Friday, June 10, 2005
Plain cold water
That was wat the boys drank when they were lost for the last couple of days while out jungle trekking at a local hill resort.
Thank God they were found yesterday safe and sound!
You can read the reports here.
All paper reports how the experience and survival skills of the young boys kept them alive.
Being the cynic that I am (and having trekked in Fraser’s Hill many times too), I asked meself, if these boys were so skilled, how in the first place did they get lost? They were following a path!
Basic common sense #1 while trekking – do NOT stray from the path.
Basic common sense #2 while trekking – if you stray from the path, make sure you are able to find your way back – leave marks, break branches, etc.
Basic common sense #3 while trekking – if you are unable to comply with “Basic common sense #2 while trekking”, then refer back to “Basic common sense #1 while trekking”.
Having said that, I rejoiced and thank God when I read the papers this morning of their rescue and the fact that they were all fine save for some small cuts.
It must have been scary for them to spend 2 nites out in the cold jungle.
This incident brought back some memories of me own. It doesn’t help that I tend to do a lot of things on me own – jungle trek, hill climbs & caving!
Incident #1 – coming down from Mount Kinabalu
We were delayed coming down as a mate got injured. The guide and another mate stayed wif the injured guy – he could go down but extremely slow – painfully slow. Another mate rushed off ahead and I tried to catch up wif him. No good going on yr own.
However, i did not manage to catch up wif me mate who went ahead. Initially, it was alrite as there were quite a number of people coming up.
But later, there were no one else and I was all alone in the dense jungle path. I tried to hurry while at the same time, be careful as the rain made the path slippery and dangerous. Markers along the way showed that progress was slow too.
A simple calculation told me that I’d reach the park HQ pass sunset! I would then have to trek in the pitch dark. I had to make a choice – to push forward and having to go alone or to just to sit and wait for those behind. But the thought struck me – I left those behind very early on. Wat if they decided that me mate was too injured to go on? They could turn back to go up again to Laban Rata (a rest area close to the top with sleeping facilities)and spend the nite there instead. And I could be waiting in the dark in vain!
I plodded on. 4 hours on me own. The consolation was that the path was clear and I was not in any circumstances gonna stray!
As the day began to end and the sun began to set, it became pretty scary. I felt so alone in the middle of the jungle, wif the towering mountains in the background and the tales of the spirits at the back of me mind! Me eyes began to play tricks on me and noises were heard from the thick bruch (at one point of time, I thought I heard growling – but me mates said it was prolly me stomach!!!).
I kept my spirits up by singing praise songs to God and by some miracle, I made it just as it turned dark! Me mate made it just 20 minutes earlier – he was prolly just 20 mins ahead of me all the time!
I was not lost but being alone in the vast jungle was a real scary experience.
Me injured mate and the others made it down only at 10:30 pm!!!! Almost 4 hours after I did!
Incident #2 - alone in the Austrian Alps
While at Austria, we visited Hitler’s hill getaway resort – Kehlsteinhaus (the Eagle’s Nest) (if you had watched the excellent mini-series “Band of Brothers”, the allied soldiers were shown taking over the Eagle’s Nest in either the last or the 2nd last episode) – at the Obersalzberg Mountains.
While at the top, I went for a quick mountain trek since me mate who went up wif me din wanna go out in the cold and walk!
A quick look at a map wif directions in German told me that the path I was taking was a circular route – if I keep on walking, I’ll end up where I started.
I went. After a long long while, I decided I was lost, it was really scary – all around was the nothing but mountains and stone! Mist was beginning to come in. I kept on the path, tho – not much of a path, actually. I know that if I turned back, I wouldn’t make it back on time to catch the bus – spend the nite at Eagle’s nest? We can’t! We had another mate waiting for us at the foot of the mountain.
Finally, I hear voices and bumped into a couple of German guys. I began asking them and they just waves me off as they din understand English. But I persisted urgently and said “Eagle’s Nest?”. They understood and pointed me in the way I was goin. OK. I was on the rite path after all.
As I went on, I came to a fork! A painted arrow pointed to the right. But I’m thankful to God that some one arranged some small rocks together on top of a large rock. It was… well, some small rocks standing wif smaller rocks balanced on top of them. I was thankful oso that much earlier, I was observant enuf to notice this little interesting “mini Stonehenge”. Cuz then I knew I had passed this way earlier on and I had to take the left turn to go back to the Eagle’s Nest.
If I din notice the mini Stonehenge, I’d prolly be going round in circles.
Thank God!
Here are some pointers if u wanna go trekking alone:-
1. Let someone know where you are going so that u’d be missed if you dun come back on time.
2. Keep on to the path no matter what.
3. Bring lots of water. I usually bring along light snacks just in case. I find raisins to be excellent. It can bring forth a burst of energy! Chocs melt in the hot weather here. If you must, bring M&Ms – melts in your mouth, not on your hands!
4. Bring your mobile phone. Hopefully, there’s coverage. I was told that even if there is no coverage, you can still dial the emergency number (112). I have not tried it yet and I hope I wont have to!
5. Bring sumthing to mark the trail – in case you have to leave the trail for a while or if the trail forks. Chalk, strings, colour paper etc. But dun litter or destroy the environment!
