wow. i totally appreciate singapore with all its cleanliness and greenery and roads and general lack of mud. seriously, sitting on nice hard concrete is so much better than sitting on squishy wet mud. gross xD
so i've learnt a whole lot from this camp than from any others. it's pretty much really memorable, packed full with meaningful activities and discussion sessions. im from subgroup d6, which is the very very last group of the whole camp. they always say they leave the best for the last ^^" there were 11 members in my group, with 4 from council, 3 of us from clubs and societies, 4 from sports. 5 girls and 6 guys. one of them had to go back for math olympiad so he didn't get to join us for the 2nd night and third day ):
we had mr faizad and mr se as our teacher ics! they're really quite nice ppl, and there were quite a few j2/j3 facilitators who would be station ics along the way, guiding us on our journey through the camp. there were even some j5s who came back to help out!
there were about 250 of us going, about 100 from council and the rest were ccals. only chair and vice-chairs of ccas are supposed to go lah, but some ppl couldn't go so there can be replacements etc. we went to bintan, indonesia, at nirwana gardens resort. nope not in the resort. we only get to look, not use and enjoy the facilities of the resort >.<
our campsite was called camp able. no it's not as campable as it sounds xD it's right across from nirwana gardens resort with all its beautiful chalets and beaches, with lily ponds and water fountains, and periwinkle flowers and all. perfect holiday paradise, and we're not allowed to enter the resort at all. we were tagged with orange wrist bands that once clipped on, can never be removed (unless torn off), so we're identified as campers who are not allowed into the resort. some random guys tore it off though!
they like to act macho lahhthey're not supposed to be allowed into the campsite without the tags, but apparently the security guards weren't doing their job properly! gahh.
the food at bintan is really bad. they stuff us with plenty of rice, like double the portion of rice i usually eat, and measly amounts of veggie and some meat. they like to give us chicken legs either in curry, or in some gravy sauce, or something lah. u know how difficult it is to balance your chicken leg, insanely huge chunks of rice, and random pieces of curry veggie or cabbage on some flimsy piece of brown paper with only your legs to keep it from dropping into the muddy ground? on the last day of camp, the lunch was baddd. the only nice thing was the fish, which i DROPPED! FREAKING DROPPED! onto the soil! i was like AHHH! i was salvaging the rice to keep it from dropping onto the ground, and the fish dropped off instead. sadd. i got so fed up i just packed everything up and threw it away. no appetite lah, wasn't hungry at all.
but for the past few meals, i finished every single bit and piece of food, rice grain and chicken they gave us. they were edible lah, but just tasted bleh >.< worse still, the food was usually cold, and so tasted even worse. the very first thing i ate when i got out of camp was wonderful ICECREAM! hee my favourite food of all time. xD i feel like splurging myself on food after suffering on 4 days of lousy food.
there's always chilli involved in EVERY single meal, regardless of breakfast, lunch or dinner. and i don't like chilli! like there's even chilli powder on the fried rice for breakfast lah please. we had stale kway teow which tasted rubbery for our first breakfast oso. i think it's on purpose to make us suffer the hardships of lousy food >.<
so yeah, we did some team bonding to find out more about my groupmates. not bad, my group quite lucky to have a lot of rather fit ppl who can help carry stuffs ^^ hee...and my group is pretty enthu lah, so not bad. this camp is really different from many other camps, bcos we are all ccals, so all of us can take initiative and have the capabilities to lead. so there's always ppl willing to volunteer and take the lead, which is kindof bad for me oso lah, bcos i end up taking the back seat and don't feel like taking the lead anymore. there's always some others who are taking the lead which really deprives us of the chance to shine...hmm.
then it rained and all, so our schedule got pushed back. we then went out for camping out in some ulu area of indonesia, so we trekked all the way there with our packs and carrying all the tents, pots and stoves, one big watermelon, one tray of 21 eggs (haha we had an egg carrier, the poor person who has to balance her way all the way to the campsite), and there was the kerosene and grounsheets etc. pretty heavy and tiring lah, esp since it just rained, the road was wet and muddy.
