MNS Camp

The 3D 2N camp was held from Apr 27 to Apr 29, 2009 at the Pusat Kokurikulum Sepang, Bagan Lalang, Sepang. I had 4 students with me: 2 boys and 2 girls. We took off from school at 12.30pm and reached the place 2 hours later. The students didn't know each other (they are from different forms); so the trip was a quiet one.

I was shocked to see the place: it was "padang jarak, padang tekukur". It does not look like a "proper" campsite at all. The Dewan Ceramah (merangkap Surau) and Dewan Makan are just makeshift tents. I instantly regretted having agreed to come here.

The sparse ground

The makeshift Dewan Ceramah/Surau

Dewan makan

After registration and Zohor, I took the students out to lunch. It was just a small eatery overlooking the ocean. We didn't stop anywhere on our way there, so I was really hungry. Many schools went there too, so by the time we arrived, only mee, mee hoon and kuey teow were available. All of us ordered kuey teow goreng.

After our late lunch, we went back to the campsite and were just in time for the briefing session. The instructors introduced themselves and asked that we not have pre-conceived notions about the camping based on the unpromising outward appearance of the place (macam tahu2 je). Afterwards, we were given tents to put up. The students shared a tent among 4 people, while the teachers shared among 3. But not many teachers chose to stay at the campsite. Many opted to stay at one of the many chalets nearby.

I shared my tent with 2 teachers: Masturah and Kavitha. We became fast friends. Around 6pm, we went with another teacher to walk along the beach. The tide was high and the wind was blowing hard. It was a nice respite from the VERY hot and stifling afternoon. We walked along the beach and was surprised to find a dead fish. We took pictures and continued walking. Then, we found another one, and another, and another.

The dead fish lying on the beach

I stopped counting after 50! There were that many dead fishes along 100m stretch of land. We were busy taking pictures and discussing the probable reasons for the fishes' demise. I felt like a scientist doing a field study... haha (later, when the other teachers proposed eating ikan bakar at one of the many seafood restaurants there, we declined. We were paranoid that the fishes might be polluted too!).

We walked until we reached the newest resort there. It is still under construction but its restaurant is opened for business. We didn't eat there because the place seemed too posh (read: expensive) but we looked around the place. It was beautiful. The landscape was further accentuated by the sunset. It was perfect timing

The beautiful Sepang Gold Coast Resort

The next morning, we woke up early because we were scheduled to go to the Paya Indah Wetlands. We were supposed to leave at 6.30am. The bus came late, so we had time to eat breakfast leisurely and left for Paya Indah at 7am. There were 3 buses. The journey to Paya Indah took 1 hour. I was still sleepy so I slept throughout most of the journey.

Once there, we were divided into 2 groups; one group was going jungle trekking, the other kajian air. I opted for jungle trekking. But due to transport problem (Paya Indah bus was unavailable while our drivers went for breakfast), we didn't get to do the actual jungle trekking. We went sight-seeing at one of the 14 lakes instead. One of the rangers showed us around and gave a very informative tour.

The tranquil Lake Typha

We had a break before rejoining the kajian air group. Next stop: the hippopotamus enclosure! The 3 hippos are from Botswana. They are Kundra (14 years old), Cendana (12) and Juwita (11). Kundra is the only male in the group and is the heaviest (1 ton!).

A few students got to feed the hippos. They are amazing creatures: intimidatingly huge but also adorable!

meet Kundra

We were shown around the place some more before leaving at 11.30pm. Oh, we also got to see the yellow pythons: Bobo and Mimi before we left.

Back at the campsite, we had our lunch, performed our prayer and got ready for the next activity. We walked to the beach and the students had to build a sand castle. The scheduled water-confidence activity had to be abandoned because the tide was too low.

While the students build their castle, Mas, Kavitha, Faizah and I went to a nearby shop and bought ice creams. We ate and talked under a shady tree. Once we got back, the students have already completed their work. This was the nicest creation:


Later, we did a paintball target practice at the campsite. It was my first time holding a paintball gun. I hit the target once! Yeay!

The boys getting ready to fire

Later that night, we had the Malam Kebudayaan. It was fun when the instructors kept teaching the students various tepuks: tepuk semangat, tepuk terima kasih, tepuk saedah, tepuk sate, tepuk anak dugong, etc. The students did an OK job (they hadn't had much time to practise). But I wished they had figured out a more original storyline than a group of people admonishing another group because they were throwing rubbish everywhere. About three versions of the story were acted out by the different groups.

On our last day, we pulled down our tents. Put our bags in the car and converged on the Big Tent for the Closing Ceremony. It was a nice camping experience. The instructors were very cool, the pace relaxed, the food delicious and I really enjoyed the company of Mass and Kavitha.

I wouldn't mind going for another Kelab Pencinta Alam Camp :-)