Thank God they were found yesterday safe and sound!
You can read the reports here.
All paper reports how the experience and survival skills of the young boys kept them alive.
Being the cynic that I am (and having trekked in Fraser’s Hill many times too), I asked meself, if these boys were so skilled, how in the first place did they get lost? They were following a path!
Basic common sense #1 while trekking – do NOT stray from the path.
Basic common sense #2 while trekking – if you stray from the path, make sure you are able to find your way back – leave marks, break branches, etc.
Basic common sense #3 while trekking – if you are unable to comply with “Basic common sense #2 while trekking”, then refer back to “Basic common sense #1 while trekking”.
Having said that, I rejoiced and thank God when I read the papers this morning of their rescue and the fact that they were all fine save for some small cuts.
It must have been scary for them to spend 2 nites out in the cold jungle.
This incident brought back some memories of me own. It doesn’t help that I tend to do a lot of things on me own – jungle trek, hill climbs & caving!
Incident #1 – coming down from Mount Kinabalu
We were delayed coming down as a mate got injured. The guide and another mate stayed wif the injured guy – he could go down but extremely slow – painfully slow. Another mate rushed off ahead and I tried to catch up wif him. No good going on yr own.
However, i did not manage to catch up wif me mate who went ahead. Initially, it was alrite as there were quite a number of people coming up.
But later, there were no one else and I was all alone in the dense jungle path. I tried to hurry while at the same time, be careful as the rain made the path slippery and dangerous. Markers along the way showed that progress was slow too.
A simple calculation told me that I’d reach the park HQ pass sunset! I would then have to trek in the pitch dark. I had to make a choice – to push forward and having to go alone or to just to sit and wait for those behind. But the thought struck me – I left those behind very early on. Wat if they decided that me mate was too injured to go on? They could turn back to go up again to Laban Rata (a rest area close to the top with sleeping facilities)and spend the nite there instead. And I could be waiting in the dark in vain!
I plodded on. 4 hours on me own. The consolation was that the path was clear and I was not in any circumstances gonna stray!
As the day began to end and the sun began to set, it became pretty scary. I felt so alone in the middle of the jungle, wif the towering mountains in the background and the tales of the spirits at the back of me mind! Me eyes began to play tricks on me and noises were heard from the thick bruch (at one point of time, I thought I heard growling – but me mates said it was prolly me stomach!!!).
I kept my spirits up by singing praise songs to God and by some miracle, I made it just as it turned dark! Me mate made it just 20 minutes earlier – he was prolly just 20 mins ahead of me all the time!
I was not lost but being alone in the vast jungle was a real scary experience.
Me injured mate and the others made it down only at 10:30 pm!!!! Almost 4 hours after I did!
Incident #2 - alone in the Austrian Alps
While at Austria, we visited Hitler’s hill getaway resort – Kehlsteinhaus (the Eagle’s Nest) (if you had watched the excellent mini-series “Band of Brothers”, the allied soldiers were shown taking over the Eagle’s Nest in either the last or the 2nd last episode) – at the Obersalzberg Mountains.
While at the top, I went for a quick mountain trek since me mate who went up wif me din wanna go out in the cold and walk!
A quick look at a map wif directions in German told me that the path I was taking was a circular route – if I keep on walking, I’ll end up where I started.
Pic taken from my trek (ignore the date stamp - it's wrong) 
I went. After a long long while, I decided I was lost, it was really scary – all around was the nothing but mountains and stone! Mist was beginning to come in. I kept on the path, tho – not much of a path, actually. I know that if I turned back, I wouldn’t make it back on time to catch the bus – spend the nite at Eagle’s nest? We can’t! We had another mate waiting for us at the foot of the mountain.
Finally, I hear voices and bumped into a couple of German guys. I began asking them and they just waves me off as they din understand English. But I persisted urgently and said “Eagle’s Nest?”. They understood and pointed me in the way I was goin. OK. I was on the rite path after all.
As I went on, I came to a fork! A painted arrow pointed to the right. But I’m thankful to God that some one arranged some small rocks together on top of a large rock. It was… well, some small rocks standing wif smaller rocks balanced on top of them. I was thankful oso that much earlier, I was observant enuf to notice this little interesting “mini Stonehenge”. Cuz then I knew I had passed this way earlier on and I had to take the left turn to go back to the Eagle’s Nest.
If I din notice the mini Stonehenge, I’d prolly be going round in circles.
Thank God!
Here are some pointers if u wanna go trekking alone:-
1. Let someone know where you are going so that u’d be missed if you dun come back on time.
2. Keep on to the path no matter what.
3. Bring lots of water. I usually bring along light snacks just in case. I find raisins to be excellent. It can bring forth a burst of energy! Chocs melt in the hot weather here. If you must, bring M&Ms – melts in your mouth, not on your hands!
4. Bring your mobile phone. Hopefully, there’s coverage. I was told that even if there is no coverage, you can still dial the emergency number (112). I have not tried it yet and I hope I wont have to!
5. Bring sumthing to mark the trail – in case you have to leave the trail for a while or if the trail forks. Chalk, strings, colour paper etc. But dun litter or destroy the environment!
// posted by imissw @ 10:00:00 pm 
