The Weekend I Was In Langkawi Part II

By Elie - 5:00 AM

Welcome back. If you have no idea what I am rambling about, you may have missed out on my post a few days ago so you'll really need to catch up here. *Cracks fingers* And so my crazy talk begins. This is going to be a REALLY lengthy post, I suggest you have a cup of joe in your hands while you go through it. Our day started out pretty early the next day and I managed to have breakfast with Elwyn as well as his roommate, Najib along with Yashna at the Spice Market Restaurant of the hotel. As you would have read in my hotel post, I was overly excited at the sight of muesli in yogurt being served there with the reason being that I figured how it could keep me fueled throughout the day in the event that we don't have the time to stop. ~~I was a genius.~~ Hungry and I don't go too well together.

Moments later, we were packed in gear and ready to move albeit through the seemingly persistent rain. I prayed hard for the sunshine the day before but clearly my prayers didn't work too well. It must come from the fact that I don't pray too much and suddenly I'm seeking Godly help. My phone was cleverly wrapped in double Ziplock bags before being put in my bag pack that morning as we had a warning of getting slightly wet. My wallet however was kept with Elwyn simply because he had a bigger Ziplock bag and that took a lot of courage to work with because my wallet is my life. Read it, not my phone but my wallet. You'll figure why later.

Our destination of the day was the Kilim Geoforest Park; over to meet the people from one of the most reputable tour companies that arranged trips that would take you into the mangrove waters for a look-see around Langkawi the way you wouldn't have imagined. They were aptly called Dev's Adventure Tours and has quite the name built up on social media as well as on Google search that gives you a results of rave reviews on TripAdvisors.com. And thus began our shock that continued through the day.

With an initial expectation of tons of walking, none of the 8 contestants were prepared enough for what came their way: water, water and more water. We began with a little drama of allowing the guys to pick if they wanted to stay on with their partner or to switch to someone else who would work with them for the day. I panicked for the second time throughout the adventure because I was worried if I had left an impression that was decent enough for Elwyn to stay put with this short bimbo. Plus, I kept my wallet with him so it would have been weird if he picked someone else. Luckily for me, he stayed. ~~I am loved.~~

Our first task sounded fairly simple: we had to build a bamboo raft out of *ahem* bamboos and strings. Heck, I didn't even learn this from National Service and I was just lost. Deep inside, I hoped my partner would know what to do otherwise we were as good as pulling out at that point of time. I also secretly wished that everyone else had no idea how to which would mean we were all be clueless together. I sound terribly evil right now, karma will be right up my butt pretty soon.

Sorting out the ropes provided. I like how this shot shows you the height issue we have as a team.

Clueless.

And it appeared as though someone else of a different team made it.

Scaling down the slippery way down to the murky stream.

There were absolutely no instructions of how we could build a raft nor help offered possibly to heighten the sensation of this being a race between couples but that obviously created quite a chaos for the city people in us. I was however quite confident in our raft (And my partner who made tons of effort in making sure the ropes were tightly looped) but we sunk anyway. In fact, none of the 4 rafts managed to stay above the water and everyone simply waded along with what appeared to be just bamboos tied together.

And so we never got up the raft. This is Awie clinging on to dear life in the stream.

It was quite a nightmare for us to wade through the stream especially for myself as my shoes (Of which later on just ripped apart anyway) kept getting stuck in the mud and water levels proved too high for someone of my height. Elwyn and I pushed through whatever scrapped our legs, knees and thighs until it was too much to take for him and we sought for help the first time round. I was appalled when the man from Dev's Adventure Tours told Elwyn that the murky waters would help to heal his gashes because that really didn't seem like the right way to go. Open wounds and unsanitary spots are supposed to avoid one another.

Pushing on, I began to feel sharp pains on my left thigh only to realize that it was also itchy at the same time. I derived that I've been stung by some unknown matter but figured that seeking help wouldn't have done us good as they didn't even help my partner out with his cuts. He however had a completely different idea from mine and we stopped the folks from Dev's Adventure Tours once again in hopes that something else than, "The salt water will heal you," could come to aid.

Poke, question and go.

I couldn't have been more glad to have seen our bamboos albeit no longer intact.

The verdict? No, I didn't get the right help. I was told that it was nothing, drenched with alcohol then put back right in the stream within seconds. In fact, I doubt the alcohol even helped my sting because it would have been washed away immediately anyway. We did however get help very much later from the HyppTV crew you finally heard my plight on how dangerous it was in the deep waters that even Elwyn couldn't find ground from. Our checkpoint was quite a while away and that was when I figured it would be a good time to find out if anything in our bags survived.

