Mountain Hiking at Irau Mountain

When I stood at the entrance of the jungle, I asked myself that whether I could turn back and stay in one of the cozy apartments. Why do I want to"torture" myself? Instead, I should go shopping at The Garden and The Pavillion but not hiking. However, I still followed the other friends into the jungle.

This mountain is called Irau Mountain which is 2110 meters high. It is located at Cameron Highland. There were no water resources. I treked in this jungle 4 years ago. At that time, I was 24 years old and it was my first trekking or hiking trip.

The trek was muddy and wet. It was a difficult trek as there were many roots along the trek and it was slippery. In addition, all of us needed to carry a bag of at least 5 kgs which included of 3 liters of water. Of course, guys needed to carry a heavier bag each. I pity them but I wouldn't help them, haha... At first I advised them not to carry so much water (based on my experience) but they didn't listen to me and said that they won't let me drink the water but will sell it to me. In the end, we kept on asking each other if we wanted to drink the water to lighten our burden.

We reached the base camp at about 5pm after 3 hours of hiking. I hoped that we would camp there and not continue with the trek because it was about to rain and it was getting dark. Suddenly it rained. We quickly wore our thin disposable rain coat and our leader - Seen asked us to continue our trek. It rained cats and dogs as the result the muddy trek became more slippery. There were a few times when I almost fell down because I accidentally stepped on my own rain coat. My rain coat was torn because of this. It was cold and my whole body was dirty. As I was very tired, the dirtiness didn't bother me. I just stepped on the muddy path whereas my friends were trying to avoid it. There was one incident when my foot was stucked in the mud. My friend helped me to pull out. It was do dangerous!

Finally we reached the camp site after 4 1/2 hours of hiking. We were starving and cold. Then we quickly set up our tents and started to prepare our dinner, but it rained again. There was nothing that can be used to tie the corners of the canvans. In the end, some of us held the canvans at four ends and the others cooked dinner under it. We had our simple meal in our tent. We had rice with bake beans and chicken in vegetable saurce. We were so contented with meal under such circumstances. The night was chilly and there were a few times I woke up because of the cold.

The next day after breakfast, we started our return journey. As our bags were lighter because we had eaten most of the food and used up the water, our return trek became easier. Among seven of us, I was the second youngest. But it is very embarassing that I was the last person to finish the trek. I was tired and the pain in all my muscles was excruciating. We took 3 hours to reach the exit. I was exhausted but I was pround of myself.

Bangkok again...

I went to Bangkok again. Many people curious and asked me why I still go to Bangkok as I have been there a few times. This time I became a shopping guide to bring my friends to buy cheap and fashionable stuffs in Bangkok.

We went to Pattaya on the first day. We took a taxi from the airport there. The taxi driver couldn't speak English. As a result, we used "International" language - body language to communicate. During the journey, we couldn't open the packet of snack and we asked the driver if he had a pair of scissors or any tool that could help us to cut it. Do you know what he gave me? He gave me a medium sized chopper. My mom uses this type of chopper to open durians. We were shocked and curious why Thai taxi drivers keep a such chopper in their car. I quickly returned it to him after I had used it and helped him to keep the chopper in the dashboard drawer.

Personally I think the beach in Pattaya was nothing special. But there were a lot of unusual scenes can be seen. The men-young, old, handsome, not so good looking, alone or in a group - were all accompanied by Thai girls. Ladies sat along the beach waiting to solicit for "customers" who are mainly Caucasions men. We relaxed at the beach and enjoyed drinking coconut juice and eating grilled squid which was very yummy with special made chilli source.

Before we came to Bangkok, my friends who have been to Pattaya highly recommended me to watch a striptease show called "Don Don" Show. That night, the boss of the local tour company said he will bring us there. He stopped at the a residential house and told us that the show would be held there. We was shocked and scared. Imagine watching a striptease show in such a place. We quickly said no to the driver and refused to go out from the car. After the driver had spoken to the house owner, he told us that the show would be held at another place. Then, he drove his car to the dark alley with many trees and a lot of grass. We were screaming in the car out of fear. However, the driver tole us not to worry. Suddenly, something flashed in my mind. I imangined all the audience sitting in a circle and watching striptease show among the bushes. When we saw a building and a few buses which stopped there. we knew that we were safe.

We felt cheating because the show wasn't the one that was recommended by my friends. It was called "Fantasy" show which it was performed by the Caucasions strippers. I would say the show is a fantasy for men but not for women. After the show, we told the driver that it wasn't the "Don Don" show. He said that he didn't know what show it was and joked that he could perform for us. I quickly told him no.

We were in Bangkok for the next three days for shopping. We shopped from morning till night. Can you imagine a set of fashionable clothing is sold at RM49 /RM 59 in Malaysia but now I can buy at RM13 / RM15 in Bangkok. Of couse, this will make all the ladies crazy. I don't think any lady can resist this temptation. The clothes that we bought can last for next year. It was really satisfying. People will say we're shopaholics. Who cares if it's in Bangkok.

Camping at Sg. Lembing

I went camping at Sg. Lembing on National Day holiday. This was my first time driving out of station at midnight. I felt extremely tired because I wasn't feeling well that night. Luckily, I managed to reach there safely.

A lot of unexpected happened during this trip which made me feel embarrassed and lucky. It sounds a bit odd so let me tell you why.

My period came when I just arrived at Sg. lembing at midnight when all the shops were closed and I couldn't find a tiolet. I managed to find one in the morning. I rested in the car while all my friends went mountain-hiking to see the sunrise. I didn't go as I had been there a few times.

We went into the jungle after we had our breakfast. The road was very bumpy and full of stones. It was very hot and I was sunburnt because we sat in the lorry and there weren't any roof
covers. It's a very unforgettable experience as I have never done this before.

After we had set up over camp, we trekked into the jungle to see the "Rainbow Waterfall". I accidentally fell into the river. I was worried and embarrased because of my period. The trek wasn't difficult but I was worried and tired. This was because of my embarrassing situation and my slippers snapped. I walked bare footed for the return trek. It was painful as I walked on the river which was full of stones, leaves, alga and branches. As I wasn't wearing shoes, I had a thorn in my right toe which hurt me. I also found some leeches on my right calf. I managed to remove the thorn by myself and got rid of the leeches at the same rid. The guide who was my friend gave me his shoes. I was touched by his kind gestures. Luckily, I managed to finish the whole trek safely and I was pround of myself.