Scouty’s Weblog

Finally experience what mountain climbing is all about. Totally shacked out… with body aching, especially the legs and knees. Left wrist is also hurting whenever I move (think have strain in with the occasional slipping down slope)

Was at Bintan over the weekend for an exchange programme between the Young Men’s Division from our Association and those from Bintan. So one of the highlight of the exchange was to climb one of the three mountains in Bintan, Gunung Bintan. Well Gunung Bintan is one of the three mountain in Bintan, and it’s the most commonly visited mountain by the locals there. So thats how we are put to the challenge to conquer the mountain.

The journey from the Association to Gunung Bintan is a 1.5 hours bus ride… so upon reaching there, one last briefing, then sprayed the mosquitoes repellent before we set off from the entrance of the mountain. Seriously just the steps up to the foot of the mountain is already taxing enough, as the steps are very steep and we could really feel the resistance from the force. So once we are at the foot of the mountain, we set off group by group. Well the first half of the journey was really challenging, with lots of steep steps to climb and also having to climb past this rock formation. To make things worse, the tracks were slippery from the rain during the previous night. So we were like trying to get over all those obstacles, while trying to make sure we don;t slip. After reaching the half-way tip of the mountain, the tracks were less taxing, as its more like a path up to the peak.

Sadly when we reach the peak, the view wasn;t anything that fascinating as the vegetation there kind of block the only view to the sea, so we could only catch a glimpse of it. But I must say the feeling of getting to the top is really wonderful, especially with the constant encouragement as a group to keep each of us going and also the comradeship that we build during the process of looking out for each other. We also realised that through-out the whole mountain climbing process, there are these 3 commonly used words, 小心, ok and 加油！

So when its time to descend down from the mountain, we realise that though it is less physically demanding, but due to the slippery ground, we tend to slip quite often. We were even joking that its time we put our track shoes to the test. However to make matter worse, we were like only 1/2 way down from the top, and it start to rain and before we knew it, the rain starts to get quite heavy and it just make the already slippery ground even more slippery. So we end up slipping quite often but lucky none of us suffered any serious injuries, just the usual abrasion from the branches while slipping or some minor scratches here and there. So we were like wet to the skin and yet still have to be really careful with the descend.

But I must say, the satisfaction level from the whole mountain climbing experience is really very wonderful. Though its really tiring especially for someone like me who is not physically fit, but its really not so much about the physical strength in you but more on the mental strength that you need to see yourself up to the top. As my friend said when we are like 1/4 during the climbing, “now we are relying on our mental strength already, as physically we are already exhausted” Which I must say its really true, cos on a few occasions, you do have the thought of giving up but then somehow with the encouragement from the other, it just keeps you going on and moving forward.

So what did I learnt from this mountain climbing… apart from experiencing the whole process for the first time, I also learnt that in life it’s like climbing up a mountain, its never going to be an easy path, more often than not, we will have to negotiate past obstacles to get to the top, but with constant support and encouragement from friends around it will make the whole process less demanding and we will be able to enjoy the satisfaction of overcoming the odds and seeing victory together in the end. Another thing is that do not always take things for granted, just because things are easy in the beginning, it doesn;t mean it will always be, just like the example of the descend down, though its less physically demanding, but the rain, just up the challenge to another level.

Well, didn’t really take much pictures of the whole thing, but will be putting up what I took within the next few days.