my group, group d was the unluckiest to have gotten the worst campsite of all. the whole place was pretty much muddy and gross, and we had to pitch our tents and cook on the same ground. we had the groundsheet though, but we still had to do it all in the dark. it was dark by the time we reached the campsite, and there was a shortage of torchlights so we had trouble trying to cook and chop veggies and pitching tents and set up fire etc in the dark. that place was surrounded by forest, and had no lamps nor any light at all.
after a pretty successful cooking of dinner, which tasted pretty much similar to our class camp's, they attempted cooking steamed egg with the leftover eggs but xD it was pretty much too hard and rubbery. i think not enough water leh. haha nvm it was a guy initiative so not too bad. a pity we didn't have more time, or we could have tried frying the veggie and eggs. ^^ hmm we then slept in our tents lor, with random rocks poking into our backs grr. should have chosen a less rocky and a flatter area. then again, it's the same all over that campsite so no choice ): oh yeah we didn't bathe haha, bcos no toilets. we answered the call of nature in nature (ie. random bushes). xP
it was so dark there that i saw many, many stars. gosh, it was the most number of stars i've ever seen in my life! so beautiful, so many...there were so many constellations and stars that i couldn't identify at all! what a pity, for i felt they were so pretty and alive that they should have a name to them all. bleh my prac astro really sucks, and i didn't have sikai or amyas in my group so cannot get them to teach me! sigh. i could only identify big dipper haha. it was super obvious.
next morning we woke at 3.30am, packed everything and left campsite by 4.30am, and we reached early back at camp able around 5.20am. yep we got praised bcos we were really efficient and organised even though we suffered the worst and furthest campsite and all ^^" not bad lah, i didn't feel very tired bcos it was good exercise walking and singing with the group. ok more like only me and another two guys singing but nvm. dunno y ppl didn't want to sing.
we pitched tents back at camp able, and then set off for rafting. we tried building a raft with limited amounts of fake money to "buy" barrels, bamboo poles, paddles, extra ropes, canoes, etc. we're supposed to use the raft and travel about 100 metres out to sea and back, all as a group with our group ic. in the end our raft fell apart lah, but we're supposed to learn about teamwork and communication. also we must have a good plan and vision, about how our raft will be like, so we can work on it together to fulfill our goals. similarly for our respective ccas, we must have the goal in mind, to inspire a shared vision, and to MAKE the changes we want to see.
we then went on to reforestation at some ulu fishing village in indonesia. seriously, the travelling time took up way more time than anything else lah. the bus trip there took about one and a half hours, then we still had to transport mangrove seedlings (which are 10 years old!), from the nursery. then we took boats and travelled out to sea and into the mangrove area. it was unfortunately high tide, so there was water everywhere in the mangroves, and it took another hour or so to get to our mangrove planting site.
we then had to enter the waist-deep water with treacherous mud underneath, so u must be careful where u step so u won't sink in. uh obviously the water so dirty and muddy we couldn't see where and what we were stepping on so i sank down a few times, it's quite terrible bcos u must keep your shoes on properly or you might lose them when you get stuck in the mud trying to pull your leg out. yah my shoe almost fell off when i pulled my leg out of the mud! >.< my partner stayed behind to help all the ppl get from the boat to the planting area, so i stayed back as well and gave out the seedlings from the boat.
i realised that im really clumsy! like i was standing perfectly fine in the mud passing out the seedlings, then i would somehow just topple over and lose my balance and i fell flat on my butt. so i ended up with water up to chest and my hands and legs BOTH muddy. imagine me sitting down in the water and mud. >.< gross.
yeah and i planted like 7 seedlings! me is happy. it's not as easy as it seems, bcos u must first get used to the mud and know which areas are good for planting, and how deep to do it. but some of my seedlings got submerged in the water! i hope they survive fine and well...imagine they have lived for 10 WHOLE years and they die just bcos you didn't plant them properly here. such great responsibility...
it's the same thing with us leaders. the seedlings are like our members of the cca, we shape their personalities and directly impact their lives with what we do. we need to take good care of them and ensure that they grow straight and tall into beautiful mangrove trees that can live on their own. they are following us, and expecting us to lead them on, so we must always do our best no matter what. imagine we spent 3 hours just to get there, to do this planting which takes less than 40 minutes! if you anyhow do it, aren't u wasting all your previous efforts just to travel into the mangrove? all that you have done go down the drain! so we should always be responsible for our members, for our seedlings, and plant them properly. ^^
yeah it was gross dirty and disgusting, but it's a good experience. experiences are what you get when you don't get what you want. they serve to build us up and let us learn from our mistakes...
