Ghost Hunting

   With Halloween fast approaching I began to wonder what the fascination was with not only the holiday but also with the idea of spirits and ghosts. I asked a few friends of mine that just told me they liked the idea of being scared with the haunted house that pop up at this time of year. “Some spirits remain at or near the site of their death, especially if it was sudden and unexpected.  They remain confused and don't know or accept that they have died.  These spirits remain in the area and try to make contact with anyone that passes by that is sensitive to spirits.”  I thought this was intriguing since I did not really believe that there are such things as spirits and ghosts.
  Due to that, I decided that I would try to find out why people believe this and if there was something that I was missing out on. My first stop is to check the internet; surely there is someone here in Boise that goes out looking for these spirits. When I Googled “ghost hunting in Idaho” one of the first sites listed is a group by the name of Idaho Spirit Seekers. I decided to check out the website and see what it was all about. On first glance it was just your average discussion board, when I looked further I found many articles on different paranormal topics. I noticed a section labeled investigations, I clicked on it, and they had listed investigations dating back to 2004. I checked out some of them and found that this group didn’t seem to jump at every little noise and they also didn’t say that the place was haunted just because the resident said things were going bump in the night. Ok, well I thought I would contact this group and find out if they would be willing to talk to me and tell me what it is about ghosts that make people want to find them. After looking on this website I found the directors name and sent an email to her. She emailed back that day and said that she would be glad to talk to me and also invited me to come to a meeting, which happened to be that weekend. I thought that this would be a good way to talk to many different members of the group and said that I would be happy to attend.
   Saturday, the day of the meeting, Marie, the director, emailed me the address and time of the meeting. I decided it would be a good idea to show up a little early, get a look around before the meeting started. The building that the meeting is held in very plain, just a tan with a red stripe all the way across all three buildings, they were laid out in an “L” shape with a big parking lot. The parking lot was pretty empty, just a few cars, but one vehicle had a distinctive TAPS logo on it. With my research on the website of this group I did find that the Idaho Spirit Seekers are a TAPS family member. TAPS is the team on the show “Ghost Hunters”; I had watched that show a couple times but didn’t really believe a whole lot of what they were saying. Of course, I didn’t understand a whole lot of what they were saying either. But I knew I was in the right place.
   I was told that the meeting was held in the east building, in the middle set of doors. When I went into the building there were no signs showing that this group belonged in there at all. I wondered if there was an issue with the landlord having a ghost hunting group in their building. The only way that I knew where this meeting was is by the sound of voices coming from down the hallway. I couldn’t tell if these were angry voices or just a lot of people trying to talk at once. I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into, especially if these are angry voices. Finally I decided that I would just take a chance and knock on the door, about a half dozen voices yelled “Come on in!” I walked in and was greeted by about a dozen people with a warm hello and a couple handshakes. “You must be our visitor” One person said. “I am Marie, make yourself at home.
   I looked around the room, it was about the size of a small bedroom suite, sure I thought where in the heck do I sit. There didn’t appear to be anywhere to sit, someone motioned in the corner of the room that there was a chair beside them. I sat down and looked around, in one corner was a bookshelf full of books, I strained to see some of the titles on the shelves. They all had something to do with haunting. Haunted hotels, haunted historic sites, haunted toys, haunted homes, they all seemed to be true stories too. Behind me there was some electronic equipment, televisions, VCR’s, DVD players, a DVD recorder, there were also some strange looking small handheld electric machines. I found out later that these were EMF detectors; EMF is Electro Magnetic Field, EMF “measures low level electromagnetic fields. It’s used with the assumption that ghost activity causes a higher than average reading of electromagnetic energy. However, ghost hunters recognize that EMF’s don’t always detect ghosts and that not all EMF readings are paranormal.
