Kembara ANSARA 2009

First hunt of 2009. First one for quite a while, actually - more than a month since the MENSA hunt. Not a great start to the year though. Turned out to be quite disastrous, both in terms of the hunting experience and our performance.

Same old story with the team - I have never yet hunted with the same team for two different hunts! Originally we had two of my colleagues joining us. They were both from MRSM, so together with me we fulfilled the criteria to get the special ANSARA prize for highest placed ex-MRSM team. But at the 11th hour the Missus couldn't make it, so we had another colleague joining us. So there we were, The MERCERnaries, confident of at the very least finishing as the best ex-MRSM team. OH how wrong we were. In the end, we finished with 60+ points, and the 15th team out of only 34 got 79 points. Shows how far off we were. WE WERE NOT EVEN CLASSIFIED!

On hindsight, what did us in was mainly two things - carelessness and poor time management. Two of the REALLY important things that one must avoid when treasure hunting - so no excuse, really. There were a few clues where I figured out the answer, but not the SPECIFIC answer. And there are no half-points in hunting - either you get it right or wrong. And we got it wrong. One example:

Right! So be it to notes.

I managed to figure out that "Right!" stands for "R", and "So be it" is "Amen", giving me "Ramen" which was the name of one of the restaurants in the sector, which I put down as the answer. However, I stupidly didn't follow through with the rest of the clue - "notes". On the same signboard, there was the name "Ramen Wang Sdn Bhd". Now "notes" can be to mean "wang" ("money" in Malay). Therefore, "Ramen Wang Sdn Bhd" is indeed the only correct answer.

There were at least a couple other clues where I did the same mistake of not reading through the clue properly, and was punished. Saying that, there were also a few clues where I really "tembak" the answers, as the answers I had only half-answered the clue, but somehow they turned out correct!

Time-management was the other big mistake. You can argue that poor time management and not reading the clue properly go hand-in-hand. Not deciphering the clue makes it harder to find the answer, which in turn means that you spend more time than neccessary at the sector looking for the answer. We really suffered in the latter stages of the hunt, rushing back to the finishing point, what with the massive traffic near One Utama on a Saturday afternoon. We didn't get the points for 5 of the last 7 clues, which with more time I'm sure I would've got most of those.

All in all, a frustrating hunt, but on the bright side, a HELLUVA lot of lessons learnt!

MENSA Treasure Hunt 2008

We took part in the MENSA Malaysia Treasure Hunt 2008 on Sunday. It was yet another iteration of Team Teh Tarik, with our fourth different teammates in as many hunts. After the hunt though, it seems that we have finally got a permanent team!

Anyway, the hunt, organised by Laurence Hie, was themed "Planet Green". The questions were almost entirely environment-based, and every single treasure item also had something to do with conserving the environment, which included bringing in at least 20kgs of old newspapers before the flag-off!

This is our first hunt that's not organised by Time Out, and I have to admit that the clues, though fair, were easier than Time Out's. Some of the clues were solveable even before we reached the relevent sector! There were surpringly a lot of general knowledge clues, but thanks to my trusted iPhone and Iskandar's 3G-enabled MacBook Pro, we managed to Wiki our way through them. However, we were stumped by a couple of clues, as the answers were really really small(!) or we just didn't do enough research on the Wiki.

This was also the very first time we managed to get ALL the treasures! As we the final hunt sector was in the Mutiara Damansara/Damansara Perdana area, we all thought that we could easily get everything at Tesco Mutiara Damansara. How wrong were we. They didn't have the right brand of garbage bags, nor did they have the EXACT type of light bulb that was specified! So ala Amazing Race we sprinted next door to Ikano to try our luck at Ace Hardware and Cold Storage. We managed to get the correct brand of garbage bags, but still no light bulb. In the end, considering that at 8 points, each treasure was worth almost 3 whole clues (3 points), we decided to drive around to look for a specialist lighting store. We managed to find one in Uptown, and were we happy when we found the exact brand and type at the very first store!

We went back through some of the final sectors to search for some answers we missed, but in vain. We decided to cut our losses and since we had less than half an hour to the deadline, we decided to go back to the checkpoint at Sri KDU School. As we had a wee bit of time left when we got there and we weren't happy with our answers from the first sector, we dropped Nini off at the checkpoint with our answer sheet and treasures and headed to the sector again. With two minutes to spare, I had a hunch for one of the tie-breaker clues and called Nini to give her the answer. The answer turned out to be the correct one and it proved vital as we were tied on points with another team!

In the end we managed to finish among the prize-winners in a respectable 18th place, which out of 40-odd teams may not seem as a great achievement at first. However, considering the who's who of the Malaysian treasure hunting scene took part in the hunt (including Cornelius Koh who flew all the way from KK just for this!), we did feel rather proud of ourselves in only our 4th ever hunt (and the very FIRST hunt for Iskandar & Kamariah!). Indeed, the MENSA Hunt is regarded by many as one of the four "Grand Slams" of local treasure hunts, so you can see just how respectable our 18th place was.

