Last Saturday, the 7th January 2012, a few of us went up to the Biodiversity site at Gunung Brinchang to get the foundations of the Nissen Huts right-literally. The rains had stopped for a couple of days and we decided to brave the steep road and drive up using the President’s four wheel vehicle. But things have a habit of not proceeding smoothly. Hardly 12 feet up the road, we heard a nasty ‘cra-anng’. Apparently the shaft broke. We all scrambled out for our dear lives! (except the driver, of course.) In our haste we went down the road (below the vehicle) but the rescuer amongst us shouted, “ Hey, go up the road! ” Of course. How silly of us. We wouldn’t want the vehicle to tumble onto us. After much huffing and puffing, we reached the construction site. We double checked the foundations for the Nissen Huts, dimensions of the buildings including the toilets and took measurements for the placements of the water tanks, solar panels and wind mill. Yes, a week ago, a solar engineer from Germany was kind enough to visit the centre and advise us on renewable energy sources for the biodiversity centre. We were indeed fortunate to have his expert advice. As for the vehicle, it remained stuck where we left it. While one of us waited for the mechanic, the rest of us took a long walk back to the main road, past the scenic tea estates and past plantation workers loading the day’s harvest onto trucks. It was an interesting day indeed.
