Saturday, March 08, 2008
the rainbow after the rain

I HAVE A SHELTERED HOME THAT SMELLS PLEASANT.

I HAVE A COMPUTER.

I HAVE A WORKING TOILET.

I WILL NEVER TAKE THESE THINGS FOR GRANTED EVER EVER AGAIN.

I have kayaked for 8 hours.

I have trekked for 4 hours.

I haven't bathed in days.

Yes it was tough, it was exhausting, it was demoralising.

BUT IT WAS FUN.

So i have FINALLY REACHED BACK TO CIVILISATION. After 5 days in the almost wilderness. And so I shall recount my journey in obs.

Day 1
Was super high on the bus and boat ride. Crapping with luphong(lihong), pohpiah(mich), adalyn and phyllis about how we should NOT get a tan, unlike some people like ALICIA desperately wanting to develop one to PROVE that she has been to obs -.- Met our instructor Faisal and was in MARCO POLO with 314! <3 (don't ever refer to Marco Polo as MP, mich will just get ego, for obvious reasons)Oh ya and we were posted to camp 2. Wanted camp 1 but OHWELLS. Went kayaking. The kayaks were very heavy but I had so much fun paddling, swerving/zigzagging and capsizing with mich. SEE WE CAPSIZED ANYWAY. Took a bath and pitched tents until 12+

Day 2
TRUST. This pretty much sums up today. First, we held a mat which people had to fall onto. You had to trust that your groupmates would hold you up. THEY DID :DD Afterwards went rock climbing and learnt belaying. One had to believe that your groupmates would not let you fall while on that treacherous rock wall. THEY DIDNT :DD
Somewhat disappointed with myself for not being able to scale the curved part. Let go a few times and swung crazily back and forth like Jackie Chan. CONGRATS TO LIVIA AND CLARA FOR SCALING THE ROCK WALL SO QUICKLY & SO EASILY! Kayaked to some rocky beach where we pitched tents on the hard ground with rocks. Still quite successful. Saw Singapore across the sea and felt so homesick all of a sudden. HOW COME I COULDN'T GO BACK WHEN IT SEEMED SO NEAR? Mich saw Phyllis's, Clara's and mine butt all at one go while we had to pee. SO PERV RIGHT??? AIYO MICH IS SO SO SO SO NOT INNOCENT. During sentry duty, we had to guard the leftover food to ensure that the dogs did not steal it. Furthermore, there was this weird, strange Bollywood music playing loudly somewhere on the island. So freaky. NO BATH TODAY :(

Day 3
Went kayaking. Paired with POHPIAH again and paddled for 8 hours, covering 15 km. The area in the South China Sea was so darn choppy. We felt like we were covering no ground at all, our arms were aching and our spirits sank quite low. But, with much encouragement from Nila Utama as well as fellow Marco Polo-ians, we DID NOT YIELD. but also we paddled WAY AHEAD of the navigators. SORRY! Was shouted at to turn back a few times for getting too far ahead. Switched with Adalyn and Xuean to balance out. Laura had motion sickness along the way but SHE JUST KEPT PADDLING. I felt so motivated to go all the way. However, when we were almost at the next campsite, it started to RAIN. There was THUNDER. Everyone thought they were going to CAPSIZE and DIE. My vision was seriously blurred and obscured from the rain, which was like some curtain of wetness. So cold and fearful, yet strangely pushed to go on because i did not want to die in the sea. We made it eventually, drenched, freezing and disoriented. And we still had to put away our kayaks, get our bags in the speedboat and pitch our tents. AND IT WAS STILL POURING. I wanted to collapse and call it quits but what could i do? So Nila Utama, Raleign and Marco Polo worked together to form a human chain to bring the kayaks and bags on shore. Our instructors made hot milo for us, for without it we might have frozen to death or gotten hypothermia. Trudged to our next campsite. The MUDDIEST, WETTEST, SMELLIEST, SQUISHIEST, MOST DISGUSTING campsite i have ever laid eyes on. It was STILL pelting cats and dogs. We HAD to pitch tents still. They smelled really bad. Hoping they would dry, we left them and went to cook. Libin and I had experience with cooking rice so we were assigned to do just that. Waited forever in wet clothes for the rice to cook. But strangely, it was soft on the outside and hard on the inside. And we ran out of solid fuel tablets. Had to waste a whole pot of rice. Laura was cursing like mad, thinking of the starving african children. My heart pained to see lihong having to bury the inedible rice. Drenched and shivering, we were again denied the right to bathe. I REALLY REALLY MISS HOME, MY TOILET, MY SHOWER, MY BED! Kay Yun had stomach cramps. My heart just couldnt take the ache. At least the quarry jump lightened my spirits. It contained PURE RAINWATER and was accessible only by US. How cool is that? Anyway it was so clear that i could see my feet even after jumping in! My mind was just so peaceful then, in such a clear pool of water and idyllic scenery. The change to reality was harsh.