As I said at the start of this post, we think that we finally finalised the lineup for Team Teh Tarik. Everyone did a very good job, and we are raring to go for our next hunt together, with high hopes of climbing swiftly up the rankings. Watch this space!

More details of the MENSA Treasure Hunt 2008 can be found at Michael Pang's site.

Top 10!

Ladies and gentlemen, Team Teh Tarik has arrived! In only our 3rd ever hunt, and with our 3rd pair of teammates, we have managed to finish a very respectable 9th out of 50 teams.

The Top Gear Malaysia Motor Hunt 2008 was the least stressful and, dare I say, easiest so far. Well, for the latter I guess our experience in the past two hunts have helped us tremendously in knowing how to solve the clues and what to look out for in the answers.

The hunt took us via the North-South Expressway to Hulu Bernam, Tanjung Malim, Ipoh, Butterworth and to the final station just before the Penang Bridge. As there were only 50 teams and the hunting areas were well spread out, we didn't have to battle for room and space with other teams and the morning breakfast crowd. Busy Puchong on a Sunday morning this certainly is not. Most of the clues were found without stopping and searching on foot. Which is just as well, as some of the hunt sectors were along the main road. And the distance between sectors - more than an hour at one point, provided ample time to recharge our batteries and wring our brains to solve the treasure clues.

I did my homework on the hunt sponsors the night before, and boy was I glad I did! Quite a few of the clues (including the treasures) assumed knowledge of the sponsors - nothing too detailed, basically just based on stuff in the goody bags. In the end, we got 30 out of 35 answers right, but only got 1 treasure right. Must work harder on the treasure clues!

During the prize-giving ceremony, each team's points total was not mentioned, so we really didn't know what to expect. As other teams' numbers were called out as the finishing positions got higher and higher, we honestly didn't know what to expect - on one hand it is a good sign that we have a better chance of finishing higher, but on the other hand, maybe we did so bad that we weren't even classified! 20, 19, 18... the positions got higher and higher, and still no mention of our team. 13, 12, 11... then we got to the magic number of 10th position, STILL our team wasn't called out. And then for position number 9, FINALLY we were called to the stage! 9th! And all we wanted at the start of the day was to finish in the top 20! Only bummer though was that our reward were these steam facial sauna thingamajigs. Yeah, I hear you laughing. And to think that teams BELOW us won cufflinks and Ray-Bans!

All in all, a great weekend in Penang. And we even brought back RM200 worth of DVDs back as souvenirs! Our next proposed hunt would be the MENSA Hunt on 14th December - apparently one of the Grand Slams of Malaysian treasure hunting. Now, getting Top 10 in that hunt would be REALLY special.

Treasure Hunting for Dummies

After joining my first two treasure hunts, I've learnt a lot of tips on getting the answers and treasures right from my experience. I'll write them down as a Treasure Hunt 101 for other newbies and potential hunters.

1) Look out for the indicator word

Most of the clues you need to solve are cryptic clues, where a lot of time and skill is required to decipher the clues before you even start looking for the answers! The first step to solving these cryptic clues is to look out for the indicator. The main ones are:

• anagram indicators (Change, mix, sort, could be, perhaps, awkwardly, perm, chaos etc)
• backwards indicators (returns, recall, etc)
• rhyme indicators (sounds like, I hear, etc)
• initial indicators (Firstly, initially, etc)

Once you've figured out the indicator, then you're already halfway there. Most are obvious, but the hardest to spot are the anagram ones, as they can be ANY word that can carry the meaning "to change" or "mixed up". But usually when the clue doesn't make sense grammatically, then it can either mean two things - (a) it's a cryptic clue and you need to play around with the words/letters to find the answer, or (b) the clue-setter just has a poor grasp of the English language!

2) Know the sponsors

Well the sponsors did not pour in so much of their money for nothing - they do want some publicity in exchange. I have found that for some of the clues, really knowing about your sponsors (or at least being aware of them!) would really help. The name of the sponsor itself could be the answer, or you may need to know the business or motto of the sponsor. Even the treasures themselves could be one of the sponsor's products (it may even have been included in the goody-bag all along!).

3) Know your Roman numerals

This is really important. There would be clues which may contain the words "hundred" or "five" or even "a number" where you're actually needed to substitute these words with the corresponding Roman numerals. So do look out for any reference to numbers, especially if they're specific single digit Roman numerals such as below:

I - One
V - Five
X - Ten
L - Fifty
C - One Hundred
D - Five Hundred
M - One Thousand

4) Every. Word. Counts.

Yup, do not dismiss or overlook ANY word. And this goes for both the answer as well as the clue. If you think you get an answer, try see if it can somehow fit in with the clue. If only part of the clue describes the answer, then chances are the answer is wrong. If only part of the answer fits in with the clue, then chances are that answer is wrong too.

