32nd KL-MARAN MARATHON (204KM)

THE PHOTO GALLERY

At the arrival hall in Batu Caves, Selangor

Prayer session seeking blessing from Lord Muruga

Just before the tunnel at Genting Sempah, Karak Highway

First stop for breakfast @ 7.ooam

Lunch on 1st day - still fresh after 30km walk all the way uphill

Was spotted by the reported from China Press who was impressed that non Hindu are taking part in the pilgrimage walk. Reported in China Press Daily

We decided to join the band-wagon when 'attacked' by the blazing sun to the rest area which is 5km away


Uncle Shunmugan - the priest who is 80 years old has been taking part for the past 32 years. due to his old age and health condition, he still managed to complete more than 120km on foot, truly amazing and put many young ones to shame.


Banana leaf rice for dinner - sponsored by the temple committee in respective rest area.


Having lunch in a temple in Mentakab


Hi Doc, can you see my 'pregnant' toe? And another one on my heel, too! (seeking medical treament for blisters. if you don't have blister, you have not walk the walk!)

The long winding road to Jengka town

We decided to quit lunch after a short break in Jengka and start the journey on foot at 11.00am to reach our final destination without taking the truck by 4pm. Its another long blazing hot journey of more than 23km! With burns, blisters, aching muscles & joints, lacking of sleep and walking on the tar road under blazing hot sun is definitely not an easy feat even to an elite athlete! In my 4 years experience, not more than 10% of the devotees are able to complete this last stretch of the journey on foot. We are glad to make it on time without being put on the sweeper truck.

A group photo before the final journey


Preparing the milk pot for the devotees


Cleansing themselves at the nearby river


Some of the devotees before the procession


Prayer and blessing


Seeking blessing fron the priest after the cleansing ceremony

Wai Mun with Priest Shunmugan


Our group had the biggest number of devotees walking from Bt Caves to Maran, Kuantan to seek blessing from Lord Muruga

Tho' Wai Mun and myself are non-Hindu, we didn't want to be left out from this from this event which is steep in culture and color. Its not an easy task to walk barefooted for 2 km under hot sun and burning tar road

Pueh Tian, our unofficial photographer who didn't want to be left behind too.


One of the young devotees with his parents and siblings

Another young devotees

A devotee carrying a Kavadi

The just completed Marathandavar Temple standing majestically in gold built around a tree

32nd KL-MARAN MARATHON (204KM)

The Walk, The Story & The Lesson

After a light meal and a short prayer, the participants/devotees started the walk shortly after 3am. This year there were almost 300 participants of all ages from as young as 10 years to 80 years old. Joined by Pueh Tian, Wai Mun and Amelia - the 4 chinese souls among the Hindu devotees headed towards Karak Highway.

The 1st days is the hardest and toughest. We have to complete 80km and the fisrt 30km to the tunnel near Genting Sempah is THE killer stretch. It really test one's patience, endurance and perseverance. I have been taking part in this yearly pilgrimage walk for Lord Muruga for the past 4 years. Yeah . . . one might be wondering why am I doing this - and I am not a HIndu.

This journey taught me to be humble, more appreciative and to love. It taught me how to look at life from different perspective, to be more attentive and more passionate about life and all other living things. Of how I should face every adversity with humility.

Walking down that long winding stretch provide me the time that I don't have in the daily busy routine to reflect on my life. Of how I have complain about everything tiny little things when in actual fact I am so bless. That how I have make excuses not to spend time with people who care about me and how I have been so prejudice about others when I am not Perfect!

Sharing the hall with hundreds at night and trying to get some rest after a long day remind me of the thousands (if not millions) living in refugee camps. People who are deprive of their very basic needs; Who have no rights to choose or decide; Whose very life are being dictated by few who claim to be the rightful ruler/governor when all of us are Equal in the eye of God.

When I left primary school, my favourite class teacher, Puan Fatimah wrote a short note in my little book - ' .... the road ahead is long and winding, take this and you will never regret'.

Yes, Cikgu. You are right. I shall continue this journey for as long as I can but a little wiser.

For I shall continue this journey for as long as I am able.

32nd KL-MARAN MARATHON (204KM) : Day 1

Date : 4 - 8 April, 2009

A 204km pilgrimage walk from Batu Caves, Selangor to Maran, Kuantan

Lord Muruga

Standing majestically at the foothill of Batu Caves guarding and blessing each and every devotees and visitors

Batu Caves, 4 April 2009 - At 2.30pm I headed towards Batu Caves to register for the KL-Maran Marathon. This is my 4th year taking part in this pilgrimage walk with hundreds of Hindu devotees (although I am not a Hindu). I was introduced to this walk in 2006 by Uncle Shunmugan who is a Hindu priest whom I met at a Veteran Meet in Bukit Jalil.

