The first hike back in May, it rained cats and dogs when we were half way up the mountain. The trips after that, either the clouds held on long enough or cleared for us to have a wonderful trip.
The day started of wet – it had rain almost the entire day on Saturday. I thought surely it would be a nice sunny Sunday. I was wrong.
When we arrived at FRIM before nine, the rain was a drizzle. We were hopeful that when everyone has arrived, the rain would cease completely. I didn’t expect a complete transformation into a bright sunny day – that would be too much to ask for.
The cosmos must have been displeased – it poured even more naturally recycled water on us. And everyone else who were there to jog or to picnic.
Though clearly, some people didn’t mind the rain; they continued running in soaked tees. And no, they weren’t terribly cute.
There were a few new faces – Justin, John, Simon, Brian and Thomas. When all had arrived, we waited at the cafĂ© to let the rain run its course – which thankfully was at its tail end as we could start our nature walk at about ten.
First object of interest – a pond with the largest fish in er ... Malaysia or somewhere, which I can’t remember because I am
Blame it on the murky water and the rain.
Next, world’s largest bamboo. I have seen it before in Kota Kinabalu, but still it was great to snap another photo of it.
As we entered the forest trail, the canopy provided enough shelter to keep us reasonably dry. I was happier than I was earlier and hoped that it would stay that way.
Sigh, this is getting dull.
The monthly trips are pretty uneventful – it’s the people that make it interesting.
The outings are basically just an avenue for us to socialize and have fun.
Let’s cut to the more interesting bits – the people.
With Eric Teoh amongst us, we were assured of loud, crude and obscene remark every other minute five minutes. In his own words to the first timers “You wouldn’t want to go out with a bunch of terribly boring and dull people, would you?”
I sure hope the first-timers agreed and would continue to join us for the coming trips. His loud behaviour may not necessarily sit well with some people and he could come across as brazenly brash.
Thirteen of us wanted to go on the canopy walk, but that didn’t turn out because of the rain.
Being not a naturally optimistic person, I was trying hard to stay cheery and the weather was not helping one bit.
Amongst the newcomers, Justin looked extremely familiar and I tried to place where I have met him.
He is in his final year and obviously a couple of years younger. Heck, we even stayed in the same hostel, though
I was in my final year in 2003 and he entered the university in the same year. I have noticed Justin before, as my gaydar was bleeping madly whenever I saw him, but I never spoke to him during uni days.
On the other hand, he thought that I looked exceptionally like a friend of his, whom it turns out is my brother. Which is like duh!
Sigh, this has happened more time than I could remember. People are always commenting that my brother and I look exceptionally alike, as if we were twins.
Though sometimes, people do correctly recognize that we are brothers. Then they go shoot themselves in the foot when they say that I am the younger brother.
Anyway, we started talking about the cute guys in our university. People whom we both know are gay, and there were quite a few.
Too bad I didn't know any of them whilst I was still studying.
Needless to say, I got along extremely well with Justin.
Then there’s John, who is 21, which makes him the youngest person in the group and had me dethroned.
You see, I was the youngest member ever since the group was formed. Not that I mind,
I have met Simon before in PT’s Sunday session. He’s quite a regular there and I had the chance to know him better. Such a sweet fellow he is; soft spoken and kind.
There’s Thomas, who looks a lot like Jerome Kugan (a local singer-songwriter) – down to the glasses and being bald. Didn’t talk much to him though, probably still shy, and he seemed to have gotten along well with Simon.
Finally, there’s Brian. Don’t know much about him, even though we shared the same car back to PJ. The only thing was that he showed us a few pictures of cute guys in his PDA – people he found to be cute or has slept with. He refused to show us the naked pics though. Hmmph.
To clear things up a bit, the person by the name of Kit who recently has been leaving comments in my blog, is NOT kitjar. He was with us on Sunday.
Kit is knowledgeable in matters regarding HIV/AIDS due to his voluntary work with PT. Nice chap he is, with clean cut looks and short hair.
Next month’s trip will take on an entirely different form; it’s still outdoors but no longer in jungles.
Described as Perak’s best kept secret, I am certain it will be fun and new for me.
Walking in cavernous chambers of limestone in pitch black darkness (well, not exactly as there we need to bring torch lights) it sounds terribly exciting and a little unnerving as I have a fear of the dark.
Caving, anyone?
3 comments:
Hahaha, thanks for your comments :) Actually most people call me Pan, as there are Big Pan and Small Pan in PT or LPG already, so I added my last Cantonese pronounced name 'Kit' in front :)
It's really a wonderful trip with all of you, everyone so cheerful and lot of jokes along the hike.
As some of us do not have umbrella or raincoat, I did cover you, John, Justin and Mak occasionally, with short chat with some of you too. Although there was no intro, I managed to find out all the guys names that still unknown to me :)
Finally, I had a nice sharing of HIV info with you at the riverbank, but I forgot your coming out stories which you posted sometime ago, otherwise I could ask more about you, hehe...
OK, I won't be back online until 30th Oct, as I will have a long long holiday starting tomorrow until 29th, and a Bali trip from 26th to 29th too :)
Take care!
Justin knows your brother ...
Oh, a different Kit! I got confused earlier, hehe. Thanks for the splainy, Derek.
Btw, how've you been? Any 'familiar' issues at hand still?
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