5) Mind your language

Having a decent command of the English Language is imperative! You no speaking England, you no win Treasure Hunt.


So that's all the beginner tips I can think of for now. I'll add more in the future as I gain more experience in this new hobby/sport of mine.

Top half!

Yup, after a TIRING day spent hunting, we managed to finish in 100th place out of 240 teams. Top half, which is a marked improvement over our bottom half finish in the Lexis Nexis hunt, and especially as it was only our SECOND EVER hunt! But to be fair, we did get 12 questions out of 35 wrong, and the fact that most of the other teams were newbies did contribute to our position. Encouraging achievement, anyway, and keeps our hopes up for the Top Gear Motor Hunt this coming weekend - only 50 or so teams, so we have an excellent chance of finishing in the top 10!

Anyway, Philips were the prize sponsors and the winners won a 37" LCD TV - for EACH team member! Our prize for coming in 100th? A Philips steam iron each. Well, it is something, and is waaaay much better than going back empty handed! Onwards to Penang and the Top Gear Hunt!

The Hunting Season Begins!!

We really enjoyed our first ever hunting experience, so we decided to sign up to two back-to-back hunts in November! The first one is the all-famous theSun Motor Hunt, where there'll be a total of 250 teams! Well, actually more than 250, as we registered after the maximum number of teams have already applied, but received a call yesterday confirming our late late participation! It's on this Sunday 2 November, flag-off from Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara. So with the huge number of teams involved, those of you early birds on Sunday look out for stickered vehicles on the road, and expect HEAVY traffic at the designated hunt sites, with lots of people wearing the same tshirts STARING at the shop signs looking for the answers!

The next one we've signed up for is the Top Gear Malaysia Treasure Hunt. An interesting one this, as it starts in the Klang Valley but ends in Penang, with a night's stay at Tanjong Bungah inclusive! This is Top Gear Malaysia's inaugural hunt, and with ONLY 50 teams, I expect really attractive prizes - and the goody bags should be interesting too! Only snag with this hunt is that two sets of couples who agreed to join had to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances, so anyone who's interested to have a fun weekend, please do email me ASAP!

I'll let you know how we did in the above two hunts in future posts.

WISH US LUCK!!!

My very first treasure hunt!

I've always wanted to join a treasure hunt. And no, I'm not talking about real treasure here, the kind associated with pirates and Indiana Jones. But rather, the more urban type of hunt where teams drive around "hunting" for answers to riddles in a set amount of time. It's become a popular pastime here in KL, where even "professional" teams of hunters exist. I've had experience with a "walk-hunt", and also entered the The Sun hunt a few times (even managing to win myself RM100!), but when the opportunity arose, I made the leap to enter my first ever PROPER treasure hunt.

So there we were - me, the missus and another couple - at the flag-off point somewhere in the USJ area at SEVEN in the morning. The hunt's organised by Lexis Nexis and the KL Bar and unfortunately for us, there wasn't any separate Masters category - so it was a baptism of fire for us as we had to compete with the "professionals".

For those of you who haven't joined these hunts before, the questions are mostly "cryptic". The hard part really is to decipher the questions. Once you have (sort of) figured out what the question wants, it's then just a matter of looking out for the answer amongst the multitude of shop signs along the specified route. As an example, the first question that was asked was as follows:

Some trial with its logics revolutionized.

Some of you may be thinking "huh?????". Well this a typical cryptic clue, and you need to know what words to look out for to solve it. There are actually 2 parts for the answer here:

1. "Some" is a partial indicator, which means that a portion of the next word forms the answer. The next word is "trial", so the answer could contain "TR" or "IAL" or even "AL".
2. "Revolutionized" in the question is an anagram indicator, which says that the answer is made up of the jumbled up letters of other words in the question. In this case, "its logics" is the anagram.

Once you've deciphered the question, it's then up to everyone to stare at all the shop signs looking for a name or phrase that fits the question. Lo and behold, the answer was:

IAL LOGISTICS (MALAYSIA) SDN BHD

See how the answer fits the question? "IAL" is part of "trial", and "LOGISTICS" is an anagram of "its logics".

So actually, a LOT of thinking has to be done on the day. Worse still if you have NO IDEA on what the question means, and you end up trying to scrutinize EVERY single shop sign to see if it fits the question in some way!

So how did we do? Well, we got 30 answers out of 40 correct, but didn't get any of the four required "treasures" - more on the treasures in a future post. Including some bonus points, we had a grand total of 95 points. There were prizes for the top 30 out of a total 60+ teams. And guess what? Even the team that finished in 30th place got more points than us!! BOTTOM HALF!! All that effort for nothing!

Well, this is just a start, and there are a few more hunts on the horizon. For the next ones, hoping to enter a Mercer team with the name "The MERCERnaries". Hopefully some luck from our 5-year winning streak in the annual Actuarial Society of Malaysia quiz would rub off!