Camping stories

Somehow, the fact that the whole nation will be out yesterday (30 August 2013) to celebrate Merdeka totally escaped my mind. It was not until late afternoon that I realised that I will be heading to Midvalley in the throngs of people who will also be there.

Why ouh why? But I guess it was already too late and I had to pass money to my friend anyways. Put on the bulky bagpack (with Back To School sticker in it) and brave the sea of people.

‘ I will not (grabbed the poll in the train) let this (tried a balancing act in the bus)  ruin (gasped as the bus door tried to clamp my right hand) our date! (rushed into the entrance of Midvally; glad the torture is over).’

And I ran from one end to another to meet the friend; of course, avoiding the strollers being pushed here and there and fighting the uncontrollable urge to stop at look at adorable babies. You know, maybe footballers would like to have that kind of training for better dribbling skills.

Sorry, got sidetracked.

Anyways, we met and sat down. It was very hard for us not to be screaming ‘ 24 November, come faster! (Her)’ or ‘ At least 15 of November, quick!’ (Me, I am slightly less ambitious). We ordered food and tried very hard not to constantly think about our travelling plans and I knew we were trying to find a topic that will not kill our braincells.

I don’t know how it came about but then, we started talking about camping trips.

My earliest memory of sleeping in the jungle (for a few days only, of course) was when I was 12. I nearly had a row with my grandfather as I really wanted to go camping near Ulu Yam. The main reason why my proposal was rejected was ‘ you are too young’. Well, he still paid for my allowances, what can I say?

Come 13, there was no stopping me. I begged and plead to attend my very first camping trip with the rest of the Scouts. It must have been a bit of a blah since I have no recollection from the trip, not even the venue. So, nothing to tell.

The best trip would have to be the one when I was in Form 2. It was in Templer Park and there were less than 20 of us. We arrived quite late by our standard and it was raining heavily. I remembered walking, hunched in the rain as I carried our responsibility; a Weetamel biscuit wrapped in a filmsy plastic. We were supposed to protect the biscuit until the end of the trip and must bring the biscuit everywhere with us.

Our group’s biscuit broke into half before we even left the school compound. And they never did found out. Thi-hi-hi.

Anyways, soaked in the rain, we had difficulty in setting up the tent. Don’t ask me, I will not be able to set up one for my dear life. My task was usually to dig a small drain all around the tent. I was not even responsible to sprinkle sulphur all around the tent.

I end up helping the other members to find dry leaves (nada) or dry branches (null) for our campfire. Before we know it, it was dark and we had no food. We were extremely hungry and tired by then, including worried since we had no campfire. Only then did our teacher pull out army candles and Bunsen burner but by then, we were too hungry to get angry.

I had a can of tuna in my bag. Someone else had a loaf of bread. There were eight hungry faces hunched in the dark.

‘ I have tuna,’ I said and I swear I can see their ears perk up.

‘ Ok..’ someone answered almost conspiratorially.

‘ And I have bread,’ someone else whispered. We were elated. We looked left and right, just in case others in the area heard us. None.

Slowly, we made our way to our respective tents and took the tuna and bread before half-running towards our meeting place. Luckily, the tuna can did not require a can opener.

‘ Quick! On the bread.’

I hesitated.

‘ It’s oke. It’s emergency. We don’t have to cook it,’ said someone else without realising that was not my concern.

‘ Anyone has spoon?,’ I said at least. No one said anything.

Great. We had food but no utensils. Asking a spoon from the QC will only result in about ten over people coming over to our group and we had to share the already small amount of food.

‘ Can we use ruler?’ I asked, sensing that we had to find an alternative and fast.

‘ Yes!’ and again, I made the trip to my bag.

And that night, all eight of us slept well. Gross, I know but we were young, stupid and really hungry.

That particular camping trip will always be among the ones that I will look back fondly. When we did river tracking, we passed by a wild boar’s kubang (no idea what that is in English and received no help from Google Translate too). We actually walked in a tiger’s trail too!

Oke no need to be too excited.

My friend and I swapped stories for about an hour. Yes, it sounded crazy when I wanted to go camping but now, I was glad I did it. Although it might not be as grand as staying for a few weeks in the jungle, it was still an experience I can never buy.