Janda Baik bukan Duda Jahat

At times, I just can’t imagine how’s the life of people who sees things in black and white, often stereotype. These people- philosophically known as post-modernist – do not realize that things should be put multi-coloured, and that people have multiple ways in conveying messages. To share, people may blog. And people may just prefer facial expressions and body gesture, too. Nevertheless, more often than not, words on papers might be too heavy for some that they talk a lot to share. To have a pillowtalk, to nag macam maknenek, to rant, to vlog, and to blablabla….

Oh well, the not-so-long introduction would be enough to explain why I’m not quite in the mood to blog lately. Tu je nak cakap… yeah, you get my point there. =.=

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My last weeks of my third semester is hectic that I can’t barely breathe eventhough the semester exam had passed breeze. Nak cari masa senggang walaupun sebentar pada waktu malam memang sangat payah. Sekejap-sekejap ada ‘meeting’, sekejap-sekejap ada je orang yang longgokkan ‘task’ kat aku.

And it was because of these busy-ness that I joined persatuan silat cekak ustaz hanafi trip to Janda Baik; well, to have a kind of retreat I guess, besides taking care of trip’s budget (sebenarnya memang terus ambil alih tugas daripada dia… hoh) from this problematic egomaniac advisor that can’t deal situations of college’s administrative formalities. Oh gawd, I better stop lamenting.

However, the juniors’ committee did their best job in preparing activities for us. And it was a clear manifestation though through this event that I, somehow lose my touch to nature (not in a sense of being a greenthumbers). 

Janda Baik was, and still is, a land above wind that constantly humid with mosses and lichens on tree barks but surely there are times when heat is intolerable at certain days in a year. If my memory serves, I still remembered those days when Janda Baik was rumored by the elders where ghosts, pontianaks and spirits roamed the area and children were threatened not to play outside as dusk subsided. Globalisation, however, fades the beliefs as people and international tourists thronged here. Including us, the locals… :P

masterchef... sape lg kalau bukan ayap.

We checked into a resort named Centella Asiatica in the first day. ‘twas a resort with balanced details of softscapes and hardscapes I can say. We had bbq later at night and played fifa games while eating and conducted internal masterchef competition. All things went easy until later at midnight that I realized the kiblat direction in the surau deviated at about more than 10 degrees. The heck..?!!! Nasib baik ada bulan sebagai panduan, dan Allahlah yang menentukan perjalanannya. =)

The next day we went jungle trekking. The track was slippery all the way up to the waterfall because it was raining the night earlier. Leeches were expected to drain out our blood, but not a single bloodsucker managed to catch my legs although I just wore a three-quarter and short socks. I was delighted about this, also with the fact that there’s other members who were attacked by many leeches even though diorang pakai seluar panjang siap masuk dalam stoking… hahaha.

tanak nasi dalam buluh

I could still recalled childhood memories of being wandering in the dusuns with my uncle in the back of my mind when I was at the age of four, I think. Dusun durian that belongs to my late grandfather (may Allah bless him) in Gua Musang was very dense back then that there’s a few occasion I was been chased by wildboars and also an encounter with Pak Belang. Leeches were abundant and they loved sticking their suckers in my small tiny legs after a vacation into the dusun, but, to my continued amazement, I found hardly any leeches under my uncle’s sarong. That, I thought was very awesome. It was only then, that my uncle shared his magic tricks of getting leech-free in jungles, with wearing only slippers.

Lata Tampit was a sight to behold, with its 7-levels near-vertical waterfall. Our jungle guides were very generous in sharing us jungle survival tips. They explained the ways to cook rice in bamboos, to ssiang ikang, to carefully select the edible jungle herbs, to differentiate the onaks and duris and many more. Dah macam tak payah buat Duke Of Edinburgh Awards kot… hahah!!!

buluh sebagai cawan pinggan mangkuk hayun

It has been a very long time from my previous adventure into the jungle, and the only part that I think I’d lost my touch of nature is, to be aware of the surrounding while trekking. I looked to the earth most of the time that I neglect what’s above, beside and behind me. And it was of this track-focusness that I bumped onto an overhead bamboo. Sudah terhantuk baru nak terngadah.

Magically, nevertheless, I kept my coordinates intact. The skill of affirming north, south, east and west as well as the position of sun’s ecliptic trails were ingrained solidly in my semiconscious mind, I think, as I walked down the track. This skill, as I asked the elderly people, is common amongst anak laut, not jungle people. And oh, penguins are the sifumaster of this skill….