Silver IA trip to Sentul

One of the reasons why I was looking forward to the Silver IA trip was basically because the camp was taking place of Indonesia, just on the outskirts of Jakarta in a town called Sentul. The area is probably one of the more beautiful areas found in the rural area due to the numerous number of Mountains found in the area; if you already know I think that mountains are the most beautiful land-forms found on Earth.

You see, Jakarta is very special in the sense that urban sprawl has resulted in something called conurbanisation where cities nearby are engulfed by the fast spreading, quick developing city of Jakarta. These cities include Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok, Bogor. These cities are engulfed by Jakarta and is now called "Greater Jakarta" or "Jabodetabek". Sentul is found in Bogor. Indonesia is also a big country with a population of appox 248 million people, where many know how to speak the language Bahasa Indonesia, a language that I am relatively fluent in. So although I left Jakarta, it doesn't really feel that I left home at all.

The camp was only a day and a half, shortened due to weather conditions. Having just finished a major exam, a short and sweet trip was exactly what we needed rather than a long and dull one.

Unfortunately, what I forgot to predict during the trip was the fact that my fitness level has decreased and that I would be too tired to even enjoy the scenery as much as I wished I could (it was only during resting times that I felt like heaven, and it might not be because of the view). Furthermore with path being treacherous due to slippery conditions, a narrow path and steep slopes (not to mention the fact that often we were walking next to a cliff where a slight misstep could mean death or serious injury), I often didn't have time to look up and every time I did I slipped and fell. Although the falls were not serious, it seemed to hurt my pride rather than my bum.

There were also ups and downs where often my camp mate, as stubborn as he was, would often complain about having too much to do when in fact he was given too little to carry or do. However we did manage to sort out our differences and to be fair he did carry quite a bit (with complaint) and we managed to go through the camp fine. As said before, my fitness level did go down and all I've been doing now is sitting in front of the computer after getting home to relax my legs and try to get this blog back into shape once again. The correlation between urban living and the productivity I can do without moving is amazing.

Cheers,
Matthew Tan