What is Hammock Camping?

One of the best ways to camp in the jungle is by using a hammock with a tarp over. The hammock keeps you off the ground, away from the wetness of the rain and creepy crawlies. Personally, it is by far the single type of shelter that is practical and jungle friendly.

The biggest challenge in using the conventional ground tents in the jungle is space. In the dense tropical jungle of Malaysia, finding a suitable ground space that is big and flat enough for a tent is almost impossible. Every inhabitant in the jungle is always competing for a piece of the ground. Plants grow on every patch of ground available and animals like ants and centipedes swarm the jungle floor for food at all time.

The hammock approach solves many of the challenges in trying to use a tent in the jungle. All that is needed are two good size tree, strong enough to hold your weight and spaced just right for the length of the hammock. The two trees act as the main ‘posts’ for the hammock and the flysheet that will later go over it. One can even setup this type of shelter at uneven ground and there is no need to chop or clear ground bush unnecessarily.

The 'guys' I brought for Fitness Adventure Challenge at Mount Ledang

My 'home'

The tired knotted back muscles relax extremely well sleeping in hammock curve, and after getting used to it, you will prefer it. You can elevate your feet above your body, it helps to reduce the swelling that sometimes happens overnight after a good hard day of hiking. Besides supporting you back, relaxing your body, and reducing foot swelling, there is the gentle rocking that can lull you to sleep, as well as the lack of mystery bumps like rocks and roots that you think are not there until you lay down to sleep like there is sleeping on the ground.

Hammocks are actually some of the lowest impact hiking systems out there. Instead of grooming a flat spot or compacting earth, a hammock keeps you above all that. Tree bark can be protected by either flat straps or by using a rope system that uses multiple wraps to distribute the load that keeps the rope from digging into the trees.

The benefits to hammock camping besides comfort and low impact are quite a few. The main ones for me are site selection, weight,  and flexibility.

The number of camp sites when you use a tent or tarp are limited to the places where you have flat ground, no pooling of water, clear of bush, clear of rocks and roots, and many other little things to make your sleep enjoyable as well as just supporting the structure. Many times you must either crowd into a limited number of spots with others, go to designated sites, create a site (increasing impact to environment), or take a less than perfect site. With a hammock, it's almost all good.

Enjoying every moment inside 'the home'

Feel asleep while the dinner served

When you have a hammock, your campsites are limited by imagination. All you need is a couple of trees the right distance apart. What is under you may not matter at all. I have personally can set the hammock and slept on the side of a mountain. There are things that make better camps than others, and some safety things to consider, but unless you are camping where there are no trees, then the hammock will increase your camp sites.

I also say weight because I select hammocks that are lightweight. There are some hammock models out there that weight a lot more, but that is your choice as what to carry. But the absolute lightest camping hammock with bug protection and rain fly is less than a pound, the absolute lightest tent that gives bug protection weighs twice that.

And as for flexibility, well my hammock serves as, chair, lounge, gear loft, solo tent, and of course - a hammock. A tent is always a tent.

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Outdoor Recreation Course Level 1

This is another consequences from previous effort I put since 2007 to organize this course. Let's check it out as details below:

Course: Outdoor Recreation Course Level 1
Date: 20-22 April 2012
Venue: UTM Johor Bahru Campus
Fee: RM180 per person
Organizer: UTM in collaboration with Jabatan Belia & Sukan Johor

This course including:

• camp craft
• night jungle exploration
• basic navigation
• knots & abseiling set-up
• wilderness first aid
• water confident & maneuvers
• kayak
• lecture: Outdoor Program Management

This year I involved in this course as external consultant to helps the students tackling the tricky aspect of organizing the event. As I no more serve as government servant, this effort I considered as my public responsibility while without thinking about the payment get.

May the course will benefits all.

For more details & registration:
email me: miha5123@gmail.com
facebook: Blackopoulos Johor

Nutrition for Outdoor

Just like a car needs fuel to drive, so does the human body need food and drink to build up the energy needed to walk. The provisions you take with you will largely depend on your own preferences, the duration of the hiking or outdoor trip, and if you will be able to replenish your supplies along the way. In general, good planning and precautions can prevent serious nutrition problems.

