Ledang 3

It was the third time Messner and Sirdar organised a climb to Gunung Ledang. I didn't join them for Ledang 1 because of work. I did, however, made sure I was available for Ledang 2, which was only a few months back.

I remember having "that good feeling" when I climbed Ledang the first time and I was definitely looking forward to this climb. I even swapped working Saturdays to make it for this climb.

Just days before this climb, I fell ill and was a little worried about my physical strength, whether I could recover in time or not.

The night before the climb, my head felt heavy and I was seriously thinking of pulling out. I tried to sleep early (11.30pm) but found that I was restless. I woke up many times feeling hot and sweaty. Yucks!

I remember waking up at 2.45am, thinking that I only had another 15 more minutes to sleep. The phone alarm rang at 3am. I didn't succumb to temptation to go back to sleep.

I got ready slowly and waited for Steve to pick me up at 3.55am. From my place, we fetched Cila and Nicholas to Kemayan Square. Bro. Won was already there.

We left at 4.30am. I was asked to drive (and I was really looking forward to having a short nap in the car) to Tangkak. Thankfully I was quite wide awake. Somewhere along the way, calls were going back and forth and some were already in the coffeeshop in Tangkak as early as 4.40am. Permission granted, I sped like never before. I was consistently going at 120km/h - 140km/h.

I took only an hour to get to the coffeeshop. (It was supposed to be a 1.5 hour drive).To tell you the truth, I have never driven past 120 km/h before. The road was quite clear that morning, which was why I decided to drive fast.

I had a bowl of tasteless kuey teow soup and a cup of Milo.

At 6.20am, we departed for Ledang Park.

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At the car park, someone cut the bananas individually to be distributed out.

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A group picture (Siva is too busy capturing the moment .... and as a result, you don't see him in this picture

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Exercise and warm-up to loosen the muscles before the climb

Steve was kind enough to volunteer to carry this heavy rope

We registered with the park, eased ourselves and warmed-up. A short briefing was led by Messner and Sirdar. There was a doctor in our team (but unfortunately, he was "on leave" and left us in the care of his two assistants).

The rubbish for that we need to fill out before climbing

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At 8.10am, 36 of us stared the long, ardous climb.

It was steps, steps and more steps.

As usual, I was panting after about the 100th step. Pretty normal because I needed more oxygen than the rest to be able to gain strength and energy to climb.

Apart from our group, there was this other big group of Malay youngsters whom we meet up with intermittently and also another group from Singapore. I actually felt as though there were way too many people climbing up this mountain.

We arrived at CP5 at 10.30am. Late! I was a little horrified by how slow I was this time. Hmm... I actually wanted to move a little faster but chose not to.

After CP 5, the terrain got tougher and poor Sirdar, had to carry 2-3 other backpacks apart from his 15-kilo backpack.

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KFC (a.k.a. Killer For Climbers) came soon after that and I suffered a little ... err.. a lot, I mean. I had forgotten how tough it was. I wondered how I was going to survive until the next CP.

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The first cave which we had to climb through. Aunty Chris enjoyed the cool air in the cave and wanted to sleep on one of the big rocks.

Gua Kambing came into sight after that long, torturous limb-stretching climb. I was a little scared the last time because the rock face was slippery but this time, I climbed with confidence. I guess the Columbia hiking shoes dear twin got for me from Melbourne helped a lot. I was more sure-footed.

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Anak Batu Hampar. Aunty Chris took the difficult way. I veered toward the right and went up with the help of the tree roots.

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The Batu Hamper seemed to get bigger as we move higher.

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Finally, the Mother of All Rocks. This huge boulder is as high as a 3 to 4 storey building.

Anak Batu Hampar and Mother of all Rocks was after that. I was not afraid at all. It certainly looked intimidating, climbing up the huge boulder using only a thick rope to haul myself up. I made it to the top, with slightly more difficulty than the last time.. partly because I had my backpack with me this time.

Aunty Chris was next. They forced her to use the harness, even though she didn't want to use it. Personally, I think she can pull herself up the huge boulder without help from others but Sirdar and Messner didn't want to take the risk. Steve (and Messner) were at the top, pulling the rope while Sirdar walked alongside with Aunty Chris.

Taman Bonsai was next. I didn't really stop long to enjoy the beautiful view. All I wanted to do was to get going. By that time, I was with Aunty Chris and Aunty Shirley.

