The loud clashing of metal against metal woke everyone up. Anna spied at her watch and it showed her the time was 5:33 a.m. Sticking her head out of her tent, she saw Bruce and Janice each had a spatula in their hands, banging it against the bottom of an empty pot. When Janice spotted Anna’s grouchy expression, she laughed out loud and banged harder. The next forty five minutes saw everyone washing themselves up by the well. Some of the guys were mocking the girls for bringing a barrage of facial wash and what nots on a camping trip. Everyone had to haul their own water through a bucket attached to the pulley and Gabriel aided both the girls to get theirs. Anna couldn’t help but to marvel at the sight of his biceps and triceps rippling in action to which Wei Yee teased ‘Look into a mirror and you know what you’ll see? A love struck dumb blonde’. Anna playfully smacked Wei Yee’s buttocks for that comment.
Breakfast was simple yet satisfying. They feasted on baked beans, canned tuna mayo, sliced bread and an assortment of Malay kuih generously supplemented by Pak Awan. Bruce then announced that the first activity for the day would be abseiling. This brought a thunderous applause from majority of the guys. Slipping their feet back into their mud soaked shoes, they trudged up to a little hill with a steep drop on the other side. Pak Awan briefed everyone on the proper methods of abseiling. No hero antics would be tolerated and that safety is their utmost priority at all times. Each of them had to select a partner of almost equal weight so that one can serve as an anchor while the other abseiled down. After putting on their helmets and fastening their harnesses, the group proceeded to the edge of the hill. With Bruce serving as anchor, Pak Awan demonstrated how it ought to be done. In a matter of minutes, the old man’s feet were both firmly planted on the foothill. He then motioned for the rest to begin.
Seeing that Anna was to abseil down before Wei Yee, Gabriel set himself to go as well but Steve came to ask if it is ok he went first. Weary in the beginning, Anna soon got the hang of it and was thoroughly enjoying herself. A couple of feet above her, Steve yelled ‘Hey Anna, wait up’. Anna stopped descending and it gave her a chance to catch her breath. When they were shoulder to shoulder, Steve grinned at her and said ‘Let’s go slowcoach’. They were almost half way down when Steve voiced out ‘Hey Anna, I just needed to ask you something ok’. Anna eyed him curiously and said ‘Shoot’. He inhaled deeply and blurted ‘By any chance, is Wei Yee seeing anyone at the moment?’ He didn’t dare look at her when uttered that question. Anna burst out cackling like a hyena and almost lost her balance. That earned her a nasty reprimand from Pak Awan. The guide wasn’t going to allow anymore hiccups after yesterday’s incident. After finding her composure, Anna said ‘Oh Steve. Haha. I never knew you had a thing for Wei Yee’. Steve looking embarrassed replied ‘Ok. Just forget I asked and don’t you go telling Wei Yee anything you hear’. He was suddenly very focused on reaching down below. ‘Hmmm, if I were her, I would be very grateful and not to mention, impressed by your display of bravado yesterday. We girls like that in a guy you know,’ Anna answered. His face glowed and said ‘You think I have a shot then?’ ‘You never try, you’ll never know Steve. You do realize we only live once right,’ she encouraged. ‘Yea,’ he said nodding to himself as both of them stepped foot on solid ground simultaneously.
By the time everyone have had their chance to abseil, the sun was already at its highest position of the day and that also indicated that it is lunch time. Instant cup noodles were passed around and most of them slurped on second helpings. They then savoured on some delicious bubur cha cha (sweet potatoes & yam in coconut milk dessert) courtesy of Pak Awan’s wife.
A free-and-easy session was allocated for the early afternoon. The students were allowed to roam around within a fifty meter radius of the camp site’s vicinity. Led by Gabriel and armed with their cameras, some of them ventured out hoping to catch breath-taking snapshots of what Mother Nature had to offer. Anna and the rest chose to take it easy and linger in their respective tents to rejuvenate from the earlier vigorous activity.
‘You know, a most peculiar thing happened during lunch time,’ Wei Yee said to her tent-mate. ‘Oh? Do tell,’ Anna replied interestedly. ‘Well, it’s probably nothing but Steve came up to me and sort of asked me out on a date, I think,’ Wei Yee said in a bashful manner. ‘And what did you say to him?’ prodded Anna excitedly. ‘Errr, I say I’ll consider it and let him know,’ Wei Yee answered. Anna laughed and replied ‘How typical of you. You know, when it comes to these kinda things, you think too much. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow and see where it leads to. You might be pleasantly surprised to find the answer in the end’. ‘And being trapped in the jungle with Gabriel makes you a love doctor now?’ Wei Yee said mockingly. ‘Speaking of which, tell me everything that happened with him or I swear I’ll tickle you till you die of laughter. I want to know every single detail,’ Wei Yee threateningly joked. And so Anna spilled it all to her best friend. After all, they share no secrets between each other.
In the evening, Pak Awan escorted the entire group to a stunning waterfall hidden deep within the jungle like a buried treasure not meant to be discovered. On the way there, Gabriel was walking by Anna’s side. ‘So what was it that was going on between you and Steve earlier?’ he tried to sound casual. ‘It was nothing. Not any of your business anyway,’ she tried playing hard-to-get. ‘Oh ... ok,’ he sounded hurt. ‘I was just messing with you, silly. Steve’s got a crush on Wei Yee. So he’s sort of asking me to help him out,’ she explained. She was glad to know he was capable of being jealous. ‘Oh, haha. I should’ve seen that coming. He was acting kinda weird last night in the tent, as if totally lost in deep thought. I guess he must be thinking ‘bout her. Looks like the jungle rubbed off some of its magic on them too,’ he said. It was then that he tried to lace his fingers between hers but she dashed excitedly ahead, captivated by the beauty of a picturesque vista. From high above, the waters crashed down into a sparkling pool of jade crystal liquid. Its loud splashing muffling Gabriel's dissapointed sigh.
The boys took turns to fearlessly bomb dive from a colossal sized rock while the girls amused themselves chasing schools of red swordtails. As the sun began to set, most of them simply lazed around and permitted themselves to be enchanted by the therapeutic haven gifted by our creator. Anna spotted Steve and Wei Yee by the edge of the shore, enjoying each other’s company with a little chit chat. By instinct, she looked around for Gabriel and found him by himself, sitting on the sand banks, and leaning against a crooked tree. He was observing her and even from afar, she could tell that his eyes radiated nothing but affection.
That night, the sat around a campfire and grilled a galore of fresh seafood. Since they were scheduled to leave very early the next day, all of them wanted to make the most of their remaining time here. The students ate heartily, chatted, laughed and sang along to songs that Bruce strummed on his guitar. They also presented Pak Awan with a souvenier, the club’s T-shirt as a token of appreciation for the generosity he had bestowed to all of them. As the night drew to a close, one by one, they drifted back to their tents and capped the end of another fantastic escapade by the Outdoor Society.
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