West coast story

First and foremost, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and my mom, who doesn't mind skipping the flowers this year - you rock.

Before the recent camping trip, I grew up thinking that everyone loves camping. But it turns out that not many people have been into the wild, survived mosquitoes/midges/insects bites, rain and coldness - amongs many and therefore decided that it's not worth giving up comfort to be under sheets of (sometimes, not waterproof) tent and the smell of fresh mud. I can totally understand that now. It's just that I never really looked at it that way before. Heh.

Fortunately enough, I do love camping. I remember going camping with my parents, aunties, uncles and cousins on two wooden boats called perahu along Tubau River for a day - up the stream, braving mosquitoes and midges, encountering snakes 'gliding' on the water, having to lift the boats up when met by huge dead trees blocking the narrow river until we reached the shallowest, one of the uppermost part of the river to camp for the night on the bed white pebbles.

We slept under a thick green canvas built up enough to cover us in case of rain. Fathers caught fresh water fish and the mothers prepared the exquisite meal to be grilled on the fire and some, to be simmered inside a bamboo. Dessert was local fruit called rambutan and durian, collected from late grandpa's orchard that we passed en route. Their children were swimming in the crystal clear water - as cold as ice, playing with woods and small rocks, surrounded by jungles of trees that housed creatures of creatures. Who knows what was watching us that day. We returned to the village and then back to our home in town the following day but the weekend remains as one of my earliest camping experience.

These days, they have fancy thin sheets of material that stand like an igloo called tent. On this site of the world, they have camp sites and clean toilets and showers. Because everything is safe, you therefore have to pay to camp on these sites. Meals, if not barbecued, are of pubs and restaurants nearby. Fire, if not too big, is allowed. Desserts are marshmallows and in our recent case, Kipling's tart.

I did a 9-days camping trip on the west coast two summers ago. It was early August and midges were feasting on human blood. This time around, thankfully, it was still a bit too cold for them to be out (from where, I don't know). With all our equipment strapped and packed inside the car, off we went for a 3 nights camping/road trip with full optimism that the weather was going to be on our side.

Postcardy images for now until I have time to edit the cool ones. :-)

What did we know! The weather gods were really on our side after that horrible rain on Friday with us setting up the tent at 2 in the morning. Not many people would've looked back and laugh at that, I tell ya!

So, do we say we want to go camping again? Oh, heck yeah. Maybe not on the camping site next time. They're too easy. Oooohhh, let's do it in the woods! You game? :-)