A Silent Worker Among Us - Singapore Adventurers` Club

continued from pg 1
is more than willing to volunteer
his service. Despite his inactivity
with the Club, he has been the
driving force behind our annual
NYAA tie-up with the Singapore
Prison Authority. This National
Youth Achievement Award tie-up
is a pet SAC community service
project where volunteers and
members of the Club plan and
execute adventure programmes for
the young prison inmates in order
that these inmates can engage in
adventurous activities as well as to
obtain the various NYAA awards.
These young inmates, ages
between teens and late 20s, are
from Tanah Merah Prison, Changi
Women’s Prison and the training
centre at Kaki Bukit Centre.
Kai Ler is modest when asked
about his role in the NYAA
project. He claims that he does
only part of the training for the
adventure programme for the
inmates but depends on a lot of
help from the other volunteers and
club members like Johnny Lee, Ee
Kid, Peng Siong and Mei Foong.
He is eager to see that the present
good rapport built between the
prison authority and SAC not just
be maintained, but to grow from
strength to strength. To him, this
“small” contribution of his effort
and time in the co-ordination of
the adventure programme for
these youth is not a sacrifice but
a contribution to society. He puts
great value in the appreciation
of the prison authority in SAC’s
community outreach programme
through this NYAA tie-up and is
equally appreciative of SAC being
singled out as a preferred partner
of the prison authority.
On the question of what he sees
as value-added programmes that
SAC has embarked on, Kai Ler
spells out several. He points out
that SAC should improve the Basic
Adventure Training Course (BATC)
as well as the NYAA Prison tie-up
programme. He believes that
continuous improvement is always
necessary for any programme
but especially so for successful
ones. Complacency has no place
for SAC and for any programme
to succeed beyond its infancy
period; it should be independent
of the person-in-charge.
What is his dream job? Kai Ler
jokingly says it is good to be able
to earn money while sleeping.
But seriously, he does not think
that success is everything and he
certainly looks forward to more
trekking and tackling tougher
challenges.
Presently, he has no big plan for
2012 but he hopes that SAC can
prosper, reach out to a wider
audience, promote and spread the
spirit of adventure.
By Winston-Patrick Wee
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
W
e are happy to welcome the following new members to our SAC
family. There are lots of opportunities here to learn, cultivate,
grow and contribute, in the spirit of adventure. Wish them lots of
success in finding their most fulfilling roles in the Club. So get on to be
active and have fun!
WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A WARM
WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS.
Ng Wee Yap
Wong Sook Ling
Wong Kar Mee
Poh Chee Wei
Barindra Sana
Soh Tsyr Kuen
Julie Laine Mosley
Lee Twan Gee
Wu Yan Bin
Zhuo Kai Cheng
Chai Kwai Ying
Fiona Siew Siew Mei
Ang Poay Huat Jeffrey
Godfrey Peggy Anne
Tan Kung Chooi
Lau Boon Kai
Frances Anne Zoechmann
Tho Kim You
SOME THOUGHTS
I Love Adventure!
is back!
With the launch of SAC’s
new website, the editorial
committee is excited to bring
you an E–edition of I Love
Adventure!
The SAC Interview
A Silent Worker Among Us
With an E–edition, the
possibilities are endless. We
can reach out to more people
and have each issue archived
in our website for your
reading pleasure.
Starbucks Coffee at Raffles City
Mall. With us was our new editor
Mei Yoke, who sensed that a shot
of caffeine for our Outstanding
Member for 2011 was in order.
The editorial committee looks
forward to your contributions,
be it some thoughts on
your exciting trips, useful
information to share with
fellow adventurers or just a
joke and poem to spice up
someone’s day.
Kai Ler is no stranger to me as he
has served in the Management
Committee (MC) of the Club for
a few years when I was also in
the MC. He was the chairman of
our Expedition and Exploration
sub-committee for three years
from 2005 to 2007. During his
tenure, he was synonymous with
the Changi Prison project – a
community outreach project that
the Club is proud of.
For each issue, we may do an
exclusive interview with one
of our members or a member
of the public whom we think
will inspire and motivate us to
achieve greater heights in our
lives.
We welcome you to join
the editorial committee or
give us some feedback
for improvement. Most
importantly, let’s have some
fun doing these together!
Mei Yoke
Publications Chairman
Contributors
Audrey Fong
Winston Patrick Wee
James Zheng
Editors
Kwah Peng Siong
Wan Mei Yoke
Anthony Wong
T h an k you !
SAC would like to thank Mr Andrew
Cheng for his generous donation
to our club funds. Till date, he has
donated a total of $10,000!
4
SEPTEMBER 2012
Chan Kai Ler has
been awarded the
Outstanding Member of
the Year (2011) by the
Singapore Adventurers’
Club (SAC). He tells us
how he got involved
with SAC and our
community outreach
projects.
N
o flattery and no cosmetic
make-up in this article, Chan
Kai Ler pressed that point to me
several times during the interview
on April’s Fool Day. Okay, here
goes Kai Ler. As a starter, he was
late for this 5 pm interview and his
hair did not conceal the fact that
he had just awakened and rushed
for this interview conducted at the
He reveals that he chanced upon
our Club when he was surfing the
internet one day and the Basic
Adventure Training Course (BATC)
just caught his attention and he
decided to sign up for it there
and then. It was not a moment of
finally getting the opportunity he
was waiting for as he confessed
that prior to that moment, he had
no inclination towards adventure
activities whatsoever. His
recreation prior to knowing SAC
was playing normal sports like
basketball. He was also a home
stayer in those days.