   There were also voice recorders and digital thermometers as well as a few digital cameras. There is along one wall a table set up with various sizes of candles, in the middle of the room is two tables put together that the team members were all sitting at. It seems to me that this room is only barely capable of holding the entire group. I did learn during the course of the meeting that this was not the whole group just a portion of it. I can’t imagine the entire group being in this little room if this is only part of them. I was told that if I had any questions to go ahead and ask. I could tell that the meeting had already started and that I was the only visitor to show up for this particular meeting. Marie continued talking to the group about the investigation that night, she told me that some of the team members where wearing the black shirt because they were to be going on the investigation and that this was their uniform. They were wearing black t-shirts with the groups’ logo on the right side; the back of the shirt had a larger logo. The investigation is at a private residence and I was told that I was not to disclose the location at the owners’ request. In my research I found that there are three basic types of haunting, “The first of these we may descriptively refer to as an “intelligent” or a “human” type of haunting. In these manifestations, the entity or entities encountered seem to possess human personalities and emotions, albeit in a limited scope. They may at times appear visually in human forms, and are responsive to changes in the external conditions.” 
   The other two types are residual, which means its like a tape being played over and over, usually at the same time of day and doing the same thing, the other is demonic, I feel no explanation is needed on this one   Marie began by handing out assignments for the investigation, who was going to be doing what. I noticed that Maries husband is also on the team and was going to be their technical person for the night. Other members where assigned the voice recorders, EMF meters, or cameras. I asked her how these people were chosen for their particular assignments, if they were specially trained to be using the equipment. She told me that most people got on the job training for some of the equipment like the EMF meters, but the rest was mostly easy equipment to use and there was really no training needed. Marie continued instructing people what was expected of each of them and it surprised me that no one really said much just listened and shook their heads a couple took notes. Everyone seemed to already know what she was telling them, it made me wonder why she was telling them what they already knew. The next order of business was the Seminar that they apparently just held in September. Marie was saying that the number of attendees was a little disappointing but that there would be another one next year, the venue was going to change and things that didn’t work this year would be switched up and would be better next year. There were a few people that had some suggestions for the seminar that included vendors, speakers, and something about having lunch catered instead of the way it was held this year. It seemed to me that several of the members, including Marie were very passionate about this seminar and the success of it.
    asked Marie why this was so important to the team; she told me that this was what they were here to do, to educate the public about the paranormal. At that point the meeting was wrapped up and everyone started to leave, I asked a member if I could ask a few questions; I wondered why Marie was explaining what was expected of each team member when it seemed that they already knew what she was telling them. She told me that it is very important that each team member understand exactly what it is that needs to get done. Each member should have a working knowledge of each aspect of the investigation, which is in case someone is unable to make the investigation we always have someone that knows how to do each job. I found this time a good opportunity to ask a few questions. The first one I wanted to know is what kind of people join the group? “We have many different types of people in our group. There are people who are skeptics and there are believers, there are many different religions in our group, from Mormons to Wiccans and we all get along great.” I also wondered about any rules or rituals that the group has. “We have several rules that must be followed. We have a confidentiality rule; we are not to give any information about an investigation to the public unless we have a written release by the owner. When on an investigation we all have our own jobs to do as far as setting up equipment…..” “We are not to whisper during an investigation….we are never to wander off alone; this is not because we think the ghosts will hurt us…this is because we could trip over something and if your alone no one can go get you help” As far as rituals, this is what I was told; “We don’t have a group ritual that we do, basically that is left up to the individual since we all have our own religious believes.” After talking with this group member, I was approached by Marie and asked if I would like to join them on the night’s investigation. 
