okie dokie...
finally a long weekend whereby i am free to sit down and blog properly...
so...
after sorting through 300+ pics from 3 cameras...
i bring to you......

TTSH Physiotherapy Department "Annual" Mount Ophir Trip (28 - 30 April 2006)
(okie, so it wasn't really 'annual' or that big a deal to go to mount ophir...but i think it sounds nice to put it that way..haha)

Day 1 280406

well..it's more like 'night 1' cos we meet at 11.30pm at 2 meeting points. After 'alot' of training and much anticipation, most of us were really happy to get out of singapore for some fresh air (and alot of sweat+muscle aches)


meeting point 1: BV taxi stand. the driver was late...very late to be exact...turns out he only know how to get around singapore using the expressways -_-


the 2 cars met at the entrance to the malaysian customs...look at the number of 'V' signs being held up. guess we really didn't know what's gonna hit us the next day......

so after that pic, a near to 3 hours drive awaits. all of us piled back into the car and i think everyone fell asleep within 15 mins of exiting the malaysian customs. well, considering it was already past midnight and all of us did work full da...we were pretty knackered already...

so sleep sleep sleep...then got woken up when the car stopped for supper (or rather, a really early breakfast). i was really starving...had a bowl of bee hoon soto which barely satisfied me. but..need to save space for yummy prata later


the happy people enjoying their food and drinks... somehow, food always taste better in the middle of the night...well, to me at least it does :D

then it was back into the cars and another 1.5 hours drive to the foot of Gunung Ledang a.k.a. Mt Ophir

when we reached there, it was pitch black. well, kind of lah. there was some light from the public toilets...but otherwise, it was D.A.R.K. and we were all sleepy. so, we plunked our stuff down on the tables of chairs of the 'hawker centre' there, waiting for daybreak and yummy prata. some of us just sat and slept with heads on table, others rolled out their sleeping mats on the floor and slept. got woken up by a group of very noisy people. irritating...but it then became suprisingly silent when they finally quieten down.

and then...the unmistakable sound of thunder and flashes of lightning...and the rustling sound of trees being swayed in the strong winds...
followed by the familiar sound of rain pelting down on the zinc roofing...
as i drift back to sleep on the floor (and hoping no cockroaches will find its way to me...), i silently worry about climbing the mountain in pouring rain :(

Day 2 290406

Morning greets us in the form of rotiprata pakcik arriving on his scooter and saying 'Selamat Pagi!' to the sleeping forms in front of his stall. Felt abit disoriented when i woke up...and then, i realised that it was silent...no rain, no wind, no thunder.

wohoo! the storm is over! *phew*

so all of us gathered up our mats and washed up in the toilet. well...the toilets really need some good renovation. it was leaking water from the roof lor. and the flush doesn't work...horror of horrors, they charge 30cents per head to use the toilet! -_-


some last minute preparations while we wait for uncle to open his stall...think most of us are still feeling the effects of sleep deprivation...


the CP representatives for the trip :)


when all of us are more awake (as u can see we can even try and act kawaii), the prata uncle has already opened his stall and all ready to serve us some of his yummy prata (all the stalls there sells prata..but this uncle is the earliest to arrive..)


the prata was great! the curry..ermm..could have been better...but maybe i'm not used to it?

now that our hunger has been taken care of, it's finally the time to set off. last night's storm has blown over, and sunrise was quite beautiful


it was then that i realise...hey, this place looks really familiar!! and then, the memory clicks.

i've been here before...Ayer Panas!

yes, when i came here, i know this place as Ayer Panas (directly translated into hot water). came here when i was a little girl for the cooling water of the beautiful rapids. then..from some distant memory, i remembered my dada told me the water comes down from Mt Ophir. as i relate this information to my fellow trekkers, all of them boo-booed me that i dun even know i've been here before. in my defense, we arrived when it was dark...i cannot see mah! -_- okie, so i am blur lah...watever... (it's called Ayer Panas because, according to my mum, when it rains, the gushing water flows so fast that the water become hot...hence the term 'panas'. not sure if it's true though...)


as physios, we should practice what we preach. Warm up!


all of us warmed up and ready, some of us really excited, some of us still sleepy, some of us apprehensive. i belong in category number 1 and 2 :) too bad the person who took our pic din really take it properly...so the pic is blur and u can't see our expressions :(

at the ranger's station...

in the corner, the 'never give up' didn't really mean much to me then -_- hmm...6th most difficult huh? maybe i should have chosen an easier mountain to climb first??