that night, we had adventure quest. there were 12 stations to be completed, and we were given an impossible timeframe of 1 and a half hours! our group managed to complete only 7 stations, but it's quite good le! the best group finished 9 stations! a few finished 8 and most groups finished less. we were given a map and once we completed each station, we were shown where the next station would be on a map. we would then have to navigate there in the darkness equipped with only torchlights and the map, and our lousy navigating skills. luckily we had a scoutboy in my group so he could navigate quite well! hee...we mostly didn't get lost except for a few stations which were really tricky and difficult to find.
we had to describe a picture with a square, circle, and some triangle shapes without using those words like squares, circles, triangles etc and one person from our group would have to draw based on what we say. so yeah we ended up saying things like "draw an orange, and a box around it! the box has the same diameter as the orange, then at the two minor arcs of the orange at the side, draw two diagnonal lines out" etc etc xD
it was quite good! the guy drew almost what was on the picture, except one of the lines were like opposite way round, but it's really good! amazing ^^ our communication skills not bad.
there were stations with no one there, so it's just a paper with a lightstick, saying congratulations, you have completed station __, please proceed to the next station here. haha we feel so cheated >.< another station required us to direct a blindfolded member to find a set of keys which was hidden under a tree lah! haha we ended up with 3 keys, which we had to keep.
oh yes each group got some lego blocks pieced together to form odd shapes. at the end of the quest, i was the group ic for that day, so i submitted our lego block piece. i predicted that these lego blocks would form our school crest, and indeed my prediction was right! there were numbers on the back as instructions for where to piece the blocks together, but it was still very difficult bcos there were 24 pieces and we had to be careful not to break any blocks off. it was difficult to tell oso lah! the whole camp was waiting for us to finish, but we were still stuck, so the teacher came in and told us to stop, that it's ok. but we refused and begged for another 5 minutes. we kept on trying and in the end we managed to piece it all together!
it was beautiful. amazing. unbelievable. there were more than 1000 lego blocks with every single detail of the crest, and it was even 3D. the ccal camp had been organised for 4 years alrd, and this time was the first time the crest managed to be pieced together by us ccals! our seniors couldn't manage to do it. indeed, it was really difficult bcos sometimes the blocks were misplaced, or not enough time, or some groups didn't manage to hand in their lego blocks on time. we came together to make something, and we succeeded for the first time! yay ^^
the pe teacher who came up with this idea is really ingenious, he spent months creating that masterpiece, and i must say im really impressed. proo. he must be really good with legos.
later on the winning group of the whole quest got a box chained with 12 locks on it, so we realised that we all had the keys. every few groups who went to the station would have gotten the keys, so we pooled our keys together and tried them all. a lot of them were dummy keys lah, didn't fit, but in the end we managed to work together as a whole camp and opened 11 locks. the last lock just cannot open lah, then some smart girl simply lifted the lid and slid it off the chains xD hahaha and tada the box was opened! there were a lot of oreos and marshmallows etc haha. they shared with all of us lah which was really nice ^^
i think this activity really is quite interesting and cool haha.
camp able's ground was so much more comfy than the previous night's one, with grass to cushion the back instead of random rocks. however i still ached all over lah =P haha missed my home bed!
day 3 of the camp dawned clear and bright, we went on the leadership journey. our mission was to rescue a casualty who had what broken legs and all, stuck on some island called rawa. we were given a compass and a map, and we were to paddle in a dragon boat to rawa island. uh yeah and they only allowed 5 PADDLES for a 300 kg boat, with 14 ppl on it. can u believe it! those poor 5 ppl who have to paddle so hard >.< i was lucky bcos i was sitting in front, mostly helping to navigate and counting time (1-2, 1-2, 1-2...) i got thirsty the fastest with all that counting xP
they cheated us lor, rawa wasn't really an island! it was connected to the mainland at low tide, so we almost went to the wrong place lah, luckily we decided that our compass wouldn't be lying to us, so it should be there even though it's not an island. since it was low tide, we couldn't beach onshore, so we didn't need to go onto rawa. apaprently the "casualty" was supposed to be our group ic who was with us, and we would have to transport him onto our boat by some means. the way was for 4 ppl to form the chair and carry him down onto the boat haha...luckily we didn't need to do that ^^
we then had to navigate to checkpoint 2 to get "medical supplies" for the "casualty", somewhere on a beach far far away and behind a kelong >.< everyone took turns padding. when we were reaching, we were saboed with random scenarios, like we had to get a small girl from our group to steer the boat instead of the boatman, and then we had to turn back to another island to get the "medical supplies" etc. bleh, was tired out b4 we even reached! then we had to race the other 5 dragonboats!
