Camping at Ulu Langat

One of the problem of modern society is that fathers are getting less involved in their son's life. It is not just about the hours, it is about fulfilling the natural role as a model for their son's to look up to. In the old days, the sons get to observe how their fathers work at the farm or at their trade, their fathers will in turn, instruct, teach and pass their living skill to their sons. In today's urban setting, that setting is lost, the men spend their working hours isolated from their sons, and it is their mothers who have more time with the boys and we have a generation of boys brought up by their mothers. Don't get me wrong, boys need their mothers just as much, but I think the fathers need to reclaim their rightful role in the father-son relationship. 

With this in mind, a group of my friends decided that we should have a father-son outing. What's better for male bonding time than camping? It has been a while since I actually camped ( my son said that campervan outing is not counted as real camping!). There were a few suggestion for the location, we want a camp site with river and forest but we do not want commercialized camp sites, at the same time the place should be accessible by family cars. Finally we settled on Pangsun at Ulu Langat.

Although it was not on high land, the place was surprisingly cold at night, it was a good thing that we were brought our sleeping bags. The men were happy that they were away from their wives and enjoyed their beer and BBQ, the boys were happy that they were away from their mothers while they rolled in the mud and having their dads teaching them how to start fire, setup tent and cook. We need more this type of outing!

My boy and I at the campsite, with my L300 4WD van. I am planning to get a roof top tent for it.

The morning light. My phone camera and photo taking skill does not do justice to the actual scene, one has to be there to really appreciate the magic of the morning sun light.

The water at the stream was crystal clear.

My friend's specialty, bamboo BBQ chicken. It was delicious!

The tents were set up by the boys, with instruction from their fathers.

Slide on ambulance canopy

I saw this interesting slide on box that converts a pickup at USJ1 industrial park. From the faded marking it says it used to be a government ambulance. My guess is that it was designed to slide on to a Land Rover pickup tray to convert it into an ambulance quickly. To my eyes, it looks like a perfect candidate for conversion in to a compact campervan. It as full heights rear doors and standing interior head room for average adults. The best thing is that it can quickly convert any pickup truck into a camper with minimal modification.

I wondered how many of these type of ambulance bodies were used in Malaysia, it must be quite rare because I have yet to come across other similar units. The discovery of this slide-on body leads me to search for similar type of slide-on in the Internet and I found a Canadian company called MTC that produce the very type of bodies that I was looking for. According to MTC, the slide-on body is meant to be used as a standby that can quickly convert any pickup truck into an ambulance for work crew who works in remote places where it may be difficult to call for ambulance services.

The cab-over section can easily provide sleeping berth  for 2 with some internal extension.

The body is made of fiberglass and it looks like it is still in good condition despite the dull and pitted exterior

The slide-on ambulance body made by MTC

It is designed to quickly convert any pickup truck into a functional ambulance when it normal ambulance services may not be immediately available.