My past week has been pretty hectic, looking back at these past events now that today's Sunday. How time flies! As some of you should know by now, no thanks to my incessant bragging. It was Tuesday, 16 march. I was ecstatic as this was my second overseas school trip and to add on, there was an air of euphoria among the students. We first assembled at the school foyer where we were divided among groups of 4 and before leaving for our destination our principle, mr.tan, personally came to heed of caution to be safe. We then made our way to the dilapidated Tanjong Pagar train station. While waiting for the train to arrive, the teachers advised us to pen down our thoughts on a notebook. On the train, the most unfortunate thing happened to me on this journey as the environment was excruciatingly noisy .The horrors! And, to exacerbate things, my friend who sat on my right seemed to have failed kidneys -- they never went to the toilets at all during the entire 8-hour journey. On the other hand, I managed to witness the poverty of Malaysia which was extremely forlorn. Upon reaching the station, we took a non-air conditioned bus to Taman Negara which was approximately one hour. We then proceeded to a ‘motel’ where we took a short nap.
Monday came and went, we were then briefed on the rules and regulations of the trip and after that, we took a van to a floating restaurant where a boat was there to take us across the river. Nevertheless was quite a memorable experience. During the jungle trekking, we encountered many difficult obstacles as well as rocky terrains however, many bonds were forged as we worked together to overcome those obstacles. Despite the series of unfortunate events which happened during the trek, the mountain scenery was well worth it. After the trek, we proceeded to the canopy work where we got to experience the trees at a close proximity. After the grueling walk, we went to explore a cave where we were able to pick up many new experiences. For instance, we managed to overcome our fear of the dark and developed confidence in working together as a team in an unfamiliar environment. We were also ‘welcomed’ by the bats that gave us an interesting present. However, the whole group showed resilience and pressed on to complete the task. The trip to Orang Asli was the real experience for us as we had the privilege to learn some jungle survival skill like learning how to start a fire without the use of matches and how to source out for water in the wild. The natives there also showed that it was possible to find happiness in the smallest things that we do. We were then treated to a boat ride back to the motel.
The next day, we boarded a boat to go for another jungle trekking, However the jungle trekking was much more strenuous as well as mentally exhausting as we had to trek a 9km in the jungle. Before the trip began, we were strongly advised to buy a new pair of rubber shoes and for the first 2 km, almost half the group gave up on the first check point as they were probably exhausted or alarmed of getting bitten by the leeches, which had murdering intentions, gave us a hair-raising experience at the sight of their own blood cascading down their legs, as we continued our journey, my friend, valentino, became an unfortunate casualty as he accidently sprained his ankle, forcing him to return to camp. The remaining ‘survivors’ continued the trip and we managed to reach our final destination. This trekking experience instilled in the student leaders the importance of team work. An overwhelming sense of achievement was evident after we had completed the jungle trek. The guides then escorted us to the base camp where tents were already pitched up .Our day was concluded with a campfire which I thought was a complete waste of time. I am really sorry for my blunt criticism but the guides or the teachers could have done better as the campfire was like any other campfires. For example, we sang the same old campfire songs; none of the students were really enthusiastic about it and there wasn’t any originality in the songs. After the campfire, the teachers assigned us to our tents. During the night, we discussed our experience during the reflection slots before turning in at the end of the day and there was a torrential downpour which allowed us to sleep quite soundly.
Our second last day in Taman Negara was probably bittersweet as we kick start the day by having a rafting exercise which eventually caused me to lose my spectacles due to my stupidity-upon realization of my situation, the guide offered to help me search for my spectacles but to no avail. After that, we went to raft down seven major rapid streams which was quite fun. However, the rafting required lots of coordination as well as manpower which was quite hard to achieve. After reaching our destination, we went back to the motel to change into a new set of dry clothing and proceeded to the country club where we played paintball. However, the safety of the pupils was not that good as there weren’t any boundaries drawn between the two opposing group and it can be fatal if someone were to be shot at a close range despite the armor. After the rejuvenating game, we went back to the motel to pack our bags and proceed to a hotel. During dinner, we were surprised with a treat to KFC which was indeed a luxury for us. Back in the hotel, many students started to fall ill which caused quite an alarm for us.
Our last day was pretty muted as we did nothing much apart from packing our belongings and heading to the train station. However, we had to wait for a grueling 5 hours as our train was delayed. Dismayed by the prospect of not being able to return home much earlier, I slept at the train station. When the train arrived, my heart leapt and lumbered towards the door. However, the worst was yet to come when I realized that I had just left my wallet as well as my reflection booklet back at the train station.
All in all, it was a trip where I managed to learn the importance of the value for fruitful living as well as characteristic development. Besides this, I managed to acquire the necessary skills during the trip that will help me bring the student council to greater lengths.
