Friday, June 09, 2006
[*eN.dAu R.0MPi.N*] ...the trip has ended !!! never expected it to end this fast ... never expected it to be that fun ... neve expected many good things to come out of it ... never expected many many things ... never expected myself to be missing it so so much ... but this trip has engraved itself in my memory ... never to be erased ... yup ... and i never regretted going for the trip ... in fact ... if given the opportunity again ... i would go ...
yup ... so now ... let's begin ... well ... initially ... i was really scared of going for the trip ... in my mind , i painted negative pictures of the trip ... like me being swamped by leeches in the forest ... that kind of thing ... it was that bad that i even thought of withdrawing from the camp ... haha ... but i'm so glad i didn't ...
DAY 1we had to meet at corp at 11.30 a.m. ... but it was raining at aroung 11.20 a.m. ... and
matthew was late ... haha ... had my lunch at kopitiam with
della clarence and his mom and uncle ... yup ... then we went to corp where me and della had dumped our stuff before heading for kopitiam ...
cassy was there already ant we were waiting for matthew ... who came and we prayed then we got a lift from major and captain to mayflower ... yup ...
then we waited in there and before we set out ... we did an introduction and we boarded the bus to tuas checkpoint ... after we crossed the causeway ... we changed to another bus then we made our way to the hotel !!! it was a long and winding road ... yup ... and i fell asleep ... haha ... we finaaly reached the hotel at around 6p.m. and we got our room arrangements ... i was with kumi and carlene ... haha ... i was very scared initially ... but they were so nice ... so yar .... then after that ...we went into our rooms and talked and relax ...
we went for dinner at 7 p.m. and then we had rope tying revision and then the group bonding session and a water drill ... after which a group of us went out to the surrounding shops and after that we went back to the hotel and slept ... oh yar ... each of us were also given and egg each despite the 1.5 litre water and 500ml water that was already given to us ... those were meant for the trekking the next day where we would have to carry our stuffs with the water they gave us with the egg ... we were supposed to take care of the egg ... make sure it wasn't broken ... especially while we were trekking ... yup ...
the 3 of us
della cassy me ... at the mayflower pdp cabin ... they actually have 1 of their own ... it's so cosy inside ... haha ... we're very excited for the trip ... yup ...
this is my finished food on day 1 ... at the hotel ... it's my dinner ... haha ... the soup is not finished mainly because it tasted like oil water ... so grossed lar ... yup ... but ... haha ... at least we had food ... yup ...
this is della's food that i took while she was eating halfway ... haha ... it looks nice ... the food is nice ... it's the soup that wasn't good at all ... yup ...
after dinner ... we had to revise how to tie bowknots for the river crossing ... haha .... i could tie it on myself but not on the rope that i had to tie myself to ... haha ...
after that ... the mayflower kids were playing with the ropes that were given out to them ... haha ...
DAY 2
well ... i didn't exactly have a good night sleep ... guess i was too excited nervous scared for the 2nd day ? you see ... i have yet to see a leech in my entire life ... and going to the jungle / forest would mean my very maiden i.e. 1st encounter with this blood loving creature known as a leech ... yup ... so i didn't sleep well ... woke up practically almost every hour i think ... yup ...
so i finally decided to get out of bed at the time of 6.45 a.m. ... yup ... brushed my teeth , washed my face ... packed the remaining things that i would really need for the jungle and the stay at the campsite ... that did not include a sleeping bag ... yup ... woke my roommates up after that then we went down for breakfast ... thought we were late ... but it turned out that we were one the the earliest ... guess everyone else was later than us ... haha ... so we went to eat ... stoned there for awhile before returning to the room to do the final check of our belongings and we went down to leave the stuff that we did not need for the jungle at a room and we went to wait at the lobby fo the rest ...
ponchos were given out to everyone ... didn't know why i brought mine ... but i guess having an extra one would be good .... yup ... we boarded the bus and headed for the jungle !!! i was so bored that i eventually invented 2 songs about the jungle ... especially the leeches ... cassy , who was sitting right beside me ended up laughing and that was entertainment for me and her ... didn't expect it to take so so so long to reach the jungle ... i ended up taking a nap on the bus ...
we finally reached the place ... which was in the middle of nowhere ... like stop suddenly along the road to the campsite ... but there were people there waiting for us already ... haha ... guess we were all not watching our surroundings that's why we didn't notice them ... our lunch was there and got this very pro old uncle who was our guild ... yup ... anyway ... we ( the 5 of us from central corps ) were split into 3 groups ... 2 infront
me and cassy ... 2 in the middle
della and clarence ... and a
matthew at the back ... yup ... then there were 3 other people who would be there to also guild us ... infront was
yongbing ... middle was
wei xiong ... back was
john ... yup ... similarity that they shared ... they were all wearing their army pants ... together with
matthew ...
