OBS POSTSUNDAY- 031206nothing much to talk about. met up with junlong, jiahao, leena and some others at YCK mrt and made our way in the dark to NCCHQ. well, saw cheryl arrive a short while after we reached, poor her, looked so alone and by herself. after some short briefings at the MPH, we guys were sent to the learning rooms for some sleep. though the room was air-conditioned, it was totally uncomfortable with 100++ noisy and rowdy guys packed into the 2 joint rooms. the highlight of the night was when this guy from ACS(I) held the door open and shouted: "IM NOT CLOSING THE DOOR TILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP AND SLEEP. IF THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES- IM WILLING TO SACRIFICE." haha. what a joke.
MONDAY-041206everyone was positively buzzing with excitement. boarded the buses after a light breakfast and went to pungol jetty for the ferry. unbelievably, it was my first time going to ubin! when a really extravagant, resort-like building, i was shocked: 'this is OBS???' well, we travelled past what we got to know as CAMP2 to CAMP1, a rather old and ramshackled campsite where we would start our outwardbound journey. splitting into watches, AH- i was the only chs person not in ChengHo. i was put into the watch: Livingstone- which i now feel is one of the closest watches. hah! then there was a short brief and we went off to play some icebreakers. the rest of the day was mainly getting accustomed to our surroundings, setting up the tents, and packing our trekking packs with gear, food, cooking utensils and clothes for the next few days.
1. theres a watch called HILLARY- wth.
2. we were the buffet for mosquitoes, i bet they were so full
Lesson of the day: open-mindedness. adapting quickly to a situation allows for life to be much easier.
TUESDAY-051206 an early wakeup call ant 0530, and we were off. it was all hurry-hurry as we packed up the tents and headed down the hill from the campsite and to CAMP1. after another hurried breakfast and washup, Livingstone sat together for our morning circle with our instructor, Jackie, and then we hoisted our tents, gear and trekking packs and made our way via the path to CAMP2. contrary to our fears, it was but a short 15min walk and we were soon gearing up for our high elements. although i kept this fact to myself, this was the part of the experience that i was dreading ever since the beginning, due to my intense fear of heights. however, i really want to give thanks to poh chiew and yi hao for the constant support and encouragement as my buddy climbers. i tell you, enjoyable as it was to climb to the top of those obstacle courses, it took alot of 'endurance' on the way down. largely thanks to the 'helpful' belaying of twenyo. haha, thanks bro. that evening and night was highly entertaining for the guys, suddenly gaining inspiration for 'taichi' and the toilet talk. planning for the next day's land expedition was over rather swiftly. i think we were rather well prepared for that in the sense that we had our route all planned out and our provisions well organised. the campsite for this night wasnt at all as bad as the previous night's- lotza breeze and virtually non-existant mosquitoes. woohoo.
lesson of the day: we should all learn to face our fears
WEDNESDAY-061206woohoo. this morning, we actually were given the opportunity to eat at the cookhouse. ok, not that the cookhouse food was all that fantastic or anything but it was a change from the food we were carrying with us! another first of the day was that we managed to pack up and settle everything in record time! we were finally earlier than jackie. after gathering for our morning circle, we took our pacing and made off. LAND EXPEDITION was underway. im not going to lie and say that the packs werent heavy, BUT- they were manageable. it was the 5 tents we brought with us that really sapped my energy throughout the journey. as we neared our final destination, it was apparent that some of our watchmates were so tired that they were going totally on autopilot. im really proud to say that they all pushed on and none of them gave up.
