Shu Woan's first phase In Expedition 09B - Part 1 of 3

Two days before I was being deployed into the jungles of Long Pasia, I broke my toe nail on my left foot while playing Raleigh Olympics. After Dr. Simon pushed my toe nail back in (I would need 2 jabs to get the whole nail out, I opted for the less painfull way), he mentioned that I might not be able to go trekking with my newly allocated Alpha group, I might have to switch groups. No way! I liked my group. It’s just a broken toe nail, no big deal.

The medics and my PMs somehow forgot about it (I think) as no one brought that matter up again. So there I was, on the bus and the 4x4 to Long Pasia. I had a serious misconception about Long Pasia, no thanks to CK Leong. He convinced me that it was TEN times more difficult than going up and down Gunung Nuang with 10kg of weight in 10 hours. I seriously thought I would die in Long Pasia. But seeing how some of the other venturers trekked during Jungle Camp, I felt reassured. Even if I were to die in Long Pasia, I would not be the first.

Trekking turned out to be quite enjoyable. I did not have any sore muscles throughout the 12 day trek. I enjoyed building fireplaces every time we arrived at a new campsite. Besides two insoles and one side of a sock (mine!) got damaged, nothing else got burned. There were even stakes around the fireplace for everyone to dry their boots. Even the guides were impressed!

Occasionally my rucksack felt really heavy, especially on days where we trekked for 7 hours. On those days, we only had crackers for lunch. If I recall correctly, we had 2 packets of crackers between 14 people. Cracker lunch was alright for me, we had different toppings each time. We got to chose from cheddar cheese, peanut butter, choc spread and tuna. Of course, we rationed every single meal beforehand. Having pasta for fre*king SIX nights in a row, that I cannot stand. I felt so weak without having rice. One night in Bamboo Camp, Lela (Sabahan venture) and I went over to the guides’ fireplace after dinner just to chat. To my surprise, two of them just came back from FROG hunting!!! Not quite sure how they cooked it, but anything with rice tasted like H-E-A-V-E-N at that moment. It was so lekker! From then on, I knew where I could go to whenever I wanted a fix. Food was never a problem anymore. I still eat my porridge in my mess tin at home!

Not being able to do a night dive was pretty sh*t at first; I was looking forward to it very much. Finding out that my buoyancy was better than I thought it was, priceless!!

It was a bit difficult to balance my time between the locals (guides, dive masters to be...) and my group. Mainly because my group was not exactly excited about hanging out with the locals, something I quite like to do. I know I can get a lot out of these people. I was also constantly translating (queries and actual conversations! Celaka betul!) between certain people. I don’t mind showing off my linguistic skills, but it can be frustrating when people become lazy and kacau me whenever I am doing something. Or when I am not doing anything. It annoys me the most when they don’t even try. Sabar saja... That was Phase 1, did not know how to tell people off......politely.

Shu Woan

Editor's Note: Watch out for Part 2, phase 2, new challenges, serene environment, plus photos as well of course, all that all that... ~to be released soon! Want to experience the amazing experience Shu Woan had in Borneo? What's YOUR first challenge to expedition? Introduction Weekend! Register now! Cheers!