To Serve, To Strive, And Not To Yield.
Friday, May 15, 2009 @ 8:00 pm leave a comment? | 0 shed some light
Day One
I was the third to arrive in school as I took a taxi there. Everyone was in a mess at first since we didn't know where to assemble, according to our watch numbers. After gathering into our respective groupings, it was temperature taking, before we all set off for the Outward Bound Singapore Reception Centre. There, we were separated into Camp1 and Camp2. Camp 1 got to leave first.
After letting us know our watches' names, we split up and gathered with our respective instructors. Our watch is Columbus and Jasmine had us take a photo together after introducing ourselves and then taking the boat to Pulau Ubin.
I was one of the few to stay behind to share the boat part of another watch: Hilary, since there must be at least one instructor on board. Faisal then told us that Columbus, Cheng Ho and Hilary will be buddy teams and commented on the landmarks on the shoreline. However, I couldn't hear what he was saying over the sound of the boat's engine and I was also sitting the fartherst from him.
After meeting Jasmine at the jetty, we went to put our bags down at Block 5 and did a few ice breakers. There was this game whereby we had to link arms and transfer the loop of rope one round within the time limit. After that, we counted the equipment from our store and dumped our bags inside too. We then changed into longs for kayaking. Jasmine brought us to the tri-yaks area and showed us the paddling strokes. After making sure that we got the correct paddles, it started to rain heavily. We had to wait for a while before heading out since there was lightning.
When we first entered the water, I was really scared even though we were wearing life vests. Everyone got into a circle, held hands and went down, till all of us were wet. After that, we got into our tri-yaks. Since there are six out of fifteen non-swimmers, our tri-yak had only one swimmer: Lim Min; and Vidya and me. Capsize drills were done twice, once near the shore and another time further out. Each time we needed to do the capsize drills, our tri-yak just wouldn't capsize till the fifth or sixth try. And when we didn't need to capsize, we capsized. That was because we had to grab on to everyone's tri-yaks and align ourselves together, and stand up one by one on our tri-yaks. We did manage to do it actually, just that after a minute things start to get really wobbly and my tri-yak was the first to capsize since we were right at the side. Since we didn't hand over our water bottles and spectacles like what we did for our capsize drills, we had to struggle to find our paddles, yet hold on to our stuff. My shoes also posed a huge problem since the left side is too loose. Jasmine had to pull my shoe out of the water and search for the other one for me.
After that, we got back and hauled the tri-yaks up again and stack them up, with our life vests on top. We then had to cook our dinner after a quick shower. There were many insects in the bathroom but I guess it was quite fine since it was clean. After dinner, we had to wash up and clear the trash. Then Jasmine asked us all to gather at the multi-purpose hall to learn how to set up the tent for the night. Midway, there was a fire drill and we had to rush to the sea parade to assemble. However, we forgot to report our watch strength to the one in charge- this guy called Andy. And he was a little disappointed that all of the watches took eleven minutes, which is too long, just to assemble there. I think we were one of the last few watches to go down to pitch our tents at the bottom of the slope behind the instructors' area since Hilary and Cheng Ho were much faster. I kind of went to sleep after a long while. I was too lazy to take out my sleeping bag.
Day Two
Throughout the night, I could hear music and maybe a wild boar. Pearly and Charmaine are sound sleepers so it was alright sleeping in between them. I could sense Liping tossing and turning at the other end of the tent though. Our watch decided to take only three tents so that it will be more convenient for us to carry when we go for our sea expedition and land expeditions for this day till Thursday. Therefore, five people had to share a tent. Of course, it can get squeezy sometimes. After waking Pearly, Charmaine, Liping and Jia Ren, we went to brush our teeth and wash our face before going back down the slope to unpitch our tents. Columbus ate breakfast at the parade square once done with the tents parts and waited for Jasmine there. Jasmine, Faisal and Evan taught us the Dodo Dance, the Morning Greeting Game, and the Mingle Game. It was really fun playing with the people there. Cheng Ho, Columbus and Hilary form a mobile and they called us Camp 2 D.
After morning activities, we broke up into our separate watches again. We had our morning circle for our reflections. Columbus also had to pack our backpacks for our next three days since we have our sea and land expeditions. When we finally separated the tent parts, food bags and into everyone's bags so that no one has to be so pitiful as to carry one whole tent bag on her own (like what Raffles did to Deborah), and the Food I/Cs carried all the mess tins plus utensils and some had to carry all the ponchos in their bags. Therefore, most of us had to share bags. Like Lim Min placed all her personal tiems in my bag so that she can carry all the food. In the end, I think everyone's bags were really heavy. When we were loading our bags onto the boat later that afternoon, I heard someone complaining that mine was super heavy.We then moved on to the high elements once Jasmine ensured that we brought sufficient water and food supply.
The first activity we did was the Trust Fall. Everyone except Jia Ren had a go at it. I was kind of scared actually, since it was after all, falling backwards. But it seemed alright after falling: I mean, there were fourteen watch mates watching your back for you (literally). However, I think Jia Ren was really scared and just could not do it. We waited for her for about thirty to forty minutes. She still didn't in the end. Ah well. We then climbed up further to the other height elements stuff since time was running out.
First of all, we had to learn belaying. Wearing the harness, helmet and the belaying were not foreign to me since I remember what I did for Primary five. It was pretty much the same actually. Cheng Ho was already finishing up their rock-climbing by the time we reached the area. They got to leave first and went to sleep at block five with their backpacks. Lucky souls.
