, as usual, kept mentioning how lucky we we’re to have experience the rare views atop Mt Tahan. But us? Busy taking pictures…. as usual. The sun rising from behind the clouds, engulfing the milky white clouds with its golden like rays… It was fabulous and absolutively breathtaking — surely a moment to remember. Some more pictures, and we need to get ready for our ascend…

"9:30AM"

After all the breathtaking views, the time has come to ascend from Mt Tahan. The journey back has less pictures — very few. Apart from the fact that the camera’s battery is running out, we’re also racing against time — since the plan is to reach Kuala Juram, our starting point, by today itself. At about 12:30PM, we reached Belumut, had a quick lunch and then back on our feet. A few short stops later, we arrived at Kem Kor. It was about 4:45PM. We took a break for about 30 minutes, then started to head to Lata Luis. Then, we continued to Kuala Luis, by now, it was already 7:15PM.

"Macam mana? OK?"

Tired, yet very determined, we smiled and gave an "OK",then decided to continue with the plan to head straight to Kuala Juram. Halfway through the trek, it was getting too dark. We prepared our headlamps and continued on our way.

"Jap..jap..tunggu sampai touch signboard…"

8:50PM. The official touchdown from the summit of Mt Tahan. Exhausted (I’m not sure about the rest of us, but I was pretty sure that I was :D), we unpacked our things and got ourselves cleaned up for the night. A good night rest after nearly 12 hours of trekking was undeniably a welcomed event. :).

"Tu yang merah tu Kelah la tu…"

While waiting for our transport to get back to Sg Relau, we had the experience of feeding the fishes at the sanctuary. Perghh…kalau tengok ikan-ikan ni, rasa macam nak bawak balik je… — and that’s the first time I saw real life Kelah with my own eyes :P.
The experience of hiking Mt Tahan was definitely something different than what I had experience before (well, to be honest, I think every hike is a different experience)… and ouh yeah, it’s a good idea to hike up Mt Nuang in Selangor as preparation for Mt Tahan.
–

"A Walk To Remember"

Just came back from the Mt Tahan trip. Got a few "souvenirs" — some cuts and bruises. . Unpacked some of the things used for the trip, I’ll continue tomorrow. It’s gonna be back to work tomorrow. He.. he.. Need to update myself with whatever happened in the office while I was gone. Just called up a friend to check on office stuffs. Need to do more updates tomorrow. :D. Ouh yea, blog on the Tahan trip later this week — while its still fresh on my mind.

Someone called me up and …

"Jom pegi naik Tahan"

Uwh? And now I’m packed, and about within one and a half hour I’ll be starting my journey to Taman Negara — then back in the office on Monday. My hiking cells have been dormant for about a year now. Wish me luck. Here I go.

"-expect the unexpected-"

After a zillion ring tones and calls… all you get is…

"This is the voice mailbox for the number…"

You’re still hoping for someone on the other side to pick up the phone. You’re still waiting for that to happen. But it never did. A few gazillion calls after you may bump into a slightly different one…

"Network is busy. Try again?"

Well, it does ask whether you would like to "try again". So what do you do? Dial the same number for another gazillion times… But of course, you still get into the mailbox, since no one is picking up. Hmm… what do you do? Dial again… and again.. and again.. and again…

"Perhaps she didn’t hear the phone is ringing…"

So you thought. The battery indicator on your phone is turning red, nevertheless, you keep on dialing. One dial after the other.. and another…

"Ouh..where’s that charger of mine…"

Makes you wonder sometimes. Usually, it won’t go beyond the third ring before she picks up. Now it seems like forever. For a while, you keep getting the ring tones before the voice mailbox, until.. the tones are no longer heard. For every single dial you’ve made, it immediately goes into the mailbox.

"Now what? Hmm.. I’ll just leave a message…"

You typed in a short SMS. Something to remind her to give you a call back, or at least SMS back, or just about any other ways that she could think of so that she can reach you. At the same time, you were thinking…

"I’ll call her again tomorrow.."

Yup. Another call. Maybe a few more calls. Tomorrow. A new day.

"Don’t you worry, If I don’t like something, I’ll tell you about it…"

Yeah, she said that. She said that a lot. More than once. She never said that she didn’t like the calls. She would have said it. Well, she doesn’t have to do much though. A simple short answer saying she didn’t like the calls — or anything else that’s related to the call — would have done it. You’ll never make the call. You’ll never write another SMS. If that would’ve made her happy, then you would do it all. Not much to ask.