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We came to Bukit Botak, where the sun was shining down hard on us. I didn't expect it to be so hot because earlier, we heard thunder rolling across the sky every now and then and it didn't look as though it was a sunny day. But it was really hot. I think I got a little sunburned from that stretch.

CP 7 came and we rested for a while.

And then we climbed and climbed. It was never ending.

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Towards the last leg of our climb, we met others who were on their way down. It was really steep and I didn't want to think about how mashed up I would be if I were to slip and fall.

Seeing Winnie slightly ahead of me gave me a surprise. She was behind me by a good 15-20 minutes. It was later when I realised that some of them took a shorter route up. Gosh! If I had known, we wouldn't have wasted our energy on those precious 15-20 minutes. Aunty Chris almost cursed me for that. Haha!

We finally arrived at the summit at 2pm. I think we were only up there for 5 minutes. It was not as windy as the last time I was there.

Then we went down again, to a small clearing where the rest were waiting, with HOT, streaming coffee, curry chicken, pita bread and dried meat. We had a quick lunch and descended at 2.30pm.

I volunteered to be with the kids because I knew that they would race each other down. Just about 100 -150 meters, we sudenly came to a halt. I was told that this lady wanted to answer to nature's call - in a big manner and that she was a little further down, so we gave her a little time (like about 5-10 minutes) before I got sent down to see if she had already done what needs to be done.

I called out. No answer. I walked further and kept calling her name. The others came when they realised that she is no where to be found. We got a little worried. In case you didn't know, Gunung Ledang is known to be a spooky mountain where one could get lost easily. The guide helped by going off to another trail while I kept calling her name and asking if she was done. Finally, we heard an "okay" and continued.

A little later, we were told that she was already with another group in front.

We were moving at a very fast pace (to make up for lost time) when all of a sudden, we came to a halt, again. There was a group in front of us who were going at snail's pace. The kids were, by that time, quite impatient and made remarks such as "Why so slow?", "Go faster-lah" and were actually reprimanded by someone in that group. We found out that one of them sprained her ankle and was holding up everyone else.

We couldn't do much except to follow behind at such a crawl because of the narrow pathway. Well, actually we tried to move past them but they didn't really allow us space. Finally, our guide called the other guide to stop for a while to let us through. We mumbled our thank yous while overtaking them.

Once we were on our own, we moved very quickly and soon lost sight of the other group.

CK and the children went down so fast and waited for us

It rained for about 40 minutes and the pathway was a little slippery. That didn't stop us from practically running down the mountain. We wore our ponchos to avoid getting severely wet. Someone didn't bring one and used his orange backpack cover over his head. For a moment, he really looked so funny. Like someone with this mob of orange hair. Too bad it was raining and I kept my camera in my backpack to prevent it from getting wet.

It was a little dark when we reached CP1 and I thought it was already 6.20pm. I was getting quite worried about the fact that I might need to walk in darkness (I did bring 2 torches, though).

When I reached the steps, I breathed a sigh of relief. I ran down happily.

It was only at the base that I realised that it was only 5.25pm. Gosh!!! It took me less than 3 hours to get to the base. I think if it were not for the two halting episodes, I would've gotten down much faster. Nevertheless, I was really happy with this record .... though I was just as disappointed that it took me 6 hours to summit (compared to 5 hours previously).

The cold bath was REALLY great. I felt so refreshed.

Sirdar helped carry this rope towards the last 2 CPs down

The last person down was Winnie, who sprained her ankle. Poor girl. Messner and Boey accompanied her. It was 7.30pm then and they looked so washed out.

Steve looked pretty washed out too, due to the fact that he had to carry the ropes, plus help do other stuff.

Truly, what Messner, Sirdar, Boey and Steve did was commendable. They helped the weaker ones and ended up getting so wiped out.

Dinner was at the same place (can't remember the name) and this time, we didn't have weird food because Johnny ordered, not Sirdar. Dinner came to about RM502 for 2 tables (23 people).

I went back with Messner and had to keep him awake by talking to him. Well, I volunteered to drive but he didn't take me up on my offer. Hmmm.... probably afraid that I might do a 160 with his 4 wheel drive.

I got back at 11.45pm, tired but happy.

Overall, the climb was great. I got to know so many new people. This team consists of some people from Ledang 1, some from Ledang 2 and about 6-7 new faces.

Bravo everyone, for making it to the top - especially Aunty Chris and Aunty Shirley (because thier very first climb was only a month ago and this Ledang climb was their second)

Vegetarian for 10 Days

I've always thought that I could be a vegetarian because I love the greens. Plus, I don't take red meat, pork and most fish.

