The missing boys

If you've read theSTAR recently you'll know about the four boys who went missing while jungle trekking in Frasers Hill.

read the articles here [ wednesday ] [ thursday ] [ friday ]

I do lots of mountain and jungle hiking and camping, it is a relieved that the four boys have been found and they are safe and alive.

About a year ago, i actually went jungle trekking on this same route which these boys got lost. The trail is actually quite straight forward and i dont think you can get lost that easily. But i must say that their signage is very bad, its too high up. Imagine i`m 5' 7" and i almost missed the sign which points to the exit.

Me and my best friend entered the trail through Bishop's House and wanted to exit at Muar Cottage (Bishop's trail) but we over shot the exit due to bad signage and the exit was not a very visible path. We went straight towards the maxwell trail(this is the trail the boys took and got lost) which you would exit near the school. Fortunately there was a fallen tree blocking the trail so we decided to turn back, we went backwards since we couldn't find the muar cottage exit. While walking back we stopped at a broken down hut for ppl to rest. Sitting down and looking up into the tall trees i suddenly notice a small wooden signboard saying Muar Cottage!

I was like "apalah, why they put the sign so high up". I was thinking to myself, if we didnt stop at this hut to rest we would not have found the sign and would have walked all the way back to Bishops house. So when i read about the four boys getting lost i wasnt suprised. Coz there could have been a fallen tree and they might have tried to get around the tree and side tracked away from the trail and suddenly everything looks the same and therefore they got lost.

Their parents should have accompanied them, they are 10 years old after all. Fortunately, the two older boys, who are scouts, used their jungle trekking experience and knowledge gained from a recently attended survival training course to make their way to a stream, where they were found by four orang asli trackers.

They drank stream water to survive and stayed close to each other to keep warm at night. It can get very very cold at night at Frasers Hill and the winds are pretty strong as well. It was good thinking from the boys to gather some leaves and sleep together side by side to keep their bodies warm.

I am reading the article compiled in theSTAR while writing this and i was correct that there was a fallen tree blocking the trail. The siblings older brother,Tsyr Chun, 19, said “When they saw the log, they turned back but ended up taking the wrong path”. All in all, i`m glad that they are unhurt with some light bruises and scratches and safe. So a reminder to all parents and young hikers, look where you're going and try to recognize certain terrains in the jungle to avoid getting lost and make your parents accompany ya'll, aight.

I`ll be going caving this weekend, have fun ya'll, aight.