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.