Posted on 09-Sep-2013
Report by Lance Corporal Yap Ming Yang of 12th Kuala Lumpur Company. 
August 23-25th, 2013
SUNGAI CONGKAK, SELANGOR – On these three auspicious days, 17 members from 12th Kuala Lumpur Company along with two members from 4th Kuala Lumpur Company Boys’ Brigade organized a camping trip to Sg. Congkak at Hulu Langat, Selangor.
Day 1, Friday 23th August
All campers gathered at Wesley Methodist School, Kuala Lumpur before 9.00 pm Our camping officer, Mr. Andy Tan from 4th Kuala Lumpur Company reached the school shortly after that. The purpose of staying overnight in school was because Mr. Andy wanted to inspect our backpacks. We were introduced to two campers, Vinson and Dylan who will join our camp. After a short briefing, all campers were required to unpack everything from our haversack. Mr. Andy was helped by Staff Sergeant William to check our backpacks. The inspection of backpacks is accounted for in our overall marks. We had a quick theory test after the inspection which occupied 30% of our overall marks. The questions are regarding country codes, how to select a campsite and much more. Around 10.30pm, Mr. Andy showed us the company equipments. The company equipments included groundsheet, tents, first aid kit, “parang” (machete) and many others. These equipments were distributed amongst the four squad leaders. We sang BB Vesper before lights off at 11.30 pm.
Day 2, Saturday 24th August
We woke up at 6 in the morning the next day. After wash up, we met with our captain, Mr. Nicholas Yeap for a short briefing, before proceeding for breakfast at school. We gathered again at 7.15 am to wait for the bus. Unfortunately, the bus was late. We waited until 8.00am before Mr. Yeap invited the campers to join praise and worship. We had a slight change on transportation and left the school with the school van while squad 3 followed Mr. Andy’s car to the campsite around 9.00 am. We were also accompanied by Coach Valter to the campsite.
The journey to Sg. Congkak took almost two hours. We walked into the camp area and our campsite was at zone 5, the inner-most campsite. Although the walk was only 20 minutes long, it was not easy for us to finish the hike carrying a heavy backpack on our backs.
When we reached the campsite, it was almost 11.00 am. We falled-in and were given a short briefing by Mr. Andy Tan. As noon approached, we prepared for lunch. Squad 1 and 3 decided to cook instant noodles while squad 2 and 4 decide to just have sandwiches. Mr. Andy taught the two squads how to set a fire while the other two squads, who already had their lunches, went to gather wood for a camp fire. The cooking took about two hours because setting up and maintaining a fire was not as easy as we taught.
At 2.00pm, Squad 2 and 4 came back from gathering fire woods and started digging drains around our tents. They were joined by Squad 1 and 3 after they were done with their lunch. They also gathered some fire wood. Halfway through digging, all squads took turns to hitch up their tents. At 4.00pm, Mr. Andy gathered us for another short test on knot tying. We did the test squad by squad because we only had a few strings which had to be shared among ourselves. The knots tested were overhand knot, figure of eight, sheep shank and reef knot. An hour of free time was given to all of us at 4.30pm. Most of us chose to play in the water while some stayed back to rest.
It was 5.30pm when we were all called to prepare our fires for dinner. Squad 2 and 4 did not have much problem starting a fire, however, Squad 1 and 3 faced some difficulties. In the end, Squad 3 decided to join with Squad 2 for dinner while Squad 1 persistent and was successfully reignited their fire. After three hours when everyone had their dinner, some went to wash their cooking equipments and cutleries while the others helped to set up the campfire.
Everyone gathered around the campfire at 8.30pm. Mr Andy explained to us of the importance of campfire. He said in the jungle, without a torchlight, campfires will be the source of light and also most importantly, the heat source to keep us warm. He also led us to sing around the camp fire. A lot of songs like ‘Hari Ini’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars’ were being sung. All the campers had a lot of fun there. It came to an end at almost 9.30pm. Before lights off at 11.00pm, we discussed our roster for the night shift. Each squad sent a member to fill four shifts, which were from 11pm-1am, 1-3am, 3-5am and 5-7am. After the discussion, most of the campers went back to their tents and slept. Some campers, mostly those who took first shift, stayed up until 11.00pm for their first shift.
During night shift, we were asked to patrol around every half an hour. Besides that, we also had to keep the campfire burning. We had some snacks while staying up. It was freezing cold in the night and now, we finally understood the importance of having a campfire as a heat source.
Day 3, Sunday 25th August
All the campers woke up at 7.00am the next morning. After washing up in the river, we started cooking our breakfast. Squads 2 and 3 combined their efforts to cook breakfast again, which was mimicked by Squads 1 and 4. It did not take as much time to cook this round because we used the campfire which had a more intense heat. Two hours later, we were given an hour of free time again. All campers went to have fun in the river and took the oppor
tunity to clean the groundsheets together. We had a debrief session with Coach Valter after that, who asked us to bring all our cooking equipments along. He asked us to count the time we spent cooking in this camp and what we learned throughout this camp. Each squad gave two answers about what we all learned, the answers were mostly about patience and teamwork.
We cleaned up the campsite after that, picking up all the rubbish and also clean up the tent. Once we finished clearing up, we had our closing ceremony. Before we ended with a prayer, Mr. Andy Tan had a “prize giving ceremony”. The “prizes” were things found at the campsite. Each found item was “rewarded” to the owner along with 20 push ups.
We walked out towards the main gate of the campsite and took a group photo there. We said our goodbyes to the campsite and left with good memories. We went back to the school, this time by bus. We made one stop for lunch before continuing our journey to the school. We had another test in the school where we were required to write our own feelings or a short report regarding this camping trip. We were supposed to clean the tents but it rained. Around 4.00 pm, we were dismissed.