It's a Jungle out There!

Let's go on a trek, he said. Should be a good time, he said. We'll take a few student's with us and have a spot o tea when we reach the summit (We had Iranian students with us; enough said). He should have said IF we reach the summit. We were in the jungle maybe 1/2 hr before we were lost. The trail was overgrown and though we searched high and low, it was not to be found.

We moved along a river for a while, periodically leaving it to search for a trail. I'm not sure how far into the jungle we got, but either way, it wasn't long before nothing looked familiar to any of the trekkers that had previously been up this mountain. This is one trek where it may have been smart to wear long pants. The jungle was dense and overgrown and my legs got scratched with every step. Not only did no one bring a parang (machete) but the number of mosquito bites on my legs from the knee down number in the thirties.
After talking to the veteran trekkers, I was beginning to understand that in the business of trekking, this is not an uncommon experience, and that as a trekker you must simply accept that you will not always reach your destination. And in spite of the fact that I really wanted to reach the summit, and my legs were shredded by branches, twigs, and other jungle foliage, and what was left of them was devoured by mosquitos, it was still a good time. Being in the wild, away from the city with all it's noise, pollutants, modernity, distractions: love it! When we found our way out of the jungle, we stopped by a little river, had a swim and relaxed in the sun. No tea, though. Our trusty Iranians, Amir and Kourosh, said that tea shall be reserved for those mountains we summit. Fair enough. One super-cool part of trek: I got to see a pineapple growing! Who knew that they grew on shrubs?

All in all, A good time was had, and we were only lost in the jungle for a few hours! If I am progressing in small steps, those occasions where we are, or I am, lost in the wilderness for days are not far away (Like Moses and his people, I shall wander the wilderness for...alright enough of that).
And I say to Bukit Kutu, even as he roars with mighty laughter at our pitiful attempts of conquest, "One day, I shall return, Kutu, and we shall see who laughs longest" (To those interested, you can check out TMC's comments on these treks at his website, www.mchwen.com/blog)

On another note to my faithful readers in the West: You may have noticed that my blog has been compromised. My students have found its location and are now reading it! While in a previous life, this may be cause to completely shut down the blog and start a new, covert blog; here I shall simply say that we (myself and readers in the motherland) should just somewhat sensor some of what is written. By that I mean, let's try to keep things PG, people! (You know who you are...you also know who I am, I guess; and thus you realize that this pertains as much to me as to some of you).
All kidding aside, I will continue to write this with my overseas readers as the intended audience (I guess that is until I figure that there is no one out over the great blue that still reads it).

One concluding note. Last Fri, a bunch of students took Mr. TMC and myself out to Steamboat! It began in class like this: Gab says, "Mr. Varga, you know what steamboat is?" I say, "What am I, uneducated? Of course I do: it's a boat that steams" So with that, Gab and Judith decided to remedy my serious lack of knowledge. As I didn't take my camera, I have no pics, so here goes my attempt to conjure up a visual. It's an all-u-can eat buffet: they've got a bunch of meats, veggies, seafood, all of it raw. There's a pot in the middle of the table with a divider in between (creating two min-pots, if that makes sense). One side of the pot was full of chicken stock, the other, Tom Yam. The pot sits on a burner. You just go over to table of foods, load up your plate and dump your stuff into the pot, let it cook for a few minutes, and voila! It was sweeet! Good stuff! (The cost was about 7.50CAD including a drink). I am definitely going back soon. To all the students that took me out (Gab, Judith, Yu Cheng, Nisita, and local Amir), thank you very much; it was lots of fun.

Another Waterfall!