   After hesitating for only a moment I agreed, but was a little nervous about what the night was going to hold. I was a little unsure because if ghosts do exist, is there a chance that I or anyone on the team could get hurt? When I asked I was assured that I and the rest of the group would be fine that no harm would come to us even if we “saw” a ghost. “A ghost is not capable of physically hurting a living person simply because they do operate on a different plain of existence. They do not have as solid a physical state as we do; while they may manifest themselves in a way we may recognize in terms of dress and mannerisms, the image is one that has no actual physical substance. (Oliver)   I watched as the group began loading the equipment into the van, I was able to grab another group member to ask what kind of equipment it was that they were loading? I was told “we have a DVR (digital Video recorder) system. This is a video recorder that includes 4 cameras that we can watch at one time on the laptop. A laptop, digital cameras, digital voice recorders, EMF detectors (Electro Magnetic Field), digital thermometers, flashlights, and lots and lots of batteries are also included in our equipment.” Finally we were on our way to the investigation, there were three vehicles heading that way with a total of 7 investigators from the group.
   As we arrived at our destination, I noticed that the team started getting equipment out of the vehicles and started into the building. They got to the room that was going to be what they called “base” and began to set the equipment up. It all happened just like Marie had said at the meeting, each person with their own task to accomplish and getting it done without much trouble at all. Once the equipment was set up and ready to go, they began to get into separate groups. One group was instructed to go to one floor and investigate while another group went to another floor for the same purpose and two people were left at base to watch the DVR system. The group that I was in had two other group members in it, we were to go to the first floor and see what we could find. They asked me to hold the digital recorder so that we could try to get some EVP’s. EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon; voices caught on recording devices such as tape recorders. I found that there are several things to remember when trying to do an EVP session.   “Spacing the questions, very important for everybody.  A minimum time between questions should be at least 20 seconds, or even 30 seconds.  Sometimes answers get stepped on by other questions, and a majority of the good EVPs I have heard seem to come 15-20 seconds after the question has been asked.” 
   here are several others, but this one I found is the most important. Several questions were asked like, “What’s your name?”   and “Do you like it here?” I didn’t hear anything but neither did anyone else. I was told that they listen to these tapes at a later time to determine if anything answered us.   After we were done asking questions we moved on. We started walking down a hallway and one of my group members started taking pictures, he was taking them pretty quickly hoping to catch something in one of the pictures. He showed me one that he took that had an orb in it. I thought it looked like a pretty good orb and I always thought that was a sign of ghost energy. He told me that it was actually dust. Apparently this is a very highly debated topic among ghost hunters. The orb is described by novice hunters as ghost energy or presence, when experienced hunters know that most of the time it is just dust or moisture in the air. I was curious as to how the digital thermometer was used and why, I asked the group member that was holding the thermometer and was told that some believe that ghosts draw their energy from their surroundings. “Measuring temperature changes can help us determine whether the cold spots are physical or only within our subjective perceptions”. 
   Soon it was time for us to switch floors with the other group, we met up in the room used for base and a few of the members stepped outside to get some air and take a break. I decided this was a good opportunity to ask a couple more questions. How many times during the month do they get together and have an investigation and how do they know where the haunted places are? “We have Friday and Saturday nights open for investigations to be scheduled. Usually the home owner or business owner contacts us by email, we conduct an interview with them to find out what it is that is happening and from there we will schedule the investigation” I did have one more question that I wanted to ask. What is the one thing that they were most looking for on an investigation? The Holy Grail you might say? I was told by all of the group members standing there with me that the one thing that they would most like to see is a full body apparition and the ability to have that image on camera. “In the larger scheme of paranormal investigation, full-bodied spirits don't appear all that often - but they certainly do appear”
   We decided it was time to return to the investigation and went back inside. The teams switched floors and began the whole process over, asking EVP questions and taking pictures. We were there for a total of about 3 hours and never once did I see or hear anything out of the ordinary except for the lights being out the whole time. I asked when they would know if they did get anything on the tapes or video or pictures. I was told that it would probably be a week before they would be able to get through all the evidence. I was given a ride back to my car that I had left at the office and then said my goodbyes and headed home. Marie called me about 5 days later and told me that there was nothing on any of the recorders or video. The only thing that the digital cameras got was a few orbs. I really enjoyed my time on this investigation with the group but I still hold to my beliefs that I do not believe in ghosts.