Day 4
The worst night ever. The tent smelt of pee and the whole time i was sleeping i was dreaming that i had to unpitch the tents and carry them across the sea in a kayak. I think yesterday just got to me. Wanted to cry so badly but reined the tears in, telling myself that there was just a trek away to a somewhat civilised place with a toilet and then it would be home. Woke up and realized that everything was in disarray. Clothes were strewn ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE. It really really SMELLED. And i itched all over. But one still has to get up. So mich and i repacked all our stuff and unpitched the tent. And i realized that i have sandfly bites all over my arms. WHAT?! IS THAT INSECT REPELLANT AND POWDER NOT WORKING OR STH?!!! oor libin and livia were worse off. Their bites were so bad it looked as if they were having chicken pox :( Carried a tent bag and a stick of water bottles with alicia. During the trek, especially at the part where we could not find the checkpoint, i was just so frustrated at the load at my shoulders and the DAMN RAIN. It had been raining for 4 days straight. Walked and walked and walked for like forever to reach camp 2. There we were so overcome by emotion and happiness that many cried. AWW ALICIA WAS SO CUTE. She was so overcome tears just leaked out when we were singing 'Love Me' bu Colin Raye. What a side of alicia. LOVE. Had a proper bath and brushed my teeth. Slept in a dry tent. Gossiped and laughed with luphong, pohpiah and adalyn. How long since these were available to us?

Day 5
Scrapped my toe ): BUT WE WERE FINALLY GOING HOME. Kinda reluctant but still we had to go. Tabby was so brave today, to reach for that commitment. It was really the destination, the thought of survival and home that kept me going all along. obs was hard, but worthwhile. I have discovered so much about nature, my classmates and myself. It was exasperating, it was sad, it was exhilarating, it was just an experience no word can really describe. I will remember the teamwork, the twine bracelet, the bonding, the gopal stories.

That wraps up my obs experience nicely, i hope :))

Anyway today was Mentor's Tea. WE GOT INTO MPP!!!! OMGOMGOMGOMG. I was kinda disheveled and disfigured in the morning. AHH. A Dileenquent, A Luphong, A Pau and A Pohpiah all trooped off to attend the lecture. How fun was this?

Bernz didnt get in, much to the great disappointment of a certain lup cheong. He is NOT HOT can. And dont compare him to zaizai -.-

During one part of the presentation, the instruction booklet said of the roles of the mentors and the mentees: Do not get too close to the mentees (to avoid the mentees developing crushes on the mentors), do not meet after 1900 hours, have proper decorum and meet in a public place and not behind closed doors with the whole group and never a single individual. WTH. What do they think will happen?????? Our mentors were reasonably nice and the expert mentor had such a clear, resonant voice that we all fell in love with. OH MAN.

Dileen: His voice is MAGNIFICENT.

Went to KAP afterwards. They said that i was deprived! Deprived not to go to a 2-storey Macdonalds? I have been to one ok! But still super fun and memorable. Had a real girl talk with Luphong and Pohpiah.

TIME JUST FLEW BY.

I can blog now, but have to return to cca and studies sooner or later.

Goodbye, my temporary escape.