I went to this place:
www.serendah.com
with this bunch:
18 Malaysians, one French guy and me ( I don't know what I am ).
I got a ride with 3 of the guys who were smokers. In fact, of the entire group only 4 of us weren't smokers. Such are the statistics here in Malaysia, well especially in the urban areas. Nevertheless the air quality was really only an issue in the car, once the we departed the city and the air took on that heady sweet aroma of nature I started to feel a surge in my soul.
The size of the group made it less than ideal to be a bonding intimate nature experience but on the other hand it allowed me to meet a bunch of new people who know how to let loose and get crazy. Personally I would have preferred to separate the two occurrences but I enjoyed myself anyways. There was nothing to deny me the opportunity to sneak away once in awhile and Ascend by the swimming pool or chill with my iPod under a canopy of trees.
I was invited on this trip by Mervin, I met Mervin in Barcelona in May. He's Malaysian and was passing through Spain. Before arriving in Spain I had arranged to meet an old church friend of mine Bernardin whom I had not seen in 17 years but through the wonder of Facebook had become reacquainted with. She had moved to Italy since she had married an Italian man. Like me she too has an adventurous spirit and is on a spiritual path of her own. When she heard I was passing through Barcelona she made plans to meet me in Barcelona and it was her that introduced me to Mervin a former colleague of hers from years ago.
An interesting thing occurred on the day we left for the trip. I had not known this but Mervin planned for us to hike to Kuala Kubu Baru waterfalls. It is about an hour hike to this special place, the falls are quite spectacular and I never knew that the region had such natural treasures. The energy at this place is also unique, it is a good place to meditate. The local Ascenders that I met here recently rave about this place and we meant to organize a trip there. Well, when Mervin and the 20 of us arrived there I was amazed to see at the precise moment of our arrival by car a couple of the Ascenders there about to start their hike with their families. What a fantastic precisely timed orchestration to allow us to effortlessly congregate here!!
The overall highlight of the weekend was hiking back from KKB falls. Since there were 6 river crossings to get there, I was quite soaked upon my arrival so on the way back a couple of guys and me decided to walk in the river back. It made the trip a heck of a lot of fun, I rode the rapids on my back and got banged up a little but it was a wild experience and I was completely absorbed in the thrill of it.
Right now my direction in the next couple of months is hinging on the outcome of an interview with a company I'm interested in working with here. If that doesn't come to fruition then I'm looking at New Zealand next. I can see myself working there for 2 years. NZ to me seems like Canada but in the South. And I miss having the grand outdoors nearby. I would get back into mountaineering, backpacking, camping and climbing. This past weekend there was a 4 page spread in the newspapers here about moving to New Zealand. I took it as another nudge from the Big Guy. Oh and by yet another divine orchestration, Mervin and I both happen to know the same friend in New Zealand. What are the chances that the one person we know in New Zealand would be the same one? Her sister was part of the group of 20.
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