Scary Bus

The chic black sky was star-dusted with glittering stars speckled all over. A slim crescent dangled amidst the stars, emitting an enthralling pearly glow. Wisps of slivery clouds waltzed across the sky as the chilly night breeze howled softly. Twenty minutes later, the bus had arrived. It was midnight and I’m the only passenger in the bus. Before I step in to the bus, I witnessed the number of the bus. Its number was `888’, what a lucky number, I thought. I looked out of the window, the night sky was simply picturesque. It was a sight to behold. Soon, my eyelids started to feel very heavy and the stars started to swim in front of me. Unconsciously, I just drifted off to slumber land.

  “EUGEEEEEEEENE! EUGEEEEEENE!” a shrill scream woke me up from my sweet dream. “What the……” before the vulgar word came out from my mouth, I witnessed a scene that will only be in horror movies. The driver’s head rolled off his neck, bounced off his shoulder and landed on the floor between my feet. “EUGEEEEEEENE! EUGEEEEEENE!” the scream continues. My face turned pallid and became a colourless mask. To add to the unfortunate situation I was in, the bus accelerates and the steering wheel was turning from left to right, right to left, ALL BY ITSELF!

  Within a second, the bus was full of passenger which wasn’t human species. “I want to go home!” I wailed. One of them that I witnessed was a jelly like person which was fully covered by cockroaches. “What in the world is this”, however, this isn’t the right time for me to think about something like that but to escape from this bus immediately. Help! Help! Help! When I tried to scream towards outside for help, then only I realized that we are not on the land but floating above the clouds.

  “Arrrrrrrrg” scream of disappointment came out of my throat. “First time hah?” a pig headed bear body thing talks to me. I tried to look away from his pig looked face and asked, “What do you mean by first time?” My fear decreases as his face looks funny. The thing answered, “We had been here for a long time ago, and you are not only one who witnessed all this, however this will also be your last time as no human ever success escaping from this bus. “……”

  “Time to say goodbye, human” the pig looked thing said it with an evil smile. He took an axe from nowhere and swings it down from my head. I tried to avoid, but it was just too sudden. Why is this happening to me? Why?  “Sir! Sir! Sir!” I slowly opened my eyes. The bus driver stood in front of me. “Where am I?” I asked softly. “We are at the last station” the driver replied politely. Human driver?  Am I dead? I quickly check all parts of my body. There is not even a scratch on my body. “Thanks GOD, it was just a nightmare.” What make it worse is that the driver said that this is the last bus and I need to wait till next morning to get a bus back home. “Oh my God, why……”        

  

Nightmare

   Thick purplish clouds fitted across the raven black sky, splitting the slender crescent moon into halves. The dissonance of bustling traffic soon slowed to a dwindle as night set in, punctuated only by the occasional honking. “Good bye Jack! See you soon!” I shouted loudly against the howling wind. Not wanting to miss the last bus, I quickly dash to a bus stop which held across the road. Twenty minutes later, the bus had arrived. However, the driver refused to drive in as I was his last passenger.

  Not wanting to argue with him, I got angrily. Only at that point, I realized that I would have to walk in at least four miles into my housing area. To add to the unfortunate situation I was in, I had to walk along a lonely stretch of road which is surrounded by Chinese cemetery! Well, it was no use lamenting hence, I buttoned up my jacket and started walking briskly down the lane. As I was passing by the cemetery, a soft shrill scream came to my ear endlessly.

  I increased my speed. Cold sweat dripped from my forehead. In spite of the fear that had begun tugging at my heart, I tried to remain calm. The atmosphere had become really silent, except for the sound of my heart beating fast. Without my noticed, a weathered grave appeared in front of me from nowhere. My heart beat increased all of a sudden and like going to explode in any seconds.

