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Saturday, 14th May ~ Woke up at 6.50am, had breakfast, tagged the 3 turtle nests and went patrolling with JH. We took turns to help Mr. Morita make more small holes in the jungle. We had sweet and sour fish (one of which was caught by SC while dive-fishing with LL, Nazri and Jeremy) and black pepper gourd. I didn't go snorkelling because I was worried I might totally burn my already inflame scalp!

At around 3.30pm, we set off for Turtle Rock. We headed to the rocky area on the far right of the beach to enter the forest. I thought it was a jungle trekking trip but instead it turned out to be somewhat like a hiking/rock climbing kind of a thing! I have never in my life, been in so many mortally endangering situations in one afternoon!!! In fact I can't believe I even went through with this! And the best part is... I was equipped with gripless lousy form 6 shoes! I walked the very edges of the huge boulders which form the very narrow ledges of plunging rocky cliffs... I climbed a 2 metres high rock with my bare hands and useless shoes... many a time I used plant roots as leverage and the trees are my only security against sliding down the dead leaves covered steep slopes of the jungle! I constantly prayed so that God might deliver me from the perils I was experiencing at every step I took! And praise God... He never failed me once!!! Halellujah!!!

As if it wasn't bad enough that we were threading on the thin line of life and death, Nazri kept poking fun at us! To SC he would say " ini nampak saje cergas tapi sebenarnye lembap... hahaha" and to me he'd say " tengok muka... takut!! hehehe" and I would reply him... of course I'm scared... I could die!!! But he would ocasionally give us credit by commenting that we weren't too bad... We had 5 scenic stops and when we got there... I tell you that it was worth the effort of getting up there!!! Beautiful... just beautiful!!!

Jeremy and PC were the best... they helped JH through the whole hike... they motivated her and took her by the hand... I really put my hat off to them! We were all so happy that JH made it through the forest!!! Whoopee!!! Now all of us have something to boast about!!! hehehe

Amidst all the excitement and adrenaline rushes, I managed to find one species of trees quite amusing! Its bark had the exact coloration and patterns as army uniform. These tree trunks were quite smooth too...

There were many kinds of ants too... it would've been heaven for Mr.Morita! I saw one species which had a huge read head with vicious pincers coupled with a shiny black body and abdomen. There were many ant hills too... some almost reaching 2 feet!!! Luckily there weren't many mosquitoes...

My camera batteries had to go flat at stop #5!!! I had to use JH and my flashlight batteries, which wasn't much better... so we had to "tumpang" Jeremy's camera...

This is Turtle Rock!!!

We got back at about 6.20pm, exhausted and parched... we took turns taking baths... then we ate nasi briyani and curried chicken with pineapples for dinner. After which we proceeded to our turtle watch... there was 1 turtle landing and 1 nesting. We were interupted from our sleep on the beach at around 12am due to rain.

Sunday, 15th May ~ Woke up at 6am. Packed our bags and ate the nasi lemak Zul had prepared for us... it was delicious!!! We took our last stroll on the beach and terrorised a couple of small ghost crabs. Then we took a couple of pictures...

Slot B with Pei Chek, Mr.Morita, Zul and Nazri

This is Chagar Hutang!!! no electricity, no cell phone reception, no flush toilets... just untreated piped stream water! We lived there for a whole week!

So altogether we had 15 turtle landings and 10 nestings during our slot... we didn't get to see the hatchlings... that would be around june to july... 50 days of incubation... so we'll have to come back next time! Anyway, we managed to see and touch a Hawksbill turtle!!!

We left CH at 9.30am and had a slightly bumpy ride to Laguna Resort. There, we made some calls home while awaiting the ferry. Although we were required to occupy the rear end of the ferry, we enjoyed the sea breaze as well as the view of the rocking ocean and faraway island/mainland. From Merang Jetty we were transported to KUSTEM where we met Proff Chan again and collected our certificates.

Our afternoon in K.Terengganu is not worth mentioning as we were unable to locate the good food places which Pei Chek and Jeremy had recommended... we wondered around Kampung Cina buying souvenirs and "keropok". SY and I found our way to the meagre airport by 8.30pm, where we would be taking the Air Asia 9.20pm fligt back to KLIA whereas the rest were taking the 9.30pm buis back to KL. Our flight was great and we landed 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time i.e. 10.10pm. However the walk out to the waiting area took as long and therefore we met our family members at about 10.10pm. And so, officially ends our little trip!