From the BATC, Kai Ler went on
to do more short trips – Berkelah
Waterfall, Gunung Panti, Mount
Ophir, and other SAC signature
trips. He remembered fondly the
camaraderie shown during those
trips by people like Kwah Peng
Siong, Ho Ee Kid, Graeme Oei
and Susan Cheong.
1
Kai Ler works in the aviation
industry and that much is all he
is willing to divulge. He notices
that while people nowadays are
more willing to pay for trips, they
have more choices and tend to
pick and choose. Hence the best
way to draw new members is to
be abreast of the latest trends –
stay tuned to the current taste and
develop new ideas as well. For the
Club, he advocates that it should
have constant succession plan for
the next five years for leadership
renewal.
SAC being a not-for-profit
organisation depends a lot on
its volunteers and their time and
hence it cannot expect to do a lot
of trekking trips, Kai Ler laments.
People nowadays can surf the
internet and are savvy enough
to look for advice and tips to do
their own trekking trips. Despite
all these, Kai Ler believes that
SAC has built a good track record
and it can always do short trips
as these are its cash cow. He
urges the club not to stop these
overseas short trips but to continue
and persevere even if the Club is
hard pressed for time so that the
public interest can be sustained
continually. He always encourage
people to join SAC for these short
trips as they are usually fun and
they provide a great way to know
SAC people like Peng Siong and
Ee Kid.
Although Kai Ler is not active with
the club for the past three years,
he has not severed his ties at all. If
there is a need to seek his help, he
continue on pg 4
SCALING
GUNUNG
PANTI
征服马来西亚柔佛哥达丁宜班底山
G
unung Panti is
situated just a
few kilometres
north of Kota Tinggi
in Johor. It is about
513 metres high. As
it is just one and a
half hours drive away
from Singapore, it is
gaining popularity
as a destination for
Singaporeans who want to get away
from city life for a day or two.
Besides the last
10 minutes of scrambling required
with all 4 limbs, the trek was relatively
easy. However, there were a lot of leeches
along the way and some of us were bitten
by them. The scenery from the summit was
fantastic.
The descending only took us one and a half
hours. We drove further along the main
road for a few minutes until we arrived at
Kota Tinggi Waterfall Resort. For the price
of 10 ringgits each, we had a good swim
and shower which helped us eliminate all
of our tiredness.
After having dinner in Kota Tinggi town,
we were back in Singapore by eight in the
evening. That was the end of our one-day
Gunung Panti trip.
The forest that it sits in has been logged once,
making it a secondary forest today. An easy
two-hour trek will take you to the summit. The
last 10 minutes will be an easy scramble up a
rock face to the summit.
We had our breakfast in this hawker
centre in Kota Tinggi Town
This hill is recommended for just about anyone
with reasonable fitness. It is suitable for
beginners as well as experienced climbers.
g Panti
The team that scaled Gunun
Some road leading to the bottom
of the mountain.
A brook at the foot of the mountain
Kota Tinggi Waterfall
2
On 15 April 2012, 17 members from the
Singapore Adventurers’ Club set out on a oneday trek to climb Gunung Panti.
It took the 2 mini-buses one and a half hours to
reach Kota Tinggi town from Causeway Point
in Singapore. We had our simple breakfast
in one of the hawker centres in Kota Tinggi,
where we can also buy drinking water (at least
2 litres) and pack some food for lunch.
We headed north for another 20 minutes from
Kota Tinggi and made a right turn into a small
road just a few hundred metres before the Kota
Rainforest Resort (near the milestone of AIR
TERJUN 3). We continued for several hundred
metres down the small road and passed a
courtyard called 明月山庄. Finally, we reached
the starting point of our trek.
By: James Zheng
It took most of us less than 2 hours to reach the
summit, just in time to have our lunch.
The last 10 minutes of most difficult
part before summit
3
3
0 minutes before midnight on 24th
March 2012, 19 people came
together for 1 common goal… To
scale Gunung Angsi (825m)! It is the 3rd
highest peak in Negeri Sembilan state,
located in Ulu Bendul Recreation Park, about
20km from Seremban, West Malaysia.
We reached base around 4.30am. At
daybreak, we “fuelled up” ourselves with roti prata
and began our trek around 9am.
We met with brief rain while going
The climb is quite straightforward and the trail
families and friends having picnics and soaking in
the waterfall and streams. We took our cold and
refreshing shower with water pumped in from the
downhill but sunshine greeted us when we reached
base at around 4pm. The base is crowded with
well-defined and clear. It takes an average 3
hours of trekking uphill and it is strenuous and
challenging for beginners of average fitness!
This mountain is visited by many, so the trails are
eroded and slippery at some sections. The trail
starts by following alongside the stream, then cross
the stream and moving away from the stream is
the beginning of a series of long, steep and tiring
steps along the ridge of the hill. There are a few
obstacles to cross which were caused by fallen tree
logs. Nearing the summit, there are gullies which
we hoisted ourselves up using ropes left in place by
the park authorities. We reached the summit after
completing another set of long, steep steps. From
the summit, you can get views of Seremban, and
on a clear day, you can even see the neighbouring
state of Malacca.
waterfalls.
Over a sumptuous local Chinese dinner, we
reminisced about Gunung Angsi. Although
exhausted, each and one of us went home
triumphantly!
A little personal wisdom I learned from this trek…
Take small steps, at
your own pace. It’s
only a matter of time
to reach the top. The
same applies to your
life goals.
Written by: Audrey Fong
Audrey Fong has never trekked in her life and
Gunung Angsi is her virgin trek.
5