Wednesday, October 17, 2012

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.

4 comments:

mark ruffin melaka said...

Well done!
I have noticed there is something missing in Malaysia and that's what we are doing.Kids all go to shopping malls, internet cafes and theme parks and dont really gain anything from it. Like the 4x4 van and a roof tent has been on my mind as well, maybe make my own base with a popup readily available tent. Was down at a lake in Machap Johore the other day, great place for van camping. will put up on my campsite list soon.

Papa Smurf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TJ Chang said...

There is stream there but there is only small fishes and small shrimps.

Anonymous said...

TJ, are you based in PJ or KL? Awesome topics here. Would love to get my hands on a 4x4 van but that's like a lottery. My current Landcruiser is fine but a van would be great. Jeremy jcmountain@rocketmail.com