Malaysian Expedition

Malaysian Expedition

by Chris Gordon

After a long flight we finally arrived stepping out of the air conditioned airport the heat of the day hit us a full 32°C, a bit of a difference to what we had left. The combination of this and jet lag made me feel a bit ill to start with. We then set of for the centre in a small mini bus the journey took a few hours passing through some amazing scenery as well some very noisy and busy city streets.

After getting to the centre we spent the first couple of days getting used to our new surroundings before being sent to join in with one of the courses running at the centre. Even though it had been about a week I was still finding it difficult to get used to the heat, food and general changes in routine.

The course got off to a slow start with icebreakers which was nice because it gave me a chance to get to know the people on the course with us. The activities got going after a while with walking and kayak expeditions, both working in a very different way to those I had previously been on very little instruction and then the participants were left to fend for themselves often learning by trial and error. This did not sit well with the way I had always gone about my previous outdoor activities, safety and good technique had always been key whereas the focus seemed more on making a team of the group by putting them through more and more difficult and uncomfortable situations, where getting through it was more important then getting it right. One example of the type of thing that would happen came when we went to camp on a beach during a kayak expedition the group was left to there own devices to set a fire, cook and clean up after. In two hours an entire tree had been cut down and stacked for fire wood but it was still live so would not burn so dead wood was then collected, looking around it seemed as if this happened a lot as there were stretches of forest that had been previously cut.

When it came to leave the beach no effort was made to pick up and rubbish that had been brought in and the remnants of previous expeditions lay around in a similar manner. I mentioned this to the instructors afterward and they could not understand what the problem was, to them it was normal, I accept that there are massive cultural differences between me and them but an inherent respect for the surroundings they were using was lacking and they were destroying the very thing they were trying to give people experience of. It is strange how even this is dictated by culture which I had not expected.

The rest of the time there was spent doing more activities climbing, ropes courses and sailing, we had a final four day expedition combining walking and kayaking both very physically demanding in the conditions. The decision to come home early was based on a number of factors I was not getting used to the general life out there the culture, people and the daily routine were all taking there toll on me. I feel that I could haveovercome these problems if I'd felt that the job I was there to do was worth while but the type of instruction that went on at the centre was very basic the emphasis was on teamwork not skills which is where I had hoped to contribute.

The way the centre ran was also hard to get used to, the disregard for the environment in which they worked and their lack of interest in their surroundings made it hard to feel happy working in this system. I am aware that my problems were very rare and the Project Trust projects and volunteers do a lot of good work abroad. I still feel that I have benefited from this experience and am looking forward to the rest of my year.

A beach near where I was based, opposite the island of Pangkor on the West coast.