Sunday, March 18, 2007
This is a real long overdue post about the trip to malaysia. Geog trip there. Travel for a longer time than the actual amount of time spent there wandering about.
Took a train to that ulu place that i have never heard of. The whole point of the trip was to explore rivers. haha. Oh anyway the train ride was really long and uncomfortable. After that ride, i will not complain about the long bus rides anymore. At least on the bus i'm able to curl up and sleep. The train?! Haiz.. Oh and goodness. You should just see the toilets. ARGH. Okie not that they are really dirty but... How nice is that thought that u are peeing right onto the track as the train moves?? And moreover, there is no flushing system and the train bumps around lots. ARGH!! Imagine my horror when i had to use the toilet. U better had gotten a good grip and well have nerves. Did i mention that there are cockroaches on the train as well?? Horrors of horrors. Journey punctuated with screams as girls realised the presence of those hateful creatures that seem to be able to inject fear into us gals. We were just thinking about the probability of one crawling on us while we are sleeping. The thought itself is enough to send LOTS of shivers down our back. EW! Now now now. I know that these creatures can also be found on public buses but compare the amount of time spent on each. U have to endure the uncertainty of traveling with companionship for a torturous amount of time on the train. I think it is around 9 hours? I forgot... And that was just the start of the trip. What more can i say?? The air conditioning was not that wow too... Suffocating in there.
With a sense of foreboding we reached our destination luckily safe and sound in Gua Musang. So dark early in the morning around 6 plus am. Time for our breakfast. At least the breakfast was decent and i loved the thick milo that i was given. The noodles was not bad too. Being the pampered people, we were once again marveled by the chicken roosting and of course our dreaded enemy-insects! U can see the locals laughing at us silently watching us avoid the flying insects by twisting our bodies this way and that. LOL!! What a fool we made ourselves to be! The toilet at the station was also quite bad. We missed how we can always trust the portable water in our toilets back home. There we can't even brush our teeth without fear using the tap water... We were advised to use our bottled water... Depletion of resources i should say. Oh and malaysians speak to us in malay and when they realise we don't understand them, they go "Oh u are not from malaysia?". Fascinating.
The hotel called "Fully inn" was decent and nice. The water pressure for bathing was great and the beds were like nests. Jumping into the bed would almost render me unable to leave it. Haha.. I guess exhaustion also has a part to play for that. All the girls first piled into one room to change for the cave expedition. Haha.. Long lines for the toilet and gals were practically stripping everywhere, trying to be discrete but somehow with a whole roomful of people simultaneously changing, it does not come across as discrete in any sense. LOL!
Caving. My first time i should think. I shall sum it up saying that it was a really fun, scary, freaky, uncomfortable, cry for help, shrieking, shouting in terror, enjoying it, kinda experience all rolled into one. I know it sounds more scary than anything but at the end of the day you really feel a great sense of achievement knowing that you have conquered your fears and believed in yourself, putting your life in your hands (and legs literally) to get out of that cave. There were lots of elements in there including bats, a tortoise, lots of soft mud, slippery rock, claustrophobic environment, cold water, sharp surfaces and rough surfaces, far apart stepping surfaces. It kinda represents something that you would find in high elements but in a total dark environment and wet too. Your task is simple, keep yourself on your two feet, get out of the cave while making sure that ur camera is kept dry despite waters that rise to almost shoulder level and hold the torchlight to shine your own way through. You should really experience it to understand. A great experience. Now i'm hooked on caving. I know the potential dangers though luckily nothing happened while we were in the cave. I shudder to think about the life threatening situations that i would otherwise be in. Lets see... When the water started to get really high till the height of my shoulders i started freaking out. With bats overhead, i wanted to go home or be held in a warm embrace or hear someone's soothing voice.
Getting out of the cave i felt so dirty. Covered almost from head to toe in mud. YUCK!! Oh i should take some time here to complain about the lousy tourguide or wadever he is. I think he is just a poser or quack. He didn't even tell us that there would be high waters in the cave only mentioning that we would see a small river. Thanks. Our cameras "thank" you from their broken hearts. -.-" Fed-up la. So many ppl's cameras were rendered useless after contact with the lousy water. Sad. And moreover, his facts were peppered with "and so on.." it is so obvious that he doesn't know his stuff AT ALL. In the cave, he was also unsure of the path that should be taken. OMGness i can't imagine what would have happened if we had lost our way...My shoes declared themselves disgusting and my socks joined them in expressing their total disgust at the unsightly colour that they have become. Thank goodness my clothes didn't give up on me and they declared themselves good for wear after spa treatment back in the hotel. Whew.