I chose to be the first climber for rock-climbing as I wanted to get it done and over with as soon as possible. It is really a fact that I am hopeless at rock-climbing. Utterly hopeless. I could only manage a little before I slipped and fell, shocking my belayer and even managed to slam into the rock wall many times. I only gave up after the third or fourth failed attempt though, since I really wanted to try. I also had to give up since I already had bruises from the rock wall and there were many people waiting down there too. I really think I do much much more better as a belayer. The roles anchorman and assistant belayer are kind of alright too.
Since we had to meet the rest of the mobile for our sea expedition, we went down after a while and packed our helmets and harnesses back into the store. Lunch was eaten at Block five with Cheng Ho asleep and Hilary being busy packing some stuff. Right after lunch, everyone helped to laod the bags onto the boat at the jetty. We also loaded our water bottles onto the tri-yaks, carried our paddles and launched the tri-yaks. I exchanged places with Jia Ying on the second day though. Since there were two non-swimmers, therefore we switched people and I shared another tri-yak with Yimin and Ting Hui from Hilary.
I found kayaking really fun actually. We had to make sure we don't go too near the coast line and rocks though. And we could not go past the channel as it was dangerous. The big waves sometimes threatened to capsize us but I got pretty used to it after a while. The big waves come in after ships by pass us. I really loved the teddy bear I saw on Evan's life jacket. I wonder where he got it. It's cute. We reached Kekek in the evening. It was tough carrying the tri-yaks up the steep slope to the clearing. There were also our bags to be sorted. I could not find my bag at first and had to walk around with Jasmine just to find it. First of all, we had to pitch our tents. We also changed into dry clothing in the tent. Our tent put our wet clothes atop the tent, hoping that at least, our pants will be drier the next morning.
Cooking was alright and quite an experience: we had to search for three stone slabs for our cooking fire. Only Cheng Ho brought their own solid fuel burner to cook. But that meant that they had to carry more stuff.
Eating was quite scary. We sat on some ponchos that were on the ground. Actually, come to think of it, those didn't seem to be our ponchos...they were Cheng Ho's. But at least they didn't notice, I hope. We ate while sitting on the ponchos and ants started coming fast once they saw food. That day's dinner was curry chicken instant noodles and some canned food I think. While we were eating, there were a few suspicious noises coming from the tall grass behind me. Lim Min said it could be a rattlesnake. That triggered quite an alarm in everyone. I decided to finish my food quickly although I burned my mouth in the process. Since I was too lazy to search in my bag for Lim Min's utensils, we shared my fork and spoon that night.
Of course, we had to clear up and wash our mess tins, cans and utensils in the sea. I was in charge of providing my torchlight. My torch was one of the brightest anyway. Going down and up the steep slope was still scary but it was kind of easier since I more or less knew how to maneuver myself. We then had to crush the cans with the stones since no one was wearing shoes. I realised that the cans with the brand Campbell needs a lot more effort to crush than the rest.
The instructors came over after the time we said we will finish up and ensured that our trash was disposed in the correct manner. We had to tie our plastic bags containing our trash to the fencing at Kekek. They pretty much left us alone before that - all of them went over to the other side where we can't see anything. Jasmine got us to arrange our bags on the tarp and wrapped all the bags up like a piece of popiah while the other two watches went on to their nightwalk first.
We were asked not to switch on our torches or say anything during the nightwalk. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything because I was so focused on keeping my eyes on Jac's slippers in the dark. We by-passed the other two watches in silences and just went back like that. Everyone was so afraid to get lost inside - especially Liping, since she was the last.
Once we got back, we could just go to sleep whereas the other watches had to cover their bags with their tarp - like what we had done. But there was still Faisal's bedtime story. It was about this guy, who went to the Mama shop. He saw this cocoon on his way and wanted to wait for the butterfly to emerge. However, because no butterfly emerged after he waited forty minutes- he even went into the Mama store and got what he wanted, he decided to help the butterfly out by force. The butterfly's wings were shriveled up when it came out and was eaten by a bird almost immediately. I heard this story before but I don't remember it including the Mama store part. Sometimes when we want to help someone, it doesn't help to make the party overly dependent. Therefore they wanted to make us more independent, lest we end up like the shriveled up butterfly.
While he was telling us the story, the captains in charge that day were discussing on which shift each watch and tent should take for sentry duty. Hilary got to go first followed by Columbus, and then Cheng Ho. Our tent's duty was from 0100am to 0150am. Cool, huh? Throughout the night, there was Malay disco slash karaoke music blaring from the Malaysian side. It didn't take much to ponder over the strength of their eardrums. I heard that they only ended the music at three plus in the morning. I also had my first experience pee-ing in the open during my night duty. Liping and I went together. It was scary actually, since you're not sure what animals there are out there. But I guess it's alright after all and there were two of us. I also had to wake the wrong tent after our shift. Oh well.
Day Three
Morning came and every tent was woken on time by Yibin's tent mates since they had the last sentry duty shift. I saw the same spider that I spotted on Cheng Ho's tarp during the sentry duty on the bag pack next to mine. Somehow, it travelled to our side. And it's pretty big, thereby inducing screams from those who saw it with me included. Breakfast was taken from our own food supply and everyone changed into their wet clothes once more after brushing their teeth.
We had morning games again. Such as the Earthquake, Forest, Hunter game, the Captain game and once again, the Dodo dance for our forfeit. Everyone had fun together. After the games, we separated into our watches for our usual morning circle whereby we wrote down the previous day's reflections onto our journals. It was quite nice, sitting on the ground, under the sun and trees. I had gotten used to the insects by then. I got bitten by a red ant while writing though.
