My Own Happiness Project

My Own Happiness Project
because happiness begins inside and flows out...

20080715

weekend escapades (2) ......

The next day we went out fora the real escapade. We were invited by another estate to come try out their jungle tracking trail, which leads to a waterfall and clear water river. But before that, another hour of driving through gravel roads and more palm trees......

Very peculiar, a concrete slab was built across the river to allow vehicles to cross.

After the morning poco-poco, we were all set for the trail, which takes about 45 minutes (or so they say) to finish, or 1.5km of windy up hills and down hills hiking.

The estate also has a licensed deer farm.

I was all excited about the trail but thinking of doing it in my loafers really killed the enthusiasm. Half of the time I was just trying to keep myself from slipping off. There is no grip at all on the shoes.

My loafers before its ruined. Will need a new pair when I get back I think.

A friendly reminder just before we got on the trail.

Now in between the above picture and the one below was a 1.3 km hike, I did not take pictures as I was concentrating on not slipping and die. Sad to admit that I almost got a black out on the track, and I was so exhausted I decided not to continue to the waterfall. There was a junction leading straight to the river and I got my emergency exit there. I was so spent, the estate officer decided that I should not walk the rest of the trail, and got a 4-wheel drive to my rescue. Now that's got to suck. I might be grateful now but my pride will be sore in the morning...

There's another funny incident in the jungle when I almost lost my cool. The guide that took us through the trail was a super fit young estate-worker, with the health status of an alpha-male wild stallion and a body so chiseled and taut packed with muscle (an ant wound be tired walking up and down the hills on his body) and even right from the beginning he was saying that the trail is short and we're near the end. That time I was still happy and excited, my energy reserve still in its maximal level. After what it seems like a million miles into the jungle, he still said we're near the end when we ask him how long we still have to go. At that time, the body was already tired and spilling the consequences of poor stamina resulting from growing up sedentary in the city all my life. I could still take it at that time.

After a few more near death experiences (being a tad bit over-dramatic here) I was all hanging on the mental will to carry on, thinking to myself that I could do it, I could do it. But at one point of time I just decided I needed to stop a while and take a breather. When Asked how long we still need to go, the guide happily answered "Oh, dekat sudah, sikit lagi"

I almost lost my cool (having vertigo and with very little blood flowing up the cerebrum) I snapped at him "Jangan cakap dekat, dekat saja bah, dari tadi lagi sya dengar tu dekat, dekat tapi tidak sampai juga. Kalau jauh kasi tau jauh, kalau belum setengah saya mau patah balik!!"

That was rather unexpected, the boy went urrmmm, did a bit of calculation and told us we already did about 900m, and another 600m to go. I went "Ok, kita teruskan"

Haha, speaking like a true scientist, relative terms means nothing to me... Give me figures, okay, figures and facts. We scientists thrive on those! Haha.

The 4 wheel drive that got my s.o.s... Before I got up, I saw a leech was about to come into the thread opening on my shoes. Calmly (or just because I was out of energy) I asked the guy to help me poke that thing with his cigarette. No way I am touching that thing. Then I took off my shoes and somehow, having half my foot covered in my own blood did not really surprised me. One of the leeches had a good meal off my second toe and somehow I must have dislodged it, but I continued bleeding inside. It was a horrible sight, like my toes got ran over by a tanker or something. Forgot to take picture of that.

My mood and spirit recovered after reaching the river...

A forced smile for the camera...

After that we had our picnic, mandi sungai and ended off with giving out certificates and gifts for our hosts.

I lost my appetite for the whole afternoon, but after mandi sungai, I was famished, and took my lunch in the car. In fact, any food would be good after mandi sungai.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

teringat pula time mbudak2 dulu, jungle trekking di sekitar banjaran crocker..besh sbb teda lintah n sbb bnyk buah2an hutan dan buli mandi (kencing, birak) di sungai..jelesssss nya..

Anonymous said...

man, trekking abis2; punya best tuh! I miss doing that! If only ada free-time bleh pok pigi poringlah bulan depan hehe!

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