Just a simple, short answer will do

But, once in a while, you receive an answer. You do receive an SMS. A simple one. A short and simple one.

"I’m sooo sorry, I didn’t hear the calls, the phone was on silent. Call me again OK…"

…. Well, it just leave you speechless. It also leaves you with an unanswered question. Perhaps just one question. Or perhaps two. Or perhaps more than that. But sometimes, it also leaves you smiling by yourself, and feeling better about everything that had happened. Yup. Perhaps it leaves you with that. A smile.

"Uish.. bila lak dia ada bf?"

Semua orang memang suka wat camni — buat anggapan sendiri tanpa buat apa-apa query. Tengok je orang jalan sesama of opposite gender — couple. Hampeh. Mana la tau kot dia jalan ngan abang dia ke, cousin dia ke, kawan je ke, ini tak… main terjah je. Buat kesimpulan tanpa usul periksa.

"Betullaa.. aku selalu nampak dia ngan pompuan tu, aku konpiden awek dia"

Banyak la korang punya ‘konpiden’. Bukan reti-reti nak tanya, terus buat anggapan sendiri je. Pastu buat orang susah. Menjahanamkan relationship orang lain. Siot je… Bukak cerita, pastu tak nak mengaku. Padahal dia la tukang canang satu galaksi bima sakti nih.

"Serius.. aku tengok sendiri dia kuar ngan awek lain…"

Ni pun lagi satu, dah memang tahap mangkuk plastik. Memang betul la dia nampak, tapi dia ada tanya ke sapa? Macam tak boleh je pegi kedai dengan kengkawan. Apa salahnya kalau pegi temankan, zaman sekarang ni memacam bahaya ada. Bukannya selamat sangat. Dah nampak sangat dengki tahap gaban, sesuka hati je burukkan imej orang.

Lagi satu, yang jenis tak tau apa-apa, pastu terus macam tahu semua benda. Tuan punya diri takde la pulak nak sibuk, tapi diorang ni pulak yang melebih-lebih. Tetiba marah orang la, kutuk orang macam tulah, macam nilah. Puas kot hati diorang ni kalau dapat burukkan orang lain.

Hmm…ntahlah, dah penat dah dengar orang macam ni. Sibuk tak tentu pasal. Bukannya salah kalau nak tahu pasal orang lain, itu ‘caring’ namanya… tapi sekurang-kurangnya check la bebetul fakta tu. Mana tau kot ada yang salah. Nanti tak pasal-pasal ada orang tak bersalah jadi mangsa… eish… sian..sian… Apa benda aku merapek pepagi buta ni, ingat nak tulis menda lain, kuar lain la pulak. Takpelah, lain kali kot.

–mengarut di pagi yang gelap–

Ntah. Aku jugak yang kena. Buat apa pun, aku jugak yang salah. Untuk perhatian semua, tajuk ni letak secara random je. Ada kemungkinan berkaitan dengan content ni, ada kemungkinan tak.

Kekadang aku rasa macam tak paham… hmm, bukan, memang tak faham kot. Ok, so I’m pretty much blur about all these stuffs, but that’s no excuse right? Half of you who are reading this probably have no clues about what I’m writing here. Heck. Who cares. You? Me? Someone you love? Or someone you once loved? Or someone you’re in love with? Or just that someone… whom you can only watch and adore from afar.

See, I’m going ‘rojak’ here. Ni dah nak tulis dalam bahasa lak. So, basically, that tells you my state of mind right now. Pretty much ‘berkecamuk’ — heh..heh.. as always kot. How do I put this down into words ek?

Hurm… macam ni lah. One at a time. I’ll do my best. I’ll do my very best. Firstly, macam mana kalau kita suka orang tu, orang tu suka kita. Tapi, tiba-tiba dia macam tak suka kat kita? Kenapa ek? Macam pelik kan? Tu la sapal… Nanti bila kita komen or tanya lelebih dia marah lak. Nanti tanya lelebih, dia kata kita jeles tak tentu pasal lak. Pastu, mula la…

"Awak tak percaya kat saya ke?"

Huk aloh. Percaya laa.. memang percaya, tapi kalau dah tindak-tanduk boleh mencurigakan, camner? Dulu kalau kita tak call selang 15 minit, bagai nak ‘rak’ tanya macam-macam soklan. Sampai rasa bersalah pun ada.

"Awak tak rindu kat kita ke?"
"Awak tak sayang kat kita ke?"
"Awak lupa kat kita ek?"