Selecting your Foods
Selecting what food to take with you will depend on your plans. On short hikes, you can pamper yourself by taking all kinds of snacks. The additional weight and volume might not be any serious factor, so why not. However, if you are going on multi-day hiking or camping with no sure places to replenish your provisions, careful choices will have to be made to make sure you can pack the necessary provisions. Thus, choosing your food becomes a challenging puzzle where nutritional value, volume, weight, and preparation method have to be taken into account.

Here are some tips when it comes to selecting your foods:

• Dried or dehydrated foods: retain most of their nutritional value but since most of the water content has been removed, the foods are lighter in weight and smaller in volume. This makes dehydrated foods very popular in the outdoor community. Preparation is mostly very simple but will require water.
• Canned Foods: are even easier to prepare but are both heavier and take up more space. Canned foods can be added to your selection if you want to build in some luxury treats.
• Select a variation of foods that fulfill different nutritional needs. Variation in your food intake is very important especially on longer trips.

 planning & cooking a meals is a greatest & worthiest things to be mastered

Plan your Meals
You need to plan your food and fluid intake to make sure that you have enough to last for the duration of your hike. Planning your meals will make sure that you do not over indulge on day one, leaving you with nothing to eat on the third day.

Here are some guidelines in planning your meals:

• Do not depend on other possible sources of food and bring everything you need to keep yourself well-fed during your hikes. Only if you are 100% sure that you will be able to restock should you take less with you.
• If you are sure about re-supply points in your outdoor plans then anticipate on what provisions they can replenish.
• Separate your meals in daily rations and package them separately. This will make it easier to determine how much you are allowed to eat to have enough for the full duration of your outdoor trip.
• Package and label emergency rations. Labeling them as emergency rations will make you think twice before you use them as a snack!

Plan your Water Needs
Under normal conditions, the human body will be able to go without food for days. Without water, however, problems come a lot quicker.

Here are some guidelines in planning your water needs:

• The absolute minimum is at least two liters per day. Take at least two liters with you even if you expect to find places where you can refill your water reserves.
• Take about one liter for every two hours of hiking or other outdoor activities with the above mentioned two-liter minimum.
• Under normal conditions, three to four liters per day should suffice.
• Higher temperatures will increase the needed fluid intake.
• Increased intensity will increase the needed fluid intake.
• If you plan to spend nights outdoors, calculate extra water reserves for washing yourself and possibly rinsing cooking utensils.
• Hydration Packs and water bladders have drinking tubes that make it easy to drink as you continue hiking. However, a possible danger is that you have no real way of checking your fluid reserves. So make sure to stop and check your bladder's content at regular intervals.
• Make sure to bring water purification pills or devices even if you are bringing sufficient fluids for the trip. Water bottles and bladders can burst, leaving you with nothing. In these cases, water filters and purifiers can make the difference. If you have nothing to filter the water with but you do have your cooking gear then you can make most outdoor water potable by boiling it for at least 10 minutes.

Eat adequate amount of nutritious foods and drink lots of water to keep you energized on your outdoor trips. Proper selection of foods as well as enough planning and preparation of what to bring will ensure that you will not go hungry while do outdoor activities.

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Why Lightweight Backpacks?

As a backpacker, you can travel further and faster by packing lighter with lightweight backpacks. Many who have jumped on the lightweight bandwagon find they can wear light running shoes when carrying a 7 to 15 kilos backpack instead of the heavy-duty hiking boots they must wear when carrying the 20 kilos plus heavy-duty pack. This means that the backpacker can travel more kilometres in a shorter period of time and may even equate to a higher safety level. The comfort level is often greater because less weight means you will be less sore at the end of the day.

Traditional backpacking has a few disadvantages that are overcome by using lightweight backpacks. First,  when you backpack with heavy equipment, there is less freedom of movement. You can’t simply run off the  trail to see what is there because speeding up that much with a heavy pack would be terribly exhausting. If you put down the pack so you can run and see what is over the hill, you leave your equipment behind and have to backtrack to get it.

