I'm back! And here's my very long overdue post. Forgive my writing style, I'm still trying to get used to typing on my computer after being deprived of a keybaord for 21 days. Surprisingly I didn't suffer any withdrawal symptoms while I was there.
Rewind back to the first day, I woke up at 530AM and caught a cab with another guy, Naz, who stays at CCK to get to the airport. Met up with the rest there, and took SQ106 over to KL. Didn't know the rest very well, but I know all 19 of them almost inside out. Bus ride from KLIA to Lumut took 5 hours. After some administrative work, we took a group photo. They must have a kick comparing participants before and after 21 days. Also found out that the course instructor is none other than the scout leader in my secondary school. It sure is a small world. He has been at OBS for 6 years. However, he will be leaving at the end of the year. Everything has to end someday, he says.
If you are hoping to have a day-to-day account of the 21 days, think again! I'm compressing it into a paragraph only. Activities we did were rock climbing, rappeling, rope course, sailing, kayaking and jungle trekking. The first 3 days were quite relaxed. Everything was done at the base. After that, we were going for expedition after expedition, with at most one day rest in between them. Sailing is good, if there is wind. Or else, it'll be rowing all the way. Was captain for one day, so I had a good time whipping my galley slaves to row. Haha! Evil me. Kayaking is fun, at least until your arms start to get numb and rubbery, and the only thing that keeps you going is the mind-numbing pain in your arms. Had some fun with 3 meter waves around Pangkor which caused 6 out of 10 of our boats to capsize, including mine. My partner and I hold the record of capsizing a total of 4 times: twice during training, and twice during the expedition. Jungle trekking is alright, except for the leeches. That's where Off! sprays and Baygon come into action. I have never ever sprayed so much insecticide ON myself. I think I have just shortened my lifespan by a year. But I didn't get any leech bites, I guess that's a good tradeoff.
Some interesting things that happened were the 3 meter waves, the monkey-raid on our bunk, our sneaking-out during camp and our encounters with a wild boar and a viper. The monkey raid happened while we were happily trekking through the forest. After getting back, all dead tired, we found our bunk balcony door open. Fearing the worst, we ran up 143 steps (yes, 143, we counted) and found that our bunk was the monkey wonderland overnight. Everything was ripped open as they looked for food. They ate sunblock lotion, toothpaste, insect repellant, solid fuel, etc. And to top it all up, they shitted all over the place. One shitted on my bed, bloody malau. But that wasn't so bad because we found a piece of shit in my friend's bag. Boy he sure was pissed.
A small lowdown on the group. We are course 103, 18 of us will be lorry drivers, while 2 others will be short-distance bus drivers (you guys figure out what they mean yourselves). Three of them are married, another is getting married next week. Two of them were from RSAF, one Super Puma pilot and another C-130 pilot. The oldest guy is 36 and the youngest is 23. There are 13 Singaporeans and 7 Malaysians.
Reached camp yesterday night and was shown our accomodation. Will be staying in a house with 5 other people. It's quite a nice place. I hope it is "clean", because there have been some stories with some of the houses, because the houses sure are old. Classes will start on Monday, and we being the freshies will be facing crap. I thought all this senior/junior orientation crap ended in NUS. Boy I sure was wrong. This will never end.
Will be moving to camp tomorrow afternoon. So, I will be online only during weekends when I come back.
That's all for now. And how come my tagboard was more happening when I was not around?
Rewind back to the first day, I woke up at 530AM and caught a cab with another guy, Naz, who stays at CCK to get to the airport. Met up with the rest there, and took SQ106 over to KL. Didn't know the rest very well, but I know all 19 of them almost inside out. Bus ride from KLIA to Lumut took 5 hours. After some administrative work, we took a group photo. They must have a kick comparing participants before and after 21 days. Also found out that the course instructor is none other than the scout leader in my secondary school. It sure is a small world. He has been at OBS for 6 years. However, he will be leaving at the end of the year. Everything has to end someday, he says.
If you are hoping to have a day-to-day account of the 21 days, think again! I'm compressing it into a paragraph only. Activities we did were rock climbing, rappeling, rope course, sailing, kayaking and jungle trekking. The first 3 days were quite relaxed. Everything was done at the base. After that, we were going for expedition after expedition, with at most one day rest in between them. Sailing is good, if there is wind. Or else, it'll be rowing all the way. Was captain for one day, so I had a good time whipping my galley slaves to row. Haha! Evil me. Kayaking is fun, at least until your arms start to get numb and rubbery, and the only thing that keeps you going is the mind-numbing pain in your arms. Had some fun with 3 meter waves around Pangkor which caused 6 out of 10 of our boats to capsize, including mine. My partner and I hold the record of capsizing a total of 4 times: twice during training, and twice during the expedition. Jungle trekking is alright, except for the leeches. That's where Off! sprays and Baygon come into action. I have never ever sprayed so much insecticide ON myself. I think I have just shortened my lifespan by a year. But I didn't get any leech bites, I guess that's a good tradeoff.
Some interesting things that happened were the 3 meter waves, the monkey-raid on our bunk, our sneaking-out during camp and our encounters with a wild boar and a viper. The monkey raid happened while we were happily trekking through the forest. After getting back, all dead tired, we found our bunk balcony door open. Fearing the worst, we ran up 143 steps (yes, 143, we counted) and found that our bunk was the monkey wonderland overnight. Everything was ripped open as they looked for food. They ate sunblock lotion, toothpaste, insect repellant, solid fuel, etc. And to top it all up, they shitted all over the place. One shitted on my bed, bloody malau. But that wasn't so bad because we found a piece of shit in my friend's bag. Boy he sure was pissed.
A small lowdown on the group. We are course 103, 18 of us will be lorry drivers, while 2 others will be short-distance bus drivers (you guys figure out what they mean yourselves). Three of them are married, another is getting married next week. Two of them were from RSAF, one Super Puma pilot and another C-130 pilot. The oldest guy is 36 and the youngest is 23. There are 13 Singaporeans and 7 Malaysians.
Reached camp yesterday night and was shown our accomodation. Will be staying in a house with 5 other people. It's quite a nice place. I hope it is "clean", because there have been some stories with some of the houses, because the houses sure are old. Classes will start on Monday, and we being the freshies will be facing crap. I thought all this senior/junior orientation crap ended in NUS. Boy I sure was wrong. This will never end.
Will be moving to camp tomorrow afternoon. So, I will be online only during weekends when I come back.
That's all for now. And how come my tagboard was more happening when I was not around?
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