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For the recent Ablaze programme, I decided to skip a meal and be a vegetarian for 10 days.

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Guess what? It was really difficult. I broke the vegetarian diet on the first day itself, when I was sick and weak and had to eat chicken porridge to regain strength. On the second day, I went mountain climbing. I figured I needed energy, so I ate meat. On the third day, I forgot that cakes have eggs and broke the diet.

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Finally, on the 4th day, I managed to stay on non-meat diet the WHOLE day.

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Dear hubby loves meat and claimed that eating non-meat meals is against his religion (!!!!). On the 4th day, I cooked Spaghetti Alfredo - very fattening, but hey, it's vegetarian. And yeah, dear hubby got conned into being a vegetarian for a meal.

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On the 5th day, I had rojak for lunch and broccoli with onions for dinner. Yummy!!!!

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I wonder what the next 5 days would be like. I have come to realise that being a vegetarian is tough and requires lots of discipline, especially when I have to stay off eggs. Also, when I went to the Nasi Kandar restaurant in Subang yesterday, the sotong sambal looked so appealing. Gosh! I was really tempted to take a bite of that succulent sotong. Mmmmm.....

Birthday Boy

We celebrated dear hubby's birthday after cell.

Most of us were doing a Daniel fast for 10 days but for this particular day, we fasted one meal, so that we could enjoy the delicious food made by Charlene and Shannon's mum.

We also celebrated Sarah and Rebecca's birthdays too. Their birthdays fall on the 28th of May but because of the combined prayer meeting on the 29th which replaced cell on tat day, their parents decided to buy the cake one week early.

We were practically feasting during this 10 days of fast. hehe!!!

Sick

I don't really get sick very often but when I do, I'd suffer a lot.

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Last Thursday, I went to work feeling a little weak. I had a lot to do at work and decided to finish everything before I succumb to collapsing.

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By 9.40am, I was just too weak to even think, so I left the office. I had cold sweat and was feeling weaker by the minute. Driving back was a long torture. The moment I arrived home, I collapsed onto my bed (err.. it was super hot, I made time to switch on the air-cond and fan)

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By 11am, I was still feeling weak and knew that I needed more than an hour's worth of rest. So I slept until 11.30am.

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Feeling groggy, I went back to work. I lasted only 1 hour before I felt terrible again. I just couldn't focus on anything at all. It was then that I decided that I needed to take a day off to rest.

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I left the office for the second time that day.

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I called dear hubby, told him my condition and asked him to pack a MacDonald's porridge for me. He was kind enough to oblidge, despite his heavy schedule.

I went back and guess what? Cars were everywhere. Parents were waiting for their children just outside the school. And the bad news is, I couldn't even ask the drivers to remove their cars from the road fronting my house ... simply because they were not in.

These two Wiras blocked my gate

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I went further and parked my car elsewhere.

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Once again, the moment I reached home, I collapsed.

Dear hubby came back a little later with my lunch. Yummy!!!I was feeling super hungry by that time because I fasted in the morning.

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He even drove my car into the porch area later. So sweet of him, yeah?

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By 2.30pm, I was feeling a lot better and very much wide awake. I decided to make full use of my leave (I didn't see a doctor and will be applying for emergency leave) by making a birthday card for dear hubby, going to the Socso Office and to church to see what can be salvaged from last year's Kidz Safari.

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That night, I went for class and even though I didn't feel 100% well, I enjoyed the class and was able to absorb what was being taught.

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In hind sight, falling ill forced me to take a break from work PLUS allowing me to get all the errands done. :)

Happy Birthday Dear Hubby

Ablaze

Ten days of fasting and prayer begins TODAY.

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There are 4 different types of fasting:-

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Total Fast

Abstain from solid food for 24 hours. Take only water.

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Partial Fast

Abstain from solid food for an extended part of the day. Take only water. The duration of the fast is 12 hours begining from 7am to 7pm.

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One Meal Fast

Sacrifice one full meal a day e.g. lunch, dinner. The fast should last until the next meal.

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Daniel Fast

Abstain from meat and other favourite delicacies. Take only small portions of vegetables, fruits and juices.

I will most probably do a one meal fast (breakfast) and daniel fast for 10 days. Hmm.... except for the 23rd, I guess ... because I need my energy for a mountain that I am going to conquer :-)

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Other than that, there's a mountain to move through fasting and prayer.

