All 40 participants of BRATs Ipoh & Taiping 2014. Welcome to the BRATs family!

IT has been over five years since we took our BRATs camp to Ipoh and Taiping, and we can’t believe we’ve waited this long to go back. Ipoh and Taiping are just amazing!

Playing it coal: Chuah Kee Yong, a member of the third generation of his family to be involved in traditional charcoal-making, showing the BRATs how mangrove trees are transported to his factory in Kuala Sepetang through a canal that fills up during high tide.

Our field assignments included a fascinating walking tour around Ipoh’s historical heritage sites, a boat ride around Kuala Sepetang (we saw pink dolphins!), a behind-the-scenes look at the famous Foh San dim sum restaurant and a tour of a traditional charcoal factory in Taiping.

The BRATs interviewing a local at the fishing village of Kuala Sangga, said to be home to an infamous pirate in the 1960s. Kuala Sangga is only accessible by boat, and consists of around a dozen hoses lining the shore.

Back at MH Hotel, where the camp was held, there were also workshops on journalism, photography and videography by
R.AGE editor Ian Yee, Star2 journalist Sharmila Nair, The Star photographer Samuel Ong and BRATs 2000 participant Jason Lioh.

And, of course, there were the usual games, #selfie-taking, sing-offs and dance-offs. What’s BRATs without a bit (or a lot!) of fun?

The stories, photos and videos produced by the BRATs will be published here in R.AGE next Tuesday (June 17), so be sure to get a copy!

And finally, we’d like to thank and congratulate all 40 participants of BRATs Ipoh & Taiping 2014. Welcome to the BRATs family. =D

To apply for the next BRATs workshop from Sept 17-20, message us on facebook.com/starbrats, or e-mail us at brats@thestar.com.my.