We then started on rafting after the other two watches joined us at the quarry. Everyone helped out to shift the pipes, barrels and ropes for the rafting. Then they taught us the basic necessary tying techniques for the ropes and then left us to design and built our own raft within an hour. I had to ask Jasmine to take a look at my feet first though. Because my wet shoes creates a lot of friction inside due to its material and also because of the sandfly bites and blisters, my feet hurt to the point that they were numb. Turned out to be nothing serious, just that the bites and friction caused the severe pain. Faisal and Evan helped their watches a lot. Whereas Jasmine gave us minimal help. Although our raft was only just barely floating in the quarry later, while the other two rafts were actually floating in the right way, we still felt proud since it was our own creation and it was unique. Everyone wanted to swim in the quarry since it was freshwater - like an oasis in a desert since we didn't bathe. It took courage to take the giant step into the quarry at first as I do know that quarries are way deep. I really love life jackets now. Without them, I would never have a chance to do all these fun activities.
After getting clues to the next destination after Kekek which were hidden in a plastic bottle tied down by rocks in the quarry, we were allowed to submerge ourselves for three more minutes before dismantling our raft parts in the water. We had to watch out for the ropes as they were the only things that didn't float. Yibin then had to drag me back to shore since I really can't remember how to swim. We had to shift most of the things back to the equipment store once more and the bottoms of our wet attire turned dirty once more but I didn't really mind it as much after the refreshing dip. We met Juniper's watch by chance at Kekek's quarry when we returned to eat our lunch which we were told to put inside our life vest pockets. She was doing trekking I think. We didn't chat much and Camp 2 D had to plan our route for our next destination in our sea expedition. I let the other captain besides me, to do the job of the leader.
I think Jac really wanted to have the job anyway. They needed a navigator, who was Megan, and then two more leaders to guard the sides so that no one crosses them. Two more tri-yaks were selected to stay at the back with Jasmine to push the others onwards too. We had to launch the tri-yaks again with our water supply. It was lucky that I remembered to wear a cap since it was really sunny that day. We had to turn left and right through the mangrove swamps instead of the open sea this time. The first portage was this really muddy small, narrow trail. A few slipped on the mud. Once Yimin, Ting Hui and I reached the other side to launch our tri-yak yet again, Faisal helped to pull us down into the water. Maybe it was unintentional, maybe it was deliberate. But he actually pulled us to one side instead of just plainly pushing us down. We almost capsize and the thought of swampy water didn't really appeal to three of us. And we screamed. Evan could still lounge in his kayak and remarked to us that screaming will not help.
We didn't capsize in the end as we managed to regain our balance in time. We then had to go through a series of even narrower streams through the meander and tri-yaks collided frequently. The next and last portage we came to was a road. We had to once again, pull the tri-yak up. But this time, we pulled it under the road barricade, and climb over that road barricade, drag it in line with other tri-yaks on the other end before launching it again. It was quite fun. After that portage, it was mostly just the channel and the open sea once more.
Ting Hui wanted very much to give up and Yimin and I kept pushing her on. I think she got a tad fed-up with us. But once she saw Camp 2, she decided to push onwards.
Once we reached Camp 2, we had to wait for our turn to go up and carry our tri-yak. I volunteered immediately to wash the tri-yaks as my feet hurt too much to walk around carrying them. Another girl from Cheng Ho helped to hold on to the hose while I sprayed water at the tri-yaks. Besides me, Faisal and Evan were doing the same too and Jasmine was directing the others at the tri-yaks store area. After that, there was this long while whereby no one came back to carry any tri-yaks to us. Evan then sprayed at the girl and me. We didn't mind it at all though since we were already pretty wet.
It was a relief to use the toilet facilities in Camp 2 although we did not have any electricity except for the toilet and the instructors' area. That was why we had to cook in the dark. There were two cockroaches seen creeping around when we were cooking at Block 5 if I'm not wrong.
That was also the night Sabrina had an asthma attack. It was pretty scary because we could not find her inhaler in the dark at first. After that, we gave her some biscuits to eat at the side. The sardines triggered the attack, it seemed. Eating was done with our one hand occupied with the utensil and the other with the torchlight.
Camp 2 was not our campsite and destination for our expedition though. We were supposed to continue trekking a few more kilometres after kayaking before pitching our tents in some other place. However, due to a rule about not having any kayaking or trekking after 10pm, the instructors were given the no-go from their superiors. It was already ten plus at night by then so we just had to pitch our tents at the grassy area behind the instructors' area. Camp 2 D were the only ones at the whole campsite. Everyone was tired albeit a little happy about the toilet facilities. However, the instructors were not happy since it meant that we had to trek faster and more the following day. Like Faisal said, "This sucks."
Day Four
Morning was the usual, just that once again, there was actually a toilet to use. Columbus separated everything so that our bags were made lighter. However, Liping and I did not have ponchos. It was lucky that it didn't rain that day. I still remember asking Hilary and Cheng Ho if they have any more ponchos.
Cheng Ho and Hilary left first after their morning circle stuff and breakfast. Columbus arranged our bags first while Jasmine made sure we brought enough water. We also had to wait for Sabrina to come back from the medical centre since she was feeling better already. I wasn't feeling well in the morning though. Just after I climbed out of the tent that morning, I just flopped down on my tent. I couldn't help my watch mates arrange the tent parts properly after that because I was too dizzy to even stand and walk properly. It could be due to the fact that I didn't drink much the previous day since my temperature was only 35.9 degrees Celsius.
