The International School @ ParkCity's YEAR 7 RESIDENTIAL TRIP

Written by: ISP Year 7 Students Marisa and Jin

This year for residential, the International School @ ParkCity Year 7's went to explore the wonders of Ipoh.

They conquered extraordinary obstacles over the course of 5 days; from high ropes to crawling in narrow passages of a unique cave. Before we continue on behalf of the Year 7's we would like to thank Eco Field Trips for making this trip a memorable experience and Mr Ian, Miss Frankie and Miss Wendy for their effort to make this all happen. In this article, Year 7 students Marisa and Jin share their memories of Year 7's amazing adventure...

DAY ONE: ARRIVAL

On the first day, we arrived at ISP at 7am to embark on their journey. As we departed from school, it was no surprise that excitement quickly filled the air. On the bus ride, there were several things going on. Selfie-taking, laughing, game playing and we can’t leave out the handful of students that brought food along with them. We must have all been a hungry bunch because it was all gone in a flash - haha! After 3 long hours we finally arrived in Ipoh and from the moment we got off the bus we had officially started our trip! Our first stop was to a Taoist Cave where we took surveys and several pictures of the cave formations and the temple features. As we travelled deeper into cave, our group leader showed us where the monks would sleep and meditate during the day and night. We quickly understood why they would meditate here as there was beautiful scenery looking out at the high peaks of the rainforest, where it was peaceful and calming through the cave opening. After that we headed to our resort where we would be staying for the upcoming days and had our first lunch of the trip. I think our fellow classmates would agree when we say that the food was delicious throughout the whole trip. Once we got settled into our villas we got ready for our first water activity, which was to collect hidden wildlife in the stream beside our resort and present our discoveries to the other groups. Many of the presentations were things like game shows, talk shows and documentaries. We think it's safe to say that the presentations were not only humorous but also informative. Later on, we headed back to our villas for free time and we were allowed to do activities such as volleyball, swimming or if you just wanted to relax in your rooms with your friends until dinner, that was fine too. After dinner, we were given an informative presentation on what we would do the next day - which was caving! Even though we were all exhausted by the fun filled day, we still had enough energy to be excited for the next day. We headed back to our rooms to pack our day-bags, which consisted of mosquito repellent, sunblock, spare clothes (because they said were we going to get wet but they never told us how, so that kept us thinking all night), a hat, water bottle and our trip booklet. Finally it was time to sleep!  

DAY TWO: CAVES, CASTLES & ICE-CREAM

The next day, we woke up to the chirpy sounds of the jungle surrounding us. Breakfast gave us all a boost of energy and that had us all pumped for the activities for the day. After a filling meal, we went back to our rooms to get ready for caving! We travelled Gua Tempurung, which was where we would have our cave exploration. After a briefing on the caving equipment, we entered the cave itself. It felt as if we had stepped into a different world, the sounds of a busy town melted behind us and instead the cave came to life. The vibrant lights lit up as it was reflecting off the cave walls. The cave was huge and you could hear your own echo bounce off the walls. As we continued into the darker zones, our group leader pointed out different cave formations and shadowing patterns on the cave ceiling. There were many steep flights of stairs that we had to climb, and as we did so we learned that in the world war, locals would hide in the cave and would draw out their plans on the walls. People also mined for tin here. Soon we descended down the last flight of stairs and into a shallow river that was running through the cave. This was where the real fun started. We started to walk in the river, which was going to be our route out of the cave. Not long after, the paths narrowed and we had to crawl through tight passages before being able to stand up again. At first, there was a lot of squirming and nervous giggling but soon we were all crawling and scooting our way through. You can even see what it was like in this video. There were times when we stopped to observe the cave formations and the wildlife within it such as glow-worms, huge cave spiders and cave crickets. Here we observed how the wildlife in the cave has adapted to its environment and how it has evolved over time. At one point everyone switched off their torch lights and we sat in pitch black darkness with cold water running over our feet. This gave us an idea of how the tin miners felt when they were mining without light. We took some pictures and headed out of the cave. Once out of the cave, we celebrated our achievement with a water fight. After we dried off and ate lunch, we headed to Kellie's Castle. It has a reputation for being haunted since it was left unfinished when William Kellie Smith died mid-construction. When we arrived, we were set a task to work in groups to find out the truth ourselves with a group scavenger hunt. The group leaders attempted to scare us when we arrived at the end, they definitely got the boys but us girls were tougher. Before going back to our resort, the teachers treated us to some well-deserved ice cream. When we got back, we had more free time to relax with our peers. After dinner there was another presentation, then it was off to pack and get ready for tomorrow's activity: High Ropes! After hearing this we all went to sleep with a feeling of satisfaction and excitement. I think that this has been yet another fun but tiring day.  

