Gunung Datuk Trip

1st Sept 07, 0745hrs-Embarked on a much awaited main comm trip to Gunung Datuk. Most of the 12th comm people met up at Kranji Mrt station before take a bus to cross custom. It was the first time I see Meishan since the 12th comm was formed up. Whereas missing people for the trip were Denis, Tung and Weiloong due to lesson, food poisoning and family matters respectively. Met up with Eugene(fat), our "trip leader" cum mentor, at the Singapore custom.

Almost a first cock up for the trip-->We are suppose to catch a 9am train @JB train station. But due to heavy traffic at the customs, by the time we cross the Msian custom, it was 9.15am! We were practically running from the customs to the train station with our "Full Battle Order", hoping the train will arrive late. PHEW! The train had not arrived by the time we reached. We still have about half an hour of free time so Eugene started his first lesson of the day on briefing the participants and preparing them mentally of what's happening (if i remembered correctly).

Soon the train arrived, and Eugene continued to conduct his lesson on train. At the meantime, Meishan offered us some donuts and apologised to us for not appearing for AGM and the first meeting. So we all happily take our share except Eugene. And Meishan said something like,"Eh u moron! Do u know you are not supposed to reject something a girl offer you?" Muahahaha, I think Eugene was stunned and he took one too. (OMG Meishan, pls tone down on your words next time.)

1st Sept 07, 1400hrs-We had reached Tampin train station and while waiting for the cab, we had our lunch there. Just a random chit-chat session to get to know each and everyone better. The cab came and drove us to the foot of Gunung Datuk. One interesting thing that happened during the journey. (Heard from Jovin) My cab was following behind the one which Jovin, Weisong, Firdaus and Meishan was in. So when the cab was driving up a steep slope, the driver changed from gear 3 to gear 4 and the vehicle didnt have power to go up. (So from behind we can see their cab rolling down. hahaha...) And Jovin pulled the handbrake in desperation. And Firdaus and Weisong had to alight from the cab so the cab could move up the slope. We had a good laugh after that when they told us the incident.

1st Sept 07, 1600hrs-Reach the foot of Gunung Datuk. Do some stretching exercises, leaded by the bubbly and chirpy Xueling before we started to ascend. The first part was very tiring as the gradient was quite steep. I was already panting heavily at the before the first rest point. But along the way, we were making lots of noises, most notably "XUE SAI" and xueling asking "What day izzit today?". Well, it's teachers' day! Though our reply was"Saturday!!!" Had some fun and laughter along the way up, taking off the tiring part off our mind. After the halfway point, the gradient was much gentle and less tiring but as the sky grew darker, Eugene increased the pace and pushed on.

1st Sept 07, 1620hrs-Finally, we had reached the campsite! We've done it in 140mins, which is quite fast according to Eugene. We took out our tents and taupaulins and some went on to pitched the tents while the others set up the cooking shelter in case of wet weather. After a while, some went to the top to see the sunset while the rest was starting to cook. According to those who went up, it was a fantastic view. During the cooking session, Eugene was the master chef, ordering us around to get this and that ingredient ready. The rest was busy chopping and cutting garnishes. (Weiling cut the carrot like she's was ditched by someone and venting all her anger on it!! Mike, Be careful!!! hahaha..) End of the day, we had chicken rice, pineapple rice, black pepper chicken, assorted vegetables(cos they just mixed all the vege to cook), and all sorts of eggs. Well, as always in outfield, I thoroughly filled my stomach like a garbage bin.

1st Sept 07, lost track of time-After dinner CK, RY, YH, KX, XL, Mike and me went up to the top to see the night view and enjoyed the night breeze (gan phua cold!). We lay down on a big boulder and started talking from nonsense to the stars in the sky. We spent about 1hr up there before going back to the campsite. Most of the girls retired back into their tents to have their beauty rest, while me CK RY and mike continued to have some HTHT at a small boulder just above the campsite. During the HTHT, I discovered some of the beauties of nature-A firefly (yes, just one!) and a squirrel hopping about the trees. And soon, something else was distracting me from the HTHT---SUPPER!! Eugene and a few of the guys were cooking maggie mee and campbell soup. It was so tempting especially on a cold night. So, I abandoned the HTHT club to join the SUPPER club. Hot mee and soup--what else to ask for? hahaha....And after supper, i returned to the HTHT club and chit chat for a while before going to sleep too.

2nd Sept 07, 0600hrs-RY and mike woke me up to watch sunrise. After much struggling, I joined them outside my tentage and went up to the top again. The wind was chilly while the sky grew brighter. It was quite foggy and we saw nothing but clouds, so didnt manage to catch the sunrise despite waking up early. Soon firdaus and xueling joined us for a photo-taking session. Then, it was breakfast time. Waiting for the prata that Xueling kept on bragging about. (Final verdict-nice to have prata in the wild for breakfast but it had nothing to do with your skills!) And soon the rest joined us and the BOBOs started a prata flipping contest. (OMG they are the 12th comm truly and only BOBOs lo.)

2nd Sept 07, 1000hrs-Finished breakfast and started packing up. Ascend to the top of Datuk again for a final photo taking session of the trip with the scenic view. And off we go, descending to the foot with all the stuff we've brought up. The descend was much faster. We reached the foot of the Datuk in about 100mins. We reached Tampin at abt 3pm. By then it was pouring heavily. Along the way, we could see flooded roads. We had our lunch at pizza hut and had to catch a train at 4pm.

2nd Sept 07, 1600hrs-We left the town the way we came. That (PB) cab uncle came late and alone to fetch us, meaning he gotta make 4 trips to drive all of us to the train station. And along the way he was saying he couldn't get anyone else to help him and that he was doing us a favour. OH PLS! I think he was just trying to earn all the money himself lo. We would have missed our train if not for the train delay again. The train only came at 6pm. That was not the only delay. Along the way, the train had to stop somewhere due to technical fault. ZZZZZZ. On the train, all of us were so tired that after the trip debrief, most had fallen asleep.

3rd Sept 07, 0100hrs-Finally arrived back to Singapore. 7hrs of train ride. Anyway it was home sweet home and for those going back hall-> Hall sweet hall.

Overall, it was a nice get together trip for the 12th comm. We got to know Meishan better. Glad that she came for the trip, otherwise she would still remain a mysterious person. Besides that, learnt quite a lot from Eugene about trip leading. And finally, a good year to look ahead and hope this will not be the only comm trip!!