My Adventure of Past Nocturnal Excursions

Any sane person would find venturing into a dark and forbidding jungle at night to be somewhat intimidating. If the truth be told, during the early days of my nocturnal excursions, I had doubts of pursuing this particular endeavor. Honestly, I was scared.

Tales of missing trekkers, hidden by those of the Unseen or rubber- tappers being attacked by wild animals haunted my mind. I was an avid trekker during my school and university days, as my appreciation for nature developed early on, but all of these jaunts were done in broad daylight.

My father, a very superstitious person, never did understand this particular passion of mine. He would usually shake his head in disbelief, wondering how his eldest has chosen such an endeavor as a hobby. My mother, who had tried to dissuade me from the very beginning, could only roll her eyes as she had ran out of words to nag me with. She found out from the onset that it was exasperating to say anything as talking to me would be like talking to a brick wall.

We all have heard tales of mysterious, unexplained incidence encountered by other people. I could not deny that even I had experienced some really weird stuff throughout the years. For example, during a hike up Gunung Jerai in Kedah, my companions and I suddenly came upon a well kept garden, complete with mowed lawn and bubbling brook, when we were cutting through thick foliage moments before. We hastily made a wide detour.

Another time in Gunung Ledang, whilst on night watch, not only was I presented with unexplained balls of light playing in the trees overhead, but just a few metres away where we had designated a solat area, I could make out the 3 figures, clad in the white tudung which the muslim women usually wear during their solat, standing as in prayer. I checked the girls’ tent. They were all asleep.

Fortunately, the green lungs of the Klang Valley are not as intimidating. I have never encountered any unusual situations either in Bukit Gasing, FRIM or Genting. God willing, I will never experience any. It would just spoil the whole Frogging trip, don’t you think? Heh.

Although…. there was this particular incident in Templer’s Park last year. 8 people had gone in and I had made it a habit to constantly check our numbers then and again to ensure there were no stragglers. It would’ve looked pretty bad if I had lost somebody out there. I was getting confused as my count at times were 9. When I counted again it would be 8 again. This went on quite a bit but I kept it to myself. Fortunately, when we exited, everybody was accounted for.

Fortunately, these incidents were rare. It is not advisable to be an uber-superstitious person nor would it be too clever in being a cocky little bugger also. You would only need a healthy respect for Nature and hopefully learn to appreciate her in her fullest glory along the way.