Last weekend, the trekking club went on another hike. This time it was to Lata Lepok (Lata means waterfall).This trek was a bit different: we were TMC-less. So, it was just me and Shimah in charge; actually it was Kourosh (in part), a student that had previously done the trek with TMC and, hence, knew the route (in theory, at least). Neither Shimah or myself knew the trail.
We had a good group of students, and with Shimah, myself, two friends of hers (Suhaizal and Habib), we were 16 strong. It was a little more stressful than the other treks simply because without TMC, there was more pressure on Shimah and myself to ensure everyone's safety. Everything went quite well, and despite having to pull out the first aid kit a few times, everyone made it out of the jungle with nothing more than a few cuts, scrapes, bruises, and broken legs.
This waterfall is a little different. It doesn't simply drop like the one at Chiling does. This one sort-of slides down rocks. The rocks have become very smooth over the years and, in fact, act as a natural waterslide. (Alright, I made up the part about the broken legs). Anyhow, a few of the students wanted to slide down the "slide". And with good reason: looked like a ton of fun, it did; Plus, TMC and Kourosh had done it themselves when they were there and had said as much. So a few of the more eager students started sliding down as soon as we got there.
As it happened, there was a dude there from some Adventure Consulting Co. that was taking some company on a little team-building excursion into the jungle. Seemed like a stand-up guy. However, he told me that he was there (at Lata Lepok) a while back and someone had whacked their head on a rock (while sliding down this sweet slide) and had died. This I'm not making up. So he advised me to, in turn, advise my students not to slide down. Since I thought that having a death on a trip wasn't the best thing for the school, my career, or the deceased student, I Kaiboshed the whole "having-fun-by-taking-advantage-of-God's-Waterslide" thing. Yep; I hardly believe it myself. Me stopping fun because things look dangerous. Who'da thunk it?Such are the burdens of responsibility. Damn you to hell, responsibility!!
Either way, after stopping the students from sliding down, it just didn't seem righteous to go do it myself. I know what you're thinking: I went and did it anyway. Nope (another surprise), I restrained myself. I will have to go back sometime on my own, because it did look cool.
No one died. No one got seriously hurt. I guess the worst part of the whole trip was that after I ixna-d the sliding, Farah called me a killjoy. (Sigh)...the burden weighs heavily...
In all seriousness, the trip went well. I believe everyone enjoyed themselves.
(check out the pics in the album)

This weekend, the club is going again. This time we're going for another mountain!
Stay tuned for tales from Bukit Kutu. Coming Soon...

I Live For This!!!!

There’s no other way to put it, last weekend was a phenomenal experience. The delay in making this post has been, in part, because I’ve been recovering. It goes like this:
TMC had some business in Penang, about 1.5 hrs from a mountain that he’s been wanting to climb. So Nee On and I went along, not just 'cause we had nothing better to do, but also to climb Gunung Baling (Gunung means mountain in Malay). Because we were taking one more person (Enid, a former student of TMC) to Penang (who could only leave after having written an exam), we left on Saturday at 3. We got to Penang at around 10:30; Hit the sack (at Jing Zi's place -another former student of the one and only...Mr. TMC!); Got up at 5; Drove to G. Baling. Although it is not as tall as others that I’ve climbed, it has been the most intense. It poured the night before, so it was muddy as hell for the first third of the ascent. After that it was jagged limestone rock all the way up. But what fun!! As neither TMC or Nee On had done the trek before we hooked up with a guide to lead the way. Super-cool dude.

The view from the top of G. Baling:

I am loving this mountain trekking business. The exhilaration going up and standing on top of a mountain, looking at the world below reminds me of the good ol’ sky-diving days: the world will never look as calm and peaceful as it does up there -very surreal.
As if the trek wasn’t amazing enough, after we got down, our guide invited us to his place for coffee. (This is after he had finished his job and had already been paid). Going to his house, sitting on a mat, just hanging out with this rural Malay dude, is without a doubt, one of the highlights of my Malaysia experience thus far. It does not take much interaction with these people to really fall in love with them: the simplicity of life (something long lost in Canada and in the increasingly “Westernized” cities here); their warm, inviting nature; their composure, the way they interact with you, just their attitudes in general. Long live the kampung Malays!! (kampung is a Malay word meaning village).
After our hike and our coffee, another local dude invited us into his home and served us Bee Hoon (Don’t know about the spelling but it’s a thin rice noodle) with Chili sauce. These people are awesome!

Our guide in front of his house and garden:


We then drove back to Penang, hung out there with the girls (Enid and Jing Zi) for a while, checked out a few attractions and then left at 9 to come home. Got home and to sleep Monday morning after 2am. 4 hours of sleep and then off to work.
While I definitely don’t regret doing it, I think that (if for no other reason) for the sake of my health, another trip like that will have to wait at least till I recover…

(Check out the photo album; More of the story is told in the captions to the pics)

Pics now Posted

I have posted a few pictures of our adventures over the short few weeks that Marianne was here. Click on the picture below or the "My Photo Albums" link on the right.