Thursday, April 06, 2006

Light-hearted Moments -- Part 2

It is incredible that the marathon event in Kuching actually generated about eight postings in this web site. I hope you like the photos and the reports. I would like to thank Weng and YeohSC again for sharing the photos taken by them with us. This posting will conclude the stories on happenings in Kuching.

We shall move on and tackle the next race. Read on and hope you would be amused.

Trekking

Unknowingly, Mr. K brought along a handphone charger that was placed in his trekking bag earlier. He took it out when relaxing at the peak of Mount Santubong. While inspecting his charger, I took a photo of him that looked like he was plugging into the power supply of wall socket. Was there power supply up there? (to view photo, please scroll down to the previous postings)

Master E, a slightly over-weight teenager, actually felt the strain when trekking up Mount Santubong. He commented that it would be easier to run half marathon than to trek up this mountain. Most of the time, he ran only 10km races. Hearing that remarks, his father was most happy and asked Tony to register half marathon for his son in future races.

While descending from the peak, our Mountain Sifu, being conscious of ecology of the mountain, volunteered to collect those discarded plastic bottles. He tied them in a Carrefour plastic bag and transported it by throwing it down the slope – faster and easier method. “Plaaak” the loud sound scared the hell out of everyone as though a monster was emerged and after us. After a few attempts, unfortunately, one of the throws hit Master E’s head.

While sitting on a long bench, SB and LY were seen holding the modern, retractable trekking sticks whereas Mr. K and KC were holding the sticks cut from tree branches. Holding the sticks with hands and backs straight, it was similar to one of those scenes in the Chinese movies involving the meeting of senior members of Needy Gang. In this case, the theme should be: old (sticks) meet new.

At the Waterfall

We were exhilarated when we reached the waterfall on the way down. Due to running out of drinking water, a few runners scooped water from the stream into plastic bottles and drank. The guys were seen having a super fast cooling act by taking out their shirts. Mr. K showed us the “dry cleaning” method of cleaning his body. Ms V was washing a T-shirt using the Indian laundry man’s method by splashing around the T-shirt in water.

New Leader

After resting at the waterfall, I led the way since I was the first guy that got ready. Guess what? Being first time leading the pack in trekking, I led the entire group into a wrong trail. I realized the mistake when the trail was eventually blocked by shrubs. What confused everyone was the presence of a red band – directional marker – on one of the trees. I believed that was an abandoned trail. Most of the time, I trekked as a sweeper – last person in the pack to ensure no one was left behind. Hence, I do not need the fine skill of identifying “live” trails.

The Jungle Cafe

When we safely returned to the Jungle Café at 6pm concluding our jungle hike, the whole group ordered drinks from this sweet and cute little girl. In the evening after dinner, we came to the same Café for karaoke session. She was still on duty there. While taking photos of other runners, I asked permission to take a photo of her. To my surprise, she quickly put down the cups on the table, untied and adjusted her hair, and put on her best pose. I turned around and I saw four runners laughing at me.

Later, Mountain Sifu ordered his drink of hot Milo. Yes, he required hot Milo to enhance his voice in the karaoke session. The same girl returned with five glasses of hot Milo instead. We were having a good laugh that the flash photographic shot might subsequently affect her concentration in taking orders. Our Mountain Sifu was in top form that evening singing from one love song to another, after he downed more than a glass of Milo.

One lady runner, while trying to perform the knee-bent dance number, abandoned the idea as she suddenly had the knee pain sustained when running half marathon the day before.

The Jungle Café was a quiet restaurant in daytime. However, when 23 runners patronized it in the evening, it was alive with songs and laughter. It was indeed a fun-filled evening partying together.

Bon Voyage

The brand new Airbus A320s-200 of AirAsia took only 1.5 hours for the flight when we left Kuching on Tuesday 28 March. However, it was still raining heavily after a smooth touchdown at LCC Terminal, Sepang at 7.30pm. We waited in the plane for about 20 minutes for the rain to stop. To calm the passengers, the pilot announced that the mobile ladder required extra time to connect to the exit door of the plane.

When leaving the plane, every passenger was handed an umbrella by a smartly dressed steward in coat. That was my first time walking out of a plane in umbrella. I overheard the conversation from two other passengers that budget flight was like that; don’t complain. Otherwise, fly MAS Airline and pay more.

By KC ... :-))

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