Carrying heavier gear means that you are more apt to be tired or even exhausted at the end of the day. More sore muscles will be evident and a greater likelihood for such things as blistered feet, knee injuries, sprained ankles or even back problems is possible. With too much weight on the back or the legs, the soreness can cause the camping and backpacking trip to be less fun than it would otherwise be.

Another disadvantage to the traditional heavy backpack is that packing time is often increased. Time must be spent to pack the backpack carefully for proper weight distribution. There is the additional time spent in taking the pack off and putting it on. If you want to quickly reach your adventuring destination, you may really appreciate the benefits of lightweight backpacks when it comes to ease of packing.

Another disadvantage to the traditional heavy pack is when you are caught in a storm. The heavy pack will  weight you down and keep your pace to a minimum as you seek shelter. Another problem may be if an injury  occurs, you will be weighed down by your pack as you head toward civilization to get help.

Basically, lightweight backpacks counteract all of the disadvantages of the heavier packs. You have much more freedom of movement because you don’t have a heavy pack weighing you down. You can zip off the trail any time you have a fancy to see something different and head across country without a trail until you meet up with your original trail. If you lose your balance, you are less likely to twist or sprain an ankle because the load on your back weighs less and won’t pull you down as quickly. This means that you won’t have as many aches and pains at the end of the day. The lightweight backpacks are easier on your legs and back and you won’t be as stiff. Getting to your destination faster may mean that you have more time to relax and work out any sore spots before you go to sleep so that you will have a more enjoyable experience.

If you needed to quickly get to civilization because your hiking companion was hurt, your light pack would not slow you down. Basically, using lightweight backpacks can be more comfortable because you will have quite a bit less equipment to haul around. You can find lightweight versions of all the camping gear you like and use, so you won’t have to sacrifice the gear you used for the weight limits of your pack.

You will have to be very organized and efficient if you plan to go lightweight backpacking, but it is very enjoyable.

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What & Why Hiking?

What is Hiking?

Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service:

"Walking as a recreational activity and sport. Especially among those with sedentary occupations, hiking is a natural exercise that promotes physical fitness, is economical and convenient, and requires no special equipment. Because the hiker can walk as far as he wants, there is no physical strain unless he walks among hills or mountains."

In its most basic definition, Hiking is simply Walking for recreational purposes. A good summary is: “In Hiking, the Journey is more important than the Destination”. Hiking could be your average Sunday walk through the park or it could be a three-week expedition through the Andes mountain range. There are many words often used for Hiking depending on the Hiking conditions, hike length and terrain. Trekking, Backpacking, Bushwalking, Trailing and Mountaineering are just few of the terms that could be seen as Hiking Disciplines or Variations. In their most basic forms, these activities all boil down to walking. If you are able to put one foot in front of the other then you are able to walk and hike. At a more advanced level, Hiking could be seen as a starting point for learning Survival Skills, Camping, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Navigation Skills, and a variation of other outdoor techniques. A well-rounded and experienced hiker is an outdoor expert with the physical fitness level, knowledge, and mindset needed to deal with anything nature can throw on his/her trail. 

When people think about Hiking, they mostly think of nature, the great outdoors, a backpack, and a tent. For most people, Hiking is an escape back to nature and a great way to get a good workout while forgetting all about the day to day hassles of city life. On this website, we will look at Hiking in the broadest sense of the word and look at all the different variations of Hiking, the Hiking skills and techniques and Gear and Equipment. 

Hiking Mount Kinabalu is like Hiking + Altitude (Highest Mountain in South-East Asia)

Why We Hiking

Hiking is a recreational activity where we walk because we want to, not because we have to. The journey is more important than the destination. The reason we make this journey varies from person to person and from occasion to occasion. Most people like Hiking for one or more of the following reasons:

