Kembara Amal 2005

Kembara Amal 2005! This is one of the things that make me appreciate the suprises in life.

We were having gender equality 'quarrels' in the office. With the male team comprising of Farood (the original team leader), Nazir (current one) and Farid (future one, maybe?). Hadi was a good sport to only join them once in while, for our benefit I guess. While on our side or kumpulan Tompok² as they like to call us are Kak Ana, me, Nomi and Faezah.

It started with the dare to have a fishing tournament. To be frank, not one of us girls really knew how to fish though I did try my hand twice on fishing whenever my family went to Muka Head, but the tauntings were so intense that out of dignity, we agreed. However, as fate may have it, Farood had to go to KPLI, thus, the fishing competition was officially over.

Then one day, Nazir come to the office with a smug face. He showed us a treasure hunt competition organized by the JKR and challenged us girls to compete with them. It didn't really matter how we fared in the treasure hunt, what was impotant was how we fared against each other. Instantly we agreed, the problem was on who else to ask on our team. Finally it was settled that we would ask Yun and luckily, she agreed.

It turned out that the guys were 'CHICKENS' and didn't even submit their entry. I was starting to back out too if it wasn't for the fact that we already paid our entry fees. I might have persisted on backing out if the guys did not keep taunting us everyday about seeing us in the last place. They asked us if we knew how to read maps and all that and suddenly, I wanted to really participate in this treasure hunt, at least we'd get to 'jalan²'. Once the guys realized that we weren't backing out, they did all they could to demoralize us. Nazir even used Nomi's messenger to talk Faezah out of the competition and how they laughed at Faezah.

Then came the day. I was ready at home and Yun picked me up at 7.45 after picking up Nomi and Faezah. Upon arriving at JKR, we realized that we were the only all female group there was there and my confidence dropped down a notch. Then, after 5 minute, another realization struck us. All the othe cars were either Ford Rangers or Pajeros or Kembaras while we were in Yun's Kancil. This time, my confidence didn't drop a notch, it must have disappeared all together. We heard some comments like, "Ish, kancil je? Boleh ke?" but we pretended to have our ears stuffed up. Thankfully, a kind pak cik helped us and talked so kindly to us that our confidence were restored. I later learned that the pak cik was a contractor in Bagan Serai. See, there are still kind successful people in this world.

Since our car was the smallest, we were bullied to start out late. Well, since we already made up our mind that we wanted nothing else than to jalan², we didn't really mind. When we were finally off, I guess our nonchalent mood abandoned us and left us with this excited feeling. All of us were trying our best to find all the clues that I wondered, did all of us really wanted jalan² or is it that deep down inside, we really wanted to win?

When we came to our last clues, we were already in this winning mood. We seemed to have passed a lot of the other participants and we were talking non-stop about the clues. we even called Yun's sister to help out on a clue where it gave a scientific name of a plant and what we saw was a rubber and palm oil plantation. When we went to a shop to buy the required coffee powder, the shop owner told us that we were the third group to have arrived and that must have boost our spirits. But I guees we lost some time when we couldn't find the mosque and when we retraced our steps for one confusing clue. Still, confidence seemed to ooze from everone.

Alas.. when we arrived at the final check point, we found out that we had arrived not in the top five. I don't know about the others but I abandoned all hope for winning. At least we had a good time. We spent the remaining afternoon sleeping before we got ready for dinner and the prize giving ceremony.

Before dinner, the answers for the treasure hunt was posted on a board and I realized that not all our answers were correct. So finally, without the burden of hoping to win anymore, we headed to dinner. Dinner was ok, and Faezah was eying the lucky draw prizes saying that at least one of us should get a prize. I told her she would be the lucky one coz that afternoon, she wore her t-shirt inside out and Yun said that was a lucky sign.

Would you believe, after 50 luck draw hampers given away, our table did not receive even one. Other tables had 2 or 3 but our table was empty. I was starting to feel that we were having a streak of bad luck and was asking Nomi on how we should face the guys after this. When it was time for the group leader to go forward and take the complimentary gift given to all participants, someone even commented ,"Yg tu je la hadiah yg korg bawak balik pun" How degrading! Hehe..

Then came the announcement. We weren't keen on hearing the results anymore anyway but since our table was in the middle of the hall, it would be more embarassing if we went out at that time. So we just pretended to be absorbed with our phones when the judge announced the 3rd and 2nd winners. Imagine our suprise when the judge announced that the winning team was an all-girl group from USM. It took a while for the news to sink in and how we smiled and laughed after that. The pak cik who teased us before even came to congratulate us. Finally, we had the BIGGEST hamper of all on our table. It made up for everything else.

All in all, we had a great time. But the best was when we came back to the office gloating on our victory to Nazir and Farid who solemnly said they have been supporting us throughout it all. Funnily, when we opened our hamper, they were the once 'attacking' our hamper that it'll make you wonder, who was the real winner haha..

I do have some pictures but I don't know how to attach them here. I've been meaning to ask Pojie how he did his but never got around it anyway.. Note to self, ask him!