DAY THREE: ALL ABOUT ALTITUDE

The third day, all of us woke up extra early in the morning to get ready and to play a few games before the exciting began. After breakfast was served we headed back into our rooms to grab our day-bags and to meet our group leaders at our specific pin point to make sure everyone was there to get on the bus. We arrived at the resort where the Year 8's were staying for their residential trip. There we met a guy named Luke, our instructor and activity co-ordinator who gave us a quick briefing about our safety and the safety equipment we were going to use. Then we got onto a truck and headed down the lane to the actual course itself. The High Ropes Course was called "Mournin School" and all of us were super pumped. We put on our harnesses and practised unhooking and hooking the carabiner to the main wire frame. This was proved easy on ground level, but when you’re 20 meters up in the trees, now that’s a completely different story. The whole year group split into two. The first group consisted of all the more enthusiastic people who wanted to do the big high ropes course first and the second group consisted of the not so keen people who weren't so sure about going so high. Most of us trembled whilst we were on there, some of us even fell a few times, but when we all did the flying fox at the end of the course there was no doubt that all of us went down it with a sense of accomplishment. After that, we had lunch and it was time to do our second activity, Rock Climbing! Unfortunately some of us from Group 2 did not get to do the rock climbing course because either we were too tired from the high ropes course or there wasn't enough time. Not long after it was finally time to go back to the resort. We met some of the Year 8's which was really nice, hopped on the bus and soon we were back in our villas. As usual, free time and dinner and another presentation for the next day activity which was: visiting the Orang Asli village.  

DAY FOUR: ORIGINAL EXPERIENCES

The fourth day was the day we would visit the Orang Asli, meaning "The Original People". After the regular morning routine and of course delicious breakfast, we packed our lunch and walked our way to the Orang Asli village. A few talented individuals entertained us with their voices and we headed up to our designated destination. The first place we went to was the village's main hall. There we met the village elder, a nice guy named Pak Long. After that we had a go at weaving bracelets and shooting darts out of a traditional blowpipe. Some of us aced the blows and within a few tries, hit bull's eye on the dartboard, whilst others had more that a little bit of a hard time to even get the dart out of the pipe. After our activities in the hall, our group leader took us on a quick tour around the whole village, we even went to Pak Long's back garden to see some animal traps. Pak Long, using a stick and log, cheerfully showed us how each trap worked to catch animals. Soon, it was time for lunch, we trekked off the tar road and settled down to eat the lunch we packed earlier. Whilst we had lunch, we stopped to see the palm oil plantations and fruit trees along the pathways which was quite interesting. Some of us also bought a blowpipe as a souvenir before we left, but the teachers kept our ammunition so we wouldn't use them against our fellow classmates. After we got back to our villas, we played some traditional games, team building games and designed our own dartboards for an inter group blowpipe competition. One particular dartboard was impressively humorous. Soon free time arrived but we had to sacrifice some of it to prepare for our upcoming assembly. We were supposed to have a bonfire that night but it started raining during dinner so instead we had a talent show and roasted marshmallows at the barbecue. The talent show had performances ranging from comedy dramas to future Broadway acts. There was also a 'catwalk' to entertain the audience during the intermission. After all the talent, we gathered round the fire place and roasted marshmallows, that night was the night of our last presentation. Their was no doubt that this was one of the greatest experiences of the trip. We went back to our rooms and started packing up all our belongings since we would be departing this resort tomorrow. Soon it was lights out and we drifted into a deep sleep after a busy day of activities.  

DAY FIVE: A DIFFICULT FAREWELL

The last day on camp was here and we all woke up with an ache knowing that this would be the last time we would wake up in this resort. After a hearty breakfast, we got our wet shoes on and went down to the river to do some tin-panning. Our results were fairly embarrassing seeing as we had so many attempts to collect scraps of tin, but at least everyone found some. Finally it was time to bid farewell to the resort that welcomed and hosted so many of our memories on this camp. There was one more stop before we left back to KL, this was Gua Tambun, Malaysia's oldest cave paintings. We had lunch here, took some photos and tried to guess what some of the images represented. Then we really did need to wave goodbye to Ipoh. On the bus ride back, we giggled, laughed and repeated stories of our, sometimes embarrassing, memories in Ipoh. We were welcomed back to KL by a group of parents waiting for us at school. We were reluctant to leave our amazing camp leaders, Karen, Conor and Jenny but it was hard to turn down unlimited WiFi and fully blasting air conditioning. The handful of students who bought a blowpipe had their ammunition returned. After 5 whole days with a bunch of chatty, cheeky Year 7's, the teachers could finally be at peace for the weekend. Now, whenever someone brings up an aspect of camp, no one turns down the opportunity to re-tell entertaining stories of our extraordinary adventures.   For more information on The International School @ ParkCity, visit www.ISP.edu.my