anyway, after paying for the entrance fee (think it was quite cheap lah...), we begin our climb up to check point 1 (which was like 500+ steps uphill... ARGH!)


this was only the BEGINNING...when there were actual steps and rails...most of us are already quite *bleah* looking

(FYI, alot of the following pics are taken in the midst of climbing, so will be quite blur looking cos very hard to stabilise the camera when ur lungs are bursting from lack of oxygen and ur whole body is saturated with lactic acid)


KB and me. KB is the organiser of this trip. notice he is wearing the t shirt from the standard chartered marathon? yes, he completed the full - F.U.L.L. - marathon. yes, he is very fit...and no, none of us come close to his level of fitness

after the 500+ steps, the beautiful scenery in the background was the reward for reaching this point.the pic was taken on the bridge, so the rapids behind us continues under the bridge into this...

pretty eh? :D

by this time, we were tired...and quite frankly, i was quite worried about the rest of the climb which is gonna be stepless and rail-less.

an excuse to take a rest? a group picture! mind you, we aren't even at check point one yet...and our campsite is at checkpoint 5.

after the brief rest, as well as like 15 mins spent trying to find the right way to go (we though the gate to the way was locked so was trying to find another way...turned out the gate was NOT locked. abit duh-uh...), we continue onto the actual climbing bit. before we set off, KB said 'make sure u have ur gloves handy hor'. yes, and so the 4-legged instinct in us kicked in as we began the start of a torturous journey...

there were logs to climb over (or crawl under)...

rivers to cross...(okie...maybe not river...creek? stream? watever.....)


and alot of climbing to do...



when we reached checkpoint 1 and wasted 45 mins there waiting for our guide (which we paid over 400 ringgit for) and i think he was possibly one of the worst guides u can get. he goes fast and doesn't wait for us unless one of us shouts for him to slow down. so along the way, there was alot of 'encik! perlahan perlahan!' meaning 'mister, slow slow!'. and he will then find somewhere to sit or stand and smoke a cigarette while the rest of us try and crawl our way up...wat a waste of money. KB will have been able to guide us up there lor. -_- oh, and cos of the frequent 'perlahan perlahan' we were shouting, we call ourselves the 'perhalan perlahan team' :D

after what felt like a day but was actually only about 2 hours...we reached checkpoint 4...

argh..only checkpoint 4!..and i am flabbergasted at the fact that our campsite is another hour away!

luckily, our guide told us that it's better to camp at checkpoint 4 cos it's nearer to the water than checkpoint 5. (at least that's what i think he told us as translated by our malay friend)

and so, we begin to unload our tents and pitching them up. one of the tents was kinda broken cos the string in the skeleton of the tent had broke. so we had to troubleshoot on the spot.

okie,i look like i am just posing there. but i was helping to hold the sticks so they dun fall apart hor...

with some 'creative' thinking and teamwork, we managed to get all three tents pitched!


where we will call 'home' for the day... pretty right? :D

now that we can unload our heavy backpacks, it's time to climb to the summit. it was easier climbing without the backpack, but the incline gets steeper, and the trekking track is plaqued with lotsa lotsa roots...so most of the time, we were using all 4 limbs to haul ourselves up. at times, the height of the 'step' reaches the level of my chest. it was truly a whole body workout... (yet somehow, when somebody shouts 'ok, look up/down...1.2.3 smile!' we still manage to squeeze a smile for the camera. Mind over matter huh :D)




and then, there were the rope+ladder climbing bits. ladders were available at some parts...which makes climbing so much easier then pulling on roots and tree trunks...

see..so easy...can smile until so happy :D

at one point between checkpoint 6 and 7, there was a one storey high 'cliff' which only had like 3 ropes with knots hanging down. so, one has to grab the rope and climb up (like reverse of abseiling). the view while u are climbing was fantastic (provided u dare to turn around and look lah)...otherwise, u feel like ur life is in your own hands,literally



one of us has phobia of height, so when she was climbing, all of us were cheering her on and her fear was obvious on her face. but, she finally made it up and in that one moment, when all of us applauded for her, it felt like we have made it to the summit.

