Interlude: The Days of Mud Sand and Sunburns

Simple, short and sweet. That's the way I would describe HLLC Church Camp 2009. Being held on the Raya weekend, I was dreading the journey down, imagning hours of JAM... But lo and behold, God was good, and it was a beautiful weather to travel and there were only minor bottlenecks, but nothing serious.

Well, in a nutshell, SPIRITUAL things learnt about the camp:

• You serve not out of convenience, only when you are free, but you serve out of conviction.
• Set reminders of your covenant with God, be it personal or church
• When you want to leave an impression, do it whole heartedly

Well, thins that I learnt that is not so spiritual include:

• Bananas float in water, they don't sink!
• Banana on skin makes it very very itchy!
• Do not buy cheap and small eggs when you plan to hit people with them - they don't break when it hits you!
• Two fei-cha's makes an unbeatable human juggernaut in the swimming pool
• Manchester will still win despite drawing 3-3 at extra time

Anyway, just a short note... Signing off...

D.U.K.E S1xE05 - The Nightmare Excel Sheet

MONDAY: Went back home, tried to get some sleep at 8.30PM after a good chat. Yes, 8.30PM. Can't sleep well, must be the coffee. Toss and turned till 9.30PM. Think I finally went to slumberland by then... I WISH!!! As soon as I closed my eyes, I was looking at the same excel sheet I was looking at for the last three working days, and still updating line by line.

Woke up at 1AM. Got really stressed. Slumbered off again, and again, the excel sheet came up again!!!! ARRGGGGHHHH!!! The worst part, if only what I did in my dreams really was done in real life!! And so, I "worked" another 6 hours in my dreams when I finally woke up at 3AM, and really slept till 7AM without a single dream... But after one hour, I was back in reality looking at the real excel sheet... 5% done.

TUESDAY: Had a better day. Started with that 5%, ended the day with 9% since a lot more people chipped in to help. Still the pressure to deliver by Friday. Again, it felt like Mount KK all over again... It's like no matter how hard you go, there's still that next step of stairs... Back to home and a 4-hour dose of personal time... *grin*

WEDNESDAY: Sigh... More work, and after a long day... Only managed to hit 14%. The pressure is building up. Some more got management meeting tomorrow... Argghhh... Was thinking of going home for personal time again... Instead, went to Bukit Jalil Aquatics alone. Yes, the swimming pool!!! To all people out there who think I don't excercise anymore... Hahahah.. Managed about 20 laps...And felt really, really fresh... Came back, decided to update my cob-webbed blog... And gonna go off and watch Night At the Museum...

D.U.K.E. S1xE04: The Day of Rapid Currents

I almost died today. Nope, it's not a joke. It really felt like I almost died today...

16 HOURS AGO: Woke up at 5.30 in the morning. Was looking forward to the event of the day - WHITE WATER RAFTING! Having done the exciting one in Sg Padas in KK, and having one of our friends saying that it wasn't as exciting as the one back in Penisular, a bunch of us decided to rise to the occassion to challenge the currents in KKB (Kuala Kubu Baru).

15 HOURS AGO: We had a simple mamak breakfast of nasi lemak (I had extra half boiled eggs as usual). Before heading off to Rawang to wait for the rest of the people. We had about 19 people that day, and 8 of them are my Maxis colleagues.

14 HOURS AGO: We were waiting in the Rawang rest stop and joking away about "paying for the rain" and "Mr Wong vs Teoh See Weng"...

12 HOURS AGO: We reach our destination, we quickly geared up and listened to our briefing. We had to wait a fair bit as they had to change our boat (not sure why). I ended up in a boat with three other guys - Jae Sun, Terry and Ryan. Having the first two in the same boat almost felt like having Aaron and Jozzy on board, only about twice the fun!

10 HOURS AGO: It was fun! Unlike KK's teh tarik river, this one's much more clearer. But since, the water was bit low, we've got stuck quite a lot at the rocks and had to use our body's to change the balance of the boat a lot. It was really tiring, but much different experience. KK's water was about quick rapids. This one's about avoiding rocks and really steep drops. Some more, the river's quite narrow, unlike KK's wider flow. So, technique and team work plays an important row.

