i got there at around 7:05 (late and last, dammit), to find that today, the company was joined by Mag, Alvin Lee and my brother (oh for the record, i didn't 'find' my brother there, per se, seeing as he was in the same car as me on the way there). Lin Ji and Stan were to join us as well, but i guess their beds were too comfy this morning. anyway together, we walked onwards to conquer this hilly monster.
or, well, minus my brother at least. he bowed out at the top of the first hill. ah well, no point pushing it eh? left him with the phone, snatched (with finesse, of course) the digicam from his hands, told him to keep going at his own pace, and the fellowship continued forth. now, i'm not going to discuss the whole journey hill by hill, because for one, you'll all be bored to bits: "ahh yes, we came down from the hill only to find a behemoth of stairs before us, which brought us to the next hill, which we climbed again. and came down from again. and the other hill was yet another task". yes. you get the picture. oh, and for the other, i don't remember the whole journey hill by hill anyway, what with the lightheaded state of mind i was in. how about important details? well, they're less boring, at least. my opinion, of course.
the main goal of our excursion today, which was also our only shred of motivation, was to find ourselves some pitcher plants. i myself have never seen a real pitcher plant before (pictures, the telly and plastic impersonations do not count), hence i was rather excited. and also rather vexed, seeing as i never seemed to notice a single one last week. anyhoo, we did find some here and there, different shapes and sizes, but mostly different sizes. they weren't as big as i thought they would be. not that i'm comparing them to those massive ceramic ones outside that recreational beach resort place thingo. blah, y'all know what and where i mean.
compared to last week, i had a much easier time walking (crawling?) through the nine-ish hills of Bukit Shahbandar. well, for a start, i actually kept with the pack this time. last week, i was all by my sad self, mindlessly traipsing through the Shahbandar jungle (keeping to the footpath, of course) in hopes of finding the finish line. this is a good sign. yup. we finished at around 8:30 today. not bad, really, seeing as i (myself, mind you) finished at around 9:15 last week, with Rory and Zan finishing way before and backtracking to meet me again. i felt so sheepish.
after Rory finished greeting Robert and Tiffany who were finished before us (they were there??), i realized that my brother was not present. i proceeded to call him on the phone (thanks for all the cred, Alvin) to find that he was 'lost'. quite ironic since he was in front of the map-signboard thingy. anyway, he panicked, and after a few more calls, i convinced him to wait at a hut where Rory and Zan could find him. speed devils, the both of em. they freakin' ran back in. dumbfounded and still a bit woozy, i went to sat down at a huge ceramic table that attempted to look like a tree stump. but oh no, they couldn't fool me. i was smart enough to tell the difference, you see. oh, Mag and Alvin sat down too.
we waited a good long time for the rescue party to accomplish their rescuing. Mag put together a bunch of twigs to form a thimble-sized basket-thing (yeahyeah, there were lots of things, thingys and thingos on this trip), and Alvin was.. well, Alvin. after Mag went home, i proceeded to snatch (with finesse, of course) Alvin's phone and contacted Rory, where i questioned his status. if i remember correctly, he at first said that "i'm here, Zan's dead and Nigel's almost dying", until eventually saying that "i've lost both my arms, Nigel's twisted his ankle and we need an airlift". too bad he was kidding, i wanted to call RBA on the way to the entrance, but after buying enough 100-plus for the five of us (you do the math), the pranksters surfaced! had some laughs, drank some drink, then after much waiting and laughing, we all got picked up. not literally, of course.
overall, i quite enjoyed today's hike. good for the body, good for the mind. though i feel very numb right now, it was still heaps of fun and a great experience. provided one can keep up with the friends that make it fun, of course. as they say, the more the merrier, so why not come join us next week? the pitcher plants make it all the more worthwhile, i promise you.
¡fotografías!
first pitcher plant we encountered! hmm, this brings a whole new meaning to "questionable content". yum.
nice and scenic. haha, try thinking this looks peaceful when you're lightheaded, sweating profusely, and out of breath.
a common sight through my eyes: running for last place. thankfully i catch up, only to find a steep mountain before us.
these pitchers are brown, hell i thought they were dead leaves. must be dead pitchers then. hm.
teeny tiny pitcher plants! we almost missed the little buggers.
little-bugger pitcher plants growing out of the leaves of the plant held up by Rory's hand. and that's his shoe. foot inside, of course.
blahhh left behind again!! if you look closely you can make out Mag and her bag. hey that rhymes.
strange flower-wannabe thing. apparently, it's a berry cracked open nicely and neatly to hence form the wannabe.
while waiting around for the rescue team to find my brother, Mags collected some twigs and weaved them together to form this little strange thing. looked like a basket when it was the right way up.
that's all folks.
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