Yet Another Month Is Gone
We had been walking for 8 hrs. We'd reached the summit, through thick clouds 'saw' the sun set, made our way partially back down Gunung Ledang, and had reached the 25m rock face.
We were sore, hungry, and exhausted, and now had to descend the face of this gigantic boulder in the dark of night; the same rock face that had caused many of our group difficulties on the way up -during broad daylight, when not as sore, hungry or tired.
As there were three ropes down the rock, and no other way down or around, this caused a serious bottleneck. Moving down was painfully slow; many of our group had never before moved up or down vertical faces using rope, and they were now making their first ever descent -in the dark! Amos and I moved partially down the face to two separate little niches -to a better position to coach down our group (3 at a time), and to light the way with our torches. Two hours later, and 10 hours after we began the trek, we made it back to our campsite (it was nearly midnight). Many were exhausted and went to sleep, some set to cooking, and some to washing. The next day we woke up, packed up camp and made the final three hour descent.
The trek, our first overnighter, was not without issues. We did encounter some, let's say difficulties, but in the end no one got seriously injured (although we're still not sure if TMC will be fully ok), we got most of the group to the summit, and most have enriched their lives for having experienced this mountain (ok, so this last part may be asking for a little too much).
I really enjoyed this trek -particularly the last few hundred metre ascent. Here is where, sometimes ropes, sometimes ladders, were required. The terrain was quite interesting, and we did see some vegetation changes even though we did not experience an extreme change in altitude -so that was a nice bonus.
The next trek was to Chiling Waterfall. This was my second time there, so I didn't really take a whole lot of pictures. This time was very different though, as we were taking in a group of nearly 40 (students and lecturers). We hired a bus to take us there, trekked to the waterfall, hung out for a while and went back. Organizing the trek, and always being on guard the entire time: trying to ensure we didn't lose anyone, worrying about people getting hurt or getting swept away by strong currents on river crossings was very tiring, but seeing everyone enjoy themselves, without issue made it all worth it. I really didn't believe we could pull it off without a hitch, but we had a great group, and a great bunch of staff helping out! TMC took a group shot:
The weekend after, I spent a half day in the nearby city of Putrajaya. Mark, a collegue of mine, needed a supervisor for a trip he'd organized for his World Issues students -research for some urban planning project. Putrajaya is fairly unique in Malaysia: it is well-planned. It also has quite a modern feel (the entire area, that is). I really enjoyed going, although I think I got more out of it than most of the students. The area is much to big to walk around. A bus took everyone there, dropped us off and let everyone walk around. Mark and I had taken our bicycles on the bus. When we got there, we rode around keeping track of all the students. As such we got to see what all the students together saw, rather than just one group. I am glad I went -of course I was happy to help Mark out, but also it is an interesting and (in my opinion) a unique part of Malaysia.
Finally, apologies for not having written is such a while. I have been in a bit of a funk for the last few weeks.
I am flying to Singapore for the weekend, so hopefully that will snap me out of it :)
We were sore, hungry, and exhausted, and now had to descend the face of this gigantic boulder in the dark of night; the same rock face that had caused many of our group difficulties on the way up -during broad daylight, when not as sore, hungry or tired.
As there were three ropes down the rock, and no other way down or around, this caused a serious bottleneck. Moving down was painfully slow; many of our group had never before moved up or down vertical faces using rope, and they were now making their first ever descent -in the dark! Amos and I moved partially down the face to two separate little niches -to a better position to coach down our group (3 at a time), and to light the way with our torches. Two hours later, and 10 hours after we began the trek, we made it back to our campsite (it was nearly midnight). Many were exhausted and went to sleep, some set to cooking, and some to washing. The next day we woke up, packed up camp and made the final three hour descent.
The trek, our first overnighter, was not without issues. We did encounter some, let's say difficulties, but in the end no one got seriously injured (although we're still not sure if TMC will be fully ok), we got most of the group to the summit, and most have enriched their lives for having experienced this mountain (ok, so this last part may be asking for a little too much).
I really enjoyed this trek -particularly the last few hundred metre ascent. Here is where, sometimes ropes, sometimes ladders, were required. The terrain was quite interesting, and we did see some vegetation changes even though we did not experience an extreme change in altitude -so that was a nice bonus.
The next trek was to Chiling Waterfall. This was my second time there, so I didn't really take a whole lot of pictures. This time was very different though, as we were taking in a group of nearly 40 (students and lecturers). We hired a bus to take us there, trekked to the waterfall, hung out for a while and went back. Organizing the trek, and always being on guard the entire time: trying to ensure we didn't lose anyone, worrying about people getting hurt or getting swept away by strong currents on river crossings was very tiring, but seeing everyone enjoy themselves, without issue made it all worth it. I really didn't believe we could pull it off without a hitch, but we had a great group, and a great bunch of staff helping out! TMC took a group shot:
The weekend after, I spent a half day in the nearby city of Putrajaya. Mark, a collegue of mine, needed a supervisor for a trip he'd organized for his World Issues students -research for some urban planning project. Putrajaya is fairly unique in Malaysia: it is well-planned. It also has quite a modern feel (the entire area, that is). I really enjoyed going, although I think I got more out of it than most of the students. The area is much to big to walk around. A bus took everyone there, dropped us off and let everyone walk around. Mark and I had taken our bicycles on the bus. When we got there, we rode around keeping track of all the students. As such we got to see what all the students together saw, rather than just one group. I am glad I went -of course I was happy to help Mark out, but also it is an interesting and (in my opinion) a unique part of Malaysia.
Finally, apologies for not having written is such a while. I have been in a bit of a funk for the last few weeks.
I am flying to Singapore for the weekend, so hopefully that will snap me out of it :)
posted by Leon at 10:21 PM
1 Comments:
with that brakeless bike of yours,i really thought that the huge space in putrajaya had tremendouly helped you from not getting into an accident.
i always thought putrajaya felt abit out of place,like someone chucked abit of land and placed it there.its especially funny when youre driving around, and you're admiring the elaborate designs of lamp posts ,road signs and traffic lights; but once you cross away from the putrajaya border, the traffic lights and lamp post everywhere immediately look too bland.the inexistent of a transition state had made me felt putrajaya is a little foreign.heh.
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