i felt like i was going for some army thing ... haha ... yup ... because cassy and me were infront ... yongbing asked us if we had anything to combat leeches ... well ... i did not have anything at all to combat leeches ... the forest was my friend ... haha ... and cassy only had an insect repellant ... that was how prepared i was ... and cassy was ... haha ... but yongbing had some heat spray ... so yar ... thank God ... haha ... so ... we did some warm ups ... ate a banana ... that was in the lunch box ... and we set off ...
so i was infront, the 3rd actually ... behind the ultra pro old uncle and yongbing ... i was walking and walking ... didn't know that leeches were already in the area ... as in the start of the trek had leeches ... so in my blissful ignorance .. i was just looking at the surroundings ... yup ... then we had to cross this bridge which had lost 1 side of the support ... i was the first kid to cross the bridge ... i was nervous ... then after that ... the uncle tried talking to me ... though i couldn't make out what he was saying ... i kinda understood what he was trying to say ... yup ...
so after a while ... we continued on our way ... and that was when someone already had a leech bite ... i was like ... this place already have leeches ? and i was told that the leeches was everywhere ... i was so shocked ... i hadn't seen one yet ... so i was praying hard not to get attacked by one ... yup ... as we continued on ... i finally saw something rather new and interesting ... it was sticking out of the ground ... with one end attached to the ground ... the other end was moving like your finger sticking out and moving in all directions ... i was like ... what's that ... so me being me ... asked yongbing ... " excuse me ... what is that thing ?" ... he said "it's a leech" ... i froze ... i finally saw a leech ... so grossed ...
so for the rest of the trekking ... i kept looking at the ground for leeches ... screamed or shouted for help when i saw one on my shoe ... yup ... then it was the 1st river crossing ... and again ... i was the 1st kid to cross the river ... yup ... when i reached the bank ... i checked for leeches ... and there was one on my thumb !!! eeeew ... yup ... then we ate a bit and rested ... before continuing on the journey ...
i thought the beginning was tough ... but when we were trekking the 2nd half ... that is after the 1st river ... i finally realise that the 2nd half was worse ... yup ... there were even more leeches ... and more obstacles .... my feet got soaked in mud a few times ... and there was a cliff to climb down from ... yup ... while waiting for them to prepare for us to go down the steep cliff ... the place that we waited was ultra leech infested ... yup ... so grossed ... so again ... i wa the 1st kid to do it ... had a bit of difficulty in going down ... then got my feet soaked in mud when i took a wrong step ... then went up a steep slope... yup ... and i waited again ... while waiting ... i screamed cos there were a few leeches on my shoe !!! and the people opposite who had yet to go down the cliff and up the slope were like ...
leeches ... yup ...
after a while ... we continued on our way ... and i asked if the 2nd half was worse and yes ... it was definitely worse in comparison to the 1st half ...yup ... so we pressed on and we finally reached the 2nd river that was between us and the campsite ... yup ... crossed the river and went up to a hut ... where the rest who had already crossed the river were waiting ... then i put my stuff down on the bench ... checked for leeches ... while doing that ... della discovered a
super big fat leech that had been sucking her blood for eons ... it was so grossed lar ... yup ...
then we went to the campsite after that and set up the tents and laid our stuffs in the tents ... which got flooded due to the rain ... yup ... we were waiting in a sheltered area while it was raining ... we did reflection and had tea and biscuits ... yup ... then we stoned until the rain stopped ... yup ... and we went back to clear the water ... and went to bathe in the river ... yup ... me and kumi ... washed ourselves in the river and went up to the tent to change ... theni collected our dinner ... after all the girls came out ... we cooked dinner ... yup ... and wash up ... then 5 of us volunteered for something ... which was carrying food for some university students then we rested in the eating area for awhile ... yup ... and headed back ...
by the time we went back ... they were dismissed to sleep or do sentry already ... yup ... so cassy me della and clarence went to talk to john yongbing and wei xiong ... yup ... they were all sleeping on hammocks ... which was quite fun to sit on ... like a swing ... yup ... so we talked and stuff ... yup ... and i went to sleep ... yup ...
Carlene and me ... in our room before check out ... kumi didn't want to take the photo with us ...
posted at 6/09/2006 04:13:00 pm
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