On the boat with the HyppTV crew, we began our heart wrenching discovery to the fate of our belongings. Clearly my phone couldn't pull through the endless drenches of water even with the double Ziplocks and I began to tear up by the lashes. My phone was precious but there was something else in my mind and you've totally guessed it! My wallet. I demanded it from Elwyn that very moment and prayed so hard for it to be dry, so much so I dug my nails hard enough into my skin to notice an imprint after.

Not taken on that day, just for illustration purposes.

It was dry and I couldn't hold in my tears so I simply laughed like a mad person. I later found out Elwyn knew I was crying anyway. No amount of money or spoiled cards would have mattered to me but instead the pictures of my grandparents were well, clean and intact hence the waterworks amidst the water we were in. I felt at that moment a point of relief that felt even better than completing my final paper of my whole diploma before I begged the HyppTV crew to safe keep it for me in the event that we get placed back in the water should the guy from Dev's Adventure Tours demand. They gladly took it from my hands and I have never been so grateful for their kindness of that moment.

Our next adventure began from the bat cave (NA NA NA NA BATMAN!) of the Kilim Geoforest Park in which we were given 3 strings and 2 eggs to safe keep. Our strings needed to be knotted into specific shapes with directions from a laminated card within 5 2 minutes. It really was just 2 minutes, people from Dev's Adventure Tours! You guys need your clocks checked! From then on, we had to seek our kayaks and work our way through the mangroves to get to our final destination that was really far off.

The art of getting shocked as demonstrated by Ainna.

Teamwork worked for Yashna and Nizam here!

My lamest attempt at being sporty enough to kayak with Elwyn.

Clueless in a complete group.

Height consideration was not placed for this shorty as the leap from the bat cave to our kayaks was pretty tall and the walk in sinking mud proved too much once again. I have never once not been grateful for the night before that I got to have Elwyn as my partner throughout the adventure. Once we got on our mode of transportation for the day, we simply rowed. The map that came along was of minimal help and we had to make detours over the wrong ways it brought us, completely draining us of whatever energy we had. The HyppTV crew stayed with us midway to guide us in the right direction and also offered aid in ways I was mad thankful for after. The people from Dev's Adventure Tours were just nowhere to be seen. How are they so rave online?!

The rowing must have lasted forever because that was what it felt like but our final leg towards the end really put our strengths to the test as we struck up an idea to go quicker than any of the other contestants just so we would finish up and in much hopes that we would win the prizes that were offered. After all, we had already put so much of effort in it so why not aim for the best right? Elwyn's rowing system worked especially in teaching the bimbo in me and we went head on towards the ending, too tired to care about whatever else we had to do. True to the calling, we arrived our spot first but the tallying of points came in various ways so we had no idea what the results were.

Buffet dinner was served at the Spice Market Restaurant the very same night as were our results for the competition as a whole. I was pretty shocked however when the team from HyppTV approached us to apologize if the experience with Dev's Adventure Tours were unpleasant as they truly thought they were the best; with mad reviews online and a good word of mouth. We deduced that they were only good on tours and definitely couldn't do on custom team building adventures such as these and all was well after. In all fairness, the HyppTV crew were the only ones helping us throughout and not the latter. I was pleased as hell to have been subscribing to them since the day we got UniFi at home. Oh yes, I've rambled so much I haven't told you who won, have I? Well...

Elwyn and I did.

It turned out that our mind reading from the first night, team work on the second day and mad pushes through the mangroves were proven fruitful when we both got vouchers to stay in Meritus Pelangi Resort & Spa for 3 days 2 nights, iPad Mini(s) and meal vouchers to enjoy dinner at Atmosphere 360 in KL Tower. All the body aches after that felt like they were worth it. Doesn't help that I look tiny in the picture above but it's all good, they didn't cover me up.

I figured we wouldn't look that different in height when Elwyn and I sat together. I was wrong.

One of those unconventional group shots. From left to right, clockwise:

Nizam, Awie, Najib, Elwyn, yours truly, Hanim, Ainna and Yashna.

I've longed for a shot like this since forever. We got shoo-ed away right after but it's all good!

Okay, okay, I know this post is mad lengthy so I'm really just closing off here. The overall experience was pretty fantastic I suppose because it really is something I would have never done if it weren't for this program. While some of the horrors weighed it down, the ups truly balanced it out after. I think the biggest thank you I've got is to the HyppTV people for bringing everyone together, saving my wallet then letting me go home with a new iPad Mini. Greatest thanks also to all the sponsors (Ahem bar Dev's Adventure Tours) who took us all in and finally to my partner in crime who let me exploit his phone to call my parents endlessly.