Lunch was KFC after bathing. See how globalisation has made an impact? The meat was not bad and i was so full!!! The counter ppl were curious about us seeing that we spoke English rather than the conventional malay that they are so used to hearing. I caught one of them staring at us. Along the road, the shops there are mainly those that we can find in old estates in Singapore. Maybe something like bedok? Lots of minimarts around too. I realised that chinese gets you understood when purchasing from the chinese shops. Nothing much to buy. Things are lots cheaper there. I didn't wander to their fashion shops though. Xp
Back to the hotel to pig out and rest. Then after that time for river studies. This time it is a visit to one of the plantation as the river runs through that particular stretch of land. The roads there were really bumpy. It does resemble those kinda roller coaster rides too in terms of the lay of the road. We had a fun time riding in the minivans. Bouncing up and down in the seats. River water was cooling and really nice. Whoo!! Orange racing down the river. Velocity. Nad and her craziness. I swear she won't be nad without her craziness. Blahz. All of us went really high doing river studies and i reckon it is due to exhaustion from the caving earlier that day. Compared to the river studies i did during the UK trip, this was nothing and i should say boring. I was more interested in learning how to skip rocks on the river surface. Didn't succeed though. Anyone can teach me?? I think the ripples are real cool. =) River spiders, rapids, clayey rock used as chalk, braided river, lecture out in the fields. If only every subject that we learn can be taught outdoors instead of in the classroom i bet i would have much much more interest in studying. LOL!
After the river studies, it is back to the hotel for the second pigging out session and sleeping session of the day. Oh bathing session too. Flat out battery. Haha! We used the hair dryer to dry our wet washed clothes till it gave up on us and asked us for surrender and subsequently quitting on us for a while going on strike. Lol! Slp slp slp. Then we had to pack up. Time to meet for train back home was 11pm. See! We did not even stay in the hotel for even a DAY!! Pathetic amount of time spent there. We survived on biscuits mainly for dinner because of laziness to leave the hotel. LOL!Reluctance to crawl out of bed and miscommunication made us late and everyone was waiting for us at the reception area. Hahaz. Left the room in a hurry.
Walked the long dark way to the train station once again dreading the journey with the cockroaches but having no choice. This time the train was cooler and we were so tired out we fell asleep easily. Craps everywhere contorting into various sleeping positions. I found out that my shoulder was used as a pillow while i was asleep. haha! Seems like my shoulder was about the right height for loraine. Now.. If only i had -someone's- shoulder to lie on... I probably would have slept more peacefully. On second thoughts, i might not be able to sleep at all. HAHAH!! What rubbish.
Glad to be back into "civilisation" relatively. You should have seen us rushing for the toilet when we reached singapore. Whoo! Clean toilets with available toilet paper. What a relief. LOL!! OKie it is not that bad but it is just....... I donno. More comfortable?? Haha.
My trip to malaysia. "Dao ci yi you"
Took a train to that ulu place that i have never heard of. The whole point of the trip was to explore rivers. haha. Oh anyway the train ride was really long and uncomfortable. After that ride, i will not complain about the long bus rides anymore. At least on the bus i'm able to curl up and sleep. The train?! Haiz.. Oh and goodness. You should just see the toilets. ARGH. Okie not that they are really dirty but... How nice is that thought that u are peeing right onto the track as the train moves?? And moreover, there is no flushing system and the train bumps around lots. ARGH!! Imagine my horror when i had to use the toilet. U better had gotten a good grip and well have nerves. Did i mention that there are cockroaches on the train as well?? Horrors of horrors. Journey punctuated with screams as girls realised the presence of those hateful creatures that seem to be able to inject fear into us gals. We were just thinking about the probability of one crawling on us while we are sleeping. The thought itself is enough to send LOTS of shivers down our back. EW! Now now now. I know that these creatures can also be found on public buses but compare the amount of time spent on each. U have to endure the uncertainty of traveling with companionship for a torturous amount of time on the train. I think it is around 9 hours? I forgot... And that was just the start of the trip. What more can i say?? The air conditioning was not that wow too... Suffocating in there.
With a sense of foreboding we reached our destination luckily safe and sound in Gua Musang. So dark early in the morning around 6 plus am. Time for our breakfast. At least the breakfast was decent and i loved the thick milo that i was given. The noodles was not bad too. Being the pampered people, we were once again marveled by the chicken roosting and of course our dreaded enemy-insects! U can see the locals laughing at us silently watching us avoid the flying insects by twisting our bodies this way and that. LOL!! What a fool we made ourselves to be! The toilet at the station was also quite bad. We missed how we can always trust the portable water in our toilets back home. There we can't even brush our teeth without fear using the tap water... We were advised to use our bottled water... Depletion of resources i should say. Oh and malaysians speak to us in malay and when they realise we don't understand them, they go "Oh u are not from malaysia?". Fascinating.
The hotel called "Fully inn" was decent and nice. The water pressure for bathing was great and the beds were like nests. Jumping into the bed would almost render me unable to leave it. Haha.. I guess exhaustion also has a part to play for that. All the girls first piled into one room to change for the cave expedition. Haha.. Long lines for the toilet and gals were practically stripping everywhere, trying to be discrete but somehow with a whole roomful of people simultaneously changing, it does not come across as discrete in any sense. LOL!
