Back from Lumbong!

What a wonderful trip! Lotsa laughter, and a trip (to me at least) of new dimensions. Exploring a new part of the world, it's always an interesting thing.

Started off on Saturday morning at 7.30am from Kranji MRT and met the Rovers comm people for the trip to Larkin via SBS 170. There was a major jam at the Causeway early in the morning, but luckily we managed to reach Larkin in time to catch the transit bus to Kota Tinggi, which would bring us closer to Lumbong, via taxi.

Along the way, it was laughter all the way, and I was pretty excited for the trip too. In fact, it would be my first "official" trekking trip! The entire journey was rather long, but the laughter and talk kept us all awake. Moreover, it was a good time to interact with the rest of the 26th comm nominees and have some fun prior to the trek.

Once at the start of Lumbong, which was the plantation, Shuang Hui and I were the first pair to "lead" the rest of the team in, with Hui Qin helping us. To me, it was unfamiliar as I've NEVER been there before, yet there was a sense of deja vu. It was weird, but still, it was good to hit the waters, as it signalled the real START of the trek.

Once we hit the first waterfall, I was really awed by the wonderful sight. And it was great playing by the waterfall, definitely :P So far, so good. And the 2nd part of the trek was handed to another pair, till the next waterfall, and so on until we reached the campsite.

In all, we passed by 3 waterfalls as well as 1 "valley". It is called the "valley" as the depth of water rises till one's waist level! This was the reason why we were told to pack our stuff in ziplock bags and ensure they are waterproofed. It was quite okay, though throughout the trek, the rocks were slippery and it required some time to plan the move and ensure that one does not slip at those smoothened rocks.

Once at the campsite at around 5.30pm, the setting up of the tents and cooking area was quickly done up, with water collected from the nearby water source and the desert and 100 Plus cooled using the river water. Once all the food required for the mass dinner was gathered, it was time to start cooking, with lots of flies buzzing around as company.

It was a wonder why the flies would suddenly descend on our bags and tin cans even though we were not digging a urinal/toilet and there were no obvious signs of human waste anywhere.

Anyway, the flies could not prevent us from enjoying our food! Food was great and it was long hearty meal over mess tins worth of noodles, pineapple rice with curry, rosti (yea! Peiyu's famous for it!), chowder (with a lil' noodles 'cos I did a stupid thing of spilling the noodles from a mess tin atop the bunsen burner and thus hitting some of the water on Candice -_-")

And there was even desert and jelly! Pineapple slices in jelly! woohoo! Talk about an all-rounded meal!

Scandal brewing throughout the course of the meal, and that made the entire dinner/supper interesting. Food for thought too.

Moreover, the moon was high up in the sky, bright and round as day! It was simply wonderful! I lurve the moon! (I need the pics!!!)

Nite, was cool, comfortable. Sleeping in a sleeping bag under the starry sky with a large round moon was perfect. Absolutely at ease with nature.

So much so that my laughing partner, Candice, was jio-ed into watching the moon and stars with me haha!

Apart from us, Kheng Hui and Pei Yu also slept under the stars, enjoying the coolness of nature. Soon, the sky became cloudy, so the stars "disappeared", yet the moon was shining ever brightly. Talking under the open sky, with the candles flickering...

And I was awakened many times, being a light sleeper I normally am. The rest of them sleeping outside seemed to be shivering, and my head was throbbing in pain due to the hard waterbottle. (Note: To bring smaller waterbottle/travel pillow next time round!)

The morning was a difficult time to rouse the camp from their sleep. Despite the usage of an alarm clock, many remained in their deep slumber, but I managed to be awake by then and look around at a brighter area. Tried to get some nap-time, but decided to just have a look around.

Soon, all started to get up and the campsite became more alive. Buzzing with activity was an understatement, because of the flies hovering about us and our morning breakfast, which included pancakes, omelette and Milo (Lumbong Dinosaur!)

After packing up and breaking camp, it was time to work our way down Lumbong, by going down the way we came up by. Although the route is the same, the method of tackling the way down seemed different.

Personally, I find going upwards easier than coming downhill. It just gets easier to go up, up and away!

We managed to be early at the waiting area for the taxis which we came in by, and we were made to wait due to the late arrival of 2 taxis. Alas, one of the taxis was not under the "leader" of the group of taxis, and therefore it was a "free" ride. In any case, the question of whether to pay in full before all the cabs arrived popped up.

Washed up at the Mall in Kota Tinggi, and had a hearty meal of Marrybrown's 2pc chicken meal at the Mall, with waffles too! In any case, food was cheap, and u just gotta lurve the food there!

Had Dunkin' Donughts for quenching the sweet tooth of mine on arrival at Larkin, and we were soon on our way back South the Singapore, albeit stuck in the traffic jam for about 25 mins. Reached Singapore at around 7pm, and home at around 8.30pm. Not bad, indeed.

All in all, sinful trip....ate too much! *lol* Tired, aching body, just gotta tend to the cuts...

Lumbongism:
Lighter = booom booom (must speak with bb tone) (Shiyao 2005©)
Q: It's so slippery, how to conquer LUMBONG!??!?! A: Stick a lot of spiders then can be like Spiderman lar! (Kian Ann 2005©)
Dried prawns are happy hebe, hea hea hea...

Current Mood: Full

One-Liner of the Day: Q-Ni shi na yi guo de ren? A-Wo Shi Lian Guo Ren!