We welcomed Sabrina back and started on our Morning Circle while the rest of Camp 2 D left first. It was nice to have her back. We also went to the 100m mark near the toilet area to see our pace. My 100m was 78 paces and I volunteered to be the pacer since no one seemed to want the job. I didn't really want it too but I guess it was alright after all. I just counted when our two navigators, Jac and Lim Min needed me. Liping kept count with me at the beginning and then Wan Yu helped to keep track for me while I counted after Liping moved to chat with Natalia I think. We passed the German Girl Shrine and went to the top of the quarry. Yimin told me that their watch was faster because Faisal really guided Hilary along, whereas Jasmine pretty much left us alone during the land expedition and we had to find our own way. But it was really fun trekking I guess. There were several cyclists along the way. There was this guy who kept passing by us throughout the expedition as he was cycling with his group of friends around the island. He kept encouraging us: "Jiayou!", " You can do it!", "You all can do it!" and "Don't give up!"
At the highest point of the quarry, you could hear the echo of your shout vibrating throughout the whole island. The echos were amazing!
Also, Jac and Lim Min had this mosquito fanclub. For those who chose to wear their wet track pants from the day before, the mosquitoes were swarming to them. It was really a cloud of mosquitoes around their legs. However, those wearing shorts were bitten too, since they attacked us after we walked behind them.
Altogether, we had to trek around 14km and reached Camp 2 in the late afternoon, at five plus, after reaching the two checkpoints in the map. By then, the other two watches had already completed their land expedition.
Right after we finished our trek, Jasmine asked us to ask no questions and just follow her to the jetty for our last ever wet activity after putting down our bags at the toilet area. We got to do the jetty jump since we didn't get to do it on the first day due to the rain. Like the quarry jump, it did take courage to just jump once more. As I was really nervous at that time, I actually forgot to bless my watch for the last time before jumping off. You see, Jasmine has us all bless our watch every morning and for the jetty jump, we had to do the same before jumping off. But since I was so scared, I forgot all about it and just had to make do with declaring my love for Columbus in the sea.
It was high tide and there were many non-swimmers in our watch. As such, it was pretty difficult for the swimmers to pull all the non-swimmers around. Natalia and I did the heart-shaped thing for Marilyn in the water when she didn't dare to jump down at first. Afterwards, once everyone was down, we made a circle around Jasmine and hugged her in one go. We had to form a human chain to go up because the waves were strong and everyone was drifting further and further away.
The chain was broken once Sabrina felt fishes around her body and she clung to Shona like a koala bear to its mother. It was really funny and although everyone was scared that they were drfiting away once more, we were laughing too. Poor Jasmine had to drag us back and everyone held tighter after that. When it came to my turn to go up the ladder, a wave came up behind me and I got slammed against the barnacles on the ladder. My left shin was bleeding by the time I went up. It was sad once up on the jetty as it was the last water activity and the evening air was chilly.
Everyone hurried to bathe and started on our celebration dinner - also our last dinner together. Till now, I don't understand why Hilary and Cheng Ho always sit so tight with each other while Columbus is at one corner, isolated. Oh well. Our food wasn't as good as theirs but it was fun nevertheless. We had to make do with orange fondue which isn't really yummy as the combination tasted all wrong. Jasmine made the fondue out of all our milo packets. She used my spoon so I got to lick all the chocolate off my spoon afterwards. Our soup had too much garlic. It was seriously garlic overload.
Shona and I were fooling around while the others cook. We were calling each other vain. I was teasing Shona about how she wants to attract attention from the wrong gender while she teased me about attracting attention from the other side of the multi-purpose hall. Tsk, tsk. Because we were fooling about, I lost my balance and my slipper strap came off for my right foot. Shona fixed it for me before that but it still came off. Jasmine was really nice, she helped me fix it back after she cleaned my wound from being scraped against the barnacles with some antiseptic cream.
After washing up, we pitched our tents at the high elements area, which was around a hundred steps higher than the parade square. Before that, Evan and Faisal were lying on the ground at the Parade Square looking at the sky while everyone tidied their stuff. I understood why when I stared at the sky after pitching the tent. It was clear that night and the sky was strewn with stars. It was the first time I saw so many stars in the sky. It was lovely. Really.
A lot of people shouted for everyone to keep quiet that night since there were a few who could not stop talking in their tents. Some said it was Armstrong and not our three watches. Who knows. But it was quite sad: Our last night together.
Day Five
Everyone got to to see our instructors sleeping in hammocks. It was really cute, seeing those cocoon-like things hung in front on the instructors' area. We proceeded to unpitch the tents after washing up our faces and brushing our teeth. Jasmine asked us to shift our bags out to the old rock wall in the Parade Square after breakfast. We split the duties between us and I was in charge of the helmets, lifevests and whistles plus the map and compasses. In the end, we lost a camping and had to beg for a compass from Armstrong. As for the map...Well, it was really lost.
Cheng Ho actually lost their cooking pot cover. I found it lying on some random place - I think it was the washing area - on the first night. I just washed it, put it into our watch's store and forgot all about it until I realise that the cover should be theirs. Alas, Columbus had to pay for two missing items: the map and a camping stick which cost a total of $10. Everyone had to pay sixty-five-cent.
The last activity we did was the dive thing. We had to climb up and dive to reach the bell while fourteen others held the sheet below for us to fall onto. Jac was the only one who could touch the bell though. The rest of us just touch it afterwards although it could be cheating I guess. We were supposed to say our goals before leaping forward. Mine was to be braver in facing challenges.
Morning circle was sad and we had to throw this ball of cotton twine around our circle. Once we had the ball, we had to state our best experience and worst experience, together we what we'd learnt from OBS. I love kayaking and trekking the most. I learned so much that it seems difficult to list everything down in one shot.
To end off, I really love OBS. It brought new experiences to me. In fact, I really love the outdoors now. It's just magical. Discoveries about one's self were made there and from the camp, comes the willingness to strive.
