We'll have more fun than a barrel of monkeys

Well about that previous post, it kinda reminded me of how Qiyin said she thought I looked scary when I was sick during LTC, so yeah. I know I should've started with a big hi, so I'll do that now.

HI! I miss my blog! I miss my com! Well not so much my com by now, cuz I was chionging Most Wanted last night till morning. Crazy, I know. Overseas trip with ODAC and the soccer guys was great. Hope I can remember all the highlights. Here goes...

Saturday: Due to some sort of miscommunication, I was told to report at 1730. I reached school at 1715, and waited....

There were still stragglers at 1800. Ultra sian.

Got our Overseas Trip and Adventurer T Shirs. Nice. Then followed a bus ride to Johor. Either it was uneventful or I forgot what happened. Oh yah. Stanley, the ODACian nobody ever sees, came really late, like 1845, cuz he thought the bus would leave at 1900, when it actually was supposed to leave at1830. So we were left waiting for him. Mingsong tried to call him.

Mr. Nordin: So where is he?
Song: He says he'll be here in 2 minutes, depending on traffic conditions.

That was at 1835 I think.

When he finally met up with us, we went to customs by coach and over to JB. Then we were free and easy at City Square shopping mall at JB until 10ish. Our group, Alex, Zhi Hui, Alton and me, along with Benneddict (the soccer guy with the number 16, which lead to some people calling him Bennedict XVI) were the first to arrive, and then they thought that the others wouldn't take so fast to meet up, so they ran off for Ramli burgers. They said I pangsehed them cuz I didn't join them, but I thought better of it. In the end they were the last to arrive. I think Nordin gave them an earful, but they were joking about it later.

Nordin has this weird ass way of saying certain phrases, like "disgustingly hooritzzz (horrid)" and the number "siven". He also has this habit of launching into personal recounts. No matter what he faces, he probably has some past equivalent incident happened to him. So very often he would be lecturing about something or the other, and then he'll say "I tell you all a true story. Happened years ago." And then he will go on and tell his tale. He has stories about people being left behind in other copuntries, people with invalid passports, guys in girls' tents and so on and so forth. Everytime he says the phrase "true story", people would either groan or laugh.

Saturday/Sunday: Anyway, we left on the train from JB to I dunno where (Jeranut I think, according to the itinery). Some people plonked off to sleep immediately. Some didnt sleep at all. I slept only the last hour. The rest was spent on endless games of dai dee and blackjack. There were as many as 5 "tables" opened for playing on the train. We had an entire berth (a train car lined with double decker binks) to ourselves, so if you stepped in, it looked like an illegal gambling den, but without money. After we were told to pack up, we started discreet games, and later we just went to talking cock. I dunno how poeple like Alex can survive the whole trip without sleeping. I had to sleep the last hour, I just couldn't stand it anymore. Outside my bunk was a little noisy with all the chattering, so I just put on some Norma Jean on my headphones and plonked off in a few minutes. Was a little disgruntled when Alton has to wake me up when the train reached Jeranut. At 4 plus in the morning.

Sunday: Got off the train and went over to our hostel at Tekam plantation. Actually it's more of a chalet, but we got the "economy class" bunks. We would later find out that the teachers would get air-conditioned chalets, a little similar to the chalets you get at Costa Sands Downtown East. Rrrgh. Group four (Alex, Zhi Hui, Alton and I) chionged for bunks next to each other.

Assembled for breakfast at 6ish, served by the now famous Ramly burger heroes. Then it was off to our first activity: abseiling at Gua Kota Gelangi. I'm starting to realise how little exposure we've actually had. Even for me; I've been to Malaysia billions of times, so I know roughly what to do and what not to do and a bit of Malay (enough to buy stuff, anyway) Abseiling at GKG was nothing like the abseiling we did at school. Except for the abseiling bit. Well what I mean is that it's the same thing, but in it's own sense a totally new experience. I mean, we abseiled off a bloody cliff! Okie, so maybe it wasn't exactly a cliff. More like a rock face. But it beats man-made walls anyday. And the air... ahhhh....

Abseiling was fun! After our half finished, we went off to the other half at the other rock face to see how they were doing. It was fun there, cuz we got to see Mr. Nordin abseil... after a lot of coaxing and taunting on our part (I think he's probably the biggest IDACian here, and I'm not talking about physical size) It was also fun knocking Jamie's helmety head when she doesn't expect it, especially after how she and Veron tried to do the same to me on the train (both needed the height boost of the top bunks to reach my head)

After lunch, it was off to caving, which meant plunging my new cross trainers in water and mud on the trek to the caves. How many times do you get to ruin your new shoes and still not think much about it? The caves were AMAZING. They were huge! And you could see natural stalegtite formations making shapes in the walls, like an elephant or a kris. And they were really cool and had freshwater running in them. You could set up a few campsites in there; it was that big. Wish we could've stayed longer, maybe actually stay there.

The best bit about our camp was that it was super slack. After activities were over and we went back to the hostel, the only thing we had to report to was dinner and the debrief. Other than that, we were free to do what we want. Of course abiding by base rules, like no screwing around, but other than that, we were free. There wasn't even a lights out, which meant some people didn't sleep again. A group of us was walking around the hostel compound that night when we found a cafe selling prata. Oh my God (or as Dinesh would say, Oh my Son) the prata was great. And the teh peng. And especially the tissu prata. And I should stop starting sentences with conjunctions; it's not good English.

So we ate our fill there. And reported to dinner full. Because of all the prata. So yeah.