Simple Minds

Teacher's Day was last Saturday.
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An 8-year old boy came home from school on Friday to ask his mother if she has anything for him to give to his teacher. Sadly, she said that she didn't have any money to buy a gift for his teacher.
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He looked around the house and his gaze fell on the plates that they used for their meals. He grabbed one of them and asked, "What about this? Can I give this plate to my teacher?"
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children ...... theirs minds are so simple, uncomplicated.

Bought in Melbourne, Made in China

My twin recently went on an impromptu trip to Melbourne. My strict instructions were : Buy me a jacket and a good pair of hiking shoes. And she came back with these.....

A torch light! now, you might wonder why she went ALL the way there to get me something that I could easily get here. Well, this torch is special in a sense that it's not battery operated. All I had to do was to squeeze it a few times and it is charged. One minute of squeezing can last 20 minutes of light. Awesome!

Thermal wear. And yes, she bought me a CHILDREN'S thermal wear. I haven't tried it on yet but she assured me that it fits.

Yeah, I know. Malaysia is NOT the country to wear this. I suppose one day I would get to go to the North Pole and I guess I would need all the help I can to keep me warm.

Socks!!! It seems that people like to get me socks when they go to Australia. Twin bought me FOUR pairs of socks and one pair of leggings.
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Ah! The hiking shoes that I wanted. I love the colour, the shape and best of all, the soles. This pair looks pretty sturdy to me.

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A pair of scissors. I love stationeries. And this pair can join my other 25 pairs as part of my collection.

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A fleece jacket. I had a jacket which I bought in the US a few years ago. It was water proof and can be used on both sides. After a few trips to the dry cleaners, the "skin" of the jacket began to peel. I suspect it was because they made some kind of mistake when handling it the last time it was sent there.
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Twin couldn't get what I wanted and decided that this fleece jacket would do for now.
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14 packs of sugar-free chewing gums for dear hubby. About a month ago, Christina brought back 8 packs and it was finished within 2 weeks!!! So dear hubby requested for more.
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Jar opener. A few weeks ago, I tried to open a "steffi's" jam bottle. I couldn't. Then I asked my hubby to open it. He couldn't. Eunice couldn't either. MCTC? Well, yeah, he was able to open it within 3 seconds! Bravo!!! Hence the above gift.
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And a bag to store all my stuff.
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Most, if not all of what I received were made in China but the quality was very good.

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Seeng all these stuff makes me think of Christmas day, when I open my presents and discover so many good stuff. :)

Low Cholesterol Levels Increases Cancer Risk

A forwarded email ...........

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American College of Cardiology

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For years, I've been telling my patients that the medical establishment' s obsession with lowering cholesterol to prevent heart disease is causing more harm than good.

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If your doctor continues to get you worried about your high cholesterol levels, here's a bit of news for you...

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In fact, your high cholesterol may be protecting you from cancer.
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Today, I'll explain the truth behind the myth of cholesterol, and show you how to achieve heart health naturally.
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A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology revealed that driving down cholesterol levels actually increases the risk of cancer.
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Researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine found that among people taking "statin" drugs - like Lipitor and Zocor - there was a higher rate of cancer. Although the link between the drugs and cancer wasn't clear, there was no doubt that drastically low cholesterol levels correlated to cancer risk.
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The big drug makers continue to sell the notion that the best way to fight heart disease is to lower LDL levels, the so-called "bad" cholesterol.
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Yet 75 percent of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.
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It makes sense that low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer because cholesterol is one of your body's basic building blocks. You need it to produce testosterone, to build and repair cell membranes, and to preserve your nerve cells through the formation of the protective "sheaths" that cover them.
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Starving your body of this critical substance will lead to other health problems. We already know that extremely low cholesterol levels result in muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, decreased sex drive, and "brain fog."
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This new research shows that there may be even more deadly consequences.
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What really matters is not low "bad" cholesterol, but high levels of HDL, the so-called "good" cholesterol. As long as you have a high HDL count - 75 to 80, for example - it doesn't matter whether your total cholesterol is 150 or 350. A high HDL will always keep your risk of heart disease extremely low.
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So why haven't you heard this already? It may be because there's no drug that effectively raises good cholesterol levels . You can only effectively do it naturally.
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Consume natural fats. Avoid processed or fast foods containing "trans" fats - these man-made substances were never meant for consumption , and your body doesn't know what to do with them. They wind up clogging your arteries and putting you on the fast track to heart disease.
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Instead, get your fat from free-range or grass-fed animals, eggs, nuts, and unprocessed vegetable oils. These are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. (As with all foods, look for organic or minimally processed options whenever possible.)
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The health benefit of these natural fats comes from their balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Your body needs both but, as with c cholesterol, they have to be in balance. Omega-3s are great for your heart.
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They've been shown to prevent irregular heartbeat, reduce clogging of the arteries, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation in body tissues.
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If you stick to eating natural fats, you'll automatically get the right ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3, which is about 2:1. As an added bonus, you'll automatically raise your "good" cholesterol levels and you'll reduce your risk of cancer.

