"Save the Rainforest" Walk - 29 Mar 2014

By XianJin:

The "Save the Rainforest" Walk was organized by an NGO, PEKA, to create an awareness of the importance of rainforests in Malaysia. This was their first 'in-city' forest walk at Sungai Besi forest reserve in Cheras - near to our home so all the more we should support this event. In teams of two, we had to walk about 8km (which was far for me) from Alam Damai park to the forest and back. Over 2,000 participants took part, and the place was crowded and chaotic.

Already feeling tired from the previous day, I was determined to complete the Walk. Each participant was given a goodie bag (with an energy bar, a water bottle and food vouchers). I couldn't imagine how tough 8km was at that time, thinking it's OK, not knowing what was to come.

I took part with my father and brother, along with our friends so there're 6 of us in 3 teams.

A briefing and a warm-up session. I couldn't wait to start.

After what seemed like hours, the Walk began. The crowds were pushing to get to the starting point. 

From the park, we've to walk more than 1km to the forest. I already felt hot and tired. We couldn't move any faster because of the crowds.

Finally we reached the entrance to the forest. There're checkpoints to ensure our safety so we needn't be worried. 

PEKA has arranged a tree planting activity for us. The forestry department will then follow up with the maintenance of the trees and reporting to PEKA after the Walk. So for the time being, this forest will be spared from saws and land clearing. I was surprised that there were people who love nature so much and willing to do anything they could to save rainforests. 

There were several challenges on the way which made the Walk more interesting. 

Solving a puzzle before we could move on.

Getting the soil and fertiliser for tree planting. I was enthralled by the scenery of the beautiful forest.

I was annoyed by the lack of coordination. I had to wait for a long time for the people to cross certain places, like climbing up the forest in a single file. And there were people who cut queue which was rude.

The missing plane, MH 370, was a big blow to us, not to mention the relatives of the passengers. There were people who couldn't hide their feelings for the missing plane.

The climax of the walk - each team was given a dedicated hole to plant a tree. We finally unloaded our soil and fertiliser that we had carried for half the trek. We quickly planted our sapling. Wondering about the fate of our sapling which would be a tall tree .... in years to come.

A healthy sapling was planted...

Going down was pretty tough, holding on to the rope to prevent from slipping or falling. But then I still could not help being distracted by the sounds and sights of mossies.

We finally reached the road to the finish line, but we brought back the mud and dirt from the forest.

Though I was staggering to the finish line because of my super tired legs, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to do it again.

Stopping at the roadside for coconut water. It's sooooo refreshingly good. Besides, this is how a couple of coconuts can help you find things..... :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's
Read more