I'm getting really excited over this trip. All that we've done so far in school, those intense steps training, Bukit Timah trips, spending of petty cash on food, balloons and shoes, etc... These was all for this mountain-climbing trip to Mount Fan Si Pan - "the Roof of Indochina", as it is called.
We've ended the last of our Bukit Timah climb trainings. Lagi best. Today's was one of the toughest climbs we've had in Bukit Timah, followed by last week's and the first ever. I'll list them one by one down here - see the difference.
Bukit Timah - First Trip (August 23, 2009)
I've forgotten some stuff about this, since I'm typing it like, since when? Anyways, there were monkeys, the do-not-feed-monkeys signboard, and the virgin climb to Bukit Timah. It was hard, even without a load. Hell, it's a virgin climb, how easy could it get back then? It was tough, mainly because we weren't used to climbing even the stairs. After about, say, 10-odd years of urban comfort, it was the first time hitting the rough edges as well as getting used to the humidity inside the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Time for Mr Lazybones to start working out, and the amount of exercise's been compounding more and more ever since that time.
Perhaps a review wouldn't hurt, since it was blogged down for this very purpose?
Bukit Timah Trek from MacRitchie Reservoir Park on 21st November 2009: Hitting the Roof (a friggin' 24km)
It was much worse than willRun. Worse than the Nike+ Human Race on 24th October 2009. Here's why - we weren't walking on paved concrete, and we had "blister casualties". Not to mention that it was 24km for goodness' sake. Walked all the way, and fatigue got me pwned. Jeremy and Tania got wasted down the trail - we had to borrow an extra eye-patch to patch their torn Achilles' tendon skin area up, mainly because their shoes weren't seasoned yet.
In any case, there was full attendance on that day. Bad part was that I was lugging twice the weight of the others - imagine trekking for a 6.5hour trip of total distance of 24km, with 15kg of load on your shoulders. I wanted to finish the entire trip but Mrs Tan wouldn't have it - she got Feng to carry it for me instead on the return trip. Boy, such a big difference his bag was, compared to mine. At the entire thing, he said it was a tough trip. "How you manage to carry it so far up there ah?" he asked.
"Just carry lor." I replied, as we finished the entire trail.
Bukit Timah - Last trip today!
Definitely not something you'd like to have on your timetable. I mean, seriously. The trip was physically sapping because of the flight of steps you had to take while going to the summit via the Dairy Farm Path. But other than that, the trip was fun, I'll admit. No pain, no gain right?
That being said, let's talk about the climb itself. This time I've learnt to be smarter - less weight to bear. I've decided to treat my back better this time round. How about, say, 10kg this time? Actually, I carried less than that - Shan Ying took a dumbbell off my pack to add on to her load(it was too light before the addition of that dumbbell), so I'm good with 8.5kg. Shiokness on the extreme.
First trip for the day did not look good. Sky was almost spelling a thunderstorm, but it didn't after all - thank God for that! Apart from the fact that two of us were out of action - one was sick and the other was recovering from abrasion wounds to the Achilles' tendon region, well... It was still a memorable experience up there in that blasted hill.
A couple of stuff that came to mind was someone making mooing noises when we started trekking up the Dairy Farm Path back to the hill foot, "killer pee", "bawu sedap", and well, the reward of a nice can of 100 Plus at the end of the first climb. The second one was easier - we didn't have to wind down all the way back to the Dairy Farm Path, unlike Mr Anuar's power-packed group, who came back down at one when everyone else was "picnicking" on ice cream since 12pm.
Lagi best sia.
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