(i know this is almost basi. but yeah, here’s my stong entry. at first i planned to put more pics, but i got lazy. hehhhee.)
firstly, alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for the opportunity, for the safety and for every second of the expedition.. insyaAllah, i’ll go again in the future. ((:
this whole trip was a-mehhh-zing! let me start right from the very beginning.
at an-nur where we all met up before setting on foot to jb, we did some packing and also wasiat writing. a letter that’d be sent to whoever we want, should we not survive the expedition. to me, it was a letter that summed up my honest and sincerest emotions and appreciation for the people i love, my parents. it was THE most emotional letter i’ve ever written. upon sealing the envelope, i prayed to Allah that my parents wouldnt get that letter. after that i decided to sms my parents and friends, i refused to call cos i’d just cry.
the walk to jb was tiring beb. what with the bags and extra load which we all shared. the tagline of the walk “belum panjat gunung dah berpeluh-peluh/ pinggang dah sakit/ baju dah basah…”. while waiting for the m’sian bus to fetch us, we played uno H2O! hahha. semangat syaz bawak uno waterproof.
the bus ride from jb to dabong (kelantan) was.. mhmmh… tak syiok sangat. but Alhamdulillah we reached the place safely, where the rent-gers welcomed us. we didnt waste much time there, plus, the toilets “TIADA AIR”. baik ah.
the rent-gers were Uncle, abg syahril and abg luq. (there are freaking a-mehh-zing i tell u). we went caving. heres the interesting part, we were walking along the road with forested area next to us. i thought, there’d be a nice entrance to the walkway/path to the cave. sekali! he just turned right and pakpakpakpak down a muddymuddy slippery slope into the forest. BAIK AHH. good introduction. so we walked and sloshed and AAH-ed and EEE-ed all the way till we reached the first cave, Gua Gelap ( Dark Caves). then we entered the cave through a really “oh my god, we have to squeeze through there?!!” opening. armed with headlamps, we trailed through the cave. there were small streams of water running beneath our feet. thrilling i mus say. the we reached somewhere deep in the cave when Uncle told us to stop and switch of our lights. panic station! i think im claustrophobic. so being in an enclosed place with no possible immediate evacuation possibility, i was so so terrified. so i just grabbed fanah’s hand in the dark and sought strength from God Almighty with tears streaming like waterfall down my face. haha. not that bad la.. and then, Uncle just talked and talked and talked about the stones and whatever. i wasnt listening cos i was too busy entertaining my deranged thoughts. thankfully, no one had anything to add on to, so we re-lit our lights and proceeded. gosh!
then we there was a REALLLY small opening at the end of the passageway where we had to lie flat on our chest (no problem for me. hahah) and crawled through. once i saw sunlight, masyaAllah, i was soo grateful.
then we went on and on to the next cave, where we had to climb a high rock. it was like rock climbing, minus carabenas and safety ropes. it was bad actually, you just have to be brave to take the next step and let go of the present one. ok, back to the caves. we entered Gua Keris where Uncle showed us formations in the caves that emerged from long natural processes like dripping of water, changes in weather… there was one structure, a heap of (idontknowwhatitscalled), (big enough, you can lie down on it), that was formed by tiny droplets of water. like what the guys said, ‘titik-titik, lama gila jadi bukit’. the cave got its name because of a keris-like structure in the cave. interesting…
then we moved on to the next cave where we saw sparkling formations. masyaAllah.. so pretty! then i wonder, this is what we humans can see or have found. i am sure, there are many beautiful wonders still hidden and waiting to be discovered and admired.
lalala…
then we got ready to climb up half the mountain to the base camp. i couldnt carry my bag for long. its not that i was tired (cos the hike barely began). its just that i just couldnt carry it. seriously, i was so frustrated. cos if i could walk from the mosque to jb with it, why not climb with it. so anyway, Uncle helped me with the bag and i carried his. phew. after that everything was a swift, macam a stroll in the park. CHEHH. then i learnt that, if you climb too slowly, you’d get cramps.
alright, upon reaching the base camp, we set the tents and went near the waterfall. i saw 2 huge frogs. we had dinner and powder bath. ni part interesting. we had a discussion and concluded that each of us take different corners of the tent to do our things. then it was bedtime. i woke up in the middle of the night, coughed and gagged like vomit was coming out any moment. the other girls woke up in shock, except for muni who was sleeping like a bwanch. thank god for syamim’s medicated oil, i didnt vomit in the tent. gosh.
