Wednesday, May 27, 2009

To scale a mountain













On Monday, Amri brought home a letter from school - inviting students for a five day trip to Mount Kinabalu this December. Amri begged to go. I gaped at him.


Not to ridicule his non-existing hiking ability, I asked him to google and discuss Gunung Kinabalu with his friends. No point giving too much information from my side at this time. This boy trusted his friends (and internet) more than his parents.


I was not mistaken. On Tuesday, he came home from school and decided not to go. Hehe. Chickened out, heh!


Tonight however, he said his homeroom teacher was telling all good stuff about Mount Kinabalu. About how climbing it is just a piece of cake because there will be guides to help you and carry your bags and of course, teachers will be there as well. And a few of his friends are already planning to joint the expedition.


God help me now. He could not even manage the climb the tiny hill in front of our house without clinging to his father for dear life.


However, that was not the issue here. Fitness wise, I could train him to be physically fit enough to hike a mountain. But come December, he was just two weeks into his 9th birthday. Not matured enough to be let loose on a mountain. At least not without the presence of his overprotective mother hen. He'll get his fair share of mother nature, that I can promise. But it will be according to my footstep. First camping trip at 10 yrs old followed by moderate hiking at cute little mountains around the neighbourhood. We could also go back to Kedah and hike Gunung Jerai, for good old time sake (terkenang zaman sekolah menengah). Till then, he'll just have to be contend with occasional hiking at FRIM while waiting for his mother to unattach herself from her comfy bed/sofa.

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