There's something about OBS that stays with you for life!
I was the third to arrive in school as I took a taxi there. Everyone was in a mess at first since we didn't know where to assemble, according to our watch numbers. After gathering into our respective groupings, it was temperature taking, before we all set off for the Outward Bound Singapore Reception Centre. There, we were separated into Camp1 and Camp2. Camp 1 got to leave first.
After letting us know our watches' names, we split up and gathered with our respective instructors. Our watch is Columbus and Jasmine had us take a photo together after introducing ourselves and then taking the boat to Pulau Ubin.
I was one of the few to stay behind to share the boat part of another watch: Hilary, since there must be at least one instructor on board. Faisal then told us that Columbus, Cheng Ho and Hilary will be buddy teams and commented on the landmarks on the shoreline. However, I couldn't hear what he was saying over the sound of the boat's engine and I was also sitting the fartherst from him.
After meeting Jasmine at the jetty, we went to put our bags down at Block 5 and did a few ice breakers. There was this game whereby we had to link arms and transfer the loop of rope one round within the time limit. After that, we counted the equipment from our store and dumped our bags inside too. We then changed into longs for kayaking. Jasmine brought us to the tri-yaks area and showed us the paddling strokes. After making sure that we got the correct paddles, it started to rain heavily. We had to wait for a while before heading out since there was lightning.
When we first entered the water, I was really scared even though we were wearing life vests. Everyone got into a circle, held hands and went down, till all of us were wet. After that, we got into our tri-yaks. Since there are six out of fifteen non-swimmers, our tri-yak had only one swimmer: Lim Min; and Vidya and me. Capsize drills were done twice, once near the shore and another time further out. Each time we needed to do the capsize drills, our tri-yak just wouldn't capsize till the fifth or sixth try. And when we didn't need to capsize, we capsized. That was because we had to grab on to everyone's tri-yaks and align ourselves together, and stand up one by one on our tri-yaks. We did manage to do it actually, just that after a minute things start to get really wobbly and my tri-yak was the first to capsize since we were right at the side. Since we didn't hand over our water bottles and spectacles like what we did for our capsize drills, we had to struggle to find our paddles, yet hold on to our stuff. My shoes also posed a huge problem since the left side is too loose. Jasmine had to pull my shoe out of the water and search for the other one for me.
After that, we got back and hauled the tri-yaks up again and stack them up, with our life vests on top. We then had to cook our dinner after a quick shower. There were many insects in the bathroom but I guess it was quite fine since it was clean. After dinner, we had to wash up and clear the trash. Then Jasmine asked us all to gather at the multi-purpose hall to learn how to set up the tent for the night. Midway, there was a fire drill and we had to rush to the sea parade to assemble. However, we forgot to report our watch strength to the one in charge- this guy called Andy. And he was a little disappointed that all of the watches took eleven minutes, which is too long, just to assemble there. I think we were one of the last few watches to go down to pitch our tents at the bottom of the slope behind the instructors' area since Hilary and Cheng Ho were much faster. I kind of went to sleep after a long while. I was too lazy to take out my sleeping bag.
Day Two
Throughout the night, I could hear music and maybe a wild boar. Pearly and Charmaine are sound sleepers so it was alright sleeping in between them. I could sense Liping tossing and turning at the other end of the tent though. Our watch decided to take only three tents so that it will be more convenient for us to carry when we go for our sea expedition and land expeditions for this day till Thursday. Therefore, five people had to share a tent. Of course, it can get squeezy sometimes. After waking Pearly, Charmaine, Liping and Jia Ren, we went to brush our teeth and wash our face before going back down the slope to unpitch our tents. Columbus ate breakfast at the parade square once done with the tents parts and waited for Jasmine there. Jasmine, Faisal and Evan taught us the Dodo Dance, the Morning Greeting Game, and the Mingle Game. It was really fun playing with the people there. Cheng Ho, Columbus and Hilary form a mobile and they called us Camp 2 D.
After morning activities, we broke up into our separate watches again. We had our morning circle for our reflections. Columbus also had to pack our backpacks for our next three days since we have our sea and land expeditions. When we finally separated the tent parts, food bags and into everyone's bags so that no one has to be so pitiful as to carry one whole tent bag on her own (like what Raffles did to Deborah), and the Food I/Cs carried all the mess tins plus utensils and some had to carry all the ponchos in their bags. Therefore, most of us had to share bags. Like Lim Min placed all her personal tiems in my bag so that she can carry all the food. In the end, I think everyone's bags were really heavy. When we were loading our bags onto the boat later that afternoon, I heard someone complaining that mine was super heavy.We then moved on to the high elements once Jasmine ensured that we brought sufficient water and food supply.
The first activity we did was the Trust Fall. Everyone except Jia Ren had a go at it. I was kind of scared actually, since it was after all, falling backwards. But it seemed alright after falling: I mean, there were fourteen watch mates watching your back for you (literally). However, I think Jia Ren was really scared and just could not do it. We waited for her for about thirty to forty minutes. She still didn't in the end. Ah well. We then climbed up further to the other height elements stuff since time was running out.
First of all, we had to learn belaying. Wearing the harness, helmet and the belaying were not foreign to me since I remember what I did for Primary five. It was pretty much the same actually. Cheng Ho was already finishing up their rock-climbing by the time we reached the area. They got to leave first and went to sleep at block five with their backpacks. Lucky souls.
