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Last year, I organized a trip to Mount Kinabalu (Mt. K Trip) for my family and a number of ECE staff joined in the fun. We enjoyed ourselves so much that I actually looked forward to another such opportunity. The idea of Gunong Lambak came about when I was bush walking with my wife in Bukit Timah one Sunday afternoon. We have retiree friends who used Gunong Lambak as a training base for their adventure trips. If retirees could do it, it should be doable by most people.
But there is one little problem: I have never been to Kluang myself, I could not do it alone – I needed help. I am very glad that Billy and Tee Boon Lye agreed to jointly organize the event. With Billy’s youthful energy and Tee BL’s expert local knowledge, we were all set.
Tee entertained us with his Kluang stories – 4 versions of how Klaung got its name, a coffee shop that the former Johore Sultan would send armed personnel to collect his supply, the botak curry man, Kluang people’s hospitality and productivity. His descriptions of mouthwatering Kluang food are enough to convince me that we need another trip just for this. Tee BL is indeed a gracious host and a Kluang Da Ge Da.
Other than some minor cuts and sore muscle, we were none the worse after the climb. For the record, we did not encounter any leeches.
Some gems from our colleagues:
Sze Kai Loon while helping a colleague up a slope:
“Careful, don’t hurt the earth.” (Say it in Hokkien for effect)
Yong Saw Soon:
“If you miss this opportunity, you will have to wait another 20 years.” (This certainly resonated with the older staff for this is the first time we did something like that in my 25 years with NP)
Unsung heroes:
Ong Meng Tiong: In addition to his own stuff, he carried the backpack of another climber and a first aid kit for us.
Sze Kai Loon: He volunteered to be the last man and literally hand held the slowest climber to the summit. This is the glory of patience, kindness and self-sacrifice.
The 3 girls, Amanda, Eve and Janet, provided the cheers. They were giggling and having fun like high school girls.
Lessons learnt:
1. For breakfast, always choose to detour. I was told that the farther one has more choices and better food.
2. We chose a different return path from the one that we used to climb up. The problem is that this path split into many different paths towards the end and the climbers may end up separated.
Comments:
It was a good trip!
I spent the whole weekend talking about it!
Thanks to Chee Kin, Billy , Ah Tee and everybody in that trip.
Tan Boon Lee
We would like to thank you for organising the above one day bonding event to Kluang , Malaysia.
We do a lot of exercise climbing up the mountain and enjoy the educational tour at the ZhengXin organic farm. Not to mention the delicious organic lunch and the shopping we have done at Kluang town.
The objective is clearly met as we bond very well during the entire trip.
We deeply appreciate the support of Management on this event and we look forward to have more of these activities so as to promote even higher level of bonding and better work-life balance among ECE colleagues.
Thanks again !
Tee Boon Lye
