You should read the previous entry b4 reading this entry....

Day 3:
I woke feeling very sticky and got up to wash up. I used my bottled water to clean myself as the well water over there was not clean; it was brown. i had fun collecting water from the well though. we were then split into 2 groups one going caving 1st ( which was my group) and the other going for abseiling 1st. my group walked to the caves which was near the campsite. i brought along my camera and water bottle but i didnt bring my torch; i depended on my friends to lend me some light...^^'''..so anyway, we went through the dark cave but this cave was quite small compared to the 2nd one. inside there was quite muddy and the mud was very sticky. we got out of the 1st 1 and walked through a forest to the 2nd 1. i tucked my track pants into my socks to prevent leeches. we climbed through a very small hole. i saw my classmte who was very small and skinny who can turn around climb the other way round! haha so funny! when climbing tt hole i felt a cool wind frm inside. then, we proceded on to another hole and climbed through it. we climbed here and there and arrived to this area where it was huge! And the 'scenery' was extremely beautiful! there was plenty of light shining through tt place. the front had this mountain of rocks surrounded by plants and it was spectecular. we had group photos over there. over at the side. they got huge rocks popping out of nowhere and it was equally interesting. we saw sunbeams frm the open shining onto a bg rock and it was so beautiful!!!! like an angel coming down/mr bean dropping frm heaven....hahahaha ^O^ we proceded on to the dark side of tt area and went through the tunnel. It's like in the LOTR that Moria place..haha...we saw a chess horse shaped-rock and a glitterring wall. we cannot touch tt wall as the instructors once experienced tt they nearly touched the wall but a shadow of an old woman appearedon the wall and it is said tt she is the protector of the cave and no one is allowed to touch the wall or she will go after you. HOWEVER, my stupid form teacher touched the wall and somemore rubbed the grains with his fingers and said "Yah! It's crystals." man....i can't stand him. my room mate touched the wall lightly too. we continued walking in the tunnel. we saw 2 bats hanging high up on the walls. we squatted down and waddled down a slippery muddy slope. we waited over there for the front ppl to go through what they were doing at the front which i could not see. i waited and waited and waited and my 'pang sai' was going to come out. i wanted to poo over there....i really felt like pooing over there. after a very long wait, it was my turn to climb down the really steep sloe which was like a slide but much slippery and steep. it was fun and exciting but dangerous. we squirmed through our way through the very narrow pathway. after completeing tt side thing. lights were not there to lead me to the group; i felt scared. den my classmates helped me to walk down another muuddy slope and reached the bottom. i looked frm where i started frm (the slide thing). Whoa....it was really x 10000000 high up!!!!!! i felt really gd about it and it was really very exciting. we waited for the rest to complete their obstacal(sp?) and then went on to the last segment. the instructors and teachers told us to stay put while they get out of the cave. they asked us to get out of the caves on our own, working together to get out. we watched them how they got out of the caves. we counted down the time to tt particular time tt was given to us to start the obstacle/race or watever u call it. "3..2..1...GO!!!" we shouted and all of us formed a single file and climbed up that steep slope to the exit. i climbed halfway and nearly fell at the end as i could not find anything to hold on. i climbed through a hole vertically up and out we went of the exit! SO FUN!!! we climbed down the slopes in the forest which was even slippery and got my hands really really dirty. i fell at one point but i didnt care. we walked throught the forest for sometime and i was the 1st one in the group and had to lead them through the forest (actually i jaust had to follow the white tape tt's all....haha). we got out to the road we were all tired out. i looked as if i just had a bath. my hair was dripping wet. but this experience was the most thrilling one i had ever had...along with my bungee jump experience! tt cave we went through was a 150 million yrs old cave....let me remind you of this... ;)