Abis, skang bila kita tepon camtu, lain la pulak jawapannya. Takde privacy la, tak percaya la, tak confident dengan dia la, nak rehat la sebab banyak keja/assignment, tepon lain kali la…

"Awak kalau tak telefon saya, tak boleh ke?"
"Awak kalau tak cakap dengan saya, boleh mati ke?"
"Awak kalau sehari tak dengar suara saya, boleh lupa kat saya ke?"
"Boleh tak kalau awak tak call sekejap? Sekejap jee…"

Herk. Nak wat camner ek? Kita buat ke, tak buat ke sumer jadi salah. Apa laa… Jadinya, apa nak wat ni? Hurm… takde wat apa kot. Ikut je la kehendak dia. Tu la orang cakap, kalau dah sayang. Takpe, kita sabar kot. Yelah, kita silap. Yelah, kita salah. Semata-mata nak pertahankan semua ni, kita sabar la dulu.

"Kalau ikutkan hati laa… "

Jangan ikutkan sangat, orang kata, "ikut hati mati, ikut rasa binasa". Jadi, setakat yang kita boleh buat, sabar je la dulu. Maybe ada kebaikannya nanti. Betul tak? Ingat.. yang penting, kita dah buat semua yang terbaik, semua yang termampu, sebelum kita mengalah. Kalau dah buat semua tu, still tak jadi jugak, nak buat camner kan. At least kita tak give up camtu je.

-yang merapu-

"Huarghh…."

Let me stretch a bit. Stretching is good before starting anything. Just to get myself warmed-up to write.

"Why do you write?"
"What do you write?"
"When do you write?"

These were some of the questions that I get from some people who read some of my writings. To be honest, I definitely have no specific idea of what I want to write, with probably some particular reason why I write, and absolutely no assurance of when I write. Pretty much unpredictable right? Anyway, that’s not the main thing that I’m writing this time. Maybe some other time, but not this time.

"What gift should I get for her?"

Now, that’s what started this writing today. A question. More of a request for an opinion. I didn’t actually know what gift was given, but I did give my opinion of what the gift could be. Not that I’m good at it whatsoever, but I just suggested what I thought worthwhile.

"It’s the thought that counts…"

Rang any bells? Yes, it’s nice to receive gifts (well, nice might be an understatement), but is it the gift, that really, really matters? Does the gift shows what your thoughts are about someone? I mean (pick any one that relevant to you), how much you love someone, how much you care about someone, how much you adore someone, how much you like someone, how much you….(your own here).

"…she was throwing tantrums and curses after receiving the gift…"

What? I just don’t get it. And I am really sorry to hear that. Even more sorry, that it happened to a friend. It’s like nothing is ever enough. I don’t think she’s gonna be happy even if he presented the whole universe to her. Nope. Really don’t think so. Weird right? Didn’t think it could happened? Trust me it did.

"…You’re so biased…"

Am I being gender-biased? Nope, but if that’s what you’re thinking, then it’s up to you. Are all women like that? Nope, cause I don’t generalise either. It’s all about the person — one single individual.

"…it’s like it was never appreciated…"

Yeah, it’s very disappointing to get that, after all the things you did just to get the person the gift. Very disappointing. Those who are disappointed, don’t be. I’m very sure that whatever you did, whenever you did them - the gifts and all - are envied by someone. Someone who wished that they could receive whatever you gave. Probably not by you, but by someone else. So trust me, you should be proud and happy. No one would’ve done what you did. And someone wished they had someone like you.

"And your point is…?"

Simple. If you’re giving someone a gift, know that someone does appreciate it, even if the person you’re presenting the gift with doesn’t. If you’re someone receiving a gift, know that that person may have to go through many hardships (earthquake, thunderstorms, oceans of fire — you name it) just to get you the gift, so, appreciate it, as simple or as small it may be. And… Ouh yeah, I’m writing this as a reminder to myself as well.

—
"…and if you wanted it, I’d wished for nothing in exchange.
No gifts, no goods, no demonstration of devotion,
nothing but knowing you loved me too,
just your heart, in exchange for mine…"

–Stardust (2007)

"Hmmpphh… ye lah, naik elok2…"

That was the response that I got from my mom when I told her about the trip. He.. heh… Mom’s know you best I guess. Before this, she’d be like talking non-stop, trying to reason with me about mountain hiking and camping stuffs. So, I guess I got away clean this time around. Okay, on with the trip.

"Nak hantar korang laa pakai lelawa nih.."

