it’s my life

Location : Asahan, Melaka

Height : 1276 metres

Group : Monkey D Luffy Crew

On 20 March 2009, Friday, my crew decided to go on an adventure to Mount Ophir. We, Monkey D Luffy Crew consisted of the usual four (me, Shajudeen, Khairil, Ariffian) and another 3 ladies, Ariffian’s colleagues. (Why Monkey D Luffy? Well, it’s just so cool to be them…plus I was wearing a straw hat!)

Anyway, why Mount Ophir? Someone suggested to go there and the rest of us being long time adventurers, just blindly agreed. (I found out that 2 of the crew didn’t know what Mount Ophir was…I’m one of the 2…)

We went there by train after meeting up at Chinatown where Sanji (Ariffian the cook) was working. Most of the crew was either working or studying or was in intensive gaming. It was a rush getting there as we needed to buy some last minute equipment like gloves and …gloves. (Which I didn’t use throughout the whole trip cause I bought a pair meant for washing the dishes…)

Getting on the train was easy but later we found out that someone bought a pair of tickets that would land 2 of the crew a station short of the destination, Segamat. It just so happen that me and Tony Tony Chopper (Shajudeen the student) volunteered to be refugees on the train for that one station. We decided to hide at the cafeteria and was lucky enough to have met a nice conductor that let us off for that journey. We were saved.

After arriving at the destined station, we took a cab to Gunung Ledang Resort. Arriving at the resort, the nice receptionist was actually waiting for us eventhough it was late and she wanted to go home. We reached there at around 2230hrs. The plan was for us to pack for the next day’s hike then sleep…Well this and that and a whole lot of nonsense was the night’s activity.

When we got to the mountain the next day, after a whole lot of last minute arrangements and clearing up done by Sanji, we got a guide and went up. The guide was nice and patient enough with the crew. A whole lot of things happened. Having to clear 8 checkpoints to reach the summit, we left the girls at no.5 due to the strenuous remaining journey up. It was a beautiful place where nature lovers would definitely enjoy the atmosphere and appreciate the landscape and untouched nature.

After we left the girls at the stream at no.5, we climbed and almost vertical cliff while questioning ourselves why did we go on… The remaining journey was really tough. It took us about 6 hrs to reach the summit from the bottom. A lot things happened too like a near death situtation for Usopp (Khairil) and leg cramps for Chopper and me. Having to deal with dehydration, exhaustion and hunger, we carried on to the peak and was rewarded with a beautiful scenery. Resting and taking in the view at the summit, Sanji gave Chopper his birthday present there. Chopper was really surprised! It was really worth the suffering once you reach the summit. We thanked God for letting us do this.

Going back down took us about 3-4 hrs. It was geeting dark and something happened along the way. Chopper was too exhausted and having complications of previous knee and foot injuries slowed us down. It was a desperate attempt to reach the safety of the base camp before it gets dark. Everybody pitched in to help. Fighting for survival, we managed to get down before it was completely dark. Why fighting for survival? Well a few sightings and a certain smell got me and Chopper, being the last 2 crew members, down in a rush, hehe.

It was really a good hike! We got back to the resort and had a big celebration with food from almost the whole menu that they provide! We have conquered a mountain!