2003 °   And just this time yesterday, in the middle of the night at a campsite on Gunung Ledang, it was raining and the ground sheet in the tent was wet. Not even the sleeping bag or the army jacket could waterproof the seepage. It’s so cold outside the tent I couldn't be bothered to keep the hammock, so I just left it to soak rain until dawn. The earlier phase of the night was fantastic. Before that was dinner, followed by a cold shower in the stream near where we camped, and then followed by an enthusiastic attempt at a failed fire-making. We burnt all the newspapers sernhong brought in no time. Then we were in the tent talking about every single girl in our year in Aki. And then we digressed and digressed, until some funny noises came from outside the tent, made by some creature that managed to untie the thrash bag we left in the open. Then the rain came, and we were soon waking up with our backs wet from the ground. I decided to sleep sitting up instead. So it was a futile night. The fatigue just carried on till the next day.

Dawn, and the outside was still cold. We finished all our food for the breakfast, and cleared everything into the tent before making our way up to the summit in clean fatigue. the cramps in the thighs just built up, as much as the wind became stronger and the forest wetter. Every branch and bark was oozing water. At Botak hill we met another Singapore group who camped there on the same night we were below enduring rain. I couldn't imagine the pain of bringing our packs up through the cliffs holding on to just a rope for ascending. And the cold up there must be one of a kind. Impressive. We passed them, made our way to the summit after descending and ascending onto a rocky outcrop that stood in the cloudy air. And then we made it - to the cool, windy, and misty top of Ophir.

The descend was wobbly. I was tired and close to stumbling on every step. The downhill seems endless. But then again, the uphill was endless just as bad. Tired tired tired. I dragged my feet until we finally made it back to the reporting office at foothill, where we immediately ordered ice cream and burger to indulge in a mundane splurge and forget about the ascetic madness which we just disembark from.

The next few hours were spent on the buses. One from the mountain to Segamat, where we initially planned to take a train back home, but there weren't anymore tickets for the day and the station is partly burnt down too. So we got up a bus heading towards Johor and it was dark when we reached. The next bus brought us to JB, and dinner was at this open-air marketplace and the food is good. But I was tired. And it was close to 11pm when we crossed the causeway, so by the time I got back it was midnight. And then all is quiet again.

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