in the end our group won with our technique of slow and steady, glide the boat, with 100% in every single stroke, and teamwork. everyone has to follow the counting by the person, and paddle at the same time as one. if everyone paddles at different times, it would slow the boat considerably. so this illustrates the importance of teamwork, and sharing a common vision. one of my group members very funny, he wanted to go toilet from the moment he got onto the boat, so he was very inspired to paddle hard, so that we could reach our destination quickly for him to pee xD in the end when we finally reached, that place had NO TOILET! he ended up doing it in the sea T.T oh well.
then it RAINED ahhh! and our schedule got pushed back again. we set off later and we had to build a stretcher with given materials to carry a 30kg heavy load called freddie (yes, freddie. =X) to a checkpoint for medical supplies, then another checkpoint for communication. then apparently we still had to go find mr tan after that. we were given a gps, and the coordinates. the gps only showed the direction of our destination, so we didn't know how to go lah. we just followed the road. the guys carried the super heavy stretcher and refused to let us girls carry haha. they didn't want us to get tired and diee, when there was still AT LEAST 4 hours of trekking ahead of us T.T they're quite nice yah..
so here begins the most memorable and difficult activity of the camp: wakatobi forest trail.
we had 2.5km+ in a straight line to our first checkpoint, so we followed the road at first, and then we made a right turn for this trail, when technically we shouldn't have T.T
we then reached some dead end, with two choices of either turning into a swamp, or another unknown trail. we chose the unknown trail and since it just rained, it was all muddy and slippery. we had to jump over several drains a lot of times, and i slipped and sank into mud like 3 times!! there goes my other pair of shoes. >.< thus i conclude im very, very clumsy indeed. garhhh.
it was very tiring and both physically and mentally exhausting. i was carrying just the bags and was alrd tired. imagine the poor guys! they took turns carrying the heavy stretcher, and had to stop a lot of times. they had to maneuver their way through the trees and over the drains, and they ended up with blisters on their hands! they had to wrap their hands with plaster to protect them, and they didn't even complain, nor shirk responsibility. im really thankful they were there.
we had no idea how to get to our checkpoint; it was only 800m away when we first entered the trail, but it took over 2 hours just to reach it! we were totally half an hour late for that first checkpoint, so technically freddie's dead for half an hour alrd ):
we were totally hating freddie by then haha, but the group ic we had was nice and decided not to add weight to our stretcher, bcos technically, if our load were dead, it was supposed to weigh heavier. after finding our first checkpoint, we were told we could bury freddie! it was just some gunny sack with 30kg soil in it, bleh. we just poured it onto the ground and left it.
so now the stretcher is much lighter, and the girls can finally help. the stretcher by itself was rather heavy though, with wooden poles and heavy canvas. the trail was also slippery and with stones and branches all over, which made things really difficult. seriously, we should have dismantled the stretcher there and then so everyone could carry a pole each or something, but we didn't think it would take as long to find the 2nd checkpoint! it was only 800m+ away! we had a biscuit break, and set off once again with renewed hope!
unfortunately, we tried following the tributaries, but couldn't get out, so we decided to bash our way through the trees with about 400m+ to go. another first, bashing through the forest where there is no trail. when you read those adventure stories, you read about them getting lost and bashing through trees and slipping into mud, and u didn't quite feel much for them. wait till it happens to you, then you can really understand the extent of it. T.T
uhh yeah we ended up getting quite lost, bcos we reached dead ends on both sides of a tributary, and we could hear buses and vehicles up there! there was a rather steep slope of forest, approximately 100m+ to go from our 2nd checkpoint! we had to decide what to do, being so near to the road, but it was getting dark soon. if we got stuck in the forest, we would be in deep trouble.
