santubong

First of all, i am grateful and thankful that i am still alive and i am still in one piece.
I am still able to type this entry in and still able to see, still able to walk around and orientated. i am still me.

This all started with my ambitious, adventurous, up beat boss who forced us to climb mount Santubong.
"you think being a doctor is difficult ha? then let's climb mount Santubong"
yes. the cliche phrase he keeps on repeating.

So we did. Yesterday.

I was on sleepless night duty a day before. So you can sort of imagine my energy level at that time. A bit of stressful night with unpleasant encounter with my night duty MO. Macam biase la. ape principal? Play deaf and dumb. Patronization is your food in your life. Learn from your mistakes.

11 of us including Boss Chan. Me, Aza, Fara, Jas, Pangie, Yong Lee, Chen Ting, Ronald, Hui Chin and the 3rd time climber Mr Law Boon Tat. We left the hospital at around 8 and we started climbing at 830am. Tell you what. Even i am post night, i am all set. Physically and 75%mentally. 2big bottles of water - check. food- check. camera-check. a pair of spare clothes-check. insect repellant-check. All check. I am all set. When we all started, the wheather was windy and it did look like its going to rain heavily in a short while. But my positive thinker boss said, "its ok, don't worry about getting wet and dirty." Easy for you to say. What if my compact DSLR which is just recently won the award for the best camera for novice get dirty or wet? Are you going to replace it with canon EOS 50D? Mark 2? then we can talk.

3rd time climber, so expert already. nak panjat gunung pakai selipar only. ni la dia kaki Law Boon Tat.

My adrenaline level was really high at that time. Too high i think if a wasp or a gang of wasp sting me at that time. No worry. My adrenaline my cover the toxin. No need to shot me with IM adrenaline. (Maybe i need piriton only). Very excited. Chen Ting lead the way initially followed by me. After 15minutes, i let Pangie passed me. Then the rest of the gang leaving me with Yong Lee, Jas and Boss Chan. I almost want to pull up an act. "Oh Dr Chan, i am so hypo, feel like wanna faint." and sure right. You think you can fool the head of department of accident and emergency? So, i just keep on climbing.

is there option for home?

Tiring, torturing, discouring. I almost give up. All i could hear beside the voice in my head saying "gambatte, gambatte" is the sound of the crickets and leaves fall down and sound of my boss giving encouragement and advice or in other word- membebel. "Your ankle. keep your ankle stable. Grip on the strong root. Test the root first. Don't look down. Keep on moving."

Until to a place when he suddenly said.

"if you feel tired look on your right now"

and we saw this.

Beautiful.

Yes, you will this funny face statue along the way. its nearly toward the top. tau sape ni? he is the founder of Santubong city. He had this amazing ridiculous ability. he could summoned the frogs to plant rice for him and paddled a boat for him. BAKA JANAI? who on earth now would believe this kind a story? more like a schizophrenic patient for me.


if i am not mistaken this maybe buah terap. or maybe i am wrong. buah cempedak ke? i don't know.

Half way through it started to rain quite heavily. As i said, my boss said, keep on moving. Just be careful on your step. Just climb. Don't worry about getting wet and dirty. At that time, i was worried that my camera i carried in my bag might just get wet but at the same time i felt so excited. When was the last time you can play in the rain? masa kecik? yeah yeah main hujan. There were few stops hut along the way and i made full use of them. I took my own time climbing up. because i have nothing to rush. I did not have to worry to go to work after that. The scenery was beautiful. Like the small white flowers i saw in between the roots and rocks. Or the scene when you look up and see the drops of rain pouring down, and the weird looking roots along the way, the different colour of leaves, the mist surrounding the trees. Everything are so beautiful. I wish i can take pictures of them. But i am not going to sacrifice my baby for that.

my Boss Chan tengah bagi kata semangat. thanks for the apple and the 100plus. and of course thanks for the excellent nag.

things that we have learn?
team work, endurance, problem-solving (camne nak panjat ni wey? nak pijak mane?) and patience (sabar je la dengar Boss chan ni membebel. sabar. sabar)


I heard the story from Marisa before. she told me roughly what are the things to expect. so it kind of a deja-vu. "oh, ni ke Marisa cakap, naik tali. oh ni ke yang Marisa cakap" i let you see all the pictures i able to take on the way down using my camera phone. it was very challenging and fun.

Who was the genius to make this ladder. Next time buat la escalator ke. Baru senang. haha

Pangie, Chen Ting and Ronald arived 1hour before us. It took 2hours for them to climb up. Me? 3hours up and 3hours down. When we reached the top again, like Marisa said, it was dissapointing. The scenery was not that great. Plus it was rainy hence the mountain was covered by mist. Hence, i could only see everything white. There was a small pond there and there was a monkey that we called as Boon Tat's friend aka Boon Tit so called the Santubong mascot. Could she be the lost Puteri Santubong? Joking. We almost call the medivec to pick us up. hehe

Cantik

time to reenergize.

Dissapointing scenery. Putih aje.

Boon Tit kelaparan. She even followed us down. I think she going to miss Boon Tat so much.

Hui Chin even carried umbrella while climbing. so funny she insisted to use the umbrella because it was raining. She still getting wet anyway. Haha

Some people said climbing down is easier. Sape cakap? If the trail is so steep and slippery you think you can climb down faster? Yes if you slide down, or jump down. It will be faster. Rain already stop at that time so i use my camera phone to take few pictures to share. Why? Because if my phone rosak, i have the good reason to ask for iPhone for my birthday present. yeah yeah. Dengar ye semua. There were time i walked alone because i couldn't stop myself to have a rest. So i just left the rest and walked down by myself. It was relaxing. Time for myself.




Only God knows how happy and relieved i was when i saw the road. yatta, i am still safe. Fara was unable to walk further more hence she slides most of the time. Boon Tat was there to help her up and even offered to carry her. Owww, so gentleman.

So, this is the next list of-"been there, done that"- list. I don't mind to climb it again but make sure it is not during this monsoon season. I want to take lots of pictures. Thank God baby Lumix still ok. Rushie was so dirty in and out. i need to send him for a very good bath. I woke up this morning, my body aching so much. But it was not as bad as i thought it would be.

what is in the next list? Mountain trail at Kubah? Mulu cave? let's go.