Breathtaking Broga

As crazy as my pals think I am
I managed to wake up at 4 a.m.
Dragged my feet
Just to meet
At the Trail Trekkers Den

Through the highways
To the Broga Hills
Just thinking 'bout sunrise
Brought such thrills

To our surprise
There were cars, cars, and cars before our eyes!
To think that we were crazy
To wake up so early
This just proves that
there are folks madder than we!

In pitch-black darkness
The beam of torchlights
Illuminated the winding trail
The sound of footsteps
Echoing throughout the travail

On the hill there was already a crowd
which my disturbed soul found a little too loud
Looking up to the clouds
I stopped awhile at the second peak
Just in time to see the rays peek

Eager to get away
from the incessant chatter
Towards the third summit
I began to wander

As dawn broke, a gentle breeze
Orchestrated a symphony of rustling leaves
Through the clouds of gray,
the golden sunrays made their way
Painting the world
In a psychedellic array

As the sombre, slow darkness fell away
A solitary, orange tint sung the begining of a new day
With the horizon blooming into a soft ultramarine
The surroundings danced
to a serenade of shades of green

The maestro of pigment
The conductor of colour
The spectrum's director
Is nothing else but Light
And for that I am glad
That I am blessed with sight

A lil' incident previously
Had left me rather unhappy
But after basking in such beauty
Drowned in nature's melody
I found a sense of serenity
Thus I headed down, with a wee smile
Ready again to face the days ahead of me

My First Fright

Without enough sleep the night before
I drifted to the office still caught in mid-snore
Still wondering how was I to get through the day
When a surprise stopped my yawn in mid-way

"There's a raid on today,
And the role of a leader you'll have to play"
I rubbed my eyes
The sleepiness vanished into thin air
As my jaw dropped into a stare

I gave my head a slight shake
Could it be a mistake?
But it was simply not an error
For in front of me was no one but the deputy director!

Always a team member
Never before the Raiding Officer
I took over the Ops Order
Trying to revise the law as far as I could remember!

Acts and its' Legislations
Sections and Regulations
Oh my, was I
Driven to a state of agitation!
Which fortunately had subside
After a quick revision :P

Hoping that my memory wldnt fail
With my mates I hopped onto the X-trail
Driven to the target spot
To execute the given job

Being on tenterhooks
Remembering all in the books
The raid went on rather well
And this is all I am allowed to tell

It was over finally
The fright turned out to be
A great learning experience for me

A Humbling Experience

What's 35 km long and 20km wide?
The mouth of a mutant spider?
No! It's the country's largest lake of freshwater...
Draining into the Pahang River...
Known to many as 'Tasik Bera'

To the Home of the Semelai

onto their Native Customary Land

I trode briefly

Only to be awestruck totally

by their sustainable, ecological technology

with a 600-year history

...

The making of the Stapik Bespak
or the old-age piston a.k.a. fire lighter
Was truly an eye-opener

One had to first wet a piece of the lighter

before shoving it into the chamber

which compressed air thus producing fire!

This thus makes you wonder...

to start a fire, you first need water!

Another interesting thing to ponder

is that this simple creation of combustion

has been traced back to an important invention,

one that has brought to mankind civilisation

For this was brought to Rudolph Diesel ages ago

If this does not yet ring a bell

How you got to work today is a good clue to tell

For He was none-whatsoever

but the diesel engine's Great Inventor!

The array of colours

on the womenfolks' woven mats

Is a work of art

that'll make you take of your hats

You recall classes of Seni

where strips of paper were cut with accuracy

to produce a piece of anyaman

an effort completed painstakingly

Remember that we had coloured paper

which made the task much easier

To think they only had leaves, without colour

and had to produce something much larger!

Making our own lemang

was indeed a fun treat

a seemingly easy task

but rather difficult to complete

For each block of bamboo

was rotated over a fire
thank goodness we had a good helper

or none of us would have dinner!

...

The end result

complimented with rendang

was worth two thumbs up

"YUM YUM"

The glutton in me

Just has to agree

That though prepared simply

Everything was just tasty!

Hill rice in the carnivorous pitcher
A scrumptious BBQ dinner

of free-range chicken

& fresh fish from the river
Need I say more?

Just look at the picture...

It'll make your mouth water!

As the sun sets to bring nightfall

the kompang and gong

beckoned to call
to the tunes of the Balai

the cultural dance of the Semelai

The gong player

Is a person to admire

visually impaired

she plays Just by Ear!

When asked to take a picture

a shy smile erupted from her

not glancing at the camera

portraying her simple nature

...

of to the herbal jungle

to have a look

a morning stroll

through the rubber woods we took

A modern medicine's wonder

Those herbs surely were
for the ailments they could treat

ranged from epilepsy to fever, to bloody diarrhoea!

...

Animal Trap Demonstration

Keruing Resin Extraction

Romantic Lakeside Exploration

and hence the end, of this Vacation

...

An enriching experience this has been

to see cultures, inventions, colours that I've never seen.

Reflecting back on the folks' sustainable living

I can't help but keep thinking,

who is smarter?

the City folk, or these igenuous indigenous human beings?

...

For do we really consider?

before throwing away a piece of paper

before building a skyscraper

before polluting a river

that the wonders of Mother Nature,

May soon be lost forever?