Caving. My first time i should think. I shall sum it up saying that it was a really fun, scary, freaky, uncomfortable, cry for help, shrieking, shouting in terror, enjoying it, kinda experience all rolled into one. I know it sounds more scary than anything but at the end of the day you really feel a great sense of achievement knowing that you have conquered your fears and believed in yourself, putting your life in your hands (and legs literally) to get out of that cave. There were lots of elements in there including bats, a tortoise, lots of soft mud, slippery rock, claustrophobic environment, cold water, sharp surfaces and rough surfaces, far apart stepping surfaces. It kinda represents something that you would find in high elements but in a total dark environment and wet too. Your task is simple, keep yourself on your two feet, get out of the cave while making sure that ur camera is kept dry despite waters that rise to almost shoulder level and hold the torchlight to shine your own way through. You should really experience it to understand. A great experience. Now i'm hooked on caving. I know the potential dangers though luckily nothing happened while we were in the cave. I shudder to think about the life threatening situations that i would otherwise be in. Lets see... When the water started to get really high till the height of my shoulders i started freaking out. With bats overhead, i wanted to go home or be held in a warm embrace or hear someone's soothing voice.
Getting out of the cave i felt so dirty. Covered almost from head to toe in mud. YUCK!! Oh i should take some time here to complain about the lousy tourguide or wadever he is. I think he is just a poser or quack. He didn't even tell us that there would be high waters in the cave only mentioning that we would see a small river. Thanks. Our cameras "thank" you from their broken hearts. -.-" Fed-up la. So many ppl's cameras were rendered useless after contact with the lousy water. Sad. And moreover, his facts were peppered with "and so on.." it is so obvious that he doesn't know his stuff AT ALL. In the cave, he was also unsure of the path that should be taken. OMGness i can't imagine what would have happened if we had lost our way...My shoes declared themselves disgusting and my socks joined them in expressing their total disgust at the unsightly colour that they have become. Thank goodness my clothes didn't give up on me and they declared themselves good for wear after spa treatment back in the hotel. Whew.
Lunch was KFC after bathing. See how globalisation has made an impact? The meat was not bad and i was so full!!! The counter ppl were curious about us seeing that we spoke English rather than the conventional malay that they are so used to hearing. I caught one of them staring at us. Along the road, the shops there are mainly those that we can find in old estates in Singapore. Maybe something like bedok? Lots of minimarts around too. I realised that chinese gets you understood when purchasing from the chinese shops. Nothing much to buy. Things are lots cheaper there. I didn't wander to their fashion shops though. Xp
Back to the hotel to pig out and rest. Then after that time for river studies. This time it is a visit to one of the plantation as the river runs through that particular stretch of land. The roads there were really bumpy. It does resemble those kinda roller coaster rides too in terms of the lay of the road. We had a fun time riding in the minivans. Bouncing up and down in the seats. River water was cooling and really nice. Whoo!! Orange racing down the river. Velocity. Nad and her craziness. I swear she won't be nad without her craziness. Blahz. All of us went really high doing river studies and i reckon it is due to exhaustion from the caving earlier that day. Compared to the river studies i did during the UK trip, this was nothing and i should say boring. I was more interested in learning how to skip rocks on the river surface. Didn't succeed though. Anyone can teach me?? I think the ripples are real cool. =) River spiders, rapids, clayey rock used as chalk, braided river, lecture out in the fields. If only every subject that we learn can be taught outdoors instead of in the classroom i bet i would have much much more interest in studying. LOL!
After the river studies, it is back to the hotel for the second pigging out session and sleeping session of the day. Oh bathing session too. Flat out battery. Haha! We used the hair dryer to dry our wet washed clothes till it gave up on us and asked us for surrender and subsequently quitting on us for a while going on strike. Lol! Slp slp slp. Then we had to pack up. Time to meet for train back home was 11pm. See! We did not even stay in the hotel for even a DAY!! Pathetic amount of time spent there. We survived on biscuits mainly for dinner because of laziness to leave the hotel. LOL!Reluctance to crawl out of bed and miscommunication made us late and everyone was waiting for us at the reception area. Hahaz. Left the room in a hurry.
Walked the long dark way to the train station once again dreading the journey with the cockroaches but having no choice. This time the train was cooler and we were so tired out we fell asleep easily. Craps everywhere contorting into various sleeping positions. I found out that my shoulder was used as a pillow while i was asleep. haha! Seems like my shoulder was about the right height for loraine. Now.. If only i had -someone's- shoulder to lie on... I probably would have slept more peacefully. On second thoughts, i might not be able to sleep at all. HAHAH!! What rubbish.
Glad to be back into "civilisation" relatively. You should have seen us rushing for the toilet when we reached singapore. Whoo! Clean toilets with available toilet paper. What a relief. LOL!! OKie it is not that bad but it is just....... I donno. More comfortable?? Haha.
My trip to malaysia. "Dao ci yi you"
