Um, okay, how do I start this?!! A few days ago on the 4^th of September 2015 which when you are reading this it will be a different date, for the first time since I remember went camping in Indonesia.

As I said, on the 4th of September 2015 I and most of my “new friends” at school went camping to a mountain called Gunung api purba located on a city named Gunung Kidul which is in southeast Yogyakarta, Indonesia, The World, Galaxy, Universe. Well, on the day before going to the Campground, I also have to get ready, so (obviously) I packed. I should tell you, Mr. or Ms. Reader

What I mostly packed: Toothbrush, Soap & Shampoo, Clothes, Sleeping Bag, Jacket, Money, Torch, Spare bag, Plastic bag, Food ext.

So when I was ready, my mum drove me to school along with my brother and our maid. To tell you the truth, I think the word “maid” is too harsh for a person who has been working for my family for I dunno, Years? BTW, (by the way) let’s get on with my story. When we, meaning me, my mum, brother and my mum’s assistant (replacing “maid”), arrived at school, I managed to say hello to my camping team before I went off to pray. Speaking about praying, have I told you that my religion is Islam? Um, maybe no? Following the story…

After praying me and my friends went to have lunch, if you’re wondering what lunch is like at school, it’s real simple foods originally from Indonesia like tempe, sayur bening (English: Vegetable nodes), rice crackers and so on. Having finished lunch, Mas Jeffrey asked us to take a photo before going to the pickup trucks.

Even though the truck looks big, but in reality it would only fit 14 people including bags, lots and lots of them. I said goodbye to my mum and climbed into the truck followed by friends. The journey to the mountain was so bumpy and uncomfortable adding hot to the list, that I’d rather be in a bus than getting burned skin. After an hour & a half also a good long stretch the pickup truck arrived at the parking lot near a lake which normally in Indonesian is called “embung”. To have permission for going up to the campsite, it is required for all teams to draw a map. So my team did the map and it passed the test. We packed our belongings and climbed up to the lake up the stairs, and to the campsite.

After discussing plans for a yell yell, it turned out to be:

SBY, Presiden Indonesia, Kupanggil…   Eyek, eyek, eyek, eyek-eyek.

The “eyek, eyek, eyek” is supposed to mean iya which in English means yes.

The campfire was lightened and every team was supposed to perform in front of everyone there with the fire blowing in the background. When it was time for my team to perform, my heart was pounding and my cheeks were full of shyness and embarrassment mixed together. When we, my team, finished everyone seemed to die of laughter maybe because of something funny or because of me. To tell you the truth, I cannot forget that night.

At two o’clock, me and my tent friends was woken up by the racket the boys were making. Realizing that it is two o’clock, we quickly packed our bags ready to go morning hiking where our destination is Gunung api purba.

When we were finally on road, it was pitch darkness and so we had to use torches to find our way along with the weight of the things on us. We finally found our way through the darkness and into the mountain. It was kinda scary because there were rocks that looked like animals and there was a passage that was too squishy for a pan to go through. Finally we came to the top of the mountain to see a beautiful site…

After enjoying the landscape, we went down to the place we left our bags and started preparing to cook breakfast. Rice with salt-fish. Not too bad. But, thinking of rice, I figured out that rice cooked on a stove is better than the one in the magic com, it’s got an original flavor…maybe because of the leaves…no, we didn’t put leaves in…I just can’t figure it out!!!!! Some of the boys found out thatthere were wild monkeys trying to steal our food.

HOW RUDE!!

When we finished eating we packed up our rubbish and got ready to leave the mount, which was a long time because Dayan and Daffa kept annoying the monkeys, not wanting to leave. I and Siti nearly begged them to go after I threatened them if they don’t want to go I’ll slap them in the face. They obeyed shortly after being threatened by me. The way down the mountain is more better compared going up, so we were down in no time. I bought a few snacks and a drink to fill my hungry tummy. Then I went down to a rest area called Joglo Kalisong that is the front gate to climb the mountain where everyone was there waiting for the pickup trucks to arrive. And when they had come, it was time to say goodbye to the mountain “Gunung Api Purba”…

Shofiya Izzaty Budianto