Don't look at me, I didn't start it

... Kash did! Ha ha ha.

Fortunately, I don't have any personal encounter with ghosts, though I have heard many of such stories, especially when I was in boarding school.  I actually wanted to write posts on this topic, but procrastination, without fail, engulfed me. 


Before that happens, I'm re-porting this one post that is taken from my old blog, which to my surprise still exists although I no longer have a Friendster account.

This coming Friday, I’ll be heading to Genting View Resort with 30 other people for a 3D2N weekend getaway.  NOT!  hehe.  We are going for our company’s teambuilding trip.  Looking at the programs sent in the email, they don’t look too enticing.  Of course, I didn’t get to go to lots of teambuilding events.  Just that one, in 2000.  In Pangkor Island.

That was the same teambuilding event that I got lost in a jungle close to an hour!  Yeah, seriously.  That was quite an experience.  Sure, I can laugh about it now, but that was indeed something…

(I’m not such a good story-teller, so please bear with me. :))

… on the afternoon of the second last day, we went for a camping trip some where on the northern part of Pangkor.  After setting up camp and having tea, we went abseiling.  I was part of the cooks team (Don’t ask me how I ended up being in the group, esp when I can’t cook. )… so, we were the first ones to go, so that once we were done, we’d go and prepare dinner.

I think I was the third person in line.  We were told we wouldn't miss the clearing on the left where we would abseil from.  When it was my turn, I put my gear on and hiked up the hill.

No clearing to be found, so I kept on going.  Seeing some fresh boot-prints on the muddy trail, I was assured that I was on the right way.  Still no clearing to be found.  It dawned on me that I may have gone too far when I was about to descend to the other side of the hill.  So I decided to turn back…

But I couldn’t find the trail that got me here.  There was one that looked like a trail but it was thickly-covered by some thorny trees.  So I couldn’t possibly be coming from that way, I thought to myself.  Through the foliage, I could see the sea, but I just can't find a way to get there.

I yelled out some salams (I thought Hello or Hi would be inappropriate)… Nothing.  Total silence.  Not even a cricket.  Except for this one stup*d bird that I sensed was laughing at me.  Want to know how I felt that?  Everytime I yelled out the salam, it would answer back “Ka ka ka ka ka”.  Every single time!

Thoughts of the Blair Witch Project movie came to mind.  I was more scarred of the thought that I may end up sleeping in the jungle, not knowing what could be next me, inches away! 

All the while, I didn’t fail to utter verses from the Quran, whatever that came to mind… and when I was about to lose hope, there it was.  A trail seemed to appear out of no where!  I hurriedly walked down the trail.  Before long, I could hear someone calling out my name.  You won’t believe how relieved I was at that point.

Before arriving at camp, I passed by the clearing that was mentioned by our coordinators.  I could have sworn that I didn’t see it before.  And technically, I should not have missed it, because it was right there.  Less than 50 meters from the base of the hill!   (insert the Twilight Zone theme song here….)

So, that was the post that I wrote 3 years ago.  I may be lost for an hour, but it felt like an eternal.  What I didn't mention in the post was the part that I tried the "Hansel and Gretel" technique, substituting breadcrumbs with the tissue that I found in my pants' pocket.  I just have to give anything that came to mind a try, right?  Ha ha ha.

Also, that night the coordinators made us play the Moonlight Sonata game, where we were divided into groups and placed roughly a couple hundred meters away from our team leaders.  You could communicate with your team leaders to hone in on the correct direction, threading through the nipah trees, with some (weird) pre-defined call.  One of the coordinators said to us, "Zarin had played this earlier, so it should be easy for him." :P

Next time, IF I do go on trail runs, I want to be in the middle of the pack. *lol!*