The story of how my pants got dirty #Bonding

“WHEE-we got your back!”

Long story short. We had tonnes of puns in our batch.

The trip started off just like any other social programs I attended - awkward “ice-breaking” games - many of them. I was worried, because I was skipping classes to participate in this trip, thankfully which turned out to be an extraordinary journey for me.

Flying on a small twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner - Maswings, for the first time, I was amazed. The expanse of beautiful scenery outside and the seats inside in the layer of a window felt so thin, and I vowed to be wide awake for the whole hour to relish the nature, the subtle hue of greenery propped up elegantly in the silhouette of the mountains - up and down and up again (pardon my extensive description, it was too breathtaking!).

Beutiful view!

As I landed on Bario, I was, for once more, doomed. No wifi, no carrier service. It was a complete rural area that I did not expect. However, my anxious heart was then again warmed by a cup of Milo served in the airport. It was a rainy day. As my batchmates and I sat together, holding our hot drinks, surrounding a fluffy dog and patting it continuously, I found to be very reassured with these people.

Credits to Clovey. The rice was superb!

As I thought it was going to be all good and smooth, I was not so right until the day we went hiking. No clear trails, spiky roots, bloodsucking leeches, some flaming plants, quicksands and a venomous snake (which I did not even recognize until our guide alerted us). It was a tough path, even worse, it rained heavily that day. To be honest, it was really (really) challenging, not because I was not akin to climbing (I climbed table mountain before, and I climbed along waterfall before too) and I was well equipped, but the randomness in the path we took, the velocity of the climb and the weather that took the experience to another level - to a level that we had to take care each other and bond with each other. In brief, in that climb, I dropped in the mud three times (at least), three leech spots, and ten spikes still stuck on my palm.

The moment as I was falling into the paddy field. John was holding me. 

My pants and shoes after pulling out; there was a lot of cleaning to do. * cries *

That closes my prior experience and how we bonded together in the first few days. More to come!