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Back at the comp...
The trip to Ophir has been really memorable, not to mention tiring, crazy and full of shared experiences. Well, for one thing, we managed to whack the mountain in 24 hours rather than the intended 2 nights stay in mother nature because we decided we are good boys who want to spend Mother's Day with our moms and not with one another.
The First Day
We finally reached the foot of Gunung Ledang after a long journey via bus from Singapore and we had to walk in about a kilometre from the main road. Action at last!!! My butt was getting sore from all the sitting.
The actual climb of Gunung Ledang (from the Ranger Station) began with a big bang. A big bang of laughter and embarrassment that is... RJ, who had supposedly been to the place a year earlier, led us down the wrong path right at the very beginning and Moi (our guide) immediately called us back. How paiseh is that? Six strong-looking youths with gigantic backpacks getting lost even when the Ranger Station is still in view. Arghh... The humility...
Well, a bit of our guide before I continue, Moi is a member of the Malaysian Climbing Team and can climb Gunung Ledang in 3 hours... 3 hours as in reaching the summit and back to the starting point. That's very very powerful... And his shoes are absolutely solid! It's like pallas jaz but made entirely out of rubber. It's a pity we were not able to find them in Segamat... Damn.
Back to the climb. The initial climb to our campsite was quite leisurely, apart from the fact that our packs were laden with food that can feed a whole camp of refugees. I really didn't know what we were thinking back at Giant at Parkway Parade but I distinctly remember this conversation:
Tommy* 1: Eh... Must get Tom Yam... Damn powerful... If I didn't have that, I confirm fail PSA hike...
*A Tommy is, to put it simply and in layman terms, a cock who cannot do anything right
Tommy 2: Yah... I think everyone buy 4 lah... Each meal need 2 packets! No problems!
Anyway, being the strong and dashing youths that we are, we managed to overtake many other trekkers on the way up to the campsite and got ourselves a lovely spot to spend the night. After setting up our tents on a huge rock (reason being we didn't want to wash the tents), we indulged ourselves in the nearby rapids. The water was strong, good, refreshing and way too cold... But it was the ultimate relaxation, even better than going for massage.
Dinner was fine but could be better, not for the fact that the food was bad or anything but when Rovers start to go back to the basics like lighting gas burners and washing mess tins and utensils, we all become Tommys. Well, where we decided to pitch our tents states it all...
We spent the night talking cock and sharing our innermost secrets... Haha... That was really interesting... That's an understatement but whatever I say will still be that so... Too bad... Everything stays within the tent. The night was when we discovered that Jie Xiang has an uncanny sense of humour, where he manages to hit you right in the stomach all the time, and that Wesley is so Strong, Handsome, Garang, Smart and Intelligent. Heh...
The Second Day
"Wake up! Wake up! 7 o'clock! Cooking!"
That was what woke us up. Moi. That was 7:20 am. On the previous day, we had told Moi that we wanted to set off for the summit at 8 am. But being the masters of procrastination that we are, we only left the campsite at 9:15 am. I vaguely remember a conversation about sloths and about their mating behaviour at that time...
The climb up to the summit was easy at the beginning since we did not have our heavy packs so we decided to run for a while. What can I say? Strong young men in action... But that was a mistake. After a while, everything became vertical and we were quickly reduced to boys... So much for training in the army.
Though tiring, it was genuinely fun, especially this part where we had to climb a rope up this rock with a near vertical surface. It was something like parasailing but without the harness. And like before, the six of us again managed to overtake the other groups of trekkers and reached the summit at noon. Woohoo! It was great, apart from the fact that the mist obscured almost everything from our view...
We finally decided to take a longer break at the summit since our legs were trembling from the climb. That was one of the reasons... The other reason was FBT. Well, it so happens that there was this group of JC 2 students from MJC ODAC who was also going up the summit. So we decided to, you know, hang around and enjoy the scenery.
That was when the jam started. Thank goodness we managed to whack all the way up first or we would be in McDonald's Hello Kitty hell. After we were satisfied with the view at the top, we decided to rush back since we had decided to catch the 5:00 pm bus back to Segamat. The way down was more painful than tiring and my knees were screaming to give way... That was when Jie Xiang, with the Camp Instructor blood flowing vigorously within him, decided to spruce things up by singing and cheering... Well, the only conclusion I came to was that of all the Rovers, only Zhi Cong and I can sing properly... But I still give it to him for thinking this one up:
Jie Xiang : I say Tommy, you say?
Crowd : TEO!
Jie Xiang : I say Woosly, you say?
Crowd: : WES!
That really made my day... Haha...
We made it back to the campsite and once againg indulged ourselves in a nice cold shower in Mother Nature's natural spring rapids... But it's kind of gross if you realise that there are people showering and washing themselves upstream. Ignorance is bliss... Then we were about to have our lunch when someone said: "Let's finish all the canned food." And without much surprise, we did... Six Rovers on a trekking trip away from civilisation is a camp of refugees.
By 3:30 pm, we were ready to go and we quickly made our way to the foot of the mountain. Thank goodness the way down from the campsite was much easier or my knees would have left me for good. That was when Jie Xiang started classifying us as DOTA hero types... He has a gift of being able to ji xiao your morale up...
"Remember my name. It is Moi."
That was the last thing Moi told us at the Ranger Station before he left us. How cool is that? Anyway, we made our way out to the cafetaria and pampered ourselves with what RJ claimed as the greatest invention ever: 100 plus. Heh... I concur man... I concur...
And thankfully, Wes managed to hitch us a ride to the bus stop and we were on our way home. And the best part was that we had supper at Mongkok Dim Sum at Geylang Lorong 9 after we came back to Singapore. Wah... Cold drinks and piping hot dim sum... Almost in Heaven...
By the time I got home, it was like close to 2.00 am. But it was well worth it or we would have been caught in the thunderstorm at Gunung Ledang, trembling in our tents with nothing to eat apart from cold biscuits... Poor trekkers... Well, I couldn't really remember anything after that since I collapsed onto my bed into oblivion.
But I had a great Mother's Day dinner today! Just apart from the fact my voice became real husky and I'm aching all over... I ain't fit like I used to be...
Aha! Take that Gunung Ledang!!!