  I calmed myself and peered at the granite headstone where I nearly made out illegible words, `Jenny Melon Queen’. I remembered the name and her tragic death. She was a charming young lady in the bloom of her youth. She possessed all the qualities a woman wants. She had a flawless skin and a milky hue complexion, complemented with a pair of sparkling almond shaped eyes. Moreover, her long silky brunette hair and her shapely body penetrated every men’s hearts in the residential estate. Unfortunately, her beauty doomed her.

  One night, she was gang raped by a group of lecherous youths who supposed to be her neighbours. After that, she was brutally murdered. She was strangled and her beautiful features were disfigured by the youths continuous battering. After a few days, her decomposed remains were discovered in a nearby river bank by the police officers. When I tried to leave the grave, a lanky and a grotesque figure emerged before my wary eyes. Before my scream, the ladylike figure choked me and pierced her razor sharp nails into my abdomen before wrenching its contents out. I witnessed my intestine being pulled and went black out.

  “Adam! Adam! Wake up Adam!” I slowly opened my eyes and my father was in my sight. “Morning dad”, until then, I noticed that I was lying down on a grave which its owner is `Jenny Melon Queen’. Fear filled my heart, I quickly move myself away from the weathered grave. “Son, what are you doing at the cemetery the whole night?” my father asked full of questions in his mind. “……” I immediately checked my body, luckily my body was normal as usual. “What actually happens yesterday?” I asked myself.    

A bad mistake

  I was 15 then, when I was head over heels for a lass from my school. May caught my attention when she walked into the classroom for the first time. She had a pair of light blue sparkling eyes, an aquiline nose, rosy lips which were complemented by her milky hue complexion. Moreover, her long silky brunette hair and her shapely body made her a must to date girl for every guy in my school, including my best friend, Keat. 

  Nevertheless, knowing how I felt about May, Keat lost interest in her and promised to help me instead. Heeding to his idea, I wrote a letter to express my feelings for May. As Valentine's Day was around the corner, Keat suggested it would be the most ideal day for me to hand over this letter to her.

  On Valentine's morning, I got up early and stepped out of my house. As I was strolling towards my school, I witnesses one of the most beautiful morning in my life. I saw the majestic ball of fire made its dramatic entrance, casting its brilliant rays across the sky, signalling the start of a brand new day. The scene was complemented by the melodian, chirping of birds and the overpowering scent of flower which was blown by the refreshing and chilly morning breeze. It was the, I witnessed the scene that I should never seen.

  I saw May sitting at the bus stop with Keat. I couldn't see their faces as I was behind them but I clearly saw Keat put his arm around her shoulders. Anger vibrated from every vein in my body as my heartbeat worked into a frenzy with my rising blood pressure. "How could he, my best friend, betray me like that?"

  I was so hurt, it was like a stake in my heart, pitting me into a deep dark well of wretchedness. Not wanting to be seen, I quickly turned and walked back towards my school. Still seething, I decided that I was going to make him pay for it.

  Just at that moment, I saw Keat's elder brother Jack coming in my direction. "Have you seen Keat anywhere? Our mom is getting impatient waiting at the car park," he asked. With venom in my voice, I replied, "He was at the bus stop with his girlfriend." Without waiting, I quickly walked away from the puzzled Jack. Serves Keat right, I thought, as I was sure he was going to get into trouble with both his elder brother and mother.

  The next day, I met Keat at school but both of us were very cold to each other and did not speak at all. I was still angry and expecting him to come up with some kind of apology but he seemed equally angry and stubborn. We were both at the same tuition centre that evening and I noticed that May was not there. As the science teacher Miss Jojo walked in, she looked very sad. "Class, some of you may not have heard the news, but Keat informed me earlier that May's father passed away in an accident yesterday. Please be extra kind to her and visit her if you can," she said.

  Just then I felt a lump in my throat. What a mean, irrational person I had been. I tried to catch Keat's eyes but he refused to look at me. Oh, what a bad mistake I had made and I regret it to this day.