The Early Bird Catches The Worm

Well, in my case, I got a gift voucher to stay a night at a certain hotel in KL.

Last month, dear hubby and I attended an Awards Nite dinner and those who arrived before 7.30pm were entitled to participate in an Early Bird Lucky Draw. I really didn't expect to get anything at all.

And suddenly, I heard my number being called!!!

I was actually eyeing other lucky draw prizes such as a laptop and .... oh dear, I can't remember other grand prizes. Well, I guess God knew that I didn't need any of those gifts and I needed a holiday NEAR A SHOPPING MALL a.k.a The Pavillion!!! Wohoo!!!

En At Bukit Kepayang

I don't know how Esther did it but En actually gave up her Saturday sleep-in time to get to Bukit Kepayang. It was En's first climb up this small hill.

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Esther fetched all of us (En, Joel J, Jian and I) there and we started our climb at 6.55am - in the dark. We were already 10 minutes late.

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En had very good stamina - being the lightest and youngest of the group. Both of us went on ahead while the two guys kept Esther company.... about 30 meters behind us.

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When we reached the top, En rang the bell. She looked back and commented that her mum looked like one small black dot (I don't understand the black part because Esther was wearing white).

The gentle breeze soon dried our sweat and we lazed about. We met Peter and Helen Lai and chatted with them.

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Soon, it was time to go down, and boy! were we so reluctant to do so. En concluded that going up is easier than going down.

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Breakfast was at Ah Seng's coffeeshop (Joel J, Jian and En had breakfast while Esther and I had a drink each) and after that, Esther fetched us all back.

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What a good way to start a day - exercise and fresh air!!! :)

Dad's 65th Birthday

We celebrated dad's birthday in a dim sum restaurant one day after his actual birthday.

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I thought he was 62 or 63 years old because we'd just celebrated his 60th birthday recently. Well, that was FIVE years ago, someone added. Gosh!!! Time passes by so very quickly. To me, he'll always be the young, handsome dad who's athletic and fit.

Almost Kissed Another

I was driving to work one day. In front of me was a Saga BLM and further front was a huge bus. The bus signalled left and stopped to take in passengers. The Saga overtook the bus and I followed suit.

It was a three lane from then onwards with two lanes favouring the other side of the road. Because the road is winding and an accident prone area, double lines were drawn to ensure that we stick to our own lanes.

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So there I was, cruising at about 70kmph when the Saga suddenly stopped and wanted to make an illegal u-turn.
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I hit the brakes. Hard.

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The tires screeched. I closed my eyes, anticipating a loud crash. And my heart? It almost flew out of my body. I was dangerously close to getting a heart attack.

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My car stopped. I didn't hear a bang. And I opened my eyes, slowly.

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I was just inches away from the Saga.

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Phew!!!!!

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It took me a few seconds to collect my thoughts and mentally cursed the Saga for being so inconsiderate. The car was taking up 1/4 of the narrow road and there was no way I could've overtaken it without crossing onto the on-coming car lane.

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After what seemed like a full minute, I realised that there might be other cars at the back of me ... which thankfully, there was none.

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I moved on ahead, veering to the right to avoid hitting the Saga. And no, I didn't give the driver any dirty looks. I kept my cool and looked straight ahead.

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Had it not been my new and powerful car brakes (and also my driving skills), I might've rear-ended the Saga.

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Thank God for His protection.

Further on ahead, there is a lot of space for anyone who wants to make a u-turn, although it's still illegal as it's just around a very sharp bend.

Bookworm

Look at this girl??? She just borrowed "The Works of Shakespeare", a book which is about an inch thick, from Rajen.

I don't believe it!!!! She's only 9+ years old!!! When I was her age, I was only reading books by Enid Blyton. Beyond that, no other authors existed.

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And even now, I don't think I would ever pick up a book like that to read.

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Gosh!! En really surprise me by her reading habits.