(personally, i thought the rope-bit was the fun part. everyone said it was really dangerous...i guess being the baby of the group, i still have more adventurous nature than the rest of them. all i thought was 'wah, so fun!! i wanna do it again!!' but they were thinking 'wah, so dangerous. if i fall, nothing is gonna hold me up!' generation gap? :P)

anyway, just when we thought we've got through the hardest bit and the summit is near...it was almost another hour of climbing on rocks, roots, with ropes and ladders before we finally reached the summit at like 1530h (we left our campsite at about 11am).

we spent like almost half an hour on the summit, enjoying the cool winds and the sense of achievement...ignoring the trembling in our thighs and trying to not think about the way back down. it was picturepicturepicture time on the summit!




after the rest on the summit, we had to go back down to be back before the sky gets dark. going down was supposed to be easier, u say? oh no no...down's easy cos u dun pant and feel like ur quads are gonna drown in lactic acid. but the eccentric control and subsequent knee pain...not to mention the fear of slipping and falling makes going down so much harder.

and then, when we were kinda halfway between summit and campsite, i sprained my ankle. won't talk more about it cos already mentioned it in my previous entry. my progress significantly slowed after that. but cos i din wanna slow the whole team down, i tried to walk/descend as fast as i can. the 'bad leg down first' rule just can't be applied on mt ophir, but my makeshift walking stick provided me with more support. the pain was bad...and the journey back felt like an eternity. somewhere along the way, we were trekking through a forest-ty bit and this strange bird started calling. well, more like shrieking..maybe it was a monkey. anyway, the sound was quite freaky. i was in too much pain to be bothered by it...but after the trip, my mentor said it reminded her of blair witch project *grimace*

when KB pointed out 3 tents in the distance and said 'see those tents? that's our campsite', i can almost hear applause in my head. never mind the sharp pain in my ankle, all of us were really exhausted and sticky and sweaty. the thought of a soak in the icy cold water was the only thing that kept me going...

and the water was ICY cold..but it felt so good. especially for my ankle. instant pain relief and also controlled the swelling abit. after that..dinner!
maybe cos of my pain, even though i was starving, i din have any appetite. but instant noodles do taste better on the mountain..haha...or maybe it's cos KB is a good cook :P



sleep that night was not good for me. couldn't get into a comfy position cos of my ankle pain. conversely, my tent-mate snored her way through the nite. think most ppl manage to sleep quite okay, some of us had trouble cos of the uneven ground.

Day 3 300406

waking up to the fresh morning air felt good..and washing up with icy cold river water was absolutely refreshing. breakfast was yummy...but everyone was sore...and in need of some good massage.


this pic look more like KB is teaching the others how to cook...


instant noodles again...but it was delicious!

after breakie, the tents were dismantled and washed in the river. i was phyiscally disabled, so i pretty much sat with my ankle in the icy cold water while the rest washed and flapped the tents dry. i think it was so much fun...can't believe i sprained my ankle and missed out on it :(



the way back down was a painful process...literally for all of us. aching aching everywhere!! and for me, it was a lose-lose situation. go down with left leg first, right quads and knee pain, go the other way first, left ankle pain. even my walking stick wasn't that helpful cos i started developing ache in my right arm from using the stick.

finally...after 2 hours, we made it back down to the little hawker centre at the foot of the mountain. eveyrone proceeded to get a bowl of ice kacang or chendol. i was still trying to ignore the nagging sharp pain in my ankle, so i waited for the actual meal to start. in midst of the ice dessert galore, it suddenly rained!! fwah, u cannot imagine the relief all of us were feeling. *PHEW* luckily we are nicely sheltered now. i pity those people who were climbing up or down when it rained.

lunch was scrumptious nasi goreng ayam. after that, the girls queued for like an hour to use the shower/toilet. i did a 'sponge' + powder bath. but then, it was so hot, i started sweating immediately after that waste time only -_-

and then, the drivers were late (again). so we sat there for ages before they finally arrive to chauffeur us to JB for SEAFOOD!! (yes, highlight of the trip!)

the other car pretty had a bunch of exhausted trekkers who fell asleep. in the car i was in, 6 of us chatted from gunung ledang to JB! and it was filled with alot of laughter...topics was so varied, i can't even remember how we got from one topic to aother. haha...

as the sky darkens and we return back into modern civilisation, we arrive at the seafood restaurant. some of our colleagues came from singapore to join us for seafood (and probably to look at our pathetic state and laugh...). seafood was good and cheap... and somehow, exhaustion gave way to telling funny anecdotes until finally, the time came for us to go home...


the driver we had must be born and bred in JB. he knew all these alleyways which brought us to the head of the long jam at the customs! fwah, so impressive. and after that, he sent every one of us in the car almost to our doorstep. so nice hor?

and so, i arrived home dirty, tired and well, in pain cos of my ankle. (ankle still sore now...wonder how long it'll take for me to be back to my premorbid status *sigh*)

so, go ophir again?

oh yes, definitely...

climb another mountain?

yes please invite me thank you! :)

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this entry took me 3 hours to complete...the longest i spent blogging!