After the end of our BATC 2005 overnight camping trek held from 3rd - 4th September 2005, my course mates asked me if I had been to Gunung Ledang or Mount Ophir before. I replied that I had but also that Gunung Belumut is a nicer mountain.

Hence, I was kindly asked to be the lead organiser for a end-of-course trek to this pristine area. Fortunately, I had the assistance of my able co-organisers of Maria & Kai Ler, thereby making the trek enjoyable and safe for all the participants.

Planning for this trek started way back in early October and we had a credible 31 persons signing up. Most were BATC Alumni while the rest are their friends. However, on the day we met up at Kranji MRT, 2 had to drop out due to a bout of illness.

We arranged to meet up at 8:00AM and by the time we crossed over to Malaysia and boarded our coach, it was after 10:00AM! We had an early lunch at 11:00AM before reaching our destination at around 2:00PM.

After registering with the Ranger Office, we proceeded to seek out a good campsite and before long, we had all 5 tents set up. The lot then went for strolls and a dip at the pool before returning around 4:00PM to start dinner preparation. Pek Yong started his charcoal fire and while we prepared our dinner, we had a nearly endless flow of satay and otah to keep our hunger at bay! :P

During the dinner preparation, we sprang a surprise task for the 5 different groups. They had to prepare a tofu dish in the most creative way. The 5 groups came up with incredible ideas but at the end of the day, Ai Yun’s group was the winner of a $32 bottle of wine.

They won based on the taste of their dish and their story synopsis. Seng Teong described their creation as a melting pot of different races and cultures, with the inspiration being drawn from Singapore’s own unique blend of multiracial and multicultural elements!

Another notable performer was Rong Ying’s group. Theirs had the best presentation. Their dish was titled Ninja Tofu and inspired by Japanese cuisine. It tasted really good as well. They were also the most funny group for they tried to influence me at every step during their preparation! Fortunately for them, the winning group shared the bottle of wine around. Yippee!

The whole lot of spontaneous people cleared up swiftly after dinner and we shifted to an event hall near our tents. Maria prepared popcorn with caramel while Ronnie & Gang prepared their supper of Green Bean Soup and White Fungus with Ginko Nuts. During supper, we held our event for the night. Each group either sent a member or the nearly the whole group up to perform a song.

We also took the opportunity to have Zoey present a huge handmade birthday card filled with little notes of wishes for Uncle Jee Keik’s belated birthday. Melanie got her colleague Bernice to draw a caricature of the birthday boy!? That’s just so sweet of her!

All the groups displayed much talent and bravado during their performances. It was evident that the audience enjoyed themselves tremendously. Zhi Yuan’s group ran away with the group prize, 5 personal First Aid Kits worth $10 each, for their rendition of “Stand by Me” while Chee Hwa from Ai Yun’s group won the individual prize, a $18 water bladder, for his solo performance of “Xiao Wei”.

We gave away the 4 remaining First Aid Kits to the other Group Leaders, namely Uncle Khen, Ai Yun, Melanie, and Rong Ying. The last one was won by Seng Teong after he answered an impromptu quiz question correctly. Yeah!

The whole lot then proceeded to turned in early for we had to trek up the 1010m mountain the next day.

As I was part of the Breakfast Team, I woke up at 5:00AM to help Uncle Jee Keik and Maria. I proved to be superfluous as Uncle Khen was also awake and helping out. Later, Ai Yun and Janice joined in. Breakfast was served at 6:30AM. After that, we broke camp and started our trek at 8:00AM.

Our trekking strategy was simple. The 5 Group Leaders were to maintain their relative trek positions at all times while Seng Teong and Chin Chin acted as rearguard. Due to the festive season, we were unable to engage a guide. So I had to task Zhi Yuan and Jason to act as front scouts. Besides myself, Kah Chin was only the other veteran and she was with the front group to correct any possible misstep in following the trail.

During the trek, the whole lot separated into 2 groups. After we reached our first checkpoint, I was confident that my front scouts had the ability to lead. I then acted as the bridge between the faster and the slower group. It proved to be rather ‘fun’ for me for the front group always had a head start of at least 15 minutes between checkpoints. Catching up with them after I backtrack to check on the slower group really sapped me of energy. I must train more and get fitter! ;P

The trek proceeded smoothly and 25 of us managed to reach the summit. That is a respectable success rate of 86%! And we even prepared Tom Yam soup at the false summit for the trekkers when they came down from the summit.

All those who summited did so before 1:00PM and we started to head back by 1:30PM. There was intermittent showers while we descended but nothing else major cropped up, much to our relief. By 5:30PM, all of us made it down safely. 3 cheers for all of us!

We left for our dinner at Cin Cin Restaurant, in the town of Kluang around 6:15PM and we were sinking our teeth into roast duck 1 hour later. We left for Singapore soon after dinner and we got back to Singapore slightly after 10:00PM. The participants parted ways at Woodlands checkpoint. It was a tremendously successful trek and it was all due to the spontaneity and initiative of each and every participant. Thank you to one and all!

Allen Tan
Team Spreo