Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas all, and a Great 2007 ahead!
Just came back from a trip to Arizona with 2 old friends - it was a blast! the host was big hearted and eager to please in his usual gruff manner, and the companion ever entertaining and funny.

and, (and I've got to type this in caps), WE HIKED GRAND CANYON!!! well, not all the way down, but maybe about 10 or 20 miles.

.....

ok, it was more like 3 miles. but that itself took more than 3 hrs, going down towards the canyon floor and then hiking back up to the rim. and the view...how can i describe it...to coin T's phrase, it was so breathtaking that we needed to puke, in a good way (it's more descriptive translated to cantonese). The view from the hiking trail was MAGNIFICENT. So Magnificent that the word not only needs be in caps, but bolded, underlined, highlighted and decorated with flashy neon light, except that i don't know how to do those fancy things within blogspot. Comparing it to the tourist convenient, camera friendly, shuttle accessible rim is like comparing boiled unsalted liver pate to penang's char kuey tiao, or bush to gandhi, or me to albert einstein. They are not only incomparable, they're not even the same species.

photos coming up soon!

4 comments:

limcheecheng said...

I missed that canyon. Let's go trip!

kampung girl said...

dude. settle down. Europe first, NYC 2nd, then we can talk bout da canyon, peace?

Anonymous said...

My! My ! Kampung Girl,

You have wandered into my domain..the wilderness of the mountains. Should I raid yourlowland kampung in retaliations ? ???

Chewing over it,I feel that there is no point for a 'tick for tack'(whatever this expression is!"

Mountain wisdom declares that it is prudent to share my mountain wisdom with you .

Wisdom 1.: Be Prepared ! Boy Scouts Motto which has saved many a life and injuries.
I know. I was bitten by the adventure bug as much as you are when I was your age.

I had combed the humid , sweaty hills and tracherous jungles and swamps around your kampung. My fellow adventurers and I had escaped serious injuries many a times when we were challenged to a duel by big dark blue scorpions tending to their youngs under the rotting logs on which had wanted to rest our sore bodies. As expected Luck was with us. Because we had " Look Before you sit" !

Once, when we were pushing the thick branches aside to make way for our young venturers, we had inadertantly disturbed a big hive of wasps ...Tiger wasps ! those pain givers can give you agony for weeks ! Luckily, we were prepared. Having found out from villagers before hand that wasps aplenty in the area, we had brought ample supply of anti wasp balm, And each venturer was equiped with a mosquito type of net cover.

Another time, I had called camp without seeing a medium sized green snake right aboveme, ithaving been camoflashed by the luxurient green leaves. Luckily, we had a double checking habit among us. My second in command saw the snake on time.

Quite long winded. But by now you know that Mountain folks love you. Welcome to the mountains. Butbe prepared always.


Mountain Man.

kampung girl said...

MM,
your comments are always welcomed. :)
wow..such close calls! but have you any stories where someone was actually bitten/stung etc?
yeah, we went prepared that's why we only hiked for half a day. there were notice boards everywhere, giving warning to the "young, fit and invincible" (yes, they actually wrote that, LOL) to not o underestimate the heat and distance. Also, they posted a story of a 25 y.o girl, a marathon runner and med student who died cos she tried to go to the bottom and come up in one day. sad story, that.