This project required strong stamina and patience. Why would I say that? It was because we as the actor need to involve ourselves in the outside world – Jungle. I have chosen Bukit Jenaton which was conducted by Che Le. It was a bit thrilling when my chosen site was categorized as the toughest; I even wondered whether we would encounter wild boars? Or maybe bears???
Early in
the morning, I have to open my heavy eyelids and prepar myself for this
project. Even though there were no transportation to the site, but it was
considered fortunate as our site was within the school compound. After arriving
at the site, I sprayed myself with some insect repellent. It was kind of nauseous as
the repellent had an odd smell.
Another name for Bukit Jenaton - Durian Valley.
After
entering the meeting room, Che Li briefed us about the tasks and precautions. We
were advised about the history of this jungle with some creepy stories.
According to the responsible bomoh, there was some “creature” stayed in this
jungle. Therefore, we were told to act gently, talk softly and do things
carefully which contrasted with my personality- speak loudly, talkative, and
clumsy. Regardless of the creepy thing, there were wild creatures as well in
the jungle. Cobra, anaconda…. No joke, seriously, they were everywhere in
this jungle.
The bomoh.
Then, we have our hearty tea break before working out. We were served with nasi lemak, some kuih-muih and tea. This breakfast really energized and refreshed me.
I was answerable to the tagging job. The tagging task includes specifying the tree’s family name, local name and scientific name. This task involved majority of the girls as we cannot cover the whole big jungle which was full of slopes by ourselves.
-The tagging result-
On the next
day, Che Li toured us around the sites and introduced us to some precious herbs
and trees.Do you know how to differentiate a forest and a jungle?
Che Li was explaining about the difference between jungle and forest. Before this, i treated jungle and forest the same.
Installing water system wasn't an easy job as we had to carry the pipe down along the slope. The pipe was heavy but luckily we got our indeed helpers, the bomoh and the guard. They guided us to install the sprinkler system and taught us alot of extra knowledge. Moreover,I learned
how to capture pictures in this project by snapping shot of the vegetation
around. I was equipped with such advanced camera but didn’t know how to use it.
This was what they called stupid.
This was the pipe we used to connect the water supply to the sprinkler system.
Through the reflection of sunlight, the cobination of water sprinkler and the greeny environment formed a nice shot.
The project was completed finally with the installation of water sprinkler system. Before the project ended, we were guided by the bomoh here to explore the vegetations down the hill. The slope was steep and I had to grab the plants around me tightly for support. This tour nourished me with lots of traditional herbs introduced by the bomoh. I had to admit that he has a big brain, he could memorise everything in this jungle as though it was his family.
No boars or bears or anaconda was encountered. The jungle was safe.
Breath taking scenery of Bukit Jenaton.