GK 1

U can never know how far u can go and how high u can climb until u try. Semua ni cukup tepat for me. The thought for doing it pun dah cukup mencabar for me. A very close friend of mine suggested the idea to me last year. Without hesitation and careful thought, i said yes almost immediately. Bila dah said ok to join her advanterous expedition, mula fikir...whether it would be possible for me to even attempt such feat. Bila dah confirm, mana boleh back off, i would say. Berpegang kepada pesanan arwah mak saudara, 'bila dah mula buat sesuatu, mesti make sure habiskan. Kalau tidak, kita tak dapat tengok hasilnya or else we will wonder forever whether we can really do it'. (takde le campor2 cakap omputih, tapi u know what i mean). Amanat yang dipegang sampai tua. Cuba juga terapkan on my children. kenapa ingat pesanan arwah mak saudara? sebab dia ni lah took us in, kami adik beradik after my parents passed away in a road accident. So, banyak juga lah belajar dengan my aunt sebab dengan mak sendiri tak sempat nak pick up banyak sebab kecik lagi masa tu (itu citer lain).

Nak menempuh and mencuba aktiviti lasak, kena le prepare diri secara fizikal. Stamina kena cukup, tapi biasala, sebab dah lama tak buat aktiviti fizikal macam ni, liat sungguh nak mula langkah pertama. Buat juga la exercise apa yang patut. Woi, bukan main-main punye kerja....nak conquer Gunung Kinabalu! Aje nye gile....!!!!! Bila i told my family about hasrat hati nak panjat GK, diam sumenye...boleh ke? They asked. Are u serious? Tak menggalak langsung (berdetik hati). Tahu le kita ni, dia orang sayang kat kite. tak nak kita buat kerja bahaya macam ni. My brother said "...hish!!! bukan senang oi... " (sambil membelek betis aku, mungkin jawapan ada di situ. Lagi besor betis, or lagi keding betis, tandanye boleh le panjat GK. Always a postive one, my brother said..."Tapi boleh kot...U can do it lah, don't worry". Kita dok pikir, listen to the expert. He would know, after all dah ramai dah dia bawak turun naik gunung ni sebab dia pun banyak buat similar expeditions. Bawak group masuk keluar hutan. Lega juga rasanya bila dengar dia cakap macam tu.

Maka, prepare le kita ni secara fizikalnye for the GK climb. Mula2 pusing2 kat rumah je, later merebak ke KL. Orang kata kalau dapat panjat tangga Batu Caves dalam 4 ke 5 kali, kira macam dah sampai GK la....Iye ke? Kami pun cuba le. With a few friends we conquered the steps of Batu Caves, all 278 (or 276?) steps for a few weekends (almost). setiap kali di Batu Caves, naik tangga tu 2 - 4 kali. The best part is that, sepanjang menjadi warga lembah kelang for the past 30 years, tak pernah jejak sekali pun kat Batu Caves steps, tapi nak panjat GK punya hal, ku gagah juga! When we were at Batu Caves, ramai juga yang turun naik tangga tu. Bukan saja worshippers and tourists, tapi orang2 macam kami, training for something. Tua, muda, budak2, men, women, mat salleh..pun ada. Perhati juga budaya orang India and bagaimana amalan agama Hindu. Well, an eye-opener for me. My 1st attempt to panjat Batu Caves, was a disaster. baru naik separuh, dah nak half dead. later, when descending the steps, my knees were wobling already....tak kan le jatuh tergolek, muka pucat lesi tak usha ceriter la....Penat dan tercunggap. I was gasping for air, my knees were weak and wobling....my face was pale, my finger nails has turned blue.!!!! that was only after getting up half of the steps during my 1st attempt. MY GOD!!!! what am i doing? only half of the steps, and I am already half dead! that really put my thoughts into perspective. "memang kerja gile!" My last physically challenged feat was 20 years ago when I was a ROTU cadet. Today, I'm not fit at all!!!! I have to put in a lot of work into buiding up my stamina. It has been a long time. very long....