I chose to be the first climber for rock-climbing as I wanted to get it done and over with as soon as possible. It is really a fact that I am hopeless at rock-climbing. Utterly hopeless. I could only manage a little before I slipped and fell, shocking my belayer and even managed to slam into the rock wall many times. I only gave up after the third or fourth failed attempt though, since I really wanted to try. I also had to give up since I already had bruises from the rock wall and there were many people waiting down there too. I really think I do much much more better as a belayer. The roles anchorman and assistant belayer are kind of alright too.
Since we had to meet the rest of the mobile for our sea expedition, we went down after a while and packed our helmets and harnesses back into the store. Lunch was eaten at Block five with Cheng Ho asleep and Hilary being busy packing some stuff. Right after lunch, everyone helped to laod the bags onto the boat at the jetty. We also loaded our water bottles onto the tri-yaks, carried our paddles and launched the tri-yaks. I exchanged places with Jia Ying on the second day though. Since there were two non-swimmers, therefore we switched people and I shared another tri-yak with Yimin and Ting Hui from Hilary.
I found kayaking really fun actually. We had to make sure we don't go too near the coast line and rocks though. And we could not go past the channel as it was dangerous. The big waves sometimes threatened to capsize us but I got pretty used to it after a while. The big waves come in after ships by pass us. I really loved the teddy bear I saw on Evan's life jacket. I wonder where he got it. It's cute. We reached Kekek in the evening. It was tough carrying the tri-yaks up the steep slope to the clearing. There were also our bags to be sorted. I could not find my bag at first and had to walk around with Jasmine just to find it. First of all, we had to pitch our tents. We also changed into dry clothing in the tent. Our tent put our wet clothes atop the tent, hoping that at least, our pants will be drier the next morning.
Cooking was alright and quite an experience: we had to search for three stone slabs for our cooking fire. Only Cheng Ho brought their own solid fuel burner to cook. But that meant that they had to carry more stuff.
Eating was quite scary. We sat on some ponchos that were on the ground. Actually, come to think of it, those didn't seem to be our ponchos...they were Cheng Ho's. But at least they didn't notice, I hope. We ate while sitting on the ponchos and ants started coming fast once they saw food. That day's dinner was curry chicken instant noodles and some canned food I think. While we were eating, there were a few suspicious noises coming from the tall grass behind me. Lim Min said it could be a rattlesnake. That triggered quite an alarm in everyone. I decided to finish my food quickly although I burned my mouth in the process. Since I was too lazy to search in my bag for Lim Min's utensils, we shared my fork and spoon that night.
Of course, we had to clear up and wash our mess tins, cans and utensils in the sea. I was in charge of providing my torchlight. My torch was one of the brightest anyway. Going down and up the steep slope was still scary but it was kind of easier since I more or less knew how to maneuver myself. We then had to crush the cans with the stones since no one was wearing shoes. I realised that the cans with the brand Campbell needs a lot more effort to crush than the rest.
The instructors came over after the time we said we will finish up and ensured that our trash was disposed in the correct manner. We had to tie our plastic bags containing our trash to the fencing at Kekek. They pretty much left us alone before that - all of them went over to the other side where we can't see anything. Jasmine got us to arrange our bags on the tarp and wrapped all the bags up like a piece of popiah while the other two watches went on to their nightwalk first.
We were asked not to switch on our torches or say anything during the nightwalk. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything because I was so focused on keeping my eyes on Jac's slippers in the dark. We by-passed the other two watches in silences and just went back like that. Everyone was so afraid to get lost inside - especially Liping, since she was the last.
Once we got back, we could just go to sleep whereas the other watches had to cover their bags with their tarp - like what we had done. But there was still Faisal's bedtime story. It was about this guy, who went to the Mama shop. He saw this cocoon on his way and wanted to wait for the butterfly to emerge. However, because no butterfly emerged after he waited forty minutes- he even went into the Mama store and got what he wanted, he decided to help the butterfly out by force. The butterfly's wings were shriveled up when it came out and was eaten by a bird almost immediately. I heard this story before but I don't remember it including the Mama store part. Sometimes when we want to help someone, it doesn't help to make the party overly dependent. Therefore they wanted to make us more independent, lest we end up like the shriveled up butterfly.
While he was telling us the story, the captains in charge that day were discussing on which shift each watch and tent should take for sentry duty. Hilary got to go first followed by Columbus, and then Cheng Ho. Our tent's duty was from 0100am to 0150am. Cool, huh? Throughout the night, there was Malay disco slash karaoke music blaring from the Malaysian side. It didn't take much to ponder over the strength of their eardrums. I heard that they only ended the music at three plus in the morning. I also had my first experience pee-ing in the open during my night duty. Liping and I went together. It was scary actually, since you're not sure what animals there are out there. But I guess it's alright after all and there were two of us. I also had to wake the wrong tent after our shift. Oh well.
Day Three
Morning came and every tent was woken on time by Yibin's tent mates since they had the last sentry duty shift. I saw the same spider that I spotted on Cheng Ho's tarp during the sentry duty on the bag pack next to mine. Somehow, it travelled to our side. And it's pretty big, thereby inducing screams from those who saw it with me included. Breakfast was taken from our own food supply and everyone changed into their wet clothes once more after brushing their teeth.
We had morning games again. Such as the Earthquake, Forest, Hunter game, the Captain game and once again, the Dodo dance for our forfeit. Everyone had fun together. After the games, we separated into our watches for our usual morning circle whereby we wrote down the previous day's reflections onto our journals. It was quite nice, sitting on the ground, under the sun and trees. I had gotten used to the insects by then. I got bitten by a red ant while writing though.
