Uncle Zenn!

Zenn:

Day 1:

IT WAS FINALLY THE DAY!!!

Ever since months ago, I have been looking forward to t

his day, for the simple fact that it was the annual level camp. This year, however, the teachers made it much more memorable for us because we were going to MALAYSIA!!!

Everyone in the hall was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the coaches that would take us to immigrations. Truthfully, the atmosphere was contagious and there was absolutely nobody who sleepy; everybody was chock full of energy and anticipation for the three days ahead.

Immigrations was simple, yet symbolic at the same time as it signaled the start of our journey through Malaysia. We took a short bus ride over the causeway, b

rimming with liveliness and everyone chatting away, waiting for the bus to arrive at our first destination: Yong Peng. I remembered this stop from previous trips to Malaysia and it was exactly the same; rows and rows of shelves stacked to the brim with snacks and drinks, with a canteen selling delicious Malay food and various other snacks. Everyone grabbed what they could because of the low prices, then off we went to have lunch at a country club in Malacca.

Even though the food was not what I was used to, I sensed the simple truthfulness of the waiters and waitresses, and enjoyed the otherwise plain meal. Next destination was Mini Malaysia, which I thought was not very fantastic. It showcased many differen

t houses of traditional Malaysia, which gave us an insight into their culture, but to me, most of the houses looked the same.

Nevertheless, many pictures were took, both of our friends and the houses, and we found that some of the houses actually had almost-hidden third stories and yards! The Historical and Ethnographical Museum was our last destination of the day. Again, I felt overwhelmed by the huge history that Malaysia has, and frankly speaking felt the tour through the museum was rather boring. There was a reason why I chose to study geography over history =D

That night, we checked into the prestigious Grand Continental and yet again, I was disappointed. Sadly, the hotel rooms were quite old and they reminded me of a cheap

hotel I stayed in in Taiwan. Moreover, the room BenZ and I were in had a faulty air conditioner, and caused us an hour of sleep before we were finally relocated. Sigh! What a day!

Day 2:

Today, after having breakfast in the hotel, we went to visit Sunway University College, which, strangely too, was disappointing. They talked about their school and its programs, and it felt like they were enticing us to join their school rather than show us how they employed their education techniques. Plainly, sitting in a hall listening to someone

promote their own school was not my idea of interesting. I wondered to myself: when would this chain of disappointment end? It turned out that I didn’t have to wait very long.

Our next stop was the National Monument of Malaysia, which was a huge statue depicting brave soldiers displaying qualities of honour.

To me, this was much better than the tours around museums and houses yesterday; I learned much more and had a larger attention span this time. The whole class took many photos around the grounds, including one of our GREAT tour guide, MISS AISHA!

Despite this, the highlight of the day came at the Mid-Valley Mega Mall, where we were allowed to shop for a full four hours! The name certainly suited the sheer size of the mall, for it was truly MEGA. Many times bigger than any Singaporean mall, containing a much larger variety of shops and with delicious food to boot, I could say that this was the ultimate highlight of the whole trip. Almost everyone bought things there; Kiankok, BenZ and Daphne bought wallets there, I spent some money in the arcade, and everyone else had tons of fun roaming through the shops. All of us turned into bed, satisfied and exhausted.

Day 3:

I’m guessing that, to many of us, this day was the most fun-filled among the whole journey. Our first stop, Tempurong Cave, was the coolest destination we have been to so far. Tempurong Cave is a natural formation in the mountain of the same name, and it is full of stalagmites and stalactites protruding from every angle, in many shapes and sizes. When we first stepped into the cave, everyone stopped in awe. It was utterly breathtaking; a wondrous spectacle of nature’s work on the earth. Beautiful formations littered the walls, floor, and even ceiling of the cave. The serenity of the cave was also something to behold; whenever we spoke, echoes could be heard.

It was truly a magical feeling that everyone felt. We can never get something like this in Singapore, no matter how hard we look. This was truly a one-of-a-kind experience that I think many of us would never forget.

After we caught our breath from the stairs in the cave, we proceeded up to the most anticipated destination in our trip: Cameron Highlands. I must say we were not disappointed at all. The view of the vast tea-fields was spectacular even from the comforts of our coach. Expanding endlessly, the beauty of it was stunning. I bet everyone enjoyed the great atmosphere up in the mountains, cool air with barely a hint of direct sunlight. Yet again, we will rarely e

xperience something like that in Singapore, and so everyone took their share of photos of scenery, with friends and with teachers. The BOH Tea Plantation, Strawberry Farm and Honey Bee Farm were all very interesting places to visit with their fair share of history and interesting facts, but sadly, none of us managed to pick any strawberries because they were all gone from the another class’ visit.

The Equatorial Hotel that we checked into was very majestic and grand. It consisted of a main building along with bungalows littered on the vast grounds that i

t occupied. We got the news that the boys were staying in the bungalows, two to each apartment, and all of us celebrated! While looking at the map to our bungalow, we realized that the distance was so far, that we actually had to drive there! Not by ourselves of course, but the mere thought of a hotel that large made me dizzy. That night the class gathered at one of the hotel rooms and we played many games together. When we got bored we trooped down to the lobby, and slowly ferried ourselves over to BenS’s apartment where we had another round of games. I truly enjoyed myself that night, having a chance to bond with all my friends at the same time, enjoying the luxurious rooms we were provided.

Day 4:

It was over. As if in a blink of an eye, the trip was over, and we were all going back to a life of homework, study and hot weather. I had no regrets however, having fully enjoyed the time we were given on this trip. Interacting with all my friends, teachers and schoolmates, I truly wish for another trip just like this. This has been the best level camp I have been in, but it would not be possible without everyone in the school. Thank you Dunman High, for planning this trip, thank you 3J and Mr Teoh, for making this experience fun-filled, enjoyable and interesting, thank you Miss Aisha, for teaching us so much about Malaysia's culture, and I’m guessing the whole cohort would agree with me in saying, LEVEL CAMP ROCKS!!!