As I was Saying...

This beautiful fungi would have been missed if i had been breathless. I'm ever watchful for this reason and more as it is also good trekking practice to keep one's eye open to watching for safety, trials etc. It would suck if one got lost or that one got too engrossed with just watching out for beautiful & pretty things. Gotta be focussed as the jungle has many trials that are possible. They can lead you out or swallow you up.

My trusty assistant for the day without which i would not have got a shot with the fungi were she not around. I'm always behind the camera shooting so it is nice to have someone behind it and taking a shot at me too once in awhile.

Trekker wisdom: Always good to have assistant with steady hand and not gulping air like fish.

Pretty assistant always better.

Passion

Passion is doing the things that you like with love. Passion can be hot steamy sex too but let's not go there or this will turn out to be one sleazy blog and i will not be able to share my passion for nature with the younger generation. My nephews Joshua & Jesse are now able to read and sooner or later they will be able to access the net so Uncle Jeff has to show a good example no?

One of the best things about trekking is that one get's to stumble upon such beauties along the path. They are all over the terrain but one only notices such things after one has had the hang of trekking. If one is too busy catching their breath and have that little voice in the head asking, "Are we there yet? How much further?" one will definately miss the beauty that is just lying in wait. For this purpose i always bring along my camera so that i can capture such captivating beauties for my friends that are busy catching their breaths.

My passion is a shot away!

Earth Day

That sunday climb was significant cos 2 days later, April 22nd was Earth Day as well as the birthday of my nephew, Joshua. Joshua was having his little kiddy party with my family in One Utama and since i was climbing Angsi with this team i enrolled CY to write me this munted banner wishing Joshua & Mother Earth a very Happy Birthday from 2700ft.

Woohoo!

Peaked & Piqued

A lot of people ask the question..."What do you get out of climbing to the top of a mountain?"

Truly...What does one get? That is a question only the individual can answer. Satisfaction, achievement, grief, a pain in the ass...from falling on it one too many times or just pure joy & relief that one survived? Well... One gets what one gets!

CY & JyT are all smiles and lookin pretty after climbing 2700ft. Russel & WT still smiling after the ordeal of the bee sting and the poison still coursing thru her veins. Acti-fast must be the one putting on that smile on her face.

Jon hungry and feeling rather exposed while Eva is happy she can finally sit and eat her chocolat in peace!

Ah Beng and his phone, reporting every step of his progress while Kenny & KY white as a sheet waiting for their blood to course thru their chiew chi pai bodice. KY basically KOed as we peaked.

"So what do we get out of it all?" asks the trekker and the millions of curious peeps.

"Nothing...not that there is nothing to get. You will have what you have." so says the master.

John Voo's Pass

So named by me after a Big, Strong & Friendly guy name John Voo of course, known to all standing on this ridge. He was our Eco Challenge 2003 sweeper for that event. A sweeper is the last man following the last team up the mountain. It was a harrowing experience for the poor chap as the last team had so many starts and stops that it was torture for the big guy. Imagine if you are all warmed up and charged up to go and all off a sudden you have to STOP cos a member of the last team needs to stop. I know how it feels so in honour of his contribution i named this stretch John Voo's Pass.

Chi Yan getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. Ah Beng showing the tight squeeze that John Voo had to pass thru and JV is not a small fellow i tell you.

Chi Yan & Jynnie getting the hang of things.

This pass is quite challenging as it is a tight squeeze and the ridge that we have to walk on is rather narrow. Can only be traversed single file. No shoving and pushing here or it's down the ravine you go...which is a rather long drop.

Beauty Captured

Amidst the hot midday sun as i turned around to check on my charges i see some beautiful creatures adapting to the weather & terrain. Jyn looking pretty through a mosaic of ferns while the guys are oblivious to it. Too busy catching their breath i suppose.

Ah Beng porter for the day. Jonathan an acquired taste...the energy bar, i mean.

Eva looking mousy & Woei Tyng putting on a smile amidst the pain & irritation of the bee sting and still climbing with tremendous strength and courage.

Stung!