We then started on rafting after the other two watches joined us at the quarry. Everyone helped out to shift the pipes, barrels and ropes for the rafting. Then they taught us the basic necessary tying techniques for the ropes and then left us to design and built our own raft within an hour. I had to ask Jasmine to take a look at my feet first though. Because my wet shoes creates a lot of friction inside due to its material and also because of the sandfly bites and blisters, my feet hurt to the point that they were numb. Turned out to be nothing serious, just that the bites and friction caused the severe pain. Faisal and Evan helped their watches a lot. Whereas Jasmine gave us minimal help. Although our raft was only just barely floating in the quarry later, while the other two rafts were actually floating in the right way, we still felt proud since it was our own creation and it was unique. Everyone wanted to swim in the quarry since it was freshwater - like an oasis in a desert since we didn't bathe. It took courage to take the giant step into the quarry at first as I do know that quarries are way deep. I really love life jackets now. Without them, I would never have a chance to do all these fun activities.
After getting clues to the next destination after Kekek which were hidden in a plastic bottle tied down by rocks in the quarry, we were allowed to submerge ourselves for three more minutes before dismantling our raft parts in the water. We had to watch out for the ropes as they were the only things that didn't float. Yibin then had to drag me back to shore since I really can't remember how to swim. We had to shift most of the things back to the equipment store once more and the bottoms of our wet attire turned dirty once more but I didn't really mind it as much after the refreshing dip. We met Juniper's watch by chance at Kekek's quarry when we returned to eat our lunch which we were told to put inside our life vest pockets. She was doing trekking I think. We didn't chat much and Camp 2 D had to plan our route for our next destination in our sea expedition. I let the other captain besides me, to do the job of the leader.
I think Jac really wanted to have the job anyway. They needed a navigator, who was Megan, and then two more leaders to guard the sides so that no one crosses them. Two more tri-yaks were selected to stay at the back with Jasmine to push the others onwards too. We had to launch the tri-yaks again with our water supply. It was lucky that I remembered to wear a cap since it was really sunny that day. We had to turn left and right through the mangrove swamps instead of the open sea this time. The first portage was this really muddy small, narrow trail. A few slipped on the mud. Once Yimin, Ting Hui and I reached the other side to launch our tri-yak yet again, Faisal helped to pull us down into the water. Maybe it was unintentional, maybe it was deliberate. But he actually pulled us to one side instead of just plainly pushing us down. We almost capsize and the thought of swampy water didn't really appeal to three of us. And we screamed. Evan could still lounge in his kayak and remarked to us that screaming will not help.
We didn't capsize in the end as we managed to regain our balance in time. We then had to go through a series of even narrower streams through the meander and tri-yaks collided frequently. The next and last portage we came to was a road. We had to once again, pull the tri-yak up. But this time, we pulled it under the road barricade, and climb over that road barricade, drag it in line with other tri-yaks on the other end before launching it again. It was quite fun. After that portage, it was mostly just the channel and the open sea once more.
Ting Hui wanted very much to give up and Yimin and I kept pushing her on. I think she got a tad fed-up with us. But once she saw Camp 2, she decided to push onwards.
Once we reached Camp 2, we had to wait for our turn to go up and carry our tri-yak. I volunteered immediately to wash the tri-yaks as my feet hurt too much to walk around carrying them. Another girl from Cheng Ho helped to hold on to the hose while I sprayed water at the tri-yaks. Besides me, Faisal and Evan were doing the same too and Jasmine was directing the others at the tri-yaks store area. After that, there was this long while whereby no one came back to carry any tri-yaks to us. Evan then sprayed at the girl and me. We didn't mind it at all though since we were already pretty wet.
It was a relief to use the toilet facilities in Camp 2 although we did not have any electricity except for the toilet and the instructors' area. That was why we had to cook in the dark. There were two cockroaches seen creeping around when we were cooking at Block 5 if I'm not wrong.
That was also the night Sabrina had an asthma attack. It was pretty scary because we could not find her inhaler in the dark at first. After that, we gave her some biscuits to eat at the side. The sardines triggered the attack, it seemed. Eating was done with our one hand occupied with the utensil and the other with the torchlight.
Camp 2 was not our campsite and destination for our expedition though. We were supposed to continue trekking a few more kilometres after kayaking before pitching our tents in some other place. However, due to a rule about not having any kayaking or trekking after 10pm, the instructors were given the no-go from their superiors. It was already ten plus at night by then so we just had to pitch our tents at the grassy area behind the instructors' area. Camp 2 D were the only ones at the whole campsite. Everyone was tired albeit a little happy about the toilet facilities. However, the instructors were not happy since it meant that we had to trek faster and more the following day. Like Faisal said, "This sucks."
Day Four
Morning was the usual, just that once again, there was actually a toilet to use. Columbus separated everything so that our bags were made lighter. However, Liping and I did not have ponchos. It was lucky that it didn't rain that day. I still remember asking Hilary and Cheng Ho if they have any more ponchos.
Cheng Ho and Hilary left first after their morning circle stuff and breakfast. Columbus arranged our bags first while Jasmine made sure we brought enough water. We also had to wait for Sabrina to come back from the medical centre since she was feeling better already. I wasn't feeling well in the morning though. Just after I climbed out of the tent that morning, I just flopped down on my tent. I couldn't help my watch mates arrange the tent parts properly after that because I was too dizzy to even stand and walk properly. It could be due to the fact that I didn't drink much the previous day since my temperature was only 35.9 degrees Celsius.
