Highlights of Mount Ophir Trip II (Final)
After all the garang-ness, we had to brave the rain (being in the MIDST of a raincloud :P), and make our way to slightly lower ground, where we were sheltered from the incessant cold winds of the summit.
P and I, happy that we've conquered Ophir once more :) (btw, i DIDN'T climb with this stick, my sports walking stick was with one of my cadets ;) Doesn't it look like something that Gandalf from Lord of the Ring would carry??? ')
At the lower ground, thanks to our vendor, we had the luxury of eating bread and sausages (taken from our breakfast in the morning at the resort :)) in the middle of the mountain. Water was also being refilled into the bottles of cadets who had emptied them on their climb up to the peak.
Then, it was time to make our way down the way we came up...using those ropes and ladders at the snakes-&-ladders stretch of the climb..
More photo-taking opportunities along the climb down as it was steep and treacherous, thus, there was sufficient waiting time for the whipping out of cameras for nice shots like these. Simply LOVE this shot...has this nice feel to it...as if I could almost tag a line to it that says "From boys to Men" :)
We didn't go down the entire trail that we climbed up, but instead veered off onto the service road at one side of the mountain to make our way to our campsite.
The beautiful view from the mountain..
Us, on a big big rock, with our backs facing the summit of ophir.
The landmark of the summit of Ophir. I still remember when I first climbed Ophir about 5 years ago, they'd told us that we weren't allowed to snap pictures of this. Hmm....
The long walk down the service road down to our campsite..where at every turn of the road, you'd think that you have reached, but alas, it's just another turn on the road..
Actually I quite enjoyed this long walk down. Though tiring, and I got blisters from the walk down, it was a nice time of talking and chit chatting with the senior cadets.
The reservoir beside our campsite. We made it!
Instructions from CSM on where to set up tents for the night..
Mass setting up of tents!
~Dinner~ Not exactly "field-cooking" as most of what we did was boil water for our instant cup noodles/milo/coffee. But nevertheless, still an interesting experience having to do stuff without a brightly lit environment and having to rely on torches and lamps.
After dinner, was a good time of reflecting on the day's climb, learning important lessons from it, learning how to say "Thank You" & accepting a word of thanks graciously.
Was an eventful night at the campsite, coming into close contact with forrest ants (10 times bigger than those tiny ones what we have in our houses) , leeches, and even a snake! But thankfully all went well, and we got whatever rest we could before our final descent down the mountain.
Day 3
Nice feeling being at the same level as the clouds
We tried group warm-ups. Took a longer time than usual, but interesting.
Long walk down...
Glad the bus came to meet us along the trail down to the resort instead of having us walk all the way back down.. :)
The waterfall which was a less than 10 minute trek from the resort.
As can be seen, think the kids had loads of fun cooling off at the waterfall..
All the proud recipients of the certificate of having completed the trek of 1276 m up to the summit of Gunung Ledang.
In front of Mahkota, the nice service apartment that we stayed at in Malacca.
After spending the night in Malacca, where we were treated to nice Peranakan food & given some time for our own shoppng the night before, it was time for our cultural tour of Malacca the next day.
After a quick lunch, it was time for us to return to Singapore...
Was just reflecting on the way back on the bus....am really so glad that the trip materialised in the end, because in my opinion, nothing beats bringing the unit out & roughing it out together, it just bonds the people so much faster, and the joint experience would be something that would stay with the cadets (and the officers too) for a long time.
And thus marks the end of our expedition to conquer Mount Ophir, where we gained so much more than just reaching the summit, and along the way, learnt many precious lessons that will hopefully come in useful in many years to come.