CHEERS. the day wasnt over though, we had to use these provided materials to create a raft that was water-worthy. well, it was a disappointment as we had many miscomunications and were unable to complete it in time. nvm, we got together and worked out our differences and shortcomings, improving as a whole. though we were disappointed not to complete our objective, we were still glad to jump into the quarry to clean off the layers of sweat and grime from the trek. that night was the maggi noodles night- we cooked like 7 packets of noodles in each our 2 pots at a time. ok, i dont really know why my group asked me to be a SEA EXPEDITION leader? hah, werent you people afraid i'd lead yall the wrong way? well, went for the SEAEX .meeting together with the other leaders and we kinda did the planning and such. the next item on the agenda was the night's sentry duty. poh chiew, bryan and i were on the shift from 12-2. well surprisingly, i wasnt all that sleepy till the very end- must be my nocturnal habits that are coming in handy. well honestly there wasnt very much to do. we just sat around talking and eating the peanut butter cookies, only going for a check every 20-30mins. the only scare was at about 1plus when there was this half grunting and whistling sound. the three of us thought that there was a wild boar or something and rushed to check, but couldnt find anything. haha- rather uneventful.
lesson of the day: physical fitness is nothing without mental toughness
THURSDAY-071206after my 2 short naps the previous night, i was still a little groggy when i got up and packed the tents. just thinking about having to navigate the route for Livingstone and Columbus was a little daunting. i kept thinking: 'ohmygod, what if i lead them to the wrong place, then so malu...', but then i just countered by thinking:'nvm. just try for fun, lost then lost.' -yeah, abit bochap but cant help it. well i couldnt help wondering if the sky was extra kind to us or something because for the first few hours of our kayaking, there was just this pleasant sunshine which eliminated the risk of sunburn, and there was just enough sun to counter the wind and make it rather cooling. any hint of strong sunlight only appeared at about 10, but by that time, we were already more than halfway there! then the weather took a sudden turn for the worse. as we rounded the eastern tip of the island, dark clouds swept over us from mainland singapore. thats when the instructors came round to the front and told me that a thunderstorm was imminent. i tell you, cant really remember what happened after that, it was all touch and go. the most exciting part was when we had to make the dash through the ferry channel- 'channel crossing'. well i do remember a time where i called the whole group to raft so i could pass down the instructions to maintain the diamond formation. well
SORRY if i was a little harsh during that time, very hiong yeah. what a sense of relief it was to see the opening to the Ketam Channel after all that paddling. haha, i think we kinda picked the worst time ever to stop for lunch, we stopped right after crossing the Ketam Channel, not knowing that CAMP1 was like barely 200m down from our position. after finishing our SEAEX. we were allowed to do the much anticpated jetty jump. WOOHOO. not as exciting as i expected but still a 3-4m drop into the ocean? rather fun, but really really cold after that though. jackie was really kind yeah, she gave us from around 3-8 for washing up, packing the store and having dinner? this was the time that i really found how hardworking Livingstone was, we all put aside our cold and cleaned all our stuff, sorted it and acoounted for the store's equipment before going for our baths and cooking dinner. after the food on the previous days, today's dinner was like a feast.
1. 1/2 bag of white rice
2. 3 loaves of white bread
3. 4 cans of campbell soup
4. 2 cans of curry chicken
5. 2 cans of baked beans
dont you just find it so sumptuous? haha, well it really was after all that we did that day! just take the bread and dip it into everything or anything, then eat!
that night we did lotza sharings and received a piece of A4 paper on what we had done well and what we could do better. thanks for the feedbacks guys... girls too! =)
lesson of the day: no man can work alone, every success is the result of a team effort
Friday-081206today was full of slacking. well not exactly slacking but mainly cleaning and packing and checking for missing stuffs from the Livingstone store. HAHAHA- after 'sacrificing' our blood to the mosquito buffet at our first night's campsite again, twenyo, yixuan, pohchiew and i were able to find 6 of the 7 tent pegs we were missing. sooooo- our entire group only had to pay 70cents in total! compared to the 40plus dollars of 'some other groups', its very little right? HAH. after that was shopping! Livingstone was the first group into the souvenior shop and we missed the rush and the long queues- yay. bought one polo-T and a sleeveless shirt. waitwaitwait- board the ferry and go home to singapore!