7 HOURS AGO: We reach this point where it's another steep drop. Think it's called Chicken Drop. As the the water's not that deep, the before us got stuck and had to slowly get out of the currents. Didn't seem dangerous. I was dead wrong. Well, the owner (I think) said to bring our paddles up and we'll hike down while the boat is carried down. Our guide, knowing that our boat's the pretty adventurous one, said we can do it. So we got onto the boat, and mind you, our boat is the smallest amongst the five, and most versatile and well, more unsteady as well.

The tactic was to paddle forward, kneel into the boat while hanging onto the ropes, and tip forward. We did just that. But we tipped too front. When the front of the boat got stuck on rocks as predicted, and we leaned forward as instructed, I think we leaned to front. The back of the boat came forward and tipped left side. All of us fell from the boat. The next 10 seconds felt like the closest call to death I can recall in my entire life.

I was pushed under current, and I tilted my leg forward. But the thing is, I can't surface! I can see the light, but I can surface. I can feel the super strong currents pushing me forward and down at the same time. I panicked as I was running out of air, and still I'm not surfacing. It felt like I'm dragged under and I scared I'm hooked onto something.

The worst happened, I ran out of air. I took in one gulp of water and I still wasn't surfacing. I wasn't sure I was moving forward or not, but I know this, I'm about to drown. It's amazing that what really ran through my mind at that point. Well, it wasn't a flash of my entire life, but at one moment I was thinking how to get out of this, but when that seemed like not going to happen, my mind flashed to "I shouldn't have done this" mode. I was like thinking how am I going to tell my parents and grandma (well, at that point it didn't registered that if i really died, how the world I'm supposed to do that).

And as suddenly as the drop into the water was, suddenly I can feel the surface coming up. I can feel the boat's rope. I tried to get up to the surface. I manage to. It was dark. It took another second to register's Ryan's face. We were under the capsize boat. I quickly got out. I took a deep breath (or a lot). By the time I was getting to the side shore nearby, I was a bit shaking. Jae Sun was clearly a bit shaken, but with a smile, he said, "Let's do that again". I didn't know how to respond. I just smiled.

I never really know why I was stuck under for so long. Maybe it was a short time, but in my panic it seem a long time. I don't know. I only know that I almost died today, and well, life's suddenly in a different perspective.

p/s I'm still planning to go back in Oct/Nov when the current is stronger... :P

D.U.K.E. S1xE03: The Days of Stunning Depths

I like the way one of the person who went with us describe this trip - GETTING THERE IS AN ADVENTURE. Yeah, I kinda got my open water license last year and haven't been diving since then, as the motivation wasn't there. So, I was kinda conned into this trip with the promise of chicks joining. So, for the entire months building up to this, I wasn't excited at all. Not a teeny weeny bit. Still, I went along, took the AirAsia plane, and landed in this foreign land. Just a bit of background, I was going to Pulau Wey and Bandar Acheh is the place we land before going to this island which was about 2 hours away.

Background - Bandar Acheh. If you can recall back a bit of history, this was one of the worst hit place when the Tsunami came in 2004. Now, what I didn't know was the history before that. In a simple summary, there was a civil war going on before that disaster. It seemed that you can be easily killed at any time while it was going on. But all that changed since the disaster that claimed >230,000 lives. Peace was restored, elections was held, and tourism slowly grew. You can find out more about the history here.


And hence, the special reason why I can step foot on this place. The picture above is just a glimpse of the restoration that came after disaster. We've gotten the privilege to talk to one of the NGOs that was working there. It seems that after 5 years of restoration, they are finally going to pull out and let the Acheh people continue to heal by themselves. I can only hope that things will go well for this place, and I can have another chance to come back.

MAKAN MAKAN: OK, so let's move on to the most important thing - FOOD! The most interesting, and nicest, of the entire trip was AYAM TANGKAP. We've tried it when we arrive, and we've tried it just before we left. In simple terms, it kinda like ayam goreng, but much much more nicer. On the island, most of the time it's nasi goreng, mee goreng and mee sup. When you have that for five days in a row, it become scary...


THE "RESORT": Let me tell you this, Pulau Wey is not your typical getaway tourist spot. Don't expect hotels, or air conds, or even proper taxi. To get there, we have to take a ferry, then a taxi, and then still walk another 20 minutes till we reach our home for five days. And this is how our chalet looks like (and I can tell you it's the best house in the entire Rubiah Tirta "resort"):

THE ISLAND: Well setting that aside, how is the island itself. One word, STUNNING. The water was super duper clear and it's beautiful!!!