Birthday

  It's my birthday today. I have lost count of how many birthdays have passed, but I still keep my tradition. I climb to the top of the nearby hill, bringing a handful of dirt with me. I press it into the ground. Then, I sit down to prepare my mind for my next annual rite: reminding myself of who I am and why I am living.

I made this hill, actually, and I'm still building it up. I started on my tenth birthday. Now, the hill is large enough for me to ski down each winter. In a world where people stay young forever, persistence pays.

  Persistence was what led Dr Syue Cano to discover the secret of eternal youth. At the age of eighty-four, he identified the gene that causes humans to age and the specific radiation that destroys it. No one will know whether he detonated his "Youth" bomb for the sake of his own immortality or for the sake of the other human beings in the world. However, his defective heart could not withstand the impact of the blast. He died the instant the bomb exploded.

  Mankind will always be grateful for the discovery to which Dr Cano dedicated his life. However, he left the world with one problem: the earth's limited natural resources. Even with plant growth accelerated by scientific wizardry, food and oxygen were becoming inadequate for the world population, which only kept booming.

  Some subtractions were necessary for the survival of the human species. The only solution was to remove some of the people by unnatural means, that is, to execute them. Thus, this was why all crimes were made punishable by execution: murder, theft, adultery, slander, hoarding of food... the list is very long. This was the only way to maintain the valance of nature.

  That's where I come in. I am an Executioner. I work alone, never considering the risk. People say I have a death wish. Perhaps I do. Certainly, yesterday's job was no waltz in the park.

Rob Tao was suspected of stealing and hoarding food. My job was to check this out. As always, I was to be detective, judge, jury and executioner.

  I had enough stealth technology to break into Tao's compound undetected. To get into the house was also a cinch. My vibra-blade cut through the wall like it was butter. In the house, my Arometer detected food, lots of it. I went down corridor after corridor, following the bleeps of light on my Arometer.

The signals went wild outside one closed door. There was a lot of human activity inside, judging by my HUO sensors. I primed a grenade and opened the door just a crack -- enough to see whom I would be executing.

Then I deprimed the grenade. Sitting there were thousands of children. Rob Tao stood amongst them, holding a huge pot of steaming mush. He smiled at me, seemingly unperturbed.

"You're feeding all these children?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes," he replied quietly.

"How do you get so much food? I'm sure you steal it," I said.

"Yes, I do. Going to execute me?" Still that gentle smile. Sitting here now, on my hill, I don't understand why I just walked out. I had no excuse for letting him get away with his crime. It was not my decision to make. Yet... I can't remember what I'm killing for; can't remember what I'm living for.

The fright

  Far up in the mountains of Canada, there is an old abandoned log cabin. Once it was occupied by a young couple who wanted to distance themselves from the chaos of this modern world. Here they were miles away from the nearest town. Bob, the husband, made the occasional trip into town to buy supplies whereas Jan, his wife, spent her free time by the fire, sewing. Their life was simply idyllic.

  Then, one midwinter's day, Jan woke up from bed with a strange ache in her bones. Putting it down to overwork, Bob shooed her to bed and made sure she rested. Though Jan was impatient to get to her chores, Bob soothed her, "Relax, Sugar. You're overdoing things. All these chores will be here when you recover."

However, Jan seemed to be getting worse instead of recovering. By evening, she was running a high fever and in greater pain. In spite of his best efforts, Bob could not manage to ease her suffering. And then suddenly, she started to lapse into unconsciousness.

  It was then obvious that she was seriously ill. What could Bob do? He had no experience in treating the sick and Jan was getting worse by the minute. He knew that there was an old doctor in town but he lived three miles away, downhill. Pot-bellied and obese, there was no way the doctor could make it up to their cabin.

  Something had to be done quickly! Bob racked his brains but to no avail. The only thing left to do was to go to the doctor. In Jan's condition, she could never walk that far in the waist-deep snow. Bob would have to carry her!

