It felt just like yesterday that our family had an 80s theme new year party. Before we know it, we are already in the third week of July. Where did the time go?? Apart from the obvious Covid-19 pandemonium, I would say, there are two other issues that smacked us in the face this 2020. Is it me or there have been a lot of cars bursting in flames this year?  I will talk about this in another post. What I want to talk about now is the other issue – the hiking craze.

Why hike? I’ve done a fair share of hiking and camping too. I guess what stuck in my mind the most from those outings are the fresh air and the beautiful sceneries. But, one thing I learned from my first hiking experience is that the sight of trees everywhere you turn can mess with your head. Combine that with complete darkness then the beautiful sceneries that you just enjoyed would turn to your worst nightmare as you couldn’t find the way out.

I was about 13 years old when I had my first hiking experience. There were about 30 of us, girl guides from different schools. We were hiking Bukit Patoi in Temburong. We were divided into 5 groups and sure enough, on our way down, one of the groups got separated. But, being girl guides that we were, we came prepared. Each one of us had a whistle with us and we were told that if we got lost we just stay put and blow the whistle. The lost girls were located and reunited with the rest in a matter of minutes. All of us got our hiking badge that day. Happy ending for everyone.

It was during my second hiking experience I discovered that hiking is a perfect activity to spend with the opposite sex especially for teenagers / youths who are at the flirting / wooing stage or trying to get the attention of someone they have a secret crush on. I remember I was in Form 4 at that time. We had a school trip to Labi. We had to do some hiking then rest and did fun activities at a waterfall. I remember it was really a big deal. Everyone was dressed to kill. I bought my first hiking shoes. Yep, brand new and new backpack as well. [Bless my dad]. Yea yea the sceneries were beautiful, whatever. But, it was the socialising and puppy love flirting that we remember and cherish the most from the trip. No one got lost during that hike, but as always, someone did pengsan [fainted]. The worst time to be pengsan or injured is during a hike because I saw how challenging it was to get the “patient” down which means that longer time to get medical help.

My third hiking trip, I was in my early 20s, super fit, climbing the set of stairs [700+ steps] for the Ulu Temburong Canopy Walk was a complete breeze. Once on the Canopy Walk structure, the view was gorgeous. But, would I make an effort to go there, torture my ankles by climbing the hundreds of steps just to see that view? I don’t think so. I could just search Google image or YouTube, you’ll see the same thing. I just had to go to that Ulu Temburong trip because it was part of my environmental studies module.

Apart from the canopy walk, we also spent the night in the Temburong jungle. It was that part of the trip that gave me the most important lesson about the jungle that I still carry with me to this day – that there are other “things” that hang out in the jungle apart from animals and those things could mess with our bearings and make people lost their way in the jungle.

Here is what happened. That late afternoon, we were dropped off by boat at the area where we would sleep the night. The instruction was that from the riverbank we just simply take the raised wooden walkway about 600 meters into the jungle where there would be two wooden cabins, one for boys and one for girls. So, we imagined about five minutes walk, no problem. We were confident that we could get to the cabins before dark. With the backdrop of the eerie sound of the forest, we walked along the narrow wooden walkway, everyone was quiet, mindful not to anger any inhabitant of the jungle, both natural and supernatural kinds. Just a few steps into the walk, one of the girls saw something on a tree and said Whats that?? Hearing that, the rest of us were cringing. There was an unspoken agreement not to make any remarks if we see something strange. Obviously, the girl didn’t get the memo.

We continued walking until we realised that it had been more than five minutes. As darkness set in, the wooden walkway seemed to be endless and the cabins were still nowhere to be seen. After what felt like an hour of walking, we knew that something was not right. One of the boys did the Azan (prayer call) at the top of his lungs, then puff there they were, the two cabins right in front of us.

The cabins have no electricity and water. There was nothing much to do, and we were all so tired, so we decided to just turn in for the night. We had requested for one of the boys to sleepover at our cabin as protection. Little did we know that the nightmare was not over. Sometimes after midnight, we heard knocking on the cabin’s door. Then the knocking turned into loud banging. From the door, the banging moved to the window, then all around the walls. Everyone was awaken by the noise but kept on lying down, horrified to move or do anything, just waiting for the haunting to pass.

As soon as the sun was coming up, we were already waiting at the riverbank for our ride out of there. The facility’s staff later assured us that the bangings were by monkeys just monkeying around, but they couldn’t explain why the supposedly 600 meters walk took us way longer than five minutes.

For nature lovers, their fascination of jungle trekking / hiking are quite understandable, let alone in Brunei where more than 70% of its land area still covered in forest. The stunning views of the lush flora and fauna are not only good for the soul, but would always make for good Instagram photos.

It was around after 2010 that I noticed a surge in healthy lifestyle and fitness awareness in the country. More guys started to go to the gym. More people took up cycling (more cyclists endangering their lives cycling by the highway). Jungle trekking / hiking became increasingly popular. When Bukit Shahbandar and Bukit Tasek Lama became overrun by people, the trekking junkies began to explore new trails – Bukit Sipatir, Bukit Sarang Helang, Bukit Markucing, Bukit Silat, Bukit Dadap and more recently Bukit Sum Sum, and these are just at the Brunei Muara District. It is no surprise that the number of people reported lost during these supposedly jungle adventure has significantly increased. Eventhough (almost) all of them have safely been found, things could easily take a turn for the worse. I said almost because two of them had fallen victims to foul play and one alleged to have committed suicide. But for the majority of the lost people, the reason was simply that they were not familiar with the area. Who would anyway?

One important tip which is 100% effective in avoiding getting lost in the jungle is to not go in the first place. But of course there is no stopping those with the it-wont-happen-to-me attitude. If the enthusiasm to go into the jungle is too overwhelming, make it a point to not go alone. At least, in any ghostly encounter situation, there will be someone there to share the misery with. Other than that, just stay put and let the FRD and the highly trained GRU sniffer dogs find you.