A Camping Experience

I couldn’t sleep the night before. I was just too excited. This was my first time on a
camping trip. I had packed my backpack 3 days ago. There was a list of things that
were required from everyone such as sleeping bags, torchlight, matches, Mars Energy
Bars and not forgetting mosquito repellants.

Around 8am the following day, we arrived in our school bus at the foothills of Gunung
Ledang which is famous for its many myths and also beautiful camping spots. There
were 20 of us. We were all in our school scouts team accompanied by two teachers and
our guide, an Orang Asli man called Adun. First we went to register ourselves at the
rangers office before starting our hike.

It was a wonderful, cool morning. Adun pointed out to us various types of edible wild
plants and told us to 'respect the jungle' by not littering or thinking bad thoughts. 2 hours
later we reached a waterfall. It was a perfect spot to set up our tents. By the time we
finished setting up the tents, it was lunch time. Adun showed us how to gather firewood
and lit up a fire. He made a makeshift stand over the fire and hung a pot of icy water
from the waterfall to boil. While waiting to cook rice, our teachers said we could all go
for a quick swim in the waterfall. We had so much fun together! After a simple of rice
and sardines, we rested for a while. In the evening, our teachers took us exploring
around the area and gather more firewood before nightfall.

At night, after dinner, we lit a big fire and sat around it. Our teachers talked about jungle
survival tips and later we played games. Then Adun told us a few mystical stories about
Gunung Ledang. Some were scary and a few of us kept looking behind our backs at the
dark jungle. By 10pm our teachers asked us to go to sleep. Some of us couldn’t sleep
so ended up chatting quietly in our tents till wee hours of the morning. We went home
the next morning, tired but happy.