The next casualty happened not far from the first. This time it was worse. WT was stung by a salt licking, attention seeking bee and within minutes she started having reactions to the sting. Her leg, where the bee had stung began swelling and soon her body was engulfed with rashes that were swelling from head to toe. In minutes she began to look like The Thing from Fantastic Four.

Lucky she had Russel to medicate her. That definately helped elevate the healing.

Like a brave soldier, she chose to continue and head for the peak in the state she was in...she was itching all over by this time. We were at this point halfway up, so we were in limbo. Neither up nor down. We waited for her decision. If she had said STOP! We would have headed down but like a trooper she didn't want to let us down and give up.

She chose to continue! Forza!

Senior Down! Senior Down!

First casualty...senior down!

Adverse to popular belief, seniors are humans too. We breakdown like normal human beings too. Case in point...dehydrated, exhausted and breathless, a senior is down for the count. Automatically her two charges from LP108 came with fanning towels to cool down their senior and provide much required fresh flowing air.

It's payback time!

Revive

Intermission... We take this time to announce that this programme is sponsored by Revive..."If you ain't dead, Revive will Get you Up!"

Ain't Half Bad

After approximately 2 hours of trekking the band still looked pretty good. That's cos the camera is pointed at them. Elpees always will have a smile when a camera is poited at them. Must be a "look good" syndrome. We all have it...unless we are caught off guard.

The ascend left many panting for breath and i am sure many a thoughts ran through their minds...most of which must have questioned the wisdom of declaring. " Let's go climb a mountain!" The knees are getting wobbly at this point and the spirit... tortured.

Crossing Into The Unknown

The wonderful thing about elpees is that they are game for anything. They would try anything once...untill they throw up, then things could change but then again, perhaps not. We are crossing the last river or water source that we will see... till it rains. After this river it's all up, up and away! The gradient after this stretch varies between 65 to 80 degrees. That's where most will experience first hand what Iron Will means.

CP One

Check Point One...the virgins are lookin' good. None the worse for wear. All still in good spirits, nothing some Sneaker bars, 100 plus or even good ole H2O can't repair. They are in good shape too for the time being. The actual ascend has not really begun yet but they were not to know that this is just the warm up stretch and they were being conditioned for the task ahead.
Even the flowers look fresh here. :)

BS' Kinabalu Team

I got a call from BS one day requesting assistance in training with his Kinabalu Team and since he is the only experienced trekker in the team, he asked if i could support him in training his virgins. Since I love trekking and also b'cos i know the Angsi Trail, i took up his call for support or was it b'cos i am a supporter? Anyway i was more than eager as i have not trekked a mountain since Tahan and i missed the jungle. Look at all those eager faces. This is before the ascend...note the innocent smiles. This is a special moment...before the experience!

Angsi Revisited

April 20th, 2008 is the 5th anniversary of AWLP Eco Challenge 2003 Junglethon to the day. It also marks the day i revisit Gunung Angsi (825m...that's 2700ft) 5 years on.

Gunung Angsi also happens to be the very first mountain that i trekked. Before this, my thirst for adventure took me only as far as FRIM until the fateful day i met Tiger of LP17. The man was responsible for inviting me onto the Eco Challenge commitee and for leading me up this, my very first mountain. He too was responsible for motivating me and not giving up on me when i had already given up on myself halfway up the mountain just before "John Voo's Pass". First time up can be a jelly-legged experience even for those whose thirst for adventure is akin to that of an alcoholic seeking his beer. He pulled out a pack of Tiger Biscuits and within minutes my energy and spirit came back to strenghten my jelly-like-legs and me back on track for the final push to the peak. I swear if it had not been for him i would have given up and waited for them to pick me up on their way down.

The picture above is not the peak of Angsi but a view of neighbouring mountains from Angsi's peak. B'cos of Tiger, i now bring friends and people crazy enuf to spend a weekend trekking our beautiful mountains.

Chillin' Out

I have been chillin' out for too long. Just like kermit here i have been comfortably nestled in my crook of the woods and just do nothin' but chill. Not that it's bad or anything since there really is no good or bad, it just got way comfortable and i just refused to budge. Since the last blog many a thing has happened and much have i experienced and plenty i wanna blog about but my fingers just refused to do the typing and since i have not trained any other parts of my body to type i guess i had to wait till now to let the words flow.