THE DIVES: When it came to the dives, I can say one thing - it kinda restarted my interest in diving. I manage to do a night dive (diving in the dark with only a torch is creepy but very, very fun), a drift dive (try diving against a current and your mask almost coming off), a wreck dive and a dive near a volcano site. The total of dives was 7, although we could have done 9 but it seems the locals take their Fridays as very serious day to not work.

And the best thing is since this place is not as commercialized as places like Redang and Perhentian, the fishes are not scared of you. Too bad I don't have an underwater camera, but the things you see underwater is amazing! There's school of barracudas & jacks, a lot of murrays, sea urchins, octopus and I finally saw my first nudi. It's simply breathtaking under the water. I kinda vowed I'll get better so that I can improve my breathing to stay longer underwater.

Well, in summary, I wished I could have done more dives. I will definitely recommend this for divers, and well, I hope I can come back again. Here are more of some interesting shots from Pulau Wey and Acheh:

^This kid is 11 years old and he's done more than 40 dives

^This sign is at the entrance of the resort, a memorium of the 2004 disaster

^Note the HALAL sign on Coke and Sprite caps!

^The best shot of all - an STONE AGE COMPUTER!

D.U.K.E. S1xE02: The Day of Difficult Heights

The day started before 2AM. Someone's alarm (well, it was found out to be an SMS) had to ring on 11.30PM the previous which woke ONLY me up, while rest my cabin mates slept away (there were four of us)!!! And it had to be 3-minute song!!! And if that's not enough, someone had a BASS symphony going on, and well, that's about the sleep I was to get...
2AM: We got off our bed, put on our winter clothing... (it can get as chilly as 4-degrees)... and started our walk to the peak. It was only 2.5KM, so how difficult could it be? The word impossible came only after 5 minutes of walking. It was UP, UP and UP all the way!

It was dark, and there was a lot of people. We had this headlight thingie up our forehead, and that's they only source of light we had. Well, far over the horizon, you can see other people's light, indicating how FAR more you have to go.

It was getting tougher and tougher. We reach this part where had to use the ropes, cuz on the other side, it was a LOOOONG WAY down. And can you believe it? The mountains was just strolling past our side like nothing, all while we're holding to the ropes for our dear lives. Below is the photo taken when the light came up...


4AM+: At some point in time, I was alone, separated from the rest. I was like walking ten steps and sitting down one minute. It was getting too difficult, why did I get myself into this? Well, there was one time, I sat, and just lied on my back. I was going to give up. I just lied there, looking up to the stars. I can tell you, in the midst of this suffering, God gave me one of the most breath-taking commercial break. It was about His great creation. The sky was so clear, and it was so dark all around, you can see so many stars up there!

5AM+: I am almost cursing myself at this point. Imagine you take 10 steps, and take a 1-minute break. Every 10 steps!!! That's what you get for not training at all! Almost really gave up if not for Phang arriving and motivating me on. It really makes a difference when you have a buddy to walk with...

6AM+: The sun has started to rise... Argghhh... I missed the peak sunrise. Sigh, guess my promise to "deliver" a sunrise has failed miserably. But well, at this time, looking around, these are the beautiful scene. Just another 500m more!!

7AM+: Finally! The top!!! The very top! The end of the suffering! The highest top in the Malaysia and I'm there! Wohoooo!!! Well, Wai Yee & gang was starting their descent as I reached, so, I'm pretty late actually. Anyway, the rest of the group is there! And it was half an hour of resting, photo-taking and celebration. The was that sparkling juice we brought up (which weight like a tonne in the midst of the execise).

^ The very last scramble to the pinnacle!

^ Yeap! This is the shot! The top shot!

^ Terry''s dad, who's fitter than me!

^ Reaching the top! Celebration in place!

^ Champagne time (well, it was actually sparkling juice)

^ Note the background - this is your RM1 background picture

^ More breath-taking scenaries from 4000m+ above ground

8AM+: The rest of the journey was much simpler than going up. We finally reach the bottom of the mountain (the very bottom) at about 3.30pm. All in all, we've walked 19KM+, for about 18hours!

So what have I learned from this? 1-Old scout motto: BE PREPARED, train before going for this kind of stuff. 2-Enjoy the journey, even though it might be tough.

