VS SOAS Exchange Day 6- Hiking at Bt Shahbandar and Kampung Ayer

Bright and early we headed to Bukit Shahbandar for a nature trek and hill climb. Our liaisons told us that Bukit Tasek the other day was just a warm up for today and they were right! Public interest in the VS and SOAS Exchange with our boys being interviewed live on RTB's Morning Show. Cikgu Sirazuddium from SOAS is also a part-time DJ with Radio Pelangi (Cool, right?) also did a phone interview with me for their live radio telecast. Today, a reporter from the Brunei Times came all the way down to Shahbandar to catch us in action:


Once things were settled, we began with with the usual warm-up and then a briefing on the various routes we could take ranging from Route A(1.6km on flat land) to Route D a steep traverse over mountainous terrain taking about 1-2hrs!

For the VS and SOAS buddies, we were also required to do a scavenger hunt along the way and complete various tasks:

We started out with an easy trek into the forest and it was a cool respite from the sun.

However after the initial ease, it quickly got tough and we were faced with upslope inclines of more than 45 degress!

But my group solidered on and were rewarded with a great view from the top!

Going downhill wasn't that much easier and took a lot more care as a misplaced step could easily send all of us tumbling into each other.

As we took at well-deserved break before our further descent, we paused to take a group photo-

But as we started heading down again we saw some workers carrying construction materials uphill!

But as we progressed through the forest, we were also able to pause and take stock of the interesting flora there. Here we see some carnivorous pitcher plants:

After our long trek, we finally reached our last check point and had to complete a log maze while blindfolded:

At the end, I'm proud to say that my group *ahem*ahem* emerged SECOND! Yay!!!
As allstaff and students gathered together for a sumptuous breakfast, Mr Low gave an interesting demonstration on how to fold a shirt in 2 secs:

In the afternoon, we visit Kampung Ayer- an entire Kampung Village built on water. Don't worry parents, we made sure that all of the boys wore life jackets as you can see:

We took a tour around the river and saw a unqiue rock formation:

It's called the Boat that became a Rock because it looks like a capsized boat on its side.

We were also able to visit one of these Kampung Houses built on the river:

One of SOAS' teachers, Cikgu Md Zain's grandfather used to live in the Kampung and his grandfather was a renown brass smith who was comission to make various brass artefacts.:

Later, Cikgu Md Zain and his aunt put up a short impromtu demonstration of Gamelan music for us:
Baik la Cikgu!

One of the VS boys from Chinese Orchestra, Vincent Ooi, decided to give it a try too!

Steady lah, Vincent!

Tonight is our Cultural Performance night- will update later