• Hiking is a great body exercise which will greatly improve your overall physical condition. The natural walking motion provides you with a relatively low impact but effective workout. Furthermore, you are able to set the exact pace and length of your workout. Many people use walking as part of their Fitness routine.
• Hiking is a great way to explore nature. Most people enjoy Hiking as it brings them back to nature. It can bring you to the most beautiful places on earth and into contact with amazing plants and wildlife. Beaches, deserts, woods, jungle forests, hills, and mountains all facilitate in different Hiking conditions, each with their own unique appeal.
• Hiking is easy to start and it does not require high tech equipment. A solid pair of Hiking Boots, some basic (outdoor) clothing, and a small Hiking Backpack will be enough to get you started on basic day-hikes. The Walking Technique is something you possess from childhood and for basic Hiking, there is nothing else you need to learn.
• Hiking is an activity that allows you to grow in your knowledge and skills as you progress. In its easiest form, Hiking is a very safe walk using clearly defined trails. In its extremer form, it would require Mountaineering, survival, hunting, and Navigation Skills. 
• Hiking is the starting point of a whole range of other outdoor activities that require hiking. It is often a part of Rock Climbing, Mountaineering, Camping, Para Gliding, and a lot of other outdoor/mountainous activities. 
• Hiking is a year round activity. In fact, being able to hike in different conditions is one of the activity’s most appealing and challenging factors. 
• Hiking is a great way to get away from things and forget about the everyday stress in your life. It could be an experience you share with others or something that you do all alone. Many people take a walk to clear their heads or to think about issues. Hiking could be a way of relaxing or something that can test your own capabilities.

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What is the Benefits of Rock Climbing?

Rock climbing is seen as the most challenging adventure sport these days. More and more people are getting attracted towards this sport. The reason for this is because it allows people to challenge themselves, get some exercise and do this with the benefits of enjoying fresh and clean mountain air. Which other sports gives you so much and much more. 

The advantage of rock climbing is that it can be done both indoors and outdoors. For all the nature lovers, outdoor climbing is the way to go. And for those who do not like going out there and getting dirty, indoor climbing that so many gyms are offering these days is the solution. This advantage of it being an indoor and outdoor sport is what makes rock climbing a popular and year round sport. Remember climbing is not for the faint of heart, it is for those who do not mind taking some risks and overcoming their fears. 

Physical benefits of rock climbing

There are many benefits of climbing. One of the main reasons people take up climbing is because of its physical benefits. People are very health conscious and fitness is a big deal to them. So it gymnasiums get boring, then outdoor rock climbing is the best option for you. 

Most people think that rock climbing is a sport for men; this is not true at all. More and more women are taking up this sport to enjoy the outdoor and to challenge himself in a man's world.

Rock climbing involves a lot of stretching. This is because when you are on that rock or crag, you will have to stretch to reach out to that next hold to pull yourself up. Stretching is a great way to improve physical conditioning and flexibility. When you are indulging in climbing what you also get is the benefit of balancing and improved hand-leg coordination. 

Rock climbing helps you stay in shape. What it helps you do is

. Develop muscle tone

. Improves flexibility

. Ensures balance

. Improves coordination

. Enhances physical focus

. Helps burn calories

Remember that before you start climbing that you do some warm up exercises. Warming up is of utmost importance, without warm up you are prone to injury and harm. 

Mental benefits of Rock climbing

We all know that exercising makes you feel good about yourself. The reason for this is the happy hormones endorphins, which are released when you exercise. Hence the feel-good feeling. climbing is another such sport that makes you feel good about yourself. climbing is a challenging and difficult sport, when you have reached the top of the rock or crag, the feeling of accomplishment is unbeatable. 

People are social beings; we do things in pair or groups. climbing is also an activity that can be done in pair or groups. This feeling of being a social being and the fun and experience of climbing, helps relive stress. 

Rock climbing makes people confident and builds their self-esteem. If you can climb the difficult and almost impossible rock you never thought you could, you can do almost anything else in the world. This makes you feel capable and self-assured. It builds esteem and your confidence. 

Rock climbing also makes the climber more responsible and helps build trust. Responsibility comes with understanding the dangers and risks involved in climbing, and by respecting nature. The climber has to be responsible enough to take his own safety in his hands. 

Trust comes with trusting and literally putting your life and safety in the hands of the instructor initially and later by trusting the rope and basic climbing gear. Trust is a major part of climbing. 