for the first time, i really felt very very tired, lost, and hopeless. there was nothing we could do that would be desirable! and this is leadership. leadership is not just a set of personality characteristics we can learn, but rather it is what a leader does when faced with adversities, during contingencies. the decisions we make. how calm we are. how we work together as a team. how we encourage each other. this is when we learn, and when we finally can display our capabilities to adapt.
in the end we turned back and found another better trail, which we bashed our way through, out of the forest and onto the road! FINALLY. we saw light at the end of the forest. it was really amazing, the feeling of being back on solid ground again, of the hope and strength returning, that we're alive! we've survived through it! we're out of that treacherous forest. from that very moment on, i know i would love singapore forever. to be able to live in such a safe and comfortable environment all this while, and not appreciate it all. to not understand how lucky we really are until you've gone through the forest.
yeah we're the last group (duh we took so many detours and all), so we just headed back for another 1km or so along the road, trudging along. we're all tired, but we've all taken away something from that trek.
haha we record time bathe and got ready and everything within 15 min! we needed to prepare for the campfire that night. it was pretty enjoyable, with WONDERFUL food! the best food ever in the whole camp. there was a buffet with satay, beehoon and fried rice. there was pasta, watermelon, fruits, chicken wing, etc! haha and nice drinks!
we sat on the beach and had the campfire. each main group performed something, then we sang songs and joined hands around the fire. it was the biggest fire i've ever seen, with towering flames that leap high into the sky, and i was thinking how environmentally unfriendly it was! all the work we've done for reforestation was cancelled out by just this one big fire haha xP
then we went back to singapore by ferry lah. we were telling each other ghost stories on board haha xD it was rather freaky though! even in broad daylight! im glad i don't get sea-sick easily haha. so, HOME SWEET HOME! singapore <33
sorry for putting you all through this long and arduous post, but there's still much more about the camp not mentioned here. i just feel that i need to put this down somewhere, to share my wonderful and memorable experiences at the camp with you all. i've learnt many, many lessons and made a lot of new friends at the camp! i hope i've improved both as a person and leader, and that i would be able to put to good use what i've taken away from the camp. yepp
i'll upload pics once my fren sends me them. (:
my holidays is packed full with loads to do, like nus-ntu, jap club, and pw, not to mention mugging for upcoming cts! i still need to play with my bro, go out with friends, and everything else! so yah happy hols everyone!
this picture actually looks pro. qw who decides to tape everything on herself after resisting all our "advances".
qw finally gave up and let us do the taping. still, she's looking like she's getting raped T.T apparently it's only when blaws is taping though! when I tape, it's fine ^^
smiley - two "eyes" and a tick.
look how comfy qw is, sleeping while we slave away T.T
qw attempting to look robotic HAHA. half-done spacesuit.
blawsum the cute! oh sorry it's blaws you piece of flower xD
zeggy on the phone! she looks so happy. wonder who she's talking to...xP
vionna with the helmet. of course with our signature pink ribbon on ^^ she looks so cute! like a furry mouse!
qw in her spacesuit!
love makes the world go round!
rj team 2 <333
panz trying on our helmet. unfortunately, he deliberately took the pink ribbon out T.T still he looks scary with his hands "missing"
domo-kun RARRR. so cute right!
sikai-kun and domo-kun RARRR. ^^
amyas with his godly pleasures. (doing mastermind on gc haha)
cx the sugar addict popping a whole packet of sugar at one go! T.T he's pro la him. he was super delighted when we got him sugar haha.
rj team 1.
the meaning of STONE.
how we passed our time. look at the rubik's cubes, books, gcs and randomness.
mugging for obs.
cjc team
mingyang in his 
the bandit lookalike! he looks like a gentlemanly bandit xD, if there's actually such a thing. who knows what sch that is!
cute blob of roundness on his head! pjc's spacesuit.
our juniors ^^ stacey looks so 
blaws qw and juniors!
stacey! we love you kayyy! (:
headless mummy alert! now this is scary.
8-star raffles suite + 电灯泡 + l'espoire haha. poor sikai and qw suffers in their horrid suits. so kudos to them for the job well done!
rj teams yay!
