Episode 25: The 40 Km Expedition

How many of you had ever chopped a bamboo tree before? How many of you had ever been to Burmese Pool around 2 in the morning? And of course, how many of you had ever experienced pumping with your friends in a toilet completely NAKED!!!! Those were some of the unforgettable activities during my 5years as a scout in SGI, which is why I regard it a one of the best memories I had in my entire life.


I enrolled to the 01 LMS scout troop as a naïve and good for nothing brat, but I left the troop as a wise and mature young man. What scouting taught me are the things that cannot be taught within the formal education system such as responsibilities, humble, trust, sacrifice, commitment, and above all, friendship. Therefore, I am grateful that I had made the right choice by joining the scout troop. I had tons of memories throughout my 5 years of scouting and I would like to share one of my most memorable memory, that is the 40 km expedition. Let the story begin!!!

On the 20th May 2007, 9 SGI scouts comprising me, Joo Gin, Jason, Chee Leong, Chan Leong, William, Weng Chiat, Govir, and Tian Jian gathered at Amanah Ikhtiar(beside tennis court) at 8 in the morning. We were all ready to face the longest walk in our life. The Expedition Badge was our third Five Highest Badge. The SGI troop leader was….. errr… Its better not to say it out. You will know why as you read on. As soon as the troop from other schools had arrived, Mr,Fadhil, the head of Pengakap Remaja brief us about the expedition. Sharp at 8.30 am, we were given the honour to start the expedition. We were given a map of Taiping, some compass and a piece of paper with all the tasks we must accomplish.

Well, our first task was to find the ‘Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan’ Restaurant. As our leader mentioned the task, everyone started to look at each other with a question mark above their heads. Where is the restaurant?? How are we gonna find it?? Those were the questions keep popping up in our minds. WTF man!!! Well Tian Jian suggested to go to the nearest restaurant which was a few metres away from Amanah Ikhtiar. Too bad it was not the one. We went to few restaurants to check it out, but lady luck was not with us that day. We were completely lost. What a ‘great’ start for us. After walking aimlessly for 1 and half hours, we finally took a break at Zoo Taiping. Tian Jian make a call to Tn.Fadhil to determine the location. He told us that the restaurant was Doli. We quickly get our feet on and headed to Doli. But before we could continue, Tn.Fadhil scolded us ‘Bodoh’ and ‘Sombong’ . Those words were so sharp as if there were knives piercing through our hearts. Without wasting any time, we started to jog in order to keep up with other troops. We reached Doli around 10+ . By then, we were the last troop of the expedition.




Our next checkpoint was at the police station of Pokok Assam. Imagine walking from Doli to Pokok Assam!! Did you know what we were going through that time? Hell. We had to carry our heavy luggage throughout the journey. To rub salts in our wounds, the temperature that day was so freaking high!!! It was a huge relief for us when we manage to reach the police station. Everyone was so tired. Shoulders were aching. This is just the beginning for us. There is still a long way to go. Anyway, our job at there was to take the cop and signature of a police officer. After 20 minutes of break, we get our ass up and continue the expedition. The next checkpoint was at Toptex. There was a troop ahead of us. It was the Bukit Jana troop. We were lucky that we can catch up with them. We knew we had to increase our pace despite the hot sun. Its do or die for us. As the number 1 scout troop in LMS, we cannot afford to let other troops to beat us. Chan Leong quickly complete the task at Toptex, while the rest of us took the opportunity to rest. Once Chan Leong was done, we quickly loaded our bags and continue the expedition. Due to our determination, we were able to beat the Bukit Jana troop. 1 down 3 to go.







The pressure of our bags on our shoulders were so great. We all could feel the pain on our shoulders. Yet we did not complain. We knew that our top priority was to be the 1st troop to reach the pit stop. The 4th checkpoint was at the SMK Pengkalan Aur. We reached there around 12+. It was such a huge relief for us because we managed to catch up with the KE troop. They too were taking a break at the school. By the way, the task at SMK Pengkalan Aur was to measure the height of some poles. After break, we continued the walk to the next checkpoint at SK Pengkalan Aur. Nothing much happened. We managed to beat the Sri Kota troop. So, its 3 down 1 to go. Once we completed the task, we headed to the 6th checkpoint at Masjid Pengkalan Aur. Our next destination was the ‘Jubin Chin Tak’s’ arch. Before reaching the arch, we stopped by at Chee Leong’s dad workshop. Everyone had almost reached their limit. Furthermore, we haven’t taken our lunch yet. We were both hungry and tired. Chee Leongs’s dad bought us ‘seng ka teh’ for the 9 of us. It was so nice and cool. We took quite a long break at there in order to recuperate our fatigue. We got back to business after 20 minutes of rest. After completing our task at the arch, we headed to our last checkpoint at Balai Polis Aulong. . We were the 2nd troop by then. The Hua Lian troop was very far away. So we decided to take our sweet time. Along the journey, I could still remember that me, William and Govir were singing Simple Plan and the NTV7 theme song. It was so nice then. I had completely forgotten the pain on my shoulder.







This is where the story starts to get interesting. After such a long walk, (we were at Kpg Boyan by then) some of us were feeling uneasy. Why? CSP is the answer. CSP stands for ‘Cock Side Pain’. Got it?? This was due to the friction between the thighs and the crotch. The sweat accumulated around that area also proved to be one of the factors affecting it. The name CSP was created by William after he faced it during camping in 2004. Our leader was having hard time facing it. He had to walk in ‘kangkang’ position to make him f eel better. The way he walked was so funny. We were laughing all the way. To add in more laughter, there was a car coming behind us. Out of a sudden, the driver shouted at our leader, ‘Oi!!! Ketua jalan macam kangkang r?? . Buat malu je!’ Instead of scolding back the driver, we were all bursted into laughter.(now u understand why I do not want to write his name) We just could not control ourselves. Tears were flowing down on our cheeks. Finally we reached the last checkpoint. We hurriedly complete the task and headed to the Aulong Restaurant to have our lunch. I ordered 2 plates of ‘wan tan mee’. It was so delicious. We bought some ice before we left the restaurant. Our pit stop was at Tn. Husni’s house. Along the journey, we keep putting the ice at our private parts hoping that it will relieve the pain. And guess what?? It worked!! Our leader was so happy that time.







Finally, we managed to reach Tn.Husni’s house. As expected we were the 2nd troop to arrive there. Luckily no one was in injured during the expedition. This journey not only test our endurance but also our friendship and leadership as well. I am very glad that I am apart of the troop. What maters the most is that we manage to complete the expedition not as individual, but as a team.