Concerning the NightWalk, and the Showers (ICT FOC Day 1; Part 4)

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MAY 17, 2005 AT 2.50AM

Suddenly one of the OC members announced that the NightWalk was cancelled ("That is Good News!") There were sighs of relief, as people were rather tired. It was 2.50am in the morning.

Either way, we still had to perform the NightWalk, as our bunks were at the other end of the campus, from where we were congregated. Thus, we instead walked in a huge group, in a sort of mass NightWalk.


Pause. I have just found out why (perhaps) the food was unpalatable. From an undisclosed (human) source, it was found out that for last year's camp, a team of food tasters from the ICT Club sampled each meal personally. They gave their opinions and comments about the dishes, and suitable changes were made to the menu.

However, this year, they did away with the panel of judges; instead, the choosing was based on price. So, the food was bad.

Continuéz.

The mass NightWalk was the exact opposite of what a NightWalk was supposed to be. A NightWalk, for your information, is solitary. Its main purpose is to instill Fear within the walkers, and several methods are used to achieve this result. Other than the solitary nature of the Walk, the next easiest method is to deprive walkers of light. No flashlights are allowed.


Booby traps and terrible items are placed along the route at regular intervals. Most common ones consist of dead bodies, falling or stationary. There are also disembodied heads "floating" on ropes connected to pulleys (silent pulleys, not creaking ones), and the Walkers are supposed to detect by themselves the approach of the head(s), and scream at appropriate points.

Of course a drawback of installing all these apparati would be the screams, indicating to those behind that a booby trap was near, and they had better watch out. How ironic.

The NightWalk was uneventful.

The booby traps were taken down because the Walk was cancelled, if you remember me saying so.

So we reached our bunk. The OC members announced tomorrow's waking time, 11.00am. Then we were permitted to sleep.

My group chose to bathe first. We had already agreed to do so earlier.

Unfortunately the nearest mass showering area was a good 450 metres away (could be more!), and travelling there required the use of a torchlight, since the roads were uncustomarily dark.



Once there, we discovered luxurious showering areas (3 in all) and some apparently so big that they needed two different doors. Of course, the actual *number* of showers were not so luxurious for us campers all at once. Impatient ones whiled away the time walking to and fro between the areas, hoping to find one with shorter queues.

For goodness-knows-what reason the number of toilet cubicles in one of the showers-cum-toilets were equally luxurious. I suppose shower cubicles are in great demand during bathing times, but I can't imagine vast numbers of people coming to use the toilet cubicles (only). Well, for the female toilets, that would be perfectly acceptable due to the eternities spent there, but Really, for the male toilets, put more showers!

The school has an excellent ez-link card payment system for the vending machines. I have tried it. ("It's Good!") There are shortcomings, as usual (what do you expect? It's electronic!)


Average number of showers per toilet: only 5! One changing room (out of 3) could be done away with, and converted to a shower. The Reduction of toilet cubicles goes without saying. Out of an estimated 6, 2 could be converted into showers. Sinks? Put more. Benches? Also. We don't want people standing about expectantly (they walked a long distance to get here, so let them sit and rest!) Also useful for wearing long pants when the floor is wet; they can stand on the benches to do so.

Finally I was back in my bunk. To bed! (sleeping bag rather.) After a long day.

WAWAS! - End of the Second Performance, and Our Toilets

--8 of 19--


After the performance, we had the special opportunity of hearing some inspiring words from the famous Yusnor Ef himself! Many photos were snapped with the renowned people within our audience, and we closed the performance that night feeling very elated, in high spirits. My friends kept pestering me for my father's comments on the performance, of which there were none yet, because my father is not a man of many words! (He *did* give his comments a week later during the day of the post mortem, a rightful time for such things.)


Efin and Arif joined us during dinner, looking a bit weary. But all that disappeared later when we played a birthday prank on Shamil by drenching him with gallons of water! A load of fun, it was.


We returned to our bunks, Jihad turning on the music on his self-brought speakers. It was a brilliant idea to bring them--it made our room the more happening one! Everyone was free to contribute their mp3 playlist for our listening pleasure.

Already I can see a clear preference for toilets. The boys' room has two toilets, which are singularly different in design. We preferred to go to the one on the right. I don't know why. After some time, we tended to go to the one on the left. I, personally, preferred the one on the left. I can tell you why.


The arrangement of the components of the toilet on the right were thus: the mirror faced the door, and between the mirror and the door was the shower pipe. Now, showering in front of a mirror is quite distracting, so I moved out of direct sight of the mirror. But then I saw in the mirror the reflection of the towel hanging behind the door, which, out of the corner of my eye proved even more distracting. So I didn't use that toilet anymore after that.

The left toilet is better; it has plenty of space around the sink to put your toiletries. It also has a ventilation window at the top; the other toilet has absolutely None. That toilet feels like a cubicle--it has two walls of blue plastic like most toilet cubicles do, and sometimes we use it to startle the person inside with a great bang! And yes, the mirror of the left toilet doesn't face the door; the toilet bowl does.

And so, after a quick shower, we fell asleep.