Rock climbing can be fun and exciting if you go about it in the right way. Learn about the dangers of climbing and you should be fine as long as you do not do risky things. Remember to warm up as you would before any sport, as this will prevent you from harm and injury.

The right to make a copy for personal use is part of most existing publishing agreements. 
This right is recognised as an important right for the author. 
Because the right is attached to the author and in most cases well defined, personal use won’t harm the publisher.

What is Micro Adventure?

Micro adventure as a post Trans 1Malaysia ride

The idea of a ‘micro-adventure’ strikes a very relevant chord in this post-ride phase after completed my Trans 1Malaysia journey from Johor Bahru to Kangar, Perlis. City life isn’t really my thing. Noise, pollution and a feeling of enclosure nag at me constantly. The countryside isn’t on my doorstep and my own home town growing bigger each year. Over the last couple of months, I’ve come to the conclusion that these so-called ‘micro-adventures’ might be the tonic to keep me on track while I prepare for next year’s ride - cycling around Peninsular of Malaysia again.

So what’s a micro-adventure? It’s a new name for something that people have always done — just take off, unannounced, and let go of the safety buffer for a while. It’s long been said you can have an adventure in your own backyard — it doesn’t have to take place on the other side of the world.

A cold drinks at white sandy beach during hot sunny day while sea breeze chilling my sweat & tanned body 

What is the value of a spontaneous, unpredictable trip into the unknown? For me, it’s the mind-sharpening effect. No matter what, where or for how long, dealing with a new set of circumstances requires new thought processes and energies, initiative, quick wits, and a positive attitude towards success. Leaving your comfort zone also helps to get the things inside it into perspective.

One of the simplest idea by Alastair Humphreys who are an adventurer, blogger, author, motivational speaker, film maker and photographer was to get on a train to somewhere he’d never been and then walk home. He armed with a bivvy-bag, a pan and a pair of sunglasses. It sounded compact, fun, and probably a little uncomfortable — which is the part that wakes us up. The valuable part.

So what are you doing this weekend? Why not walk, cycle, run, hitch-hike, row, swim or climb a bit further than usual? Or just get on a train or bus and see where you end up? Think of your own micro-adventure, then go and do it.

The right to make a copy for personal use is part of most existing publishing agreements. This right is recognized as an important right for the author. Because the right is attached to the author and in most cases well defined, personal use won’t harm the publisher.

What is Stealth Camping?

Stealth Camping is the act of sleeping in non-conventional areas without trace or discovery. Either you in foot expedition, bicycle touring or motorbike adventure.

Though it may sound illegal, stealth camping, by definition, does not imply an illegal activity. Instead, stealth campers take advantage of  free or extremely low cost sleeping areas where other campers never think to stay. Proper stealth camping is an art and requires forethought, consideration of the property owner, and safety consciousness in order to keep it legal, safe, and comfortable. Stealth camping is legal in many areas, but not everywhere. Many locations have specific trespassing laws which limit those areas that you can legally stealth camp. Please use these links as a starting point in your research about the laws in your area

Stealth camping takes on many forms and there are very few confining definitions on what constitutes stealth camping.  If you have ever taken a long journey in your car and stopped at a rest stop or a fast food parking lot for an extended nap you have stealth camped without even knowing you were doing it.  Though sleeping in your car for a few hours at a Plus Highway R&R may not be considered hard core by the most experienced stealthers, car camping in public parking lots is one of the more sedate forms of stealth camping.

If parking lots are too tame for you, don’t write off stealth camping as only for losers who would rather sleep in their cars than shell out money for a hotel bed and a hot shower. Remember, stealth camping takes on many forms. The more exciting forms of stealth camping will have you stringing a hammock & flysheet between two trees in a secluded wooded area on the outskirts of a big city or pitching a one-man bivy shelter within earshot of a westbound train or in a tucked away corner of a farmer’s pasture land.

