Photos:
Top : That's me pitching our tent at the very summit of Gunung Ledang ( Mt Ophir). The reason I was shirtless was because I wanted very much to feel the cool, crisp, fresh mountain breeze on my skin....something that was impossible at lower altitude. Mt Ophir is 4187 ft high.
Bottom: The group during the trek up the peak.
Camping at the summit...my never to be forgotten experience.
Never in my wildest imagination did I ever dream up what I personally experienced up there. We had prepared our dinner after setting up the tents. Everyone was accounted for and relaxed. Soon, daylight faded away and the beauty of the night sky with all the millions of twinkling stars descended upon us. A starry-starry night indeed. As soon as the cold and biting winds hit our tents, we scrambled inside the canvas. The ground we were sleeping on was hardened earth....no grass or soft mounds anywhere. There was nothing much to do under such chilly conditions except try to sleep to recover from our exertions. I laid my head on my haversack, found it too bumpy, and slept on my rolled up towel as a headrest. Soon I drifted off to slumberland....and was sound asleep. It was pitched dark inside our tent as the tent fraps were secured tightly to cut off the strong winds. I wasn't certain what the time was when I first heard the sounds of rhthymic drumming from deep within the ground! I could sense no movement or stirring within my tent...all sound asleep. Not wanting to disturb anyone, I too laid perfectly still but removed my towel headrest and pushed my ear closer to the groundsheet. The sounds that transmitted from the ground to my ear were very distinct and clear. There was a regular beat about them. I checked myself to see if I was merely dreaming or awake. I was wide awake! That much I can confirm then or now. I tried to "connect" the sounds I was hearing in the light of other known sounds or noises. The closest I could think of was..... it was like someone pounding on a big and solid mortar bowl in a deep kitchen or dungeon. Though the ground we slept on did not shake one bit....yet the sound coming through was very clear....it went " thumph,....thumph,....thumph, at regular intervals. In addition, I heard the drip-drip of water and sounds of running water.
The next morning, as we broke camp and prepared for our descent trek, I was no wiser about my experience. Imagine sounds coming from deep within Gunung Ledang. I was perplexed and feeling a little eerie. I asked a couple of the others if they had a good sleep and if they had heard anything while asleep. Cikgu asked me why I asked. I told them my experience. Then he too confirmed that he had heard the strange sounds. When we compared notes....BINGO...they sounded similar. So, clearly it wasn't a dream or wild imagination. I have slept on other mountain tops or slopes and have never had this kind of experience before or since.....except in 1974 and again at this same place, the peak of G Ledang.....I was to have ONE OF THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE [ YET 100 % TRUE ] EXPERIENCES THAT EVER VISITED ME PERSONALLY. IT WAS SO UNIQUE AN EXPERIENCE THAT I WAS COMPLETELY DUMBFOUNDED WHEN EXPERTS AND SCHOLARS POINTED OUT THE SIGNIFICANCE TO ME IN LATER YEARS!
What was this RARE experience and the series of related supernatural incidents?
I will reveal the details in a NEVER BEFORE 1st person story in coming post!!!
