Note:
If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)
By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)
Picture 1 - Krystal (left) with Johnson Jacob, 200km Sahara Desert runner (right), on their way up Mt Rinjani.
Recently, before the Mt Rinjani climb in end October, Krystal ran the 1500m in 8min 36sec. Later on, with consistent effort, she did 7min 50sec around 3rd Nov. Subsequently, she did 7min 37sec and left for Mount Rinjani. Later on, she returned back to Singapore. On 13th Dec 2011, Krystal did a time of 7min 25sec for 1500m, showing progression in her running performance. I also found out from the father that she had successfully climbed on top of the Mountain, which is 3,726 metres. This was very good to hear and I thought of putting this report by her to the public.
About the mountain: Mount Rinjani or Gunung Rinjani is an active volcano in Indonesia on the island of Lombok. Administratively the mountain is in the Regency of North Lombok. It rises to 3,726 metres (12,224 ft), making it the second-highest volcano in Indonesia.
On the top of the volcano is a 6 km by 8.5 km caldera, which is filled partially by the crater lake known as Segara Anak (Child of the Sea). This lake is approximately 2000 metres above sea level and estimated at being around 200 metres deep; the caldera also contains hot springs.
Day 1 (19th November 2011 )
It was a long journey to get to our hotel, and by the time we reached our destination it was late in the evening and we were all tired from the journey to Lombok. We had a nice dinner nearby and headed back to our hotel to prepare for the adventure awaiting us.
Day 2 (20th November 2011 )
We woke up at 5.00am to get ready and do some last-minute preparations before we leave the hotel at 5.30am. The sun had already risen and it was really bright as soon as we stepped out of the hotel. There was a cab waiting for us, together with a lady named Bahariah, whom we first thought was our guide, but later realized that she was joining us for the climb to Mount Rinjani. It took us 3 hours to get to our destination..the bottom of the mountain and soon enough, we were at the start of the hike. We met people from around the world, who joined us for the hike. The first was a couple from Alaska, named Clint & Jen, the second was Ben, who is from London, and lastly, we met a French lady named Flore. It was a 7km hike, but we would stop from time to time to hydrate ourselves. When we reached our first campsite for the night, we were all really exhausted, hungry and wet from our perspiration. Thanks, to Dad who carried my bag all the way. It turned dark at 7pm, the porters prepared our dinner, after dinner, we headed into our tents as it was clod and windy. I shared the tent with my new friend Bahariah, Wayne and Dad were into one tent.
Day 3 (21st November 2011 )
We woke up at 6.00am and started packing the sleeping bags and had banana pancakes and tea for breakfast which the porters prepared and soon enough, we continued our journey again, but this time, we will be heading to the crater and were told about the lake and the hot springs. It wasn’t really tough to hike to the crater, but it was just a little bit steep. When we reached the crater, it had the most spectacular view of a new volcano n the middle of the crater. We headed down to the volcano and Dad, Wayne, Clint and Bahariah were the only ones who swam in the cold lake. All of us couldn’t wait to get to the hot springs to relax, as we did not smell very good. The hot springs were only 5 minutes away from the lake.which was 5 minutes away from the lake. We eventually reached the hot springs and we were all excited and relieved that we didn’t take a long time to reach there. The water was really nice and warm and in the corner, there was a perfect little waterfall. After that, we went to a shaded area where our guide and porters were cooking our lunch and we lie there to relax for a little while waiting for our food to be ready. After lunch, we had to hike for 3 more hours, back up and spent the night there. It is called the summit campsite.
Day 4 (22nd November 2011 )
We had to wake up at 2.00am to get ready and eat breakfast, and leave to reach the summit to watch the sunrise. It was really cold and the route to the summit was really tiring as there was lots of ups and downs, the small volcanic stones were very loose and difficult to walk on. The last 100m was really tough as it was full of sand and rocks, so every 3 steps that you take, you will slide back down 2 steps. I eventually reached the summit and witnessed the breathtaking view of the sunrise., it was very cold up there. After a few minutes, we had to get down from the summit and it was tougher than it looks, and it took 1 and a ½ hours to go all the way down to the place where we stayed the night. Breakfast was prepared whenever someone reaches the campsite to prevent the food from getting cold in the wind. After breakfast, we headed all the way down the mountain and out the forest, a different route from the climb up. We were told it will take 5 hours to reach the bottom of the mountain. It was still tough though it was just downhill all the way, we had to avoid animal dung too. We finally reached the end of the hiking journey and we were really grateful for the awesome and memorable experience that we had. We had no time for lunch as we wanted to reach Gili Island on the same day, for some rest and relaxation.
Day 5 (23rd November 2011)
About Gili Islands: Arcing away from the northwest corner of Lombok, are three idyllic atolls,
where the sand is still powdery white, the water a clear sparkling turquoise,
and the sunsets over Bali’s volcano Mt. Agung in the west simply spectacular..
When we reached one of the Gili Island, named Gili Trawangan, we checked in our hotel (Dream Divers) and explored the island for a little while and had dinner with Clint & Jen at a Mexican restaurant and we had to wait for 1 ½ hour for our food, but the food was really nice. After that, we then headed back to our hotel for some rest. Dad didn’t like the hotel.
We changed hotel to Gili Divers as the old hotel had no air-conditioner and no toilet doors, the new hotel had a toilet door, air-conditioner and we could even borrow the latest DVDs for free, and most importantly, the toilet was really spacious and clean! Overall it was better furnished and more lively. We didn’t do much on this day, but we borrowed 2 DVDs as it was raining in the afternoon, we watched Transporter 3, which was really cool. We had a really nice dinner at a market place, which served really nice food at affordable prices, and after eating, we headed back to our hotel to watch our 2nd DVD, Terminator 4 and fell asleep while watching it as it was kind of boring.
Day 6 (24th November 2011)
Day 6 (24th November 2011)
We thought of going to the other Gili Islands, which was Gili Meno and Gili Air, but we decided against it because we really liked our current hotel and wasn’t ready to let it go. Later in the day, we booked a trip for snorkelling and we took many pictures of the different types of fishes that we saw. It was me and my brother’s first time snorkelling, but at first, I didn’t get the hang of it as I kept choking on the water, but Wayne did really good and snorkelled like a pro! After a few more tries, I got hang of it and realized that it was kind of fun. We saw many fishes of different colours, like fishes with black, white and yellow stripes and fishes with orange and black stripes. It was a really cool and fun experience and I will be looking forward to doing it again another time. After snorkelling, we went back to our hotel to bathe and then we went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant with Clint, Jen and Ben, and the food was really great, including our Chocolate Mousse that we had for dessert.
Day 7 (25th November 2011)
We snorkelled again today, opposite our hotel, but we still saw the same type fishes that we saw the day before during our snorkelling trip, and only saw a few fishes that we didn’t see before, and we saw a small blue-ish crayfish! It was really fascinating as I have never seen a crayfish in real life before.
Connect to our Mount Rinjani slideshow for more pictures. Click this link, to view it! J
https://picasaweb.google.com/103280091760583768248/Collages?authkey=Gv1sRgCOzVoMbF_sD6NA
Note:
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
Note:
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
