Now about the first phase of my 10 week expedition!
A 10 week expedition is split into 3 phases each lasting 19 days each.
The 3 phases for this expedition would be
Adventure: 12 days of trekking in the jungle and 5 days diving.
Community: Building a Community Learning Centre in a village OR building a gravity water feed system as well as a sanitation unit(i.e toilet)
Environment: Spending time in Class 1 protected forests helping the rangers out.
The order of which phase you do first is basically unknown to everyone till the morning where your new groups are announced alongside which project you will be off to.
The Adventure phase was one of the most feared by most to be the first phase to be embarking on as 12 days trekking in the jungle sounds super duper intense. That is 12 days of trekking to a different camp each day with all your belongings on your back. Which also includes the group kit stuff and ALL your food. Okay well not all, 6 days worth at a time. Really can't imagine how heavy my bag would be with 12 days of rations in it, even 6 split evenly between everyone was heavy enough as it is. Also considering that the bag was like half my weight standing up with it was always a challenge.
Sorting the food out proved to be the toughest part as everyone had to consider how much weight it would all actually add up to. We basically had to decide right there and then how much and exactly what we would be having for all meals. As while we would all have liked to bring a nice comfortable amount the thought of carrying so much weight for a long trek each day meant we had to cur everything down to the bare minimum. Suffice to say that everyone in the group lost weight after our 12 days in the jungle.
No day to day account but a typical day on trek in Long Pasia will run like this.
6am: Wake up and start packing everything. Collect water, make fire, boil water, have breakfast.
8am: Leave camp.
Trek trek trek trek trek trek trek. Usually for 4 hours. With a couple of breaks in between with everyone collapsing on the ground and sharing a packet of ice gems/banana chips.
12pm: Reach camp and start unpacking the radio, get water from the river(cause the chlorine pills take 30minutes), start a fire.
12.30pm: LUNCH. Everyone's starving so every last crumb is consumed.
Laze about. Maybe a shower if the weather is nice, and by shower I mean a dip in the nearest river.
6pm: Dinner prep which mostly just consists of boiling noodles and heating up the meat/vege.
7pm: Food time. Usually followed by a hot drink.
8pm: BED. For most people.
I usually stay up till 9ish writing in my journal or chatting with whoever is awake.
Rinse and repeat for 12 days. By the end everyone's spirits were dampened because well I guess 12 days of trekking with minimal food in the same set of clothes will get anyone down.
I would have liked to write a longer post on trek but honestly no matter how many words I type out it still will barely describe the experience.
So here instead are the top 5 things I learnt!
1. Everything gets wet in the jungle. One night I left a pair of dry socks out and by the next morning it was damp even though it didn't rain that night. So put everything away in a dry bag.
A 10 week expedition is split into 3 phases each lasting 19 days each.
The 3 phases for this expedition would be
Adventure: 12 days of trekking in the jungle and 5 days diving.
Community: Building a Community Learning Centre in a village OR building a gravity water feed system as well as a sanitation unit(i.e toilet)
Environment: Spending time in Class 1 protected forests helping the rangers out.
The order of which phase you do first is basically unknown to everyone till the morning where your new groups are announced alongside which project you will be off to.
The Adventure phase was one of the most feared by most to be the first phase to be embarking on as 12 days trekking in the jungle sounds super duper intense. That is 12 days of trekking to a different camp each day with all your belongings on your back. Which also includes the group kit stuff and ALL your food. Okay well not all, 6 days worth at a time. Really can't imagine how heavy my bag would be with 12 days of rations in it, even 6 split evenly between everyone was heavy enough as it is. Also considering that the bag was like half my weight standing up with it was always a challenge.
Sorting the food out proved to be the toughest part as everyone had to consider how much weight it would all actually add up to. We basically had to decide right there and then how much and exactly what we would be having for all meals. As while we would all have liked to bring a nice comfortable amount the thought of carrying so much weight for a long trek each day meant we had to cur everything down to the bare minimum. Suffice to say that everyone in the group lost weight after our 12 days in the jungle.
Alpha 6!!
Setting off the first morning. With rucksacks packed to the max.
No day to day account but a typical day on trek in Long Pasia will run like this.
6am: Wake up and start packing everything. Collect water, make fire, boil water, have breakfast.
8am: Leave camp.
Trek trek trek trek trek trek trek. Usually for 4 hours. With a couple of breaks in between with everyone collapsing on the ground and sharing a packet of ice gems/banana chips.
12pm: Reach camp and start unpacking the radio, get water from the river(cause the chlorine pills take 30minutes), start a fire.
12.30pm: LUNCH. Everyone's starving so every last crumb is consumed.
Laze about. Maybe a shower if the weather is nice, and by shower I mean a dip in the nearest river.
6pm: Dinner prep which mostly just consists of boiling noodles and heating up the meat/vege.
7pm: Food time. Usually followed by a hot drink.
8pm: BED. For most people.
I usually stay up till 9ish writing in my journal or chatting with whoever is awake.
Rinse and repeat for 12 days. By the end everyone's spirits were dampened because well I guess 12 days of trekking with minimal food in the same set of clothes will get anyone down.
I would have liked to write a longer post on trek but honestly no matter how many words I type out it still will barely describe the experience.
So here instead are the top 5 things I learnt!
1. Everything gets wet in the jungle. One night I left a pair of dry socks out and by the next morning it was damp even though it didn't rain that night. So put everything away in a dry bag.
Welcome to the laundry area. A lot of us dried out stuff over the fire but take note that everything will smell of smoke and may have scorch marks.
2. There are gonna be leeches on you no matter how hard you try to get rid of them. If they haven't started sucking just flick them away. Otherwise just 'massage' them till they curl up into a ball then flick them. Try not to burn or pour salt on them cause they may throw up into your wound which may then get infected. Wearing longs while trekking does help though.
3. You will drink lots of tea/coffee/Milo especially when it rains. So try to always keep the fire going to boil water cause it's easier to keep the fire going than to start a new one. And also drinking chlorinated water on it's own is not exactly the more pleasant taste.
4. Get a walking stick. Even if you don't own a nice proper walking pole, you can ask the guides to find a nice sturdy stick for you. It really helps with the going up and down hills. And believe me when I say there are A LOT OF HILLS.
5. Duct tape is the solution to everything. Haha. Leaky tarp? Tape it. Broken cutlery? Tape it.
My conclusion?
Yes trek is hard. But if I (who does absolutely no exercising at all), can do it. Anyone can.
It's more about adapting to the jungle life than it is about being fit.
