Monday, January 07, 2008

Permai Beach Escapades

Can't find a better way to start this post off.



Just few months ago I visited Camp Permai in Kuching,
and God knows how many eons I've not been there.



... enough eons for me to be actually surprised with how pretty the beach is.




... and an unending eternity of me gasping at the sight of its clean ocean.

..Salty, murky ocean.



Well it doesn't really matter 'cause we weren't there to enjoy ourselves, see.


What were we there for people???


why its..
TEAM BUILDING!



The menu consisted the following :


1.) X Factor Poisonous Food Challenge
2.) Deadly Obstacle Courses
3.) Life Threatening Canoing
4.) Black Friday Jungle Tracking
5.) The Haunting Night Walk




1.) X Factor Poisonous Food Challenge

The Challenge : Each team has to gobble up their food during lunch hour.


.....


um... I don't like curry so...

IT'S STILL A CHALLENGE.




2.) Deadly Obstacle Courses


Too bad I only had a pic of it, 'cause I'm tellin' ya..

There were around 5 types of obstacles we had to go through.
See that small ladder? Look closer to the top.
You'll see small logs, tied with thin ropes.

The Mission? Walk over to the other side.

Now imagine you're shaking, wobbling as you move across slowly
looking as you pull each foot onto the next log..


SUDDENLY!


YOU MISSED ONE OF THE LOGS AND FELL! AHHHHHHHHHHHhhh!!!!!!!!



.... but you were lucky to have gripped onto its rope.


You start to wipe off the sweat trickling down your face,
took a deep breath, and asks yourself..



"How many times have I visited Mr.Goober?"




-Bad Jokes aside- We also had to walk through one thin rope,cling through small pipes, balance through two small long logs and finally climb slowly till the end. The final one?

With both hands tied, we were pushed off an edge - zipped way down in speed onto a net where our challenge ended! One small mistake would have our heads decapitated!




3.) Life Threatening Canoing


Actually, canoing was kinda fun. Sure, one drop into the sea and we'll be reborn as salty peanuts BUT, it's a life time experience to be moving about in the sea with a small canoe, paddling left, then right, as you slowly gaze into the sun set, and the sea breezing gently towards you.

Ah...life.

It took about an hour for us to reach the destination where we settled for lunch in boxes.




4.) Black Friday Jungle Tracking


Here's the plan :


Hell, it was hell. I actually SIMPLIFIED those routes we took. An hour canoing was enough to drain our puny arms. Jungle tracking? Puh-lezzz!.

It was a freaky experience, the journey started off on a deserted island.

Initially we had to chop our way into the jungle since there wasn't any clear entrance. Then we had to pluck one of the leaves and put it onto our ear, to tell the forest spirits of our friendly visit.

We were surrounded with trees that are damp, and bunch of hidden monkeys laughing hysterically. All your favourite mini me are there too - termites, ants, dead tree stumps, and oh, did I mention Snakes too?

As we wrestled more into the jungle, the darker it became.


...Things started turning chaotic when we learned that we were lost.


To top it off, our guide was tellin' us freakin' ghost stories right in the middle of the jungle!

One advice he gave was that we should always be in tune with the nature...and should anything happen, we have to pull out small trees and put it upside down so that the spirits will think we're damn bigger than them.

Ghastly stuff aside, we started climbing big rocks, jumped off ledges, and crawled through small openings..ran across rivers and even had to swing from one point to another!

...eventually we found an opening.... after 3 hours later.

Ended up at permai's camp, where we'll finally have our rest...



..or so we thought.



5.) The Haunting Night Walk
(don't read this at night)

Night came.



We were called out, and it was already pitch dark in the night.

Equipped only with a flash light, we were tasked to have a walk through the lonely jungle.



"Listen very carefully, we will identify each person with a number."

"Do not use anyone's name."

"Do not call out any insulting words."

and finally..

"When you see something, ask 'book?'"

"..and if that person replies 'pen' then it's safe."

"If however you called for book 3 times and yet receive no reply...stay silent. And wait for us."




By this time we were already shocked cold, then we were told that 'book' and 'pen' is used as a substitute for calling out names. There were cases were people called out names, and one of them heard their names called then followed... deep, into the jungle and never be found again.


Arranged in a line, we were led by our guide along the bumpy path, lit only by our torches. It was so dark we couldn't see anything but the person infront of us. We walked quite a distance...

....then suddenly I felt someone holding onto my shoulder.



as I turned back, I knew that my time had come.


... to sit down on that spot!


Yeap, we had to sit down on certain zones TOTALLY ALONE.
What's worse? They took our flash lights!


It was at that moment in my life that, for the first time ever,
I felt really, really empty as I gazed towards my other friends who still had their flash lights...

as they walked further, and further away from me, bringing the only source of light with them........ until finally, darkness came.


It was so dark initially I couldn't even see a thing. I could hear that I was sitting in front of a river, God knows what's behind me I just couldn't even turn back to look at it.


I started feeling very desperate, cold sweats trickling down, shivering...all in the dark alone. Then as I slowly regained my eye sight, I started seeing strange glows around the jungle. I thought I was outta my mind so I picked one of those glowing things up but broke it.

Then I heard something emerging from the river slowly.....floating towards my back...

Man...I never knew Atlantic was here in Kuching.


The last thing on my mind was to get the hell out of there!!!!


I had to keep consoling myself that it's a trick played by those pesky organizers!!

But good enough, after going through seemingly an eternity of just 45 minutes, I heard


.... "Book?"



PEN PEN PEN!!!!


JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!






"The peanut that yaks." - Mr.Goober

Now bearer of loom, weaver of dreams;
Come visit me also in Dream Web.

7 buzzes!:

rainbow angeles said...

Wah... very scary team building experience there you had... *shivers*

But u had fun? No? Canoing should be fun ma... ?

Permai is a nice beach! And your second pic, we took pics from that spot too ;) from the cafe or restaurant, right?

Mr. Goober said...

angel, blogging it made me remember that dark night again...wooh! nevah!!!

yeah canoe is fun, like i said, nice breeze to the face..

and yeap..a wooden cafe it is! don't think the food was good though.

Chen said...

Sounds interesting, especially those outdoor activities. I would love to take part in those team building activities that u underwent :)

Mr. Goober said...

yeah it's a great self challenge actually..eye opener.

btw, the green glowing thing was actually those glowing alga on tree branches. It gives an illusion that something just passed by.

but i don't know anything about that sound emerging from the river though.

_butt said...

man I would love this! especially the last fear-factor challenge. scary but for the thrill of it, it sure is fun! :D

Mr. Goober said...

butt, believe me, it'll be the most daunting experience in your life, Evah! :D

RaiNboW said...

I went there for Team Building too but not as extreme as urs.

But i do agree the beach is nice.. but i won't go there for pure vacation. Not even a TV available. Feel like i am living in stone age again