I couldn’t get any sleep few hours before the trip to Bukit Patoi, because I was so used to stay up late everyday and since then I didn’t managed to get my clock pattern right in time. But thankfully, even with lack of sleep, I enjoyed the entire trip with migraine or sleepy-free :D
Cath & Syidah picked me up at home exactly at 7. As I got into the car, I told them I prepared sandwich tuna for lunch (as usual, any kind of trips that we have, I always make sandwich tuna because its simple bah hehe). Cath brought Mee Hoon with tom yam flavour with lots of prawns & Japanese-like sort of fishballs that her mom made it for the three of us (Cath, please do tell your mom, that her mee hoon is very sedap one & make one for me again ah but this time more spicy! :D) Meanwhile Syidah brought Jambu Air for desserts but with no mouth watering - sambui to dip with this time :( (whats the English name for Jambu air again? I forgot wheheheh)
We arrived in Bandar 5 mins later & parked the car in Kianggeh near the Jetty. Ms Ang was already there waiting for us. So we paid for the boat rides, which cost $6 per head for one way to Temburong. So each of us paid $12 which include return fee as well. It took about less than 40 mins to get us to Bangar (Temburong’s town). At first the boat ride was kinda okay since the water was calm, but once it got bumpy as hit the small waves, I started to get sea sick :s But yeah, a big round of applause to me because I managed to get off the boat at the end of the ride without puking at all :D
So we arrived in the Temburong town at 8am, then Ms Ang told me to call Dr Charles, so I dialed his number & handed my phone to her. (He is one of the lecturers in charged with the field ecology course for the first year students. His part for the course is mainly about mammal trappings. Plus he’s been in UBD for ages already even before I was born yet!). Ms Ang, “Old Man, where are you?! We already arrived in Bangar, so are you coming to pick us up or what?” Then Cath spotted Dr charles hiding behind a building column as she mentioned in her post. He chose a bad hiding spot, because the width of the column wasn’t wide enough to hide his big belly! LOL. Before heading to Bukit Patoi, Dr Charles treated us some tea in one of the local restaurants and we saw Dr Lane enjoying his roti canai & we greeted him. Then we went to the rest house where the lecturers are staying, to pick up Prof. Mohammed & went to Bukit Patoi by bus.
There were number of stairs the helped us through the entire trekking as the slopes were very steep & this was one of them
As we got there, only me, Syidah & Cath climbed up while Dr Charles stayed behind as he was doing some bird watching to list down what kind of birds species were found there. Ms Ang followed us for awhile but then stopped at the resting point as she prepared things for the mammal trapping demonstration that the juniors caught at that day. Meanwhile, Prof Mohammed walked very slow as he was analyzing the trees, the plants and other kinds of floras found there.
I was the slowest & the least fit among the three of us!! Haha Cath & Syidah were already ahead of me & few minutes later they disappeared out of sight. I stopped a lot to catch up my breath, but hey at least I didn’t give up! :D So I bravely walked alone in the forest & prayed silently I won’t get lost or meet any dangerous animals like snakes or wild bore and even white figure woman with long hair & ugly hideous face... Haha what was I thinking at that time?!! LOL
me, cath & syidah
Eventually about 30 mins later, I managed to catch up Cath & Syidah, then we travelled together. Once we reached a hut, we rested for awhile & took pictures. Then we left our bags there as we continued climbing up to the summit. Honestly, I found it was easy to climb starting from the hut to the summit but then it was hard to climb down because the slope was very steep with lots of slippery bulky rocks covered with green mosses. I even twisted my right foot :S
View from the summit, at the top of Bukit Patoi
After enjoying the summit view, we walked down until to the point where Ms Ang & the juniors were resting & gathered. The volunteers were there too & Metis who was one of them showed us his arm which was badly bitten by mosquitoes!! Oh yes, when you’re doing mammal trapping, you aren’t allow to put any kinds of insect repellent on your skin or clothes through out the entire day. Because when you’re handling the traps, it might leave smells or odors of the chemicals on the traps & the mammals tend to have high sensitivity on smelling on these even from metres away!!! Bon & Kelly were also one of the volunteers. Kelly was giddy as usual while Bon didn’t look as cheerful as he was when his gf was around. I bet he misses Zyana a lot! Haha so kesian :D
the looks on Bon's face after I mentioned Zyana's name :D
Ms Ang was busy identifying & explaining the mammals caught to the juniors
an iguana that we found in patoi
mammal trapping using banana as a bait
Jeffrey with his parang
The volunteers for Bukit Patoi '08
Then we went back to the base again & rested in the hut along with the lecturers & juniors while waiting for the buses to arrive. Dr Charles looked like Gandalf from LOTR with his walking stick and he was very goofy yesterday. Haha. We had a lot of funs joking with him & Ms Ang & we took pictures too.
From Left to right: Syidah, Me, Dr Charles & Erine
So that's it from me today guys :)
cheers!
PS: Once i got back home, i showered & sleep. My leg calves hurts like a real b*tch!! and i walk like a dead zombie! =p
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