The Unwritten Rules:

• Never leave a trace. Do not break branches, or cut firewood. No campfires, no moving rocks, no altering the landscape. It might be okay to soften your bed with a bit of leaves, but you should spread them back out before you leave. It should not be evident that anyone was there. Leave NO trace. 
• Try to leave the location cleaner than the way you found it. The creators of this site believe in removing a few pieces of litter from each location visited. This is our way of thanking the owner, and nature. 
• You can try to plan ahead, but you will eventually be stuck in a rural area without a restroom. If you must empty your bowels in the woods, be sure to dig a hole, and then bury it. Usually you can plan around these things, but it will happen to everyone eventually. 
• Trust your instincts. If the area looks like a location where you should ask permission, do so. We believe you should always ask the owner if the area has a clear and immediately obvious owner. 
• If asked, be friendly and truthful about your adventure. Most people would rather share in your journey than cause you problems. Your actions will greatly impact how future adventurers are treated. Do not claim you were not trying to hide if your tent is camouflage. 
• Make stealth camping one of several options. If there is a cheap or free campground nearby that equally suites your needs, it might be best to use it. This is a judgement call that is left to the reader. 
• If confronted by the property owner, explain your position, and that you would happily pay a typical camping fee for use of the land. A friendly smile goes a long way; in a remote area the landowner will understand the limitations and challenges of your adventures. 
• Stealth camping with groups often doesn't work. It works best when solo. When in a group we often let our guard down, talk, and are easier to see. If you are in a group, it is best to find a landowner who can give you permission to camp. 

Stealth Mode!

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The Year 2012 is Come! Why We Need to 'Survive'?

I believe the Western world is today more vulnerable to both natural and man-made catastrophes than at any time in our past due to our dependence on a complicated system of systems. My goal is to present a strategic view of why our civilization is so vulnerable, along with a tactical view of how to prepare for it.

There are several big picture factors to consider that work together in a dangerous way:

Economics
The U.S. national debt is a long-term threat to the nations economy and current levels of government spending are unsustainable. Most of European is no better and many nations in the European Union are in far worse shape. Still, governments spend, though it is unlikely future generations will be able to pay these debts. In short, our nation is in danger of bankrupting itself. Compounding this issue are our dwindling manufacturing and tax bases, aging infrastructure, declining educational system, and absolute dependence on foreign oil. In the U.S. and abroad, legislatures seems determined to spend us into oblivion in the name of saving us.

Resources

Whether Peak Oil theory is correct or not, fossil fuels are becoming more difficult to extract and will become more expensive over time. The U.S. cannot be energy independent given current oil and gas reserves, or at least cannot maintain current living conditions. China and India are growing and so are their energy needs. Green energy sources cannot fill the void. Unfortunately, modern civilization is based on access to cheap fossil fuels, and world governments seem to be oblivious to the need to prepare (e.g., start building hundred of nuclear reactors now) for the future.

Demographics

The U.S., Europe, and some Asian (China and Japan) societies are rapidly aging, meaning there will be less workers, less paying taxes, and more retirees using those lesser resources, at the very time the opposite will be needed. This issue compounds the economic problem above.

International Threats

U.S. status as a super power will be challenged in the future as China and perhaps Russia gain power. Those nations and others, however, will also face demographic and resource issues that will make them competitors for trade and scarce recourse, increasing the potential for conflict. Non-state actors such as Al Qaeda will continue to be a challenge as well as a budgetary drain. All countries remain vulnerable to the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

Wild Cards

This includes natural disasters, plagues and pandemics, earthquakes, asteroids, etc. – all those things completely beyond the control of humans that could wreak havoc upon civilization by destroying key infrastructure (dams, power grid, etc.).

Society has faced many of these issues in the past, the difference being that contemporary Western civilization has become dependent upon technology to a degree unsurpassed in history – a gross over reliance that is our Achilles heel. While there is a level of redundancy that provides some robustness, there is point when failures in one systems cause something like shock waves that will cause failures in related systems. We have lost many of the vital non-technical skills our grandparents generation had.

As our society becomes more dependent on increasingly complex technologies, the potential effect of large scale catastrophes is magnified by the probability of cascade failures in those technologies.

As Robert Heinlein said in his essay, How to be a Survivor, “it’s worth planning for.”

The right to make a copy for personal use is part of most existing publishing agreements. This right is recognized as an important right for the author. Because the right is attached to the author and in most cases well defined, personal use won’t harm the publisher.