He will be celebrating his 80th Birthday on April 14 and has been taking part in this pilgrimage walk for the past 32 years! Despite his health conditions due to old age, he definitely put many young people to shame.

Arrived at Batu Caves around 4.00pm and headed to the registration table. In 2007, I had Peter Goh and Saliah joining me in the walk. It was one of the toughest although every year we are walking the same route. While we were performing the ritual walk round the temple on the final day, rain was pouring down. Our luggage left under a make-shift tent was all soaked with muddy water. I managed to savour a long pants and a semi-wet shirt for the night. All were soaked in their wet clothes the entire night without a shelter or proper rest place. That was the toughest test!

This year Amelia, Wai Mun and Pueh Tian decided to join me. After registration, I went round acknowledging and catching up with some of the participants whom I met the previous years. We were ushered to a cafeteria in front of a garden for light refreshment.

The Rela members and some of the participants from outstations having tea

Samy (Priest) Shanmugan sharing a light moment with the participants before the opening ceremony

The Police Sergeant (in dark blue & orange t-shirt) together with his officers accompanying throughout the journey to ensure the safety of the participants

Mr. Robin (wearing cap), the head of RELA and his men assisting the Police to ensure smooth traffic throughout the journey

Some of the devotees who arrived early attending the opening ceremony


Samy Shunmugan lighting up to start the prayer and seek for blessing from Lord Muruga

Datin Seri Indrani who is the Chairperson for the event giving a speech

Representative from Sports Toto Malaysia presenting a cheque to Datin Seri Indrani

In 2006 when I first joined the walk, I was the only chinese and non-Hindu. Of course I stand out among the crowd and received special attention from the devotees, priests, volunteers and just everyone along the journey. I was like a STAR!

First year was the toughest as I was not prepared at all but I definitely enjoyed the journey. It is an experience of a life time. This journey taught me a lot about life. It made me humble and more appreciative of people and things around me more than ever. This journey is like a self reflection to re-evaluate my life; How I perceived life and just be a human as I should be. To do my level best to fulfill my mission before being called back to the Almighty.

TREKKING UP THE ROCKY MOUNT - Part ONE

Bukit Tabur (Taman Melawati) - one of the few hills left for us, the urbanites to value its beauty and serenity. With the massive development taking place and hill cutting by those greedy developers in the name of Development, the natural beauty will be gone before our eyes. Let us all enjoy what we have today and do our very best to preserve it from destruction.

And so, on Sunday morning (22/3/2009) Albert and Mandy picked me up at 6.35am and headed towards Giant, Taman Melawati to meet up with the rest of the group. By 7.00am, we headed towards Bukit Tabur which is 10 minutes away. Started trekking up at 7.15am.

(Photo taken with my Sony Ericsson G502 phone camera)

At the start of the trail - all the way up,up and up. Awwww . . . not sure if I can survive this . . . . . . . .

And just less than 20 minutes everyone was shooting and clicking away with their camera

Yes, there was a human traffic jam on top of the hill . . . . and what's so interesting?

This is what everyone wanted . . . . . . . .
Isn't this beautiful . . . .

Our first stop after almost 40 minutes. Yes, carbo loading because after this you need to have lots of strength to push yourself up! And young lady, stop laughing. Albert was explaining the goodness of eating banana.... hehehehehee

Look, even Eddy our mountain guide and big brother agreed with him
Eddy and Soon were discussing something really serious - how to handle this group of 'naive and innocent but seems to somehow know everything' bunch of trekkers! Look like Soon (in orange singlet) is telling Eddy, ' hey brother, I think we better charge them RM100 each before we start the journey. Its a tough road ahead.'
Now, you see what I mean! They are expecting me to carry them up there.

Yeah, you can laugh lah while I'm still suffering down there

That's Yee Mey, the fairest among all . . . Oh, no! How can I make it to the top? Soon! Where are you?

Heheheeeee . . . . Since you don't want to pay the RM100, you find your way up! Look, I am up here and all of you still down there. You want me to throw the rope, pay me first . . .hehehehe . . .see who is laughing now

Yes, PEACE to the World. Thats the universal language.

As we thought we were at the top, we were told to descent on the other side of that big rock again? Both our tour guides are really torturing us to the maximum. Up, down, Up again the Down . . .

And Albert, our camera man can still put up a BIGGG smile. He may be an accomplice too

Finally, we managed to have a real group photo before making our way down

Left to right: Woei Leong, Soon, Mei Khau (MK), Yee Mey, Soon Hoong, Albert, Eddy, Mandy, Miss Liew and Albert

Just before we made our way down, I managed to capture another group coming up right behind us on the other side. See that white patch in the middle ? Yes, they are a huge group of trekkers making their way up. We were there earlier on. Wow!

