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Posted on: 21/09/2017

"It's not a holiday. It's an expedition." Tales from the Venture Force's exploration of Malaysia

This summer a group of intrepid students, and brave accompaning members of staff, travelled to Malaysia for a Venture Force challenge to trek, scramble and explore the diverse country. 

Year 12 student Katerina, shares her experience. 

 

Our trip began with “it’s NOT a holiday! It’s an expedition.”

We had about two years preparation time before we left for Malaysia, which included of talks with various expedition leaders; and on two separate occasions we walked around London as a team – the first was the Bridges Walk and the second was the Monopoly Board Walk, which were challenging but gave a great sense of achievement –  both were sponsored to help us to raise money.

In March 2017 we went for a training weekend in the New Forest where we learnt certain skills which would come in useful on our expedition. We learnt how to put up hammocks; how to pack our rucksacks efficiently; how to organise our water system (this includes having two one litre bottles and keeping a note of which is purifying and which is safe to drink); we learnt how important it is to work together as a team.

We had a few “situations” thrown at us which included crossing a mock river (a dirt path) and how to deal with a serious injury such as  a broken leg. This involved having to carry the heaviest person in our team on a makeshift stretcher! This was not as fun as it sounds!

The main preparation for the expedition occurred within the last couple of months before take-off. It was a challenge for parents and students alike to find information about vaccinations, kit lists and general advice about Malaysia.

We spent an hour in school the day before our trip to go over last minute equipment and then we were ready to leave. Nerves were running high due to pre-travel stress the night and morning of our flight.

Our flights and stopover went smoothly and when we reached Malaysia safely.

Pretronas Towers

We spent the first four days of our trip in Kuala Lumpur helping marginalised children by teaching and entertaining them; we helped out at Pitt stop café where volunteers make a hot meal every evening for low income and homeless people. We also spent time at a homeless shelter to talk with the people staying there.

I loved our time in Kuala Lumpur.

Our next destination was the Cameron Highlands where we visited a strawberry farm, a tea plantation, the Time Tunnel Museum about the history of the area and the Sam Poh Chinese Temple. The tea plantation was our starting point for the jungle trek which commenced on the third day in the highlands.

The jungle trek which lasted three days was by far the most physically and mentally challenging aspect of our expedition and we camped in hammocks and roll mats at night, reaching our final destination of Gopeng and the campsite for the next part of our trip halfway through day three of the trek.

The white water rafting activity was so much fun where we got to experience the thrill of riding in a rubber boat down small rapids.

Group river picture

Our next destination required a day long bus journey to Kota Bharu and we spent the evening in a night market sampling different foods. The next day we went around the town and down to the beach as a mini break two thirds of the way into our trip. After we got ourselves organised we travelled by buses down the coast to Kemaman where we stayed for a few nights. There we did Turtle and Terrapin conservation activities on the beach and at their sites; mangrove tree planting in the river; a daytime river cruise, and a firefly river cruise one evening.

From there we then travelled back to Kuala Lumpur and since we had the afternoon, we visited the Batu Caves which is a major tourist attraction. The next day we travelled to Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary and watched the elephants being washed, and we had the chance to feed them watermelons. We also watched a presentation about why the elephants are being kept in sanctuaries and how deforestation in Malaysia is reducing their natural homes.

Trek

Our final day in Malaysia was spent in Kuala Lumpur going round the city in small groups. This was our last chance to see more of the amazing city and buy any gifts we wanted to take home.

My small group made the most of our time and we went to the Central Market, politically significant Merdeka Square, three different temples - one which had a ritual with music which we were very lucky to get to watch, we walked through Chinatown, visited the National Museum and ran through the Planetarium Park.

Our final treat to ourselves was a trip up the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur which we saved money for and booked in advance. The whole experience was truly amazing: the view was incredible and we got to see the city in the day time and the night since we went at dusk. We finished off the night at the water park at the foot of the towers which had a colourful fountain display set to music.

City scape

I just want to say that this whole trip couldn’t have run as smoothly as it did without all of us pitching in and doing our part – we doled out specific roles which we kept to and made sure to communicate our ideas to each other. We split off into pairs to sort out budget, transport, food, entertainment and accommodation. We struggled with our budget because it was very low and Malaysia had experienced inflation a week before we travelled so transport cost a lot more than it should have done. Despite this set back, we persevered and made the most of our budget and tried not to waste a single moment.

I strongly recommend doing something like this because the memories stay with you for the rest of your life. It’s also great to put on a CV as an extracurricular activity which will definitely make you stand out when applying for further study/jobs. It’s also a first major step to a dream of travelling the world. I would love to do this again.

 

The Venture Force expedition will take place again in 2019, with the location yet to be confirmed. To find out how to join the team or find out more, speak to Mr John. 

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