A simple answer from K.A’s mom when I commented her on her dressing on that morning. The clock was ticking at 7:15AM, everything have been packed, and we put our stuffs at the car boot. Then, K.A’s mom took us to the Shah Alam’s Batu Tiga commuter station.

"Erh.. diorang wat per kat komuter ni pepagi, bukan ari ni Sabtu ke?"

The large crowd at the commuter station was pretty suprising, considering it was early in the morning and… it’s a Saturday! "You people are not suppose to be here!!". Heh.. what can I say, it was an unexpected event — we’re actually expecting a very small number of people. Heck, who cares. We bought our tickets for RM7.20 each, which is a single trip ticket to Seremban. At about 08:00AM, a train arrives.

"Berapa lama daa dari MidValley ke Serdang…."

Was Arab’s sarcastic remarks when we met him at Serdang’s commuter station. We we’re actually still at Batu 3’s commuter station when K.A’s told him that we’re at MidValley. Don’t look at me. It’s between them. He.. heh… Ouh yeah, we had to switch train at KL Sentral Station because the train that we took was headed towards Rawang. Or was it Sentul? Either way, point is, we had to switch train to get to Seremban.

"Batallllaaa semua plan nak tido dalam komuter tadih…"

Yurp, I was pretty much disappointed since I was expecting a smaller crowd on the train… and planned to get myself a good seat — and a good sleep. Sigh.. but hey, after about 2 long hours on the train, we finally arrived at Seremban’s commuter station. Lucky for us it was a sunny morning, because we need to walk to Seremban’s Terminal 1 to board the bus which will take us to Ulu Bendul Recreational Forest (where Angsi is).

"…5 minit lagi bas jalan."

Herk. And I was planning to grab some breakfast first before taking the bus. No time for that now. Had to ‘tapau’ everything. I got myself fried meehoon, with 2 malay kuih, Badut took 6 kuih — a light breakfast according to him, Arab took 2 kuih (I think) and 100 plus, while K.A took a fried rice. We then boarded the bus and paid RM1.50 each for the bus ticket. About 30 minutes afterwards, we arrived at the Ulu Bendul Recreational Forest.

"Kita tukar baju dulu, jap gi kita gi report kat pegawai perhutanan sini"

So, we changed to our hiking clothes and do another check on the gears. Heck. I brought with me my headlamp holder, AAA batteries for the lamp.. but forgot the headlamp itself. Genius. There I was, without a headlamp, how serious was it? Well, if we had to walk through the forest at night, I’ll be hiking like a blind man with no walking stick. Calculating the average hiking time to reach the summit, I figured that it’ll be around 8PM when we reach back the starting point. Not too bad I guess. I still have two light sticks with me, they’ll provide some light — not a very bright one, but enough for me to make through during the last hour of the returning hike.

"…Lima ringgit seorang untuk permit, lepas tu, sepuluh ringgit untuk satu tapak khemah.."

It cost us a total of RM30 for the hiking permit and the campsite. En Roslan is the officer in charge of the Ulu Bendul Recreational Forest. After some safety briefing and some advice from him, we were on our way to the summit of Angsi. The hike started at 12:05PM.

"Jap.. jap… Tak cukup oksigen nih…"

After about 45 minutes of hike, K.A had some complications. It’s a minor one though, and was probably caused by the consumption of the fried rice this morning. A good practice is to have the food about 1 to 2 hours before hiking, but we started only after about 30 minutes after that. Not a good practice. So, we had some short stops every 10 minutes or so, in consideration of the safety and health of our team member.

"Baru pengenalan je nih???"

A signboard entitled "Pengenalan Kepada Hutan" (Introduction to the forest) greeted us after an hour of hike. Badut’s question was actually a reaction towards the 1 hour  hike as well as after seeing the next path we were about to take. A 45 degrees hike — more or less. :). What can I say? "Yup, itu baru pengenalan je… Jom." And there we go again….

"Kita break 15 minit kat sini. Amik oksigen dulu."

30 minutes later, we arrived at a campsite. Jeram Kak Lang. We took a short break there.. and took pictures as well. He.. heh… Who can resist doing that? Right? Arab was our unofficial photographer. He had with him a DSLR Nikon camera and an Italian made, heavy duty tripod — and yeah, it’s heavy.

"Kalau tak sampai puncak kul 4 nanti, kita kena patah balik…"

I made some simple explanation of our earlier plan, just to clarify things up. Knowing each and everyone of them at this point of time, I decided that I won’t take my chances to hike with the team through the forest at night. Safety has to come first, regardless what level of hiker you are, and you don’t simply take any uncalculated risk. Thankfully, they understood the reason why I made the decision.

