The hunt started from KL and ended at Muar. It was actually a two-day activity with two separate events - one was treasure hunt by car from KL to Muar, and the other one was a walking hunt in the town of Muar.
As the three ladies needed to work on Friday, we drove up to KL on Friday night after their work. We reached KL at 11pm+ and by the time i got to bed, it was already past mid-night. The registration for the hunt started at 6:30am on Saturday morning, and i actually had less than 5 hours of sleep on the day before the event.
We woke up really early on that day and assembled at one of Eu Yan Sang's outlets in KL. We got some door gifts with Eu Yan Sang's products, and knowing that all the hunters were gonna have a long day ahead of us, Eu Yan Sang also sponsored free essence of chicken for each of us for some boost of energy and brain juice.
The first day hunting route brought us from KL to Seremban and then all the way down to Muar. There were clues to break and tasks to accomplish. One of the tasks was to look for the artistes "Dong Yu Zhe" for autograph (who was having a meet-the-fans session at one of the Eu Yan Sang's outlets at Muar). I actually had no idea who they were at all and had not heard of them before. I told my team mates that even if the two passed by in front of me, i wouldn't be able to recognise them at all, which turned out to be untrue because one of them coloured his hair blue and i bet i would have no problem guessing that only artistes would do that. But then, sorry to say, even after completing the task, i still couldn't recognise them; all i remember was only the blue hair.
Compared to them, i was more impressed by the lion dance practise that we saw in another task - to take a picture with the World Champion of Lion Dance.
We only had a glimpse of the juniors practising the lion dance as the seniors had travelled overseas for performances. Even so, we were really impressed by the highly difficult stunt that they could do with the lion dance, and could not imagine how much more amazing the winning performers would be.
After a day of driving, walking, searching and sweating, we ended the day with a charity dinner held at the stadium of Muar Chung Hwa High School. This was the first time we, alumni of another Chinese independent high school, visited this school. We were rather impressed with the campus, especially the entrance pathway lined with trees, which resembles the National Taiwan University, and the old classroom buildings that give the campus a scholarly ambiance.
However, the dinner itself was a long and torturing event. Besides the lousy food, we were blasted with more than 2 hours of deafening noise. We were all very exhausted and feeling heavy-headed from the heat in the day, and the overly loud sound and music from the speakers in the stadium only made our headache worse. It got so bad that Sui, NG and I gotta get out and sat outside of the stadium just to give our ears a break.
We could not leave early because the result of the treasure hunt would only be announced at the end of the dinner. As the organiser already go through the answers with all the participants before the start of the dinner, our team expected that we should be able to win something because we only got one or two questions wrong.
I am not sure if I should say it was to our delight or disappointment, we did win a prize but was ranked at 4th place. As only the first three spots will be given special prizes (if i remember correctly, the first prize was RM1000 worth of Eu Yan Sang's products), we got the same consolation prize as the rest of the top ten winners - RM200 worth of products for EACH participant and not per team.
We were actually a bit disappointed with our ranking, as we did harbour the hope to get into top three. There was a mistake made by the organiser which resulted in giving out free marks to most teams; otherwise, we were one of the two teams that managed to solve a difficult question which would have placed us at a higher ranking.
Anyway, this time around, with the "expert hunter" around, everything seemed to be easier. She is a very seasoned treasure hunter and has even organised treasure hunt for other charitable organisations before (one of which was that we won the 2nd prize). She was very quick in solving the clues. A lot of times, we did not understand the logic of the clues even after she has found the answers!
We might not have been able to get such good scores without her; however, the flip side of having such expert in the same team is that it was really stressful because she is really competitive while the rest of us were more of the "enjoy the moments and have fun" type rather than "be quick, no nonsense and all out to win" type. I think she must have felt stress too but for a different reason - other than Sui, both NG and I are not as good in solving the clues (which are Chinese riddles in certain styles specific to treasure hunts) and could not contribute much to the game except driving and eating.
This was apparent during the walking hunt on the following day (Sunday), when she lost her patience at us for a while due to the time pressure.
As most of the hunters were really tired from the previous day's activities, the organiser postponed the start of the walking hunt to 7:30am, but this also shortened the hunting time by an hour. We were given only 3 hours to solve 30 questions and carry out 14 tasks. The hunting area was at the Muar town centre along 4 long streets. All the 14 tasks involved looking for the designated food and to finish eating most of the food on the spot.
It was another super hot day and it was quite a challenge to walk under the sun and hunt for the answers and the food while finish eating the food in a rush. Of course, with the expert around, we did manage to finish well but then still fell short of getting into the top three. Again, for the second hunt, we were in the 4th place and won a consolation prize - RM99 worth of Eu Yan Sang's products for each member.
With the two prizes and a lot of door gifts from Eu Yan Sang, we all brought home lots of essence of chicken and other health products.
(All pictures are courtesy of Sui. Amazing that she still would not forget to take pictures in the midst of our hunt!)
It was really generous of Eu Yan Sang, as the company not only sponsored the event (the venue, food, prizes, door gifts, and all other expenses), it also provided free health drinks (made of their products of course) for all participants at the check-points. This year, the money raised through the events (from the treasure hunt, charity dinner and sale of their products during the dinner) will be used to assist Sin Ming Primary School (麻坡新民华小) in school building fund.
I understand that Eu Yan Sang does this every year in helping the Chinese schools in need. It is a company that gives back to the society and I am really touched by the gesture. I would encourage everyone to join this event next time - to do good while have fun at the same time!
(By the way, I am not paid to write all these. I truly feel that it is a company with heart.)
Overall, it has been a very fulfilling weekend albeit energy draining. I spent the entire Monday resting at home. It will be back to completing my last bit of unfinished business tomorrow (or rather, today).
Labels: life
