A Malaysian father said he turned to mountain hiking to keep his two children from becoming overly dependent on their mobile phones, eventually taking them on multi-day expeditions lasting as long as eight days.
Trans Gerah (Trans GBB) expedition climber Wan Ahmad Aslam Wan Zairudin, 39, said he decided to introduce his children, Diya Raisha, 13, and Ahmad Raef, nine, to hiking after trying various activities to reduce their screen time.
“They started becoming addicted to their mobile phones, so I looked for ways to stop them from using them for too long,” he said.
Aslam, a civil engineer, said he had tried activities such as badminton and swimming, but found that they only kept his children occupied for an hour or two.
“So I tried hiking. A hike usually takes half a day, then we started extending it to four, five and six days. The longest we had done before this was eight days, so this was the longest,” he said when met at the Gerik District Police Headquarters today.
According to Aslam, his children began actively hiking about two years ago, although he had already taken them outdoors from a young age.
“I brought them along when they were still in a stroller, but they really became active about two years ago.
“As far as I remember, this is our eighth Trans expedition as a family. From my experience, children are physically tougher than us. We just need to manage their mental state, make sure they are happy and enjoy the journey,” he said.
Addressing concerns over the family’s recent expedition, Aslam said they had not actually become lost in the jungle. Instead, their journey took longer than expected because of several obstacles along the route.
“We were actually in control in the jungle. We knew where we were, we knew how much food we had and we knew we were not injured.
“We were not lost. We were just worried that our family would make a police report and that this would happen,” he said.
The group had initially expected to cover between eight and 10 kilometres a day, but their progress slowed to around two or three kilometres daily.
This led them to discuss whether they should turn back or continue. They eventually decided to look for a water source and cut across from the original trail.
Aslam said their food supplies were also sufficient until the 10th day, despite the expedition running beyond its original schedule.
“I can say that we still had food until the 10th day. The guides also knew that I was bringing my children, so they carried additional supplies for our family.
“On the final day, I still had Power Gel, Hydro Gel and ORS, while we still had rice,” he said.
Aslam and his family, together with the two mountain guides leading the expedition, were previously found safe at Kem Kulim. They were brought out this morning via Pengkalan Trojen in Temengor before being handed over to their waiting relatives.
