Originally, our group was supposed to cross several rivers around Endau Rompin and hike like crazy to get to our destination - Buaya Sangkut, which is apparently a beautiful waterfall.
And as you all probably know, it rained in Singapore for the past few days which we were away on expedition, and any rain in Singapore is multiplied by 34765435436 times over there in Endau Rompin, and so it POURED down on us almost endlessly. Probably around 3/4 of the time we spent was in the rain, and the river swelled and flooded the banks. The currents also grew too strong for us to cross the river, and so we had to change our plans and go and hardcore some hill/mountain thingy which was 467m high.
It rained while we were climbing the hill, and it became a wet and muddy trip, and when we reached the top, we were treated to a truly excellent view of the nearby mountains and the clouds beneath us. Nothing less.
The descent was rather horrifying because there were blood-curdling screams from both the front and the back because everyone was slipping down the slopes, which frankly speaking was really quite slippery. The teachers were totally owning us, with Mr. Tan going to the front and sitting down to wait for people while imitating the bird chirps with whistling -.-
And of course, how can I leave out the inevitable leeches? With such hardcore rainfall, the area which leeches covered spread to EVERYWHERE, so people were literally looking down at their feet where they walked just so they could avoid leeches. I think the most frequent word used in this expedition is probably "leech(es)," with people talking about leech prevention ever so often. Some people simply could not walk when there's a leech on their body, so I was just standing there like "wtf -.-" in the midst of the screaming and exclamations of "AAHHHHH! It's damn pain!" Luckily the guys were not so freaked out, but rather found fun in exterminating (mostly burning) leeches which were either found on the ground or removed from our bodies. We discovered several techniques such as "barbeque, flamethrower and 3M-ing" the leech, which have proven extremely excellent for use, nothing less. Beware leech. >=)
I got bitten twice (I suspect). One was probably when the leech sucked on a wound which I had gotten previously during floor hockey with Special Olympics. I think the leech chose to suck there because the "infrastructure" for bloodsucking is there already, so might as well shunbian just crawl up abit more and suck until shiok. The other one was close to my left ankle by a small leech which I flicked off. After that I faster go chiong the river which we were dipping at to wash the wound.
Bit of information: There were no leeches at the part of the river where there was a rather strong current, so it's relatively safe to stand there, provided you don't get swept away.
My clothes, shoes and bag are totally in a state of gross-ness now, and strangely the mud smells like cuttlefish LOL. I didn't even dare to pick up my shoes after the hike because it was too muddy and disgusting ><
I think everyone really opened up over the course of this expedition, especially the guys, which is truly excellent in my opinion. "It's time to HARDCORE." We will be going for our next expedition in June, and we will definitely be more prepared than ever :)
And in latest news, I can go for my church class outing! Yay! Finally get to meet old friends whom I miss so very much.
P.S. I think the ODAC people know why I bolded those particular phrases and words within the blogpost very well :) Enjoy!
ivan fed the world.