WAWAS! - The Adventure on Christmas Eve

--3 of 19--


It is now 8.38pm, and we are sitting comfortably on the steps of the modern Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka building waiting for Cikgu Hasnah. The older building was the one we rehearsed in. It is quite decrepit. The toilets are currently being renovated, and there are packets of toilet seats and wide-open cisterns everywhere. The urinals have non-existent flushing systems (I pressed and pressed but water only trickled.)

It is 12.31am, and our movie is delayed! Seventeen of us are seated in the movie theatre of Times Square. We are supposed to watch National Treasure: Book of Secrets, but the aforementioned delay has dampened our spirits somewhat (and the rest of the theatre too).

"Sepuluh minit lagi!" the usher announces. There has been a problem with the brightness of the screen. In ten minutes the show would start!

In due course it begins. It was quite exciting, except for some of us who had already watched the movie. They dozed off halfway.

What, you may ask, are we doing here at 12.31am, of all times? Well, earlier we had an Adventure!

We were travelling to Bukit Bintang on foot when we saw a group of people spraying each other with party streamers and foam. "Nothing to be afraid of," we thought, "just get through this and all will be fine." We continued with some apprehension, constantly wondering whether we would get hit next. Then we turned a corner. The next street was a complete mass of People!

Sheer cacophony! A great din of blaring horns and enthusiastic sprayers! Even the cars were not spared. Abstract designs were sprayed onto them, and for the more unfortunate ones, a free foam wash! There was a huge traffic jam as well (what do you expect?) and human traffic fought against vehicular traffic. We made a beeline through the crowds, always ensuring that everyone kept together. It was supposed to exciting, but how to exciting when people are spraying at you from all sides?

We left Cikgu and Encik Harun (our guide) at a cafe and continued our journey.

The hordes had become more unruly! At one time we walked right through the line of fire of another group. No one was seriously sprayed, and only residual spray got onto some of us. Half of us were held up by the offending group.
(Hadis, didi & Shamil was here! =) *winks.)

After waiting for those caught up behind, we were called together. Then the half of us that were "held up" let loose a spray of foam on us! (Of the names stated above, Hadis and Shamil were among the Sprayers.)

What else--we fled the place! I strode briskly to the other side of the road.

Then the Sprayers caught up with me! I was ambushed from behind at a carpark near the end of the road.

Nadiah looked quite perturbed. She said she wasn't into these kinds of things.

The girls noticed Nadiah's plight and gathered around her, offering words of comfort.

We stopped at a hotel to use the toilet, then made our way back to Cikgu. All of us decided to watch a movie, and we carried on to Times Square, leaving Cikgu and Encik Harun at the cafe.

Pushing through the ever restless crowds, we emerged into Times Square, gathered everyone, and took the lift up to the second floor where the cinema was.

*That* is how we got to be here. End of Adventure! Merry Christmas!

WAWAS! - The Journey to KL, and The Trains

--1 of 19--

(This is the first of many posts to come on Sang Singa Purba's trip to KL in December 2007 for a performance called Wawas. Read on!)

In exactly 23 minutes we are leaving for Kuala Lumpur!

The whole group of us rushed to the KTM station thinking the train would come at 11pm. Upon asking the guard, however, it was found out that it would come at 11.28pm.

We were very much relieved! Aizat was feeling happy--"Woohoo!" he cried out, adding that he "missed his mummy". Hadis was "so excited, going to KL after so long!"

Suzana praised the hipstrap on her backpack for relieving the strain on her back. A good investment, indeed!

A somewhat muffled announcement declares the opening of the gates. We do a quick roll call and pass through them. Asmida is quite eager; this is her first time boarding the trains. As far as I can remember, this is my second time! The last time I rode on a KTM train was when I was 7, coming back from KL after 3 months there. (My family wanted to apply for Malaysian citizenship but was unsuccessful.)

There is a prolonged photo-taking session on the platform. All of us are extremely energetic, though some felt after some time that the multi-burst pictures were quite tiring to take. Shamil chose to conserve energy by standing still throughout one whole series of pictures.



A headlight appears in the distance. Our train is here!

There is a dining cabin somewhere in the middle of the train. On either ends are the sleeper cabins. Ours is L5. I am to occupy bunk 29, an upper bunk.

We climb upon the cabin. The other passengers already inside peer though their bunk curtains, looking at us as though we were aliens. Sang Singa Purba advances through!

It turns out that most of us get the upper bunks, except for those with smaller numbers. Upper Bunk 2 is designated as a luggage compartment, and everything else which wouldn't fit there may kindly be arranged along the aisle near your bunk. Aidil and I, in the last two allotted bunks, ended up doing the latter.


Some of us cannot contain our excitement and burst into a chorus of various Malay songs in the space between the cabins. Over there is a complete ruckus--thuds, creaks and screeches! We add to the din.

Human waste is deposited straight onto the tracks from the train's toilets! I sit pondering this appalling thought for a few moments. The waste is left to rot on the tracks. Not very appetizing, isn't it?

We cast our eyes gravely over Didi on his bed. The whole scene looks like a hospital, with his bandaged knee (a healing injury), crisp white bedsheets and the metal railings. There is nothing much to do now. The rest are still awake, having idle conversations. Aidil begins to snore. I'd better join him as well.

The train roars and lurches through Malaysian terrain! I sleep.