I think the year was 1996. We went for this Environmental Programme organized by the State Education Department and there were schools from other districts participating too. There were just too many things I could not remember about this but let me try to recap some of the things related to the activities. Too bad, most of the photos are already not clear and I have not remembered the names of many of students who took part in the trip.
Mr. Masrizal Sayute and I took a few Kadet Remaja Sekolah [KRS] boys of SMK Taman Universiti for this expedition. We took the express bus from Johor Bahru to Tangkak and got on another public bus to get to the campsite - one reason: it was cheaper than to charter one big bus for less than 40 passengers. We arrived a day earlier and spent the night in the cabins at Gunung Ledang Resort, at the foot of the mountain.
The activity started the next day. As the participants from other schools arrived quite late, we started hiking only in the afternoon. There were too many people going on the ascend, including a few aging teachers. The progress was quite slow and after some time it got really dark in the jungle. The biggest challenge was walking up the steep mountain in total darkness and only assisted by the lights from the torchlights shone. I remember we were walking in one long line and we should not be separated from each other. It was a gruesome hike and I just walked and hoped this would end soon. We managed to get to the camping area at about 10:00 p.m., somewhere near to a communication tower. We had to quickly pitch our tents and cook dinner. There was another activity I think but we just went straight into our tents. The temperature was low on top of the mountain and we just needed the long sleep we deserved after all the hard work.
We had to walk down the mountain the next morning, back to the Resort. However, we were not using the same mountain tracks we used to climb up. We had to walk down on the asphalt roads to the base camp. What happened after that, I am not so sure but I think we still took the express bus to get back to Johor Bahru.
Those were the days when the teachers were still very young and energetic. This would be something I would definitely not do again. It is better to be safe than sorry.
NEXT BLOG POST: Another Gunung Ledang expedition done with another batch of students a few years after this.
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