we walked back to the campsite and were ready for the next activity. we went abseiling. they 2 stations. one 2m high and another 15m high. my group went for the 2m...so pathetic.....alot of them went for the 15m 1.....anyway. it was very fun too! especially when finding our way to the abseiling area by oursleves alone! we have to go through a cave 1st b4 reaching the place. when it was my turn( i was no.5), i was scared tt i got lost in the cave. i did...intially. they said go into the cave and follow the white tape...WHERE'S THE WHITE TAPE!! i yelled in my head. the cave is so big!!!. i found the white tape but dunno how to get over there. i had 2 choices...1 jump over tt supposed huge 'hole' or climb on the big boluders, walk on the steep slpoe and sqeeze through the small crack. i lloked at the' hole' and thought 'I will drop in there if i slip....die, how to go now...' but i was not convinced tt it was a hole as i was tricked many times in the previous cave. but i tried tt risky route anyway. i climbed the boulders and thought 'Damn....how am i going to go down there without slipping and falling?' i didn't take tt risk and climbed down. i got very scared. then, i looked carefully at the white tape it was tied around a very huge round rock and said "Oh...chey...it's this way..." i looked back and saw tt the hole was not a hole...its just a small stupid pit tt scared me to death. the light frm the other side of the cave allowed me to discover tt. i climbed to the abseiling area which was just a small area. my friend was over there getting ready to abseil already. she begged the instructors to not let her abseil as she was terribly frightened. den my another friend replaced her and she went down then, suddenly, she flipped 180 degrees and her legs were seen hanging in the air on top of her head. i got scared and felt like laughing oso. she got back on her feet again and climbed down.
it was my turn. quite scary but didn't look down. i was way too busy looking for a place to put my feet to balance myslef..i didn't gave a thought of falling or how high it was. the wall was so slippery tt i lost balance and crashed on my side, injuring myself. i got down safely but my hands were trembling and lost their strength becos i held the rope very tightly. my shoulders were hurt and my elbow bleed abit. i waited and saw my other friends climbing down. it got a little boring and decided to go with my 2 other friends to the cave where i got lost. 1 of them pointed out to a rock at the very far end of the cave, near the other opening. "what do you see?" she asked. I saw a person wearing a cap and having a camera hanging around the neck and it looks like an old woman. she said it was exactly what the instructors saw on the glittering wall, tt figure. tt stone was really like a person, really...it is like a person. u can see it for urself. there were writings on the wall too. in red some more...one part talked abt love...my friend asked me to read it and she explained the meaning to me.
den we went down and my other classmates were at the shelter chatting..suddenly they screamed and ran towards us. they said they heard abt the old woman story and one of them touched the wall and another wanted to tell the story to her but they heard a slow clapping noise in the bushes and ran away. she thinks tt the old woman doing something or watever tt is. i got scared...cos my greatest fear is ghosts...so...tt fren cried and she got very scared tt the thing would disturb her again...we waited for the last group to arrive. we planned to jump for joy when the buses arrives and lied to them tt we were in heaven instead of hell....hahahahahaa!!
we got back to the plantation by bus and went for dinner. it was raining heavily then. we had to gather ur bags frm our previous room and put them into the new rooms. i wore the poncho so it was quite safe and i was quite dry. i bathed in the new room which was very clean and the bed had no ants! yeah! there wasn't a single ant! hehe! it was so comfortable. we all bathed and then went to the hall for a briefing. it was still raining heavily. we got back to the room with 1 more room mate joining us (the more the merrier!). we had a 'party' in the room and had a visitor who came in becos of some reason i forgot. we ate potato chips, biscuits and candies! so comfortable the bed!!i had a gd night's sleep with the air con on and had only my jacket covering my legs.....^^

Day 4:
I got up feeling extremely cold, my legs were frozen and the room was like north pole. we ate breakfast and gathered in the hall again. my group went through the plantation tour 1st and then we went rafting. the oil palm plantation tour gave me lots of extra new knowledge. very useful for my geography. the way they harvest the oil palm is interesting. we went to the river /lake for the rafting next. we had to build our own raft using bamboo, barrels, and rafia string. i learnt how to tie the knots the girl guides way....yeah! our raft consisted of 11 ppl and i sat at the 2nd frm the front at the side on the right. the person infront paddled...we were given 4 oars only. the person infront of me paddled so slowly and she didn't use her strength...i felt like boxing her up...half way through the people splashed water at us i was really mad at them. we were the last raft to set off. half way through the instructor gave up on us and told us to ride back. i took over tt powerless girl infront and took over her oar. i paddled as fast as i could until we reached the shore. my friend picked up a flower and said "Wow the flower is so nice!" we were paddling like crazy over here and she was admiring the flowers like some princess....all of us who were paddling felt like boxing her up and pushing her off the raft!!! when i got off..i didn't know how to get off the raft but i wqas wearing my really worn out shoe so i didn't give a damn and jumped out of the raft andhad my feet underwater. the water was dirty, brown and had hundreds of pondskaters on it. i got back to the resort and cleaned ourselves...we all had a bath. the bathroom was very crowded but luckily i came early....hehehe....^__~
then, we essembles in canteen and ate our last meal ovver there before we set off back home. the dinner was quite gd too! western this time! we gathered in the hall and had our last briefing before we board the bus to the trainstation. we got our stuff to the porch and waited for a long time for the buses to arrive. in the meantime, we took photos and chatted. at the trainstation, i panicked as i couldn't find my beloved camera....my infomation are all inside! i searched all over my harversack my big bag my pocket, EVERYWHERE i just could not find it!!!! i got really scared and nearly cried. my friends helped me to search. den the train was going to arrive in 5 min time and i thought 'OH NO! I'M IN DEEP TROUBLE!' den i shouted in my head 'PLS HELP ME!' den they annouced tt the train will have a delay and it will come 50 min later...i was so relieved...i will have time to search again. den a few seconds later, my friends told my teacher abt the camera and he said tt someone had a lost camera and it was with my classmate. she found it!! i was so happy and very thankful for her!! it was like a miracle! i boarded the train without any worries.