"Lepas ni ada lagi susah ke?"

Arriving at Bukit Botak, we had to climb our way up through some really loose soil. There were ropes prepared by earlier climbers which we used to climb it. This section of the hike is the most challenging of part of the trip to the summit. We had some difficulties in getting past through it, but we managed to climb it without any serious injuries. :D. A few moments later, we bumped into some hikers from KUIS (Kolej Universiti Islam Selangor) who were on their way down from the summit. Badut, like this little kid with the infamous "Are we there yet?" kinda question, received an answer which he (of course) knows is not true….

"Sejam lagi lebih kurang…"

Ouh, not to mention that Arab met his girlfriend’s brother-in-law (or something like that), who was one of the hikers from KUIS. You’ll never know whom you’ll bump into up here. He.. heh… After about 4 hours of hiking we arrived at the summit. Badut, as curious as ever, and perhaps, also feeling proud of making it to the summit….

"Ini ke puncak dia?"

"A’ah". A simple short answer from me. All of a sudden everyone looked so energetic, motivated and proud. Well, who wouldn’t? Or to me, who shouldn’t? It’s definitely not an easy journey to arrive to this point. We did it. All of us. :). We took out our safely  stored two 1.5 litres of TESCO plus (TESCO’s version of 100 plus version) to celebrate! Hurrah! For lunch, we had bread with tuna — tuna in oil (Arab’s) and tuna with sambal (Badut’s). We took pictures, do all the necessary things, clean up the place, packed and ready for the return hike. It was already 5:00PM and the cloud looks like a downpour is about to happen soon. If we took 4 hours to reach our starting point, it means we’ll be there at  9:00PM…

"Kita kena cepat sket dari naik tadi…"

The target for the team right now is to arrive at the starting point before 8:00PM. Our pace had to be faster. Or we’ll risk walking in the dark for 2 hours, and once you start walking at night, that estimation will no longer be correct, it’s usually more than that. We’re planning to avoid that. And the pace did become faster…

"Hah.. Satu setengah jam je dah kat sini?"

K.A’s noted that earlier, the hike from Jeram Kak Lang to the summit took about 2 and a half hours, now, returning back from the summit, it’s less than that. Basically, I think we’re running down instead of walking. Probably because we’re more motivated and not to mentioned more energised than we were before. Good performance huh?

"Kita amik break sesikit along the way, kita tak break kat sini. "

We were basically ’shooting’ our way straight to the starting point. Time is of the essence now, and we’re losing daylight. We took short breaks of about 5 minutes each as we hike down. By 7:30PM, we arrived at our starting point. What a relief. A 2 and a half hours hike from the summit. That’s 1 and a half hours less than the time taken to hike to the summit. As beginners, we ought to be proud of our achievement.

…..to be continued… (I’ll update this later)
 

  After a long silence I’m back writing this blog. Nope, I don’t write often nowadays. Why? coz I don’t have anything to write… till now that is — but only a short one.

  Sometimes I just can’t keep wondering why is it when I’m at the edge of the cliff, ready to spread my wings and fly — with hopes that I’m not gonna drop like a rock — that everything starts crumbling down. There it goes. Now I, have to start all over again. Shoots. And I’m very sure it’s not gonna be easy.

    Trust. Now everyone wants one. Everyone needs one. But can it really be given just like that? Crap. Hell NO!

"Can’t you just trust me…one more time"

    Even if you go to hell and back I wouldn’t. Well, not me at least. Hiks. There are things that are just not easily mended once broken. And personally, I think TRUST is one of them. The only way to get it is to earn it. Which basically means, starting from level 0, from scratch, building the foundation again — heck, which also means, it’s gonna take a veryyyy longgggg time to complete.

"Trust me…"

is undeniably a simple sentence that can be uttered by anyone, but how many of us live up to it? How many of us have really earned it? It is also an undeniable fact that people always counters you with..

"If you can’t trust me, how can we go on?"

    We often missed out the reasons why people don’t trust us — myself included. But, if you really think about it, all of this would probably point back to ourselves. The things we do and  how we do things. We may just never notice it. So, if people can’t ever give you their trust, don’t blame them, look at yourself. You’ll be surprised after that, you may not have even trust yourself.
    As for myself, being a secretive being who lies in the darkness most of the time has spared my soul for long. And as for now, I think I’ll keep myself that way.