Well, the first one was definitely the rafting. After taking a ferry from Changi to Ubin and walking for about half an hour from the Ubin jetty to our campsite on the first day (which is a NPