Well, looking at the sign in this picture that I took, I'm thinking... "NO!"

Alright, so came the day of the team building in Awana Genting. I left KL at about 5.25pm and made a quick pit stop by the Mobil along Jalan Kuching. Filled up the tank and shot straight up to Awana. Although it's not at the top of the hill, it still took me a good 35 minutes to reach up there.

I made it there just in time. When I reached the parking lot, Sow Hon gave me a call and I told him that I just parked my car. He told me to hurry up as they had already gave out the room keys. So I locked up the car and made it all the way to the lobby.

At first I was quick skeptical about all these team building activities. Most of the time, they are all just talk and no action. But this, they were really good. I can't blog much about the activities, otherwise it will spoil the fun for those who have not gone for the camp.

The next day, we were brought into the Awana jungle for a trek. It was a long trek, about 500ft downhill. Yes, it's steep and it was about 2km with slippery and muddy conditions. My mistake was that I wore my Timberlands and thanks to the rain, the terrain was filled with wet mud. The sort that you would love if you were driving a 4x4. Unfortunately, we were on foot and the mud did not help the situation. It had rained in the wee hours of the morning and that really made the situation moody. Our guide told us that the forrest has emotions. You should always stay sharp and be aware of things such as bamboos are home to those who we do not see.

The first thing that I was worried about was the leeches. Then were told of the rattan trees filled with many thorns, and the river crossing, which made me wanted to turn back. I've never liked jungle trekking, and I'm not much of an outdoors person. To me, the idea of outdoor would be in a track filled with high horsepower machines and the smell of burning rubber. Now this, not a machine in sight. It was just the wilderness and the whole 35 of us.

The trek was really tough, according to the guide, he had Iban boys who cut the path. They wanted a path downwards towards the river. Iban boys, being native did not learn about engineering, as he put it. They only knew one path, which was straight down. So most of the journey was steep, the only flat ground was available when we reached the river. I thought, shit... if there was so much downhill, I'm going to regret goiing back up.

A third of the journey later, we reached the river. Most of the people had leeches sticking to them and then came the moment of truth. The river crossing... and we had to walk in the water. Sigh... that was where my boots were ruined. I've been trying to dry them off since. After the crossing, we came to the last flat plateau. Waiting there was a kettle being kept warm. In the kettle was hot tea. It's wonderful how they put it there way ahead. It's like they had a shortcut to get there.

After that, with my soggy wet boots, the last part of the trip was uphill. It was damned tiring and slippery. The last thing on my mind were leeches. Just when my boots were drying, there was another river crossing to be met. This time, the water was faster and deeper. Again, my Timberlands got wet again, dammit!

We finally got out of the jungle afer almost 4 hrs. We started the trip at 0830hrs and I got out at 1315hrs. Not bad for a city boy. Though I did realize that I brought along my cellphone and PSP. Luckily none got wet, nor lost.



Well, looking at the sign in this picture that I took, I'm thinking... "NO!"

We went back to the hotel after that. Instead of trekking back to the hotel, we got a hitch behind a 1 tonne truck. It was very much welcomed. Our legs were so tired we could no longer walk. Most of us headed straight into the restaurant for lunch. All muddy and dirty, we all just went in anyway. I stayed out of the remaining two activities at the end of the day, my back was too painful thanks to painting the room.