“Last call for flight AK879,” announced the intercom speaker. A group of 13 Cempakans in Merdeka T-shirts, 5 cameramen, and 6 teachers boarded the Air Asia plane at the LCCT terminal and departed for Langkawi on the 24 August 2007. As the plane took off, most of the students were filled with excitement as they sat restlessly in their seats eager to discover what lay ahead in their agenda.
We arrived at Langkawi at approximately 11.00 a.m. and we proceeded to “Muzium Makam Mahsuri”. There, we discovered the history of Mahsuri, a legendary woman from Langkawi, and we were entertained by performances by the folklore. In addition, we were given the opportunity to learn some of the routine of the traditional dance.
After that, we checked into the Langkasuka Resort and advanced to the beach for beach games. By evening we had our very first tribal meeting. We had tribal meetings every night and members were eliminated from being the best participant every night. We were divided into four teams - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Each team was assigned to complete the craft project which was to create a ship with the materials provided and to create a war cry.
The second day was “Shipwrecked!” which was the survivor challenge. Cempakans departed to an isolated island and had to perform survival tasks such as making bivoks, and survival cooking. The challenge was actually tied between team Alpha and Bravo however Bravo won the tiebreaker and was awarded to eat dinner on the mainland while the rest of the teams had to cook for their meals on the island. Later on, the first Fear Factor challenge began. Every participant had to eat various types of revolting food. Some of these ‘foods’ were cow’s intestines, eyeball, liver, and bronok. The winner of that challenge was team Bravo.
On the third day, everyone returned to the resort to freshen up. After lunch, we went island hopping and it was very relaxing after the survivor challenge. Once that was over, we headed for the first war games challenge. The challenge was to collect as many flags from your opponent after killing them by throwing coloured water bags at them. The winning team was team Bravo. When nightfall arrived we went for night fishing. Every team managed to catch at least one fish and the winner was again, team Bravo.
The next day was the Iron Man Challenge which was about performing various tasks in the shortest amount of time. Activities like kayaking, the ever-so-famous coconut peeling, cooking, cycling, and many more were performed. The challenge began at 9.30 am and ended at approximately 8.00pm. The winner of this challenge was Charlie.
On the fifth day, we went diving and snorkelling at Payar Island. The sea was turquoise blue and the water was crystal clear. Later, due to the bad weather, the diving challenge was cancelled and was replaced with a snorkelling challenge. Each team had to catch as many fishes surrounding them and it was won by Bravo. When that was over, we returned back to the resort and all teams quickly rushed to complete their craft project. The winner for best craft project was won by team Bravo. Fear Factor Two challenge also took place that night. The teams had to dive under water and unlock padlocks in the shortest time. In addition, ‘pun pun’ (a kind of sea slug which looks like leeches), were placed on everyone’s back and the champion was Alpha. War games 2 was also carried out and won by Alpha.
The final day arrived and the amazing race began. All teams raced and travelled around Langkawi performing various tasks after obtaining instructions handed to them after completing a task. Activities included taking pictures while holding a snake and an eagle, counting crocodiles under water, making a traditional dessert, catching catfish, finding historical items in a museum and many more. In the end, winner of the amazing race was Alpha. However the overall winner of the expedition went to team Bravo and the best participant was awarded to Melissa of team Bravo. As the day came to an end, a sense of sorrow dawned upon us as the expedition came to a close. Although it was very exhausting, it was an absolute fun with many fond memories that will last all of us a lifetime.