The Guides

Amir and Ismail our guides have been guiding trekkers like myself for close to 10 years. Sometimes they double up as porters too. On this trip Ismail (Chelsea...who just lost the league championship to Man Utd...supporter) was the porter for one of our team while Amir was our official guide.

Amir was recently in a Tahan Eco Challenge about 2 weeks ago where he and his team mate started from Merapoh and finished in Kuala Tahan in only 26 hours. 26 hours! Crazy buggers. Here we are...city slickers doing it in 7 days and half dead. Most times Meow and I would be last to leave camp and also last to arrive. Amir and Ismail would be the sweepers and they would normally give us a 1 hour headstart and before you know it...they suddenly creep up on us ever so silently. That's why at every lunch hour check point they can afford to pull out their gas stove and cook rice or Maggi.

Meow and I are grateful to them for waiting for us and making sure we did not get lost. It's never easy to be a sweeper cos just as you are warmed up and raring to go, the last man might need a rest or just slow like me and the sweeper would loose steam. We know only too well as we play that role when we bring friends trekking on our more familiar paths.

I salute them for their patience and their strength in keeping up with us. Terima kasih...