Expedition Yamashita

Not sure what triggered off this idea for exploration. James said its the Metal Detector that I procured recently. I kinda agree with him but I believe added onto this was probably the story we heard of hidden treasure recorded during the last world war.  As a disclaimer, this post serves as a record of what we saw. We are not stating any facts or presenting our deduction of our find. We have no intent to “mis-write”  history either.

We did some planning and shopping weeks before the execution. We even sat down at the Marina Club and went through the checklist over dinner. Must say I was really impressed with how meticulous James and Steve were.

Finally set out early in the morning on 7th January 2011.  After a good breakfast, Karyn was kind enough to ferry us around and dropped us off at the start-point. Finding the shrine was not difficult. With the help of our iPhone GPS apps, we managed to trekked our way in. Cutting through the bushes took some effort. Fortunately, thanks to James, we had the machete.

Along the way we came across a few spots where blocks of concrete stump were found. Could not verify what they were. Did however marked them on our GPS Apps. When our phone 3G signals were strong, we marked positions and sent out several times to our facebook wall.

Just before we reached the shrine, we came across a big hole. Thought initially that it was the shrine itself but found out later that it was still some distance away. The hole was about 5 x 5 m wide and 2 storeys down from the ground surface where we stood. It looked like it had also been deliberately concealed with mud.  On one corner, there was a void that went deeper.  That’s when we tried out our metal detector. We tied the Garrett Pro-Pointer to a nylon string and lowered it into the hole but did not detect any sign of metal.  We lowered our digital cam and snapped a few shots of  the inside view with the camera built-in timer.  On the ground, we set up the AT Pro and combed the surrounding area. We found only an iron pipe.  There were several smaller holes in close proximity. Stuck our AT Pro into those holes but detect nothing. One was filled with plastic-ware packed in the usual black trash bag.  I scanned the concrete floor & steps and realized that unlike those floor slab we have in present time, those made then were without any reinforcement bar.

The shrine itself was big. Dotted around the site were a stretch of high retaining stonewall, a huge granite cleansing tub, long and short steps etc. There was also what looked like freshly dug holes scattered in a few area. One was right below the cleansing tub. Believe there were others before us looking for the same hidden “treasure”.

Thinking back I thought it was very funny, while we were deep in the wood working our way in, we kept questioning (jokingly) why on Earth did we leave the comfort of our office or home and ended up in that situation. While we working our way out, I believe the same question also popped out. The recovery was more taxing on us physically. We had our lunch before we set off but like a drained out battery, getting out after the early half of the expedition, seem more straining on our muscle.  What looks like a direct route out turned out to be a long and winding trail.  Incidentally our iPhone was also down to just one ( after spare battery recharged ) and a half out of the three we brought into the wood.

Overall, I know myself and I believe my other 2 friends felt the same, that it was a very satisfying experience. We planned, prepared and executed the expedition like pro ( humbly proclaimed ). We reached the target ( the shrine ) successfully and we came out “alive”. We also managed to try out our newly procured metal detector and found an interesting use for the pro-pointer when we explored the sunken hole.  We learned from this trip what was best suited for a expedition like this and we aim for a better experience the next time round.  As for the gold…its probably nested deep in the forest of a neighboring country.

BTW we also found a hidden ( Geo) cache within the shrine compound.  Left our mark in it and put the cache back to where we found it…Nice.

Same article mirrored at UnEarth.