  Bob searched his mind for a way to move poor, sick Jan. Then, he remembered. He had once made a sledge so that they could ride together over the mountain. They never got around to using it though, because the whole mountain was thickly covered with rocks and trees. He had never found a safe way down, not even once.

  "Well," he thought, "looks like I'm going to have to try it anyhow," as he dug out the sledge from the storeroom. "Jan may die unless I get her to the doctor, and life means nothing to me without her." With this thought in mind, Bob gently tucked Jan into the sledge, got in the front, and with a short prayer for safety, pushed off.

  How they got through that ride alive, Bob has never figured out. As trees loomed up in front of him and just as quickly whizzed by his side, close enough to touch, he felt relieved that Jan was not awake to experience the ride. It was all he could do not to scream as collision seemed imminent, time and again, with only inches to spare.

  At last, bursting from the mountainside, the town came into view. Barely slowing down, they sped through the icy streets, only losing speed as they neared the doctor's house. The sledge, battered through the journey, collapsed in the left ski as it came to a halt, spilling out its occupants. Bob picked up his Jan and made his way into the doctor's house.

  After what seemed to be a long winter, Jan recovered fully from her illness but Bob never recovered from his fright. They moved into the little town so as to be near help in times of crisis, and have lived there ever since.

Wonderful holiday

  The journey by bus to our destination was absolutely agonizing. The hot humid weather, coupled with the dry, dusty wind from the north, made us flinch and fret in our hard seats. Apart from scenic little villages, scattered along the roads, the views were a far cry from what we had expected seen in our very, beloved country. Still, what had we expected? The whole purpose was to observe, experience and learn life as well as nature in abundance, not to witness sophisticated urbanization.

  As the bus turned into the vicinity of the jungle-resort area, we held our breath. Nothing at all prepared us for the excitement nor magnificence that awaited us.

  The wooden chalets were built right in the middle of a dense jungle. Our warm and friendly Malaysian guides informed us that we were at the foot of a forested mountain range, the great Mount Kinabalu. The whole resort area offered its guests, an unrivalled opportunity to enjoy one of the most stunning locations in Asia. Remote and private, far from hustle and the bustle of the city life, the resort was equipped with modern facilities and security.

  We were immediately settled in and were offered welcome drinks and local fruits. While we watched in absolute delight Sabahans performing their local native dance, all around us were filled with the natural sound of nature. Chirping birds and crickets accompanied the dances. On the trees, there were the long nosed, pot bellied proboscis monkeys, jumping from the branches. They were amazingly trusting and friendly. Sabah's rainforest is situated on the plains of the Kinabatangan river and we were told that the Orang Utans would roam freely and that we could observe them from a close distance. The tourists groups who came with us seemed absolutely delighted at the idea.

  That night, we sat and ate to our heart's content, varieties of Malaysian delicacies and desserts. Perhaps, it was the refreshing and natural atmosphere, but we ate like there was no tomorrow, everything and anything that was served.

  Our first few mornings and afternoon were filled with hiking activities. There were so many wonderment of life that we could not pause to rest. Malaysia's flora and fauna is one of the most rare and unique in the world that we did not want to waste a single minute getting acquainted with them. From our hikes, we took photographs of swiflets making edible nests from high tree tops and how Orang Utans ate from our hands. Later, in the evenings, when the sun sets its glorious light, we ventured out into the beach where we strolled along on its sandy white sands, feeling the cool waters at our feet.

  Perhaps, in our memories, one picturesque image settles. We had seen a huge waterfall in the depth of the jungle during one hiking trip. Hundreds of feet above huge boulders and smooth rocks, falling in rushes into little streams down below, was the most amazing waterfall. Its crystal clear water gush down in strange flowing motion, reflecting multi-coloured lights and shades. Hearing the sound of water gushing eased the tired mind and brought deep solace and tranquility to us. We hoped that we would be able to relive this grand experience once more soon.