Retreat at Gopeng

The last time I went on a cell retreat was... I can’t even remember! Retreats can bring a group of people closer together because you are stuck with each other for numerous hours. Of course the location and activities are fun but it is the people that make every retreat special.

This recent retreat with my new cell was pretty short - just a little more than 24 hours. Many of the cell members couldn’t make it but we did have 2 friends join us. We went in 2 cars and each has its own Question of the day. Ours was “Do the raft have seat belts?”

When we went white-water rafting, we figured we should bring camera in a water proof bag. But during our break, we discovered the bag split opened! A digital camera and an iphone was soaking wet. :(

Other than white-water rafting, we also did a hike/walk through an Orang Asli village to an almost unknown and unnamed waterfall. It was an interesting walk as our guide - G told us about the village, the black gibbon, durian and petai trees. He got us to try some wild berries and also shared a few hilarious true story jokes. It was a pretty nice waterfall but we were only there for a short while as it was raining heavily by then. Some of us walk in the rain back to our cars while someone was clever enough to bring an umbrella into the jungle! Oh and we brought back some souvenirs – leech bites!

Earth Camp is very cool and simple. The accommodation was a simple canopy like dorms with canvas beds. We brought our own sleeping bags. We opt for the dorm instead of the tree house so that it is easier for all of us to hangout together. They had pretty interesting toilets as well. ;-)

They must think that the 10 of us were really hungry because I seriously believe that the amount of food they prepared for dinner can feed up to 30 people. We had barbeque by the river! We even cooked our own recipe – Milo Banana. It came up with multiple suggestions from everyone.
This is one memorable trip.



*update 3rd Dec 2009 - after leaving it off for more than 3 days, both camera and iphone came back to life! :)