The day i lost my 'soul'

Hey guys, sorry for my late posting. A lot has happened recently and I will be narrating to you one by one (if nothing big happens in the next few days) For starters, I've lost 2 of my close relatives within a month of each, both held their wake at the same place at different times. Sometimes, you do wonder whether you have reached a stage where life does not give you things as readily as it would, and has start taking things away from you. Then again, this topic deserves a whole post on its own so I'm not talking about it right now.

First of all, apologies to Steven Foo for the late posting of our outing at Bukit Gasing. For HELP University College students, the annual Bukit Gasing trekathon is perhaps the most important sports event of the year, where throngs of college brats charged through a wildlife reserve up a stream and over a hill like mad-bulls/intoxicated rhinoes to our founder's house, Datuk Dr. Paul Chan's own residence. Winners kinda have the priviledge to have the first helpings on the buffet, served ever readily within his house compound.

At around 8.30a.m., all of us (approximately 120 of us) gathered around the foot of Bukit Gasing, in front of a small trail perhaps the width of the distance of both of your finger tips when spread out to your left and right. Sorry for the lack of photos at this point because I didn't bring it along with my jog as

i) The shock of my jog will permanently damage my camera
ii)I couldn't risk falling into a ravine together with it.

At the shout of Cindy, the facilitator that never runs in her own event, the boys stampeded into the tiny clearing of the reserve, half-sprinting-half-rolling down a small slope, rammed across a bridge, and started an uphill hike of about 50 degree. The girls started 5 minutes after us.

The reserve has many trails and one would encounter numerous forks on the way to the summit. Therefore it was essential for us to stay ahead of the pack from the very start as it gives us the chance to pull ahead and thus the luxury of twisting and turning the arrows indicative of the proper race line and leave your competitors their very own trail of misery.

The most notable element in the race is the muddy-and-yucky trail and protruding root buttresses. The former kept you always in the danger of a slip and the latter make accidental trips very much possible. After the bridge and the uphill climb (a relentless progress of 2 minutes), you have to tread rather precariously along the edge of a ravine before progressing downhill with a gradient that borders near to a vertical. A wrong footing and you can rest assured that small plants and trees will break your fall (and your back along the way). Its some kinda scene from Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Predator" albeit minus big trees and bigger biceps.

The steep winding trail will then lead you to eventually to another up and downhill motion before reaching a stream from which you trudge against it until the very end. From there on, it is another insanely hike uphill before going down again. If by chance, that you still happen to be alive and cheerful, you can opt to continue the remaining of the race by scaling the steepest 200 meters of the trekathon. The other option is to stay put which branches into 2 ending:

i) wait until HELP comes around with a stretcher...and...
ii) more likely, HELP goes home leaving you to party with the wild boars and mosquitoes.

To put a long story short, I was quite glad that I did finish the 1.5km trail within 21 minutes and in an acute stage oxygen-depletion and delirium. For the most part of my final ascension to the top, it was pure will power as well as pure awkwardness that my sole just flew off my Raebok. Water was handed to us and Datin was there to greet us. though one of my friends whom i duped to join had a more of an unconventional entrance to the road marking the end of the race. He dished out expletives in front of Datin!

Datuk's house. Too big for my camera.

My friend swore loudly as he walked slowly downhill after the race, right past Datin to the right! The exit for the race was located on the left side of the umbrella. It was a small jungle trail.

The day I lost my sole

The second half of the race. Gorging as much as i could take

The flying Dutchman

My friend earned her reward from Datin

My Datuk's cool security guards. All they need are sunglasses.

After the race, we had our lunch and prize presentation ceremony. The boy's race was won by a Dutch and the surprise was my classmate won the 'girls' category!

But now, smart guys like you would have asked how come there are photos attached to this posting when I did not bring it along with me to the top of the hill?

Well, 2 of my friends decided to take the road less taken by signing up at the foot of the hill, climbed on board in their car, waited for Cindy's signal and drove all the way to the top via more proper roads, leaving me to eat dust.

My friend on the left told me he didn't fall into the stream. Another 'dry' friend of mine is holding the camera.