New Year Campout in Sungai Chongkak

This post is 2 weeks late, but the memory remains.

After much talking and planning, we (Paul, Rebecca, Shanti, Reuben, Ken Yi, Vans & I) finally set out on our New Year Campout in Sg Chongkak on 31st Dec 2006. We only plan to stay for a nite, and return to civilisation on 1st Jan 2007. Well, I thought it was a different way to celebrate new year compared to shouting your heart out at the hottest party in town. Anyway both Vans & I are not much of a party goer, so this suits us. We gathered for lunch and left for Sg Chongkak in 2 cars as we were only able to check in after 2pm.

This was the chalet that we booked. There is 4 beds inside, but we came here to CAMP, so we setup our tents right next to the chalet, and used the chalet as storage, and also emergency in case it rains =)

We went for a short hike up the trail from our chalet, it led us to a dead end. So took a group pic turn back and got ready for some fun time in the water.
The cooling water was so refreshing, that we decided to sit down for some hydrotheraphy and massage, boy it was good.
And then it was BBQ time! All of us were so hungry even some of the raw fishballs tasted good. We started out with 30 chicken wings, 1 packet of fishball and crabball each, 2 packs of sausages, 6 sweet potatoes, and 4 apples. We thought it was a lot of food for 7 person, but nonetheless we managed to whack everything as we talk, and eat, and eat and talk till about 11:30pm. A closer look at our food =)
By 11:30pm, we saw our neighbours going into "doze off" mode so we thought we could continue with our countdown in the field next to our campsite. Rueben brought some firecrackers and stuff so lighted those amidst our 10, 9, 8.... 3, 2, 1 .. HAPPY NEW YEAR...!!! Boy I haven't played with these for a long long time. Couldn't get any shots of the fireworks so I could only show the guys preparing and lighting it up. The girls retreated to their tents while the guys continue to guard to the place and had a good session of chor dai di, where Rueben kept ruining my plans and Ken Yi was the ultimate winner.
The next morning, we had some "roti bakar" literally baked on the bbq pit and sausages, plus clearing up whatever food that we brought.We then cleared up the whole area and breakcamp as we prepared for our final water session before we leave the campsite.

The it was down to the waters again, for the final time. So I enjoyed some foot massage =) Here's Vans with Shanti. The guys and I were busy practising our shooting and tearing down the place that we in the end we realised that the little dam-like wall that sustained the water was crumbling and decided to rebuild it.It was about 11am so we decided to clean-up, pack our stuff and return to our home-sweet-home. After packing, we snapped our customary farewell photo in with the river behind us.We had lunch together in McDonalds before Shanti, Rueben and Ken Yi came back to my place and Ken Yi got a tour of my place. Overall it was great fun and it reminded us very much of our time in Rangers. All of us miss those camping days. Although some have opt not to join citing "old", "back pain" and other valid reasons, I'm sure they'll make it through these leisure camp if and when we have it the next time."Once a ranger, always a ranger."