We welcomed Sabrina back and started on our Morning Circle while the rest of Camp 2 D left first. It was nice to have her back. We also went to the 100m mark near the toilet area to see our pace. My 100m was 78 paces and I volunteered to be the pacer since no one seemed to want the job. I didn't really want it too but I guess it was alright after all. I just counted when our two navigators, Jac and Lim Min needed me. Liping kept count with me at the beginning and then Wan Yu helped to keep track for me while I counted after Liping moved to chat with Natalia I think. We passed the German Girl Shrine and went to the top of the quarry. Yimin told me that their watch was faster because Faisal really guided Hilary along, whereas Jasmine pretty much left us alone during the land expedition and we had to find our own way. But it was really fun trekking I guess. There were several cyclists along the way. There was this guy who kept passing by us throughout the expedition as he was cycling with his group of friends around the island. He kept encouraging us: "Jiayou!", " You can do it!", "You all can do it!" and "Don't give up!"
At the highest point of the quarry, you could hear the echo of your shout vibrating throughout the whole island. The echos were amazing!
Also, Jac and Lim Min had this mosquito fanclub. For those who chose to wear their wet track pants from the day before, the mosquitoes were swarming to them. It was really a cloud of mosquitoes around their legs. However, those wearing shorts were bitten too, since they attacked us after we walked behind them.
Altogether, we had to trek around 14km and reached Camp 2 in the late afternoon, at five plus, after reaching the two checkpoints in the map. By then, the other two watches had already completed their land expedition.
Right after we finished our trek, Jasmine asked us to ask no questions and just follow her to the jetty for our last ever wet activity after putting down our bags at the toilet area. We got to do the jetty jump since we didn't get to do it on the first day due to the rain. Like the quarry jump, it did take courage to just jump once more. As I was really nervous at that time, I actually forgot to bless my watch for the last time before jumping off. You see, Jasmine has us all bless our watch every morning and for the jetty jump, we had to do the same before jumping off. But since I was so scared, I forgot all about it and just had to make do with declaring my love for Columbus in the sea.
It was high tide and there were many non-swimmers in our watch. As such, it was pretty difficult for the swimmers to pull all the non-swimmers around. Natalia and I did the heart-shaped thing for Marilyn in the water when she didn't dare to jump down at first. Afterwards, once everyone was down, we made a circle around Jasmine and hugged her in one go. We had to form a human chain to go up because the waves were strong and everyone was drifting further and further away.
The chain was broken once Sabrina felt fishes around her body and she clung to Shona like a koala bear to its mother. It was really funny and although everyone was scared that they were drfiting away once more, we were laughing too. Poor Jasmine had to drag us back and everyone held tighter after that. When it came to my turn to go up the ladder, a wave came up behind me and I got slammed against the barnacles on the ladder. My left shin was bleeding by the time I went up. It was sad once up on the jetty as it was the last water activity and the evening air was chilly.
Everyone hurried to bathe and started on our celebration dinner - also our last dinner together. Till now, I don't understand why Hilary and Cheng Ho always sit so tight with each other while Columbus is at one corner, isolated. Oh well. Our food wasn't as good as theirs but it was fun nevertheless. We had to make do with orange fondue which isn't really yummy as the combination tasted all wrong. Jasmine made the fondue out of all our milo packets. She used my spoon so I got to lick all the chocolate off my spoon afterwards. Our soup had too much garlic. It was seriously garlic overload.
Shona and I were fooling around while the others cook. We were calling each other vain. I was teasing Shona about how she wants to attract attention from the wrong gender while she teased me about attracting attention from the other side of the multi-purpose hall. Tsk, tsk. Because we were fooling about, I lost my balance and my slipper strap came off for my right foot. Shona fixed it for me before that but it still came off. Jasmine was really nice, she helped me fix it back after she cleaned my wound from being scraped against the barnacles with some antiseptic cream.
After washing up, we pitched our tents at the high elements area, which was around a hundred steps higher than the parade square. Before that, Evan and Faisal were lying on the ground at the Parade Square looking at the sky while everyone tidied their stuff. I understood why when I stared at the sky after pitching the tent. It was clear that night and the sky was strewn with stars. It was the first time I saw so many stars in the sky. It was lovely. Really.
A lot of people shouted for everyone to keep quiet that night since there were a few who could not stop talking in their tents. Some said it was Armstrong and not our three watches. Who knows. But it was quite sad: Our last night together.
Day Five
Everyone got to to see our instructors sleeping in hammocks. It was really cute, seeing those cocoon-like things hung in front on the instructors' area. We proceeded to unpitch the tents after washing up our faces and brushing our teeth. Jasmine asked us to shift our bags out to the old rock wall in the Parade Square after breakfast. We split the duties between us and I was in charge of the helmets, lifevests and whistles plus the map and compasses. In the end, we lost a camping and had to beg for a compass from Armstrong. As for the map...Well, it was really lost.
Cheng Ho actually lost their cooking pot cover. I found it lying on some random place - I think it was the washing area - on the first night. I just washed it, put it into our watch's store and forgot all about it until I realise that the cover should be theirs. Alas, Columbus had to pay for two missing items: the map and a camping stick which cost a total of $10. Everyone had to pay sixty-five-cent.
The last activity we did was the dive thing. We had to climb up and dive to reach the bell while fourteen others held the sheet below for us to fall onto. Jac was the only one who could touch the bell though. The rest of us just touch it afterwards although it could be cheating I guess. We were supposed to say our goals before leaping forward. Mine was to be braver in facing challenges.
Morning circle was sad and we had to throw this ball of cotton twine around our circle. Once we had the ball, we had to state our best experience and worst experience, together we what we'd learnt from OBS. I love kayaking and trekking the most. I learned so much that it seems difficult to list everything down in one shot.
To end off, I really love OBS. It brought new experiences to me. In fact, I really love the outdoors now. It's just magical. Discoveries about one's self were made there and from the camp, comes the willingness to strive.
There's something about OBS that stays with you for life!
Labels: Outward Bound Singapore