the next day we woke up early and set off for the summit after breakfast. i just drank milo cos i didnt wanna have to bery later on. haha. jihan made her famous icelemontea. baiikkk ahh. it was like THE energy booster. the hike up to the summit was a mixture of challenging, ‘how the hell do we get up/down there?’, slippery, amazing, WOW!, boring, neverending steps terrain. we stopped at a few waterfall checkpoints. SHIOOOKKK ah i tell you. tak bedek. shaz, syamim, huda and i just plonked on the rocks with water flowing on it and took pictures. that left us with wet butts and panties. haha. so we continued all the way up. it was a really fun hike with zahrah, aisyah and hanisah around. we climbed among the clouds, knocked our heads against branches. there was one point i felt so dizzy cos i was running low on sugar. and i was sucking on a sugar-free sweets. haha bonos! thank god the sisters had sneakers bars. yumyumyum. tau-tau dah sampai summit. Alhamdulillah (:
at the summit i managed to take a short nap while waiting for the rest. wahh.. 3hrs hike, icelemontea, more sneakers, nice breeze = tido ahh! there were cute squirrels hopping around near us. too bad they didnt come close enough for me to feed them biscuits. then the rest arrived and we took more pictures and listened to bro jamil giving a tazkirah. i dont know what i was busy with, but i didnt catch much, except for the ‘quitters, campers and climbers’ part. i am a CLIMBER! insyaAllah.
then we trekked back to the base camp. this was really fun, i took the time to look around, take notice of more things and people around me. masyaAllah, the nature is perfect. BUT, not when the rain started to pour. hahha. the route suddenly became unfamiliar, like we hadnt taken it to get to the summit. “kita lalu sini ke tadi?”. the slopes became extra slippery and dangerous. i was so tempted to slide on my butt and free myself from the possibilities of slipping but i was worried i might tear my good pants. FINALLY we reached the base camp where bro khairu led us to the waterfall which we didnt get to go to before that. “ok girls, dont be too excited, walk slowly”. i perfectly understood what he meant by that when i peeked out from behind the trees near the waterfall. we were at the tallest waterfall in SEA! can u believe it? i was SOOO overwhelmed by the view from there. so the girls and i just sat at the edge of the waterfall and breathed in the view, the fresh air and the grandeur.
dah puas duduk kat situ, we made our way back to our camping area and cooked! milo, maggi, ayam curry and kurma. then we just packed our things and get ready for bed. while the other girls were busy doing their things, shaz, muni, syamim and i had girl talks. hehehe. so funny with muni around, talking, asking and rambling benda2 mewepek. zZZzZZz.
the next day! we woke up early and rushed to the peak of the waterfall again. this time to catch sunrise. subhanallah. magnificent! it wasnt just a visual beauty, it was evidence to the vast and encompassing attributes of Allah.
after breakfast(i made sure i eat more this time) we had waterfalls visit. ni shiokenenenene habis. how often do you get to bathe in a waterfall? man, i dont mind having to climb crazy rocks or miraculously walk on slippery rocks just to get to the waterfall. the water was freezing and healing for the bruises we’ve had. more picture takings! then we reached the last waterfall, where the wall was like a slide. BEST AH BESTTT! we climbed up the wall and took turns to slide. to make the best out of the $120 i paid, i slided twice. wooohoo! i was gatal and wanted to go for the third time but the guys said “dahh dahh dahh cukup cukup.” hahha. shiok!
then we went back to the camp for light lunch, packed everything and prepared ourselves to descend to the foot of the mountain. then, i was slightly heavy-hearted to leave the mountain. i wished we could stay for a day or two more. 
so we walked down the mountain and tadaahh! we reached the foot of the mountain. it wasnt very easy though, many times i fell cos i couldnt balance with the heavy bag. haha. terhuyung-hayang seh. thank god for hanisah..
so the whole stong expedition ended with a blast! got myself a stong tshirt. then we took a train to KL. the train ride was rather boring though, cos i had no friends near me. they were all somewhere in other cabins. i drew the curtains, took off my tudung, packed my things and went to sleep. i had really good rest, and woke up just in time for KL. phew!
KL was… mhmm.. very very busy. i wished we had done more. but the BELOS were either planning to go back to the hotel to shit or do boring stuff. hahha. in the end we ended up at a karaoke place. it was my first time karaoke-ing. so i didnt give a hoot if the place scares the belos. hahahha. then we sang like crazy and almost our voice. after that we left the place to supposedly meet shaz and syamim at bukit bintang. we walked for almost half an hour and finally took a train there. haha. gosh, some KL people dont even know what their train stations are! baikk ah!
upon reaching BB plaza, i wanted to shop. cos you know, mr komari gave me some ringgits to spend. but since the company was soo not in the mood to shop, i dropped the idea. it was good, cos i was lazy to pack more things in my bag anyways.
lalalallaaa….
we were back at the hotel, then we took a bus back to singapore.