We were just a couple of months away from the durian season. This is how the king of fruits look like before it turn into that spiky look

Finally, after 3.5hours, we made it back to the foothill.

We are truly grateful to have Eddy on this trip. He has been really helpful and patiently guiding us all the way up to the top. Without him, we might not have such a smooth and enjoyable journey. And a big TQ to Soon who has been unselfishly lending a helping hand in assisting us crossing the most difficult path.

Eddy and Soon - 3 cheers for you. Looking forward to another trekking with both of you in the near future.

More photos in action in the next posting.

SUPPORTED LIVING PROGRAM - CAMPING

Venue : Forest Reserves Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong

Date : 17 - 19 March 2009

I was indeed very grateful that I was invited to join the group in their 1st outdoor camping at FRIM. This may not be the first outdoor adventure for them but is their FIRST outdoor camping with minimal facilities.

Yes, for many of us, there may not be any challenge since we still stay in chalet and electricity is provided. But this is not the same for the youths with learning disabilites and physically challenged. This is not my first experience but I always look forward to such event as they truly taught me about life and being appreciative for what I have.

We departed from Taman Tun Dr Ismail at about 11.30am with 5 of the youths and another one joined us the next day. Arrived at FRIM before 12 noon. As we approached the camp site, we found our camp site was across the hanging bridge. Some were excited but we were worried for Choong Jien as his limbs are weak and may have difficulty to cross the hanging bridge. While most of us made our way to the chalet, Choong Jien stayed behind to take a short break. Later, assisted by Fendi (the Community Support Assistant for the OPTIONS program) he slowly made his way to cross the bridge.

Despite being physically challenge, Choong Jien is indeed a very determine young man. He crossed the bridge step by step with little help from Fendi. Bravo!

(Looking on from behind : Yin Chun, Choong Jien and William) Hey! Look what I found . . . FOOD! Heheheheee . . courtesy of Wendy - Chung Jien's mum. Its stewed chicken . . . . . . eeeeemmm yummy, yummy...

Trying to start the fire. We put in lots of dry leafs to create as much smoke hopefully will scare the mosquitoes (our no. 1 enemy at that time) away and later added in dry branches for a small campfire.

Oouch! What's going on? Walking round the fire? When the flame became bigger, suddenly Fendi hailed the stick and started walking in the circle followed by the rest . . . . . oohhhh he got a 'message' from the ancestor reminding him that he was from the tribes. So, we happily joined him to honour his ancestor. It was really fun!!! (Believe it or Not?)

Its dinner time. Each one must dirtied their hands and cooked (barbecued) their own meal or sleep with an empty stomach. The choice is yours! Thats the rule in the camp - order by the Camp Commandor (in red tee)

Photo for the album (taken by Mettilda John, Executive Director of Dignity & Services and Program Director/Founder for OPTIONS program) : left to right - Ken Han, Choong Jien, Yin Chun, Qi Han, Fendi and me

Breakfast time. Its bread with peanut butter. I guess we were protesting because our normal breakfast supposed to be soup noodles, nasi lemak, burger, half-boil eggs . . . . and you only gave us bread and jam? hehehehee . .. .got you! We were just wondering when the rain gonna stop otherwise we will be stucked here the rest of the day.

Early lunch at the cafeteria. Budget - RM5.00 per person. If you spent more, you have to pay the extra yourself or work for 2 hours at the cafeteria! Again the CHOICE is yours! Guess what happen . . . ???

Having fun at the waterfall. Peace to the World - thats the message from Ken Han

(Photo taken by Ken Han) Relaxing at the Malay Tea House. Given the opportunity, people with learning disabilities can live like any ordinary persons and are as capable too.

Qi Han! Put that ice cream away! We're supposed to have TEA!

(Photo taken just before departing the camp site)

Front: Ken Han, Qi Han and Yin Chun

Back: Choong Jien, Asha (a volunteer), Julie and me (Yes, we have 2 Julie's in the camp)

Stopping by at one of the mamak shop for a glass of teh tarik in Taman Desa, Kepong.

Yes, a happy ending camp. This is a great experience for the youths and all are looking forward to the next camp where we can have more activities. This camp taught the youths to be a survivor. Being independent, responsible and sensitive towards other people's needs. We definitely have lots of fun.

A big thank you to Dignity & Services for inviting me to the camp. Till then ..... see you all at the coming JW Gift of Dignity Relay on 19 April 2009!

Qi Han will be competing in the relay. So runners better be prepared for the challenge!

KOMTAR TOWER RUN 2009

Date

Sunday, 31st May 2009

Time

6.00am

Venue

Foyer, Lebuh Teck Soon, Komtar

For more details, please download the entry form now!