D.U.K.E. S1xE01: The Day of Long Walks

Recently I took on a trip which totally not my kind of activity - hiking. And guess what, it's not any typical kind of hiking... I had to go and jump into the deep end of the ocean, well, in this case, I went to highest possible peak in South-East Asia. Yes, as some of you know already (since I've been ranting about it for the last three months), I went to climb Mount Kinabalu. Can you imagine that? Me? Climbing Mount KK??? It's almost equivalent to Chee Wai taking siu-yok!

Ya... Ya... I had my extra "motivation" to go in the first place, but when that motivation kinda vanished, well, I kinda went for the sake of going. Li'l did I know what was ahead of me...

To give you a brief intro, you need two days to climb this hunk of rock. The target is to reach Laban Rata about afternoon of DayOne, and then move on to climb to the peak early (really early) on DayTwo, and come back to the bottom by afternoon of DayTwo itself. Sounds easy? Well, it's just a 19km walk up and down. How hard can it be?

I meant look here, within one hour, I'm already seeing this scene here. I've almost puked by KM1.0! [Note: To Laban Rata from Mersilau is 8.0km+]

That's what you get for NOT TRAINING at least! (My excuse is that I've only done 1 x swimming,2 x jogging, 3 x football... in the span of three months!!!). It was an uphill (literally!!!) climb, and I was thanking God all the way that He gave me really long legs.

By the time we reached about 1.5km+, it was a much, much more easier downhill trend. Well, it was then I thought, "Hey, I should be able to do this!", after the pschological shock I had earlier. The whole group of us that went up comprise of 15 people. Our smaller group here, is termed as the "B" team. Why? Cuz we were the middle team. There is a super-fit "A" team of five who went waaaayyy ahead of us, and well, there's a slightly less-fit team who's trailing us... You the see uncle there? He's 55 and he's more fit than me!!! Talk about looking for a hole to hide...

Anyway, back to the story... Things got really tough after KM4. Yes, we kinda looked smilling here, but little did we know what was ahead.... The REAL uphill was just beginning. It didn't help that it starting raining... To summarise it, I've never felt so tortured and helpless (there's not turning back, no giving at this point) in my life before. At this point, I gave up taking photos of every 0.5KM... It was reaching Laban Rata the only ONE thing on my mind...

Ok.. By now you would have enough of the whining that I have... Well, you see this kid here? To him, it's like a walk in the park, just about the same as Chee Wai taking a Bukit Jalil jog.. And you know what? He's carrying like 10-15kg worth of our stuff!!! On the plus side, there are some nice scenes when I remember to BREATHE and look. It's no joking, these are the kind of rocks we have to climb up, which became a river when it rained heavily.

Oh, did u see that 5KM again? Nope, it's not a mistake, it's because we took another trail up. Effectively, this is 7KM. Only 1 more KM!!!! At this point, I've abandoned all thought of picking which rock not to step to avoid drenching my legs. I'm already WET!!! Just a bit more, I can really sit down already... Just a bit more, I can have a HOT cup of tea, and some DRY clothes... Just around the corner... FINALLY!!!

I'll never take a warm room for granted again. You know the feeling of drinking Coke when you were so THRISTY??? The satisfaction feeling 100x of that!!! TIME STAMP: 8KM in 7Hour45MINS.... We took a really long, long rest, before makan-ing dinner and hitting the sack at 8PM... [Side story: We BBQ-ed our shoes over the stove before we slept, cuz the dryer was broken and there's no way other ways to dry our shoes...]

You see this? That is a sneak of the next day's climb... To give you a feel - today's walk was a stroll in the park compared to what was to come...

[TO BE CONTINUED - EPISODE2: The Day of Difficult Heights]

D.U.K.E. Season 1 - Pilot

Time didn't just fly for me - it went through a blackhole and now it's MARCH 2009!!! Well, it's 2009, and instead spending time playing games, I thought, well, time to revamp my DEAD blog a bit. Searching, searching for ideas... Ha!! Since I love series soooo much, well, will try a new approach.

And hence the new title... D.U.K.E. - Do U Know Everything? (sounds corny, well, gotta think of something, and not to be confused with the local highway named after my nick). Not that I'm gonna blog that often, but gonna be doing so whenever something kinda "momentous" happens...

Come to think of it, life is sometimes like a long-running series... It has its build-ups across a season, and climax at the season finale, before coming down again in the next season. And so the cycle continues... Sometimes the season are short, they are sometime long... Well, how will my season be?