The Boy Scout is still the Boy Scout.

The Journey into the heart of Darkness that every man dreams of but very few gets to undertake. My mind was fantasizing the journey taken by Joseph Conrad as I took this ride into the remote jungle area of the Muda Dam or Empangan Muda in Malay. The dam is locate in the Sik Area of Kedah and about a five to minutes drive from Belantik. 

When you are cruising on a boat towards what is relatively unknown to you, perhaps simply because this was the first time you've been up this river you get the euphoric feeling of freedom and awe. Wow! Suddenly you are out of your elements and headed into the unknown territory like out of the conscious into the unconscious. However you still the sense of being safe as you sit inside the boat surrounded by water. 

. you

Only the boatman knows where you are headed as he has done this trip before
 with others like you. He is as relaxed as he could be, smoking his local joint. simply steering the boat towards the  final destination while listening to the sound of the motor for any trouble.

I have had the opportunity to make quite a few trips like this in the past throughout my life and each trip had always been very special in its own ways and no two trips were the same. but the experience itself had always been exhilarating to the mind body and spirit.It was always like making a pilgrimage into the wild.

It was the evening when we finally 

arrived and it was time to prepare dinner as soon as possible before it got too dark to see. You can sense the song of the forest around you as it changes its in tempo getting ready for nightfall. It was like the winding up of an orchestra crescendo before the finale. It was all in your mind as you mindfully clean the fish and feeling your whole body starting to settle down from the two hours boat ride.  

When you are surrounded by the jungle you really feel at home not matter how small or uncomfortable that home is, this is your space and you are safe so long as you are in that space. You are never more focused than while doing your chore surrounded by the wild, the periphery of your conscious mind. So long a the mind is kept in action of doing what it is that you are doing you will be safe for to let the mind stand idle would invite too much thinking and imaginations which not a healthy practice while in the jungle.

There is no greater feeling in relationship than male bonding while sharing an experience that demands total cooperation and respect for one another or face consequences otherwise. This  is where egotistical tendencies and personality conflicts are put to the test and best resolved for the benefit of the whole. Swallow your pride and do your part as best you can if not more for your very survival may depend on it.

Sharing an evening meal wraps up the evening and time to face the nightfall. Here in the jungle 'Be Prepared' as the Boys Scouts motto goes is most relevant, just make sure you have done all that needs to be done and place everything where you can find them. As night falls a new scenario opens before you, a whole new experience awaits you till the next morning and this begins often with tall tales of what had happened before to those who were there before you. Good night!