Then, i slept in the train and woke up and slept and woke up. my right ear went numb and it is still numb today. the train ride was very long it was supposed to reach my country at 9 am but it reached at 12/ 1 pm instead...
anyway....the trip was really the most thrilling, fun, amazing, educational trip i ever had in my life!

posted by Regina Ying at Wednesday, March 17, 2004

This year's EFL was so cool!!!! I enjoyed it very much! The whole level in my school went to Taman Negara, Malaysia!

we gathered in the school foyer at 6.15am(very early) and got on the buses to the checkpoints. i was one of the last register no.s in my class so the last six of us were told to board in a different bus. After reaching the checkpoints, we boarded the M'sian bus to Tekam plantation as my group was going there. The 1st group went to taman negara 1st. It was a very long ride; about 9 hrs.

Day 1:
we finally reached the plantation and put ours bags in the chalets in the plantation resort. we had dinner. It was quite ok. flying insects were flying all over the place because of the bright lights. People were screaming and running around the canteen because of the insects. My table sat quietly looking at the insects, except for 1 or 2 who were very scared of them. Then, we had a briefing after dinner in the hall and the locals gave us a weaving demonstration. they taught us how to make ketuputs(sp?) up till now i still can't figure out how to do though i know the 1st few steps and then i don;t know how to carry on ^^;; After that I slept in my chalet room with 3 other roomates which were my classmates and friends. 2 of which i did not know. I got to know them bit by bit and they were quite fun to be with. That night, which was very very dark, i was bathing and suddenly the whole room blacked out. i shouted for my friend and asked her to shine the torchlight into the bathroom. i got out fast in clothes and we decided to go my other friends' room which did not blackout, to bath. My roomates bathed while waiting for the lights to go on. At 12 something am, the lights went on and we went back to our rooms. we moved the two beds together so that the 4 of us can sleep together but the bed had lots and lots of ants on them...luckily they provided 2 mattresses and bedsheets. We slept in our own sleeping bags and went to bed.

Day 2:
We ate breakfast at the canteen and assembled in the hall. we took our haversack with us as the next day we wll go to the caves. Thay day, we went trekking and canopy walking. the trekking was so tiring we nearly gave up but we cheered ourselves on. we hiked through a forest climbing 'steps' that were formed by the roots of the trees. we stopped halfway for a rest and I could see a very beautiful scenery from up there(hill). we continued climbing and i was running out of water over there. All of us were drying up. we finally reached the submit where there was a stupid signboard saying 'Bukit Teresik' something like that. we took pictures of that thing and climed down. going downwards was though also as the ground was very very slippery. After reaching the bottom, we rested for a long time as we have to wait for the canopy walk thing. We had to wait for the other tourists to finish their walk. It was like walking on a swinging bridge..and i have to admit...it was not scary at all...it was NOTHING!! i thought it was very high up and scary but it isn't!! SO DISAPPOINTED! Anyways, there were ppl who were very scared. I just walked through it as if walking on the road but it was quite shaky. I looked down the bridge and it was very interesting down here. After the walk, we walked back to the bottom again. we climbed on the broken logs to cross over to the other side many times. That was very fun too. we headed for lunch in a restaurant and tt was the best meal i had in the entire trip! the soup was the best! and there was beef! =^o^= then, we went for a 1hr 30 min boat ride to the other side. 10 ppl in each boat. i sat with my gd friend in tt sampan-like boat. it was very fun, the boat ride. the air and wind was freshing and cooling. the scenery was amusing too. we saw wild boar, cows, buffaloes, a traditional fisherman, a group of white birds hovering on the water flying past us and a very colourful bird. there were many many more over there. it was very very exciting. i kept my eyes open all the while. After tt, we boarded the bus to the campsite in Gelanggi. when we arrived at the campsite, the previous group were jumping for joy when we arrived. I wondered why they were so happy and i saw my friends clothes were covered in mud and dirt. they went through hell over there. And we did...
That night was scary. we had the most disgusting dinner in our lives. someone had worms/leeches in herchicken and vegetable. the teacher looked at her plate and threw the whole plate away as she saw it too. >_< Then after tt, we had a night walk in the dark..without torches....i was very afraid of the dark and ghosts. My friend saw a white thing flew past her when she was tying her shoes. My other friend saw it too. i got really scared then. the night walk was very frightening...i groped on to my friends sholders thightly and talked to my friends to distract me from being scared. It was a long walk. we cooperated with each other in the dark. we reached the gate at last and they gave us a candle for each group without torches and walk back to the campsite. i was praying very hard tt we will not meet something. we walked slowly back and i was really relieved when it was over. i was quite sticky then. we slept in the tents tt night waiting for the next day to come. inside the tents was cooling...cos i slept near the opening...hahahaha..^O^..but the others in my tents complained it was hot and stuffy..hehe...

posted by Regina Ying at Wednesday, March 17, 2004