Had this totally unplanned trekking trip with rovers to an random place with a bunch of younger kids whom I dunno... I was crazy from all the studying and cooping up in lab and gym all the while, and I need to escape from these all, to do something that requires no brain. The place was Gunung Stong, in the town of Dabong, close to Kelantan and I think it is the tallest summit in Malaysia? This trip was rated 3.5 stars, with a star attraction of a beautiful sunrise.

This trip turns out to be fulfilling. I can't exactly use happy to describe this trip, in fact it's far from happy, it's strenous, torturous on a treacheous terrain. I keep thinking I can't do it as I keep slipping on the slippery ground and my blistery feet and thighs ache too much to carry me further. I did cry at one point during the descend, it was much more difficult to descend as the impact on my blisters was much more and I am afraid I will hold back the whole group. But I think I have attained a higher level of pain threshold.

I am amazed at the kind of openess the 3 girls in my group are able to express their feelings. I think the crazy climb made them quite high, there's a lot of inane scolding and laughing and misinterpretation of words. The 2 indian guys were very funny and helpful; they also went from sane to insane, coming out with crappy jokes out-of-the blue, whuch induced a lethal reaction in the rest of us.

I wasn't much aware prior that there is a caving part. The caving part is actually the most interesting of the whole trip. I watched the deer caves of borneo on planet earth before, I was impressed with the ecology of the caves, the formation and the animals inside. I still remembered the white translucent alien like creatures which were very much primitive (unevolved) as the caves were very dark and I remembered the underwater caves where the explorers dived through the submerged caves (a dangerous thing to do since if they did not managed to exit through the other side in time, their oxygen will be used up). The caves Fauzi (the guide) brought us to was not as thrilling as the borneo caves which I had seen before, but it is a very intriguing experience to climb through a cave with a narrow track and seeing creatures whom normally lived in the dark. I like the very small bats sticking upside down on the ceiling: their pose match that of the stalagmite. We saw several formation of some limestone features, some of which with a shimmering deposit (forgot the name of the mineral). The shimmering features change when exposed to light so they can't be found outside the cave. At the Kris cave, Fauzi asked us to find the Kris and it was a daggar shaped feature with a pointed tip pointing towards the ground and a cock-like handle. He also pointed us a circular spot which remains "clean" all the time - no leaves inside, as if the leaves were cleared by "something". He said it could be a wind or an animal but he camped overnight and saw nothing before, so it remains a mystery. We thought the most probable reason is that he cleared the place before he showed us.

It's fascinating to see the dreamlike waterfall with a hovering fog from the bottom of gunung stong and actually climbing to the exact spot, sitting on the rocks by the river and looking at the "clouds" right in front of you. That is unimaginable. It's fun to bath by the rivers and repel down the waterfall. Strangely I wasn't scared at all. I got to repel down with one of the indian guys and he was secretly scared. Maybe his army repelling experience was horrendous. The waterfall terrain is damn easy to repell, requires no balancing effort at all except to tug at the ropes. The height didn't seem that intimidating too. But those who chose to repel down the slippery waterfall had a hard time.

Besides the pain and suffering and pride that I accomplished in overcoming the mountain that made this trip fulfilling, the other reason was that I felt emotionally comforted. It is comforting to know that others care about you when you are injured; the comfort in insane jokes; that the fear one felt is analogous in others. There is this weakness in me (and in others too I think), in feeling attached to people whom you enjoyed the company of and whom looked out for you. But I know this feeling ends here at the time when the trip ends, for everyone goes back to their own lives after the trip.

I had strange dreams when I came back. I can't recall the exact contents, but it's like I was camping there at Gunung Stong, but the feeling is dark and scary, the people all went bad and it was horrid. The same thing happened to me too when I was back from the Pulau Aur diving trip last year (I dreamt I can't get out of the water, unable to move). Maybe I had been trying too hard to be strong when subconsciously I am really afraid. I hadn't really been thinking too much about anything though all along this trip, just abit worried that I can't get along with the others. Maybe the dream is part of the sadness that I felt of being alone again.