After dinner, we just hung out. Most of us in the boys' dorm were playing cards, blackjack or dai dee. But that's not to say that only the guys were in the boys' dorm. Some of us were playing dai dee, when Rebecca came to join us:

Rebecca: Come, let the dai dee queen play.
Stanley: Whoa, how come you have so many nicknames?
R: Really meh?
S: Yeah, got dai dee queen, then I heard one "tua neh bu"...

I swear at that point I just started laughing my ass off.

Halfway through the night, Kenneth came running into the boys' dorm saying that Nordin was coming. Apparently, he was in the girls' dorm when he was discovered my Nordin. So he ran out and made for the boys' dorm to warn us. Immediately, the girls scampered. Qiyin and Su Yuan ran out the front door, which wasn't very bright considering they ran into Nordin just outside. Some other girls ran out the back door. Jamie and Veron weren't so lucky, so with no time to spare, they zipped under Alex's covers (with him out of bed, of course) and just hid there, hoping Nordin would think they were just some guy asleep.

Nordin came in and loomed over us, and then proceeded with a lecture about girls in boys' droms and vice versa, not forgetting the "I tell you all true story, happened two years ago. I nearly had to resign." and yadda yadda yadda so on and so forth, on and on about some girl that nearly got laid on his watch (but not with him watching, or so he claims) Then after a while he left. Apparently, Jamie and Veron pulled it off. In fact, they pulled it off so well that when Nordin left, a few of the guys were shocked to see the two of them leap out of Alex's sheets and bolt for the back door. I guess in the hustle to hide the cards and the money, we hadn't noticed them.

Monday: An hour plus bus ride after breakfast took us from Tekam plantation in Jeranut to Taman Negara National Park in Pahang. There was just mountain hiking up half of Bukit Teresek. Reminded me a bit of Mt. Ophir when I went up it, except more humid, shorter, and we didn't have to carry those backbreakingly heavy packs. After that was the canopy walkway. A bit like the one we have. Note key phrase "a bit". Taman Negara's was much higher up, longer, and way more impressive.

After lunch at the floating restaurant (good food), we were off for rapid shooting. Most of us, before the trip, were suaku about rapid shooting and we thought it was similar to rafting. In actual fact, rapid shooting is speeding down a river in a sleek powerboat. The ride was really nice. Even nicer was how we splashed water at other boats (there were 3 of us) when they got close. Even even nicer was how the boatman dumped an entire pail of water on Jamie and Veron each. Even even even nicer was how Nordin got the same treatment. Even even even even nicer was how, by the end of the trip, my shoes were completely devoid of yesterday's mud.

All of us ate very little at dinner, as word about the prata stall got around fast. Before we could go, however, we had to sit through debrief. Alan's speech (Alan is our guide, an army regular theat works part time for the travel agency, so we all call him Awol cuz someone said he went AWOL to come here) So Alan's speech, followed by Nordin's, Mr Leong's, Clarence's, which then led to Nordin and Leong elaborating some more, led us to sitting in a stupor for 40 minutes in the bug infested mess hall, having to cope with one or two stings. Happy to get out.

Prata that night was a lively affair, mainly cuz almost the whole 35 of us were there, including teachers. And almost everyone ordered in English and had problems :P At least I know a bit. Had a great time chatting with the guys, especially the other soccer guys; Alton, Bennedict the Pope, Amri and Bob, the only 2 Malay guys in the camp, and Eugene, the TPJC goalkeeper that can't even touch the crossbar, or so they say. Bob and Amri were trying to teach me to eat prata with my hands. Hard work.

Monday/Tuesday: That night, half of us didn't sleep. We just squandered the night away playing cards. My dai dee is getting better. But you can only play so many hands. So I decided to spend some time away from the cards, most of which was spent chatting with Alex. Tried to sleep, but only managed an hour. Then we had to pack up all our gear cuz we had to leave the hostel in the morning at 0530. At 5, everyone was up and about, except for Stanley.

Russ: Eh, should we wake Stanley?
Eugene: Eh maybe we should. Only half hour left leh.
*stuff thrown*
Eugene: Eh Stanley wake up. Only half an hour left.
Stanley: ....Fuck lah! I only need 20 minutes.

And with that, he goes back to sleep.

A lot of us were groggy from the late night, but no consequence, cuz...

Tuesday: ...it was a 5 hour bus ride from Jeranut to Perak for our last activity. We had stopovers for breakfast and lunch. And our activity... white water rafting! It was like the best moment of our trip. The four of us and Jamie got on one raft (more knocking-Jamie's-helmety-head goodness!) and we went on our way. Once in a lifetime experience. For now. It was damn fun rafting down. Sure we got stuck at some points, but at least we didn't capsize, or lose our paddles *koffmrleongkoff*. Jamie did fly off the raft near the end, though. Actually I dunno if she flew or slid off. All I know was that we hit a rock and took a big bump and there was a big spray of water. Then Zhi Hui said "Eh where's Jamie?" I turn to my right and she's gone. A little scan around the area and we spotted her drifting down the rapids.

After we got changed, we were all good and free. Free and easy till the evening beofre we leave for Singapore. So we took the coach to Hintai Mall. Nice place. Went shopping there, and finally I got my biking shades! Not a lot of tint, so my eyes are protected from dust and I can still see at night. And in proper lighting, they're fully reflective. And they only cost RM30. They're not pasar malam ones or anything. They're from an optical shop. They're just brandless. Ate at Kenny Rogers, which is always worth it if you have it at Malaysia, with the four of us, Stanley, Jamie, Veron, Shann (and her godawful... I mean godgiven new hairstyle) and Marina. Went to the supermatket to get rations for the 8 hour bus ride home, and off we were! Looong trip back, spent joking, messing around, crapping, but now sleeping as well.

Wednesday: Back home. That was fast. Let's do it again!

I'll upload pics when I can. Now I need to sleep, or sth.