ASSESSMENT WEEK
The Assessment Weekend will remind me of Introweek May '03 when I was introduced to the ideas of living in the jungle. It's not sane for a man to go live in the wild without having any foresight or knowledge about the conditions or how the elements are going to affect you.
I have no idea what was to come on both occasions.
To me, my days spent with the 5 Potential Venturers (PVs') from Sabah; Clare, Freddy, Jane, Terry and Vic will prove to be invaluable in months to come. Vic will be the only one not joining us on 06A from this weekend.
JAN 26
We met up at a deserted car park in front of Bestmart, Putatan. I was expecting to meet up with a beautiful chick.
Patricia Mobilik.
She was as lovely as her personality, I must say. Warm, boisterous and animated, she shares a common trait with all Sabahans' - their ability to just take you in and make you feel 'just right at home'. And she did just that! I met up with Lily, an xV together with Alias, our driver.
Half a dozen rucksacks later, with Terry on board the van, we drove to pick up Clare, Jane and Vic. We were dropped off at the end of a road - oblivious of where we were even though I attempted very hard to recognize landmarks. But in the jungle, trees were trees. Not road markers. I was sceptical if I will survive.
We laid out our kits on the red laterite ground as instructed while Pat & co. scoured for unnecessary or forbidden items.
It was Packing 101: Don't pack what you don't need!
After repacking our rucksacks, a half hour trek awaited for us. I changed into more suitable gears - longs for protection from the razor-sharp grasses that Pat has been telling us about.
I didn't participate much, in terms of interactions with the rest of the group (and this I will regretfully bring forward into my expedition). Meagerly, I will ofter try to chat up with Vic and Jane. Freddy was doing most things on his accord while the girls helped around.
It was a tough environment, different from the city life which I have grown to liking very much. But I realise that I need to put that aside if I were to go on the expedition.
That night we slept the tarp which we had set up during the day. Freddy built a bon fire which Jane and I tended with care during our night watch till it rained down on us, extinguishing the embers which we so carefully guarded. The fire was no more.
JAN 27
By 8:00 a.m. we had finished packing, dumped the things we don't need to the van and started our compass marching to the bearing of 230 degrees. We only have a parang to hack and a couple of compasses to guide us.
The madness has begun. The trail was ever uphill, muddy and dense. Terry was slashing his way through. He was our main perintis - the pioneer, the man in front, our forger. Terry is usually quiet, as am I.
But along the way, much was broken - silence overcame by laughter. Jokes (occasionally rude but actually most of the time they were plain evil) were thrown around by Clare The Buazo (crocodile in Kadazan-Dusun, she's called that for a reason and she likes to 'fish'), Freddy and Pat.
I didn't quite understand what the jokes actually mean but I just laughed along - over 'bamboo on hills'... 'bulu(h) atas puki(t)' and 'amput'... which by the way means 'f***' and also gasping for air. It's really just a play of words and loads of puns.
I never came to love a road so much until today. When we stopped for lunch on a red, laterite road - it was the highlight of the day. No mud, no dense bushes. Just dirt. It's not slippy, it does not stick to you like brown glue and it does not rip your arms apart. That road was a good road...
And of course, it watered down when we ate. Rain in our lunch. Delicious! Pleb-like rice, cold sardine and raw eggs. Washed down with water. Hmmm...
We continued after our lunch, with Freddie leading the way with the compass. Trailing along was Terry. I was with the girls and Vic. The lunch has given me the energy that I needed adter the long haul up the hill. Now, the trek was leading down. Though it may sound easy, everyone needed to be on their balls... of their feet, tip toeing ever so carefully; like a mountain goat on his hooves.
There was an air of silence before it was broken by a frightening sound. "Crack!"
"Someone fell! Who was it?" It was Clare who somehow slipped over a slippery patch of mud and nearly sprained her ankle. She was okay.
Later the trail started to loosen up its veins and grasps of thorns when we make our way into an estate. Funny thing; we found an Xpax advert in the middle of nowhere but decided to leave it as it was. They do go all out trying to get people to use their service, I thought.
Anyway, we took a 'short cut'. A sort of 'truant'... See, we were not suppose to go through the estate. It's not on our course, but I 'think' we consulted with Pat if we could take it. And we 'think' she said yes. I 'think' so...
I saw my first Gasto lidium.
We took photos at the end of the trail in a hut. In one picture, everyone was pointing at Clare, because she's the only one that fell. She was a little annoyed. After that we merrily made our way like the 6 little drawes into civilization.
And by civilization, I meant tarred road.
I have no idea what was to come on both occasions.
To me, my days spent with the 5 Potential Venturers (PVs') from Sabah; Clare, Freddy, Jane, Terry and Vic will prove to be invaluable in months to come. Vic will be the only one not joining us on 06A from this weekend.
JAN 26
We met up at a deserted car park in front of Bestmart, Putatan. I was expecting to meet up with a beautiful chick.
Patricia Mobilik.
She was as lovely as her personality, I must say. Warm, boisterous and animated, she shares a common trait with all Sabahans' - their ability to just take you in and make you feel 'just right at home'. And she did just that! I met up with Lily, an xV together with Alias, our driver.
Half a dozen rucksacks later, with Terry on board the van, we drove to pick up Clare, Jane and Vic. We were dropped off at the end of a road - oblivious of where we were even though I attempted very hard to recognize landmarks. But in the jungle, trees were trees. Not road markers. I was sceptical if I will survive.
We laid out our kits on the red laterite ground as instructed while Pat & co. scoured for unnecessary or forbidden items.
It was Packing 101: Don't pack what you don't need!
After repacking our rucksacks, a half hour trek awaited for us. I changed into more suitable gears - longs for protection from the razor-sharp grasses that Pat has been telling us about.
I didn't participate much, in terms of interactions with the rest of the group (and this I will regretfully bring forward into my expedition). Meagerly, I will ofter try to chat up with Vic and Jane. Freddy was doing most things on his accord while the girls helped around.
It was a tough environment, different from the city life which I have grown to liking very much. But I realise that I need to put that aside if I were to go on the expedition.
That night we slept the tarp which we had set up during the day. Freddy built a bon fire which Jane and I tended with care during our night watch till it rained down on us, extinguishing the embers which we so carefully guarded. The fire was no more.
JAN 27
By 8:00 a.m. we had finished packing, dumped the things we don't need to the van and started our compass marching to the bearing of 230 degrees. We only have a parang to hack and a couple of compasses to guide us.
The madness has begun. The trail was ever uphill, muddy and dense. Terry was slashing his way through. He was our main perintis - the pioneer, the man in front, our forger. Terry is usually quiet, as am I.
But along the way, much was broken - silence overcame by laughter. Jokes (occasionally rude but actually most of the time they were plain evil) were thrown around by Clare The Buazo (crocodile in Kadazan-Dusun, she's called that for a reason and she likes to 'fish'), Freddy and Pat.
I didn't quite understand what the jokes actually mean but I just laughed along - over 'bamboo on hills'... 'bulu(h) atas puki(t)' and 'amput'... which by the way means 'f***' and also gasping for air. It's really just a play of words and loads of puns.
I never came to love a road so much until today. When we stopped for lunch on a red, laterite road - it was the highlight of the day. No mud, no dense bushes. Just dirt. It's not slippy, it does not stick to you like brown glue and it does not rip your arms apart. That road was a good road...
And of course, it watered down when we ate. Rain in our lunch. Delicious! Pleb-like rice, cold sardine and raw eggs. Washed down with water. Hmmm...
We continued after our lunch, with Freddie leading the way with the compass. Trailing along was Terry. I was with the girls and Vic. The lunch has given me the energy that I needed adter the long haul up the hill. Now, the trek was leading down. Though it may sound easy, everyone needed to be on their balls... of their feet, tip toeing ever so carefully; like a mountain goat on his hooves.
There was an air of silence before it was broken by a frightening sound. "Crack!"
"Someone fell! Who was it?" It was Clare who somehow slipped over a slippery patch of mud and nearly sprained her ankle. She was okay.
Later the trail started to loosen up its veins and grasps of thorns when we make our way into an estate. Funny thing; we found an Xpax advert in the middle of nowhere but decided to leave it as it was. They do go all out trying to get people to use their service, I thought.
Anyway, we took a 'short cut'. A sort of 'truant'... See, we were not suppose to go through the estate. It's not on our course, but I 'think' we consulted with Pat if we could take it. And we 'think' she said yes. I 'think' so...
I saw my first Gasto lidium.
We took photos at the end of the trail in a hut. In one picture, everyone was pointing at Clare, because she's the only one that fell. She was a little annoyed. After that we merrily made our way like the 6 little drawes into civilization.
And by civilization, I meant tarred road.
posted by ewing.leong at 1:31 AM
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