Last couple days in Malaysia

Day 5 of trek was our leaving day back to Kuala Lumpur and began very early as we needed to get a number of transports back to the city. After two bus rides, a monorail and a train ride, we finally arrived at our luxury hotel by 8 at night. The boys were tired after a long day of travelling and were very pleased to be at our gorgeous hotel, thanks to the hard work and research of Joe Wilmot. After an hour to clean up and enjoy our first hot shower in weeks, we headed out to T.G.I.Fridays for our big group dinner. Many of the boys still hadn't completely got their appetites back and just about managed their mains. Unfortunately Aaron only managed a bite of his giant beef burger before having the rest wrapped up to take back to the hotel. Real beds never felt so good after sleeping on roll mats for almost a week.

Our last full day in Malaysia we enjoyed our buffet breakfast before catching the 10am shuttle to the water park around the corner. Here we met up with group 1 for the first time since we landed and enjoyed a day of water slides, scare mazes and roller coasters. In the evening, most of the boys went to the 4 story mall that was just behind the water park while some stayed back at the hotel to enjoy dominos pizza and the free Fox movie channel. 

Today is our flight day. The boys hadn't quite satisfied their shopping need yet so we all spent the mid part of the day back at the mall. Some boys joined Charlie and myself on the mall's ice rink while most shopped til they dropped. When we had finished, we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags and catch our mini bus to the airport. Despite a great month, all the boys are  very excited to be coming home and have even admitted missing their parents and siblings! We've had a great time and hope you have enjoyed following our blog. 

Trek day 4

After we had started to sleep, we were woken by Joe Abbott because he had been sick, Courtney and Steve dealt with this, but it had caused some panic in the group. Toby didn't want to share a tent as he didn't want to get I'll either, so there was a lot of tent swapping  and it left some people sleeping in the kitchen. After Joe Abbotts sickness at around 4, Toby started being sick. By morning time the sick count had risen to 5, including Courtney, Aaron and Kieran. We were set to do our canopy walk this morning, but so many were I'll and stiff from their nights sleep that only 5 of us went. The rest continued to sleep for the rest of the day. The canopy walk was amazing, with tree top views and rope bridges, we even saw a lizard on the way back. When we returned, the camp was still asleep so we prepared lunch in the uninflected kitchen that had been anti-bact to hell. We had over portions as the sick weren't hungry. The rest of the day was ours to do with what we wanted, all those awake chose to chat and play games. Around 4 we started to pack our things in our bags as the rain looked like it was coming again. The sick started to awake and slowly feel better. Later in the day just before preparing for dinner Joe Wilmot threw up just outside his tent, the sickness continues to spread! 

Trek day 3

A lazy start to our morning as the boys decided they would wake up and have their things packed away by 10. We had a hearty breakfast of granola and baked beans before going for a swim in the river to cool off. Charlie compared the boys frolicking in the water to a group of male hippos fighting and throwing their weight around. By this time it was lunch time and the boys prepared a great lunch in a shady spot just beside the river. By 2 o'clock we were all ready to go and begun our 4 km trek back to the start on the park. We stopped along the way at an observation tower but unfortunately didn't spot anything except for graffiti from other board people who have sat in the tower previously. Luckily however just before we hit the entrance we did see a monkey high in the trees. Little did we know we would have a much closer experience a few hours later. The boys rejoiced when we finally hit the start of the trek and took the boat back to the park entrance. Here we set up camp and began cooking dinner. This is when a group of monkeys saw us cooking and migrated to a tree just above our heads. They proceeded to get closer and closer until our guide Joe battled them away. We just finished dinner as it got dark and we all enjoyed our pasta and chilli under the stars. After dinner Kieran and Aaron took a night trek with Steve and the the guide while the rest of the boys chatted in the kitchen. We are happy to be back at the park headquarters and even more happy to be a little further from the leeches. 

Trek day 2

The day started at 7 when leader Kieran woke the group up. After our breakfast of granola and hot chocolate, we started the trek back. The group was in much higher spirits this morning now that the trek has been amended and seemed to find a reserve of energy as they sped back the way they came. We had many fewer breaks, despite the many leech bites. Poor Kieran had 3 all in the same spot of his ankle that seemed not to mind his socks in the way. We reached out campsite by 1:30, which was a lovely sandy area right between a river and a village. As it was too hot to set up tents, the boys frolicked and washed in the river and waited for it to cool down. After about an hour, the boys got out and made a lite lunch before setting up their tents. They got them up just in time before another shower of rain hit us. As the rain didn't last very long, they cracked on collecting wood and water for dinner. The guides quickly started a fire with the collected wood and showed the boys how to cook rice in banana leaves and giant bamboo shoots. Kieran seemed to take particular attention to this new cooking method. The rest of the cooks prepared the sweet and sour sauce with lots of veg. All the boys were getting hungry and started to crowd around with their bowls and cutlery. When dinner was dished up all but Felix couldn't wait to dig in for seconds, not a single grain of rice was left. Everyone helped out with the washing up as the rain was rolling in and thunder and lightening was on the horizon. After dinner we all gathered around the fire for hot chocolate and marshmallows, what a treat after the past two days we have had. After the fire had started to die he leaders headed to bed while the happy campers sat around the embers and talked amongst themselves.

Trek day 1

We woke early at 6:15 so we could check all bags were ready and have breakfast at 7. Breakfast was pancakes or French toast with hot chocolate, all the boys were now ready for their day of walking. We were picked up at 8 and taken to the office to organise our entry into the national park. We started trekking at 9 and had many water break, trips and falls between then and lunch at 1:30. After lunch we continued on towards our campsite looking at the ground along the way, occasional peering up to check for low hanging trees. Many boys got bitten by leeches and some stung by wasps. We reached the camp site at 4:30 and the boys were glad to get a good seat. Moral was low and everyone was in pain, our cooks struggled to concentrate while cooking dinner as the rain started to roll in. We all ate quick and then all helped with washing and repacking our bags. In the evening the group called a meeting with us and asked if they could turn around as most were in pain and not enjoying the views. They put across some very good points which we considered and came to an agreement to adapt the trek to better suit their needs- we will still get to do the canopy walk as well. Bed time was early as everyone ached from walking and all were in tents by 9!

Travel to trek

After our night at the YMCA we left earlyish for the monorail to Titiwangsa. First the food boys had to dish out all the divided bags of food that had been bought the day before, unfortunately they woke late, so this took a long time. We only just made the bus station to get the bus to Jeruntut. After a 3 hour journey we arrive just after 1, and our connecting bus was due at 1:30! As we got off the bus and looked for our next ride, we were told it had already left. Our next option was to wait for the 5 o'clock bus to Kuala Tahan. As we were looking for somewhere to eat Courtney tried to squeeze through a gap that was too small for her and her bag and broke off some Malay guys wing mirror. He seemed happy about this, as it was a beat up piece of junk truck anyway and made 50 ringitts off Courtney. All the boys wanted to go to KFC but we had all our trek food in our bags getting hot, so we decided to find some shade and have a picnic. This seemed very popular with the locals as we started to gather a crowd. At 4:30 we headed back to the bus station to wait for the 5 o'clock bus only to find out that it never existed. We needed to find some transport quick. Lucky a guy over heard our conversation and took Charlie away up some stairs to a dark office where he saved the day and found some cheap travel. Our nice green aircon minibus took us right to the door of our motel. We met with our guides to talk about shortening our trek to make it easier for the boys while they packed and sorted out dinner and breakfast. We had a few money issues which all got sorted in the end and we stayed in budget. All the boys were tired and asleep before 11!

Back in KL

Planning to leave Melacca early so we could have more time in KL didn't really happen with some of the boys taking very log to get downstairs, Joe Wilmot last again gaining the most amount of press-ups, he'll be strong soon or start being on time! We trekked through Melacca with our bags towards the bus station and the boys suggested we stop for McDonalds breakfast before our travels. Our bus journey to KL was very short and we arrived just in time for lunch. We got settled in at the YMCA in KL and then went out for lunch in near by resturants. 2 teams were then picked to either go and buy the group food for the trek or go buy bus tickets to get to trek. Unfortunately just before we left Alex and Nishil got stuck in the elevator and had to wait 45 minutes for the repair man to arrive. Puppy dog Luke waited patiently outside the elevator doors for his friends to be released. The food team returned with 2 trolleys of food for the group which covered the whole floor of their hotel room. Later in the afternoon we all headed to China town for more shopping and dinner. The Chinatown Petaling Street Bazaar was full of everything the boys wanted; fake goods and vendors ready to haggle, many of the boys excelled in the haggling skills and came back with some amazing stories and very cheap items. During our time at the market Courtney was fooled by a 7-Eleven sales assistant when he told her the money she had tried to pay with was fake, he kept the prank going for a good minute before letting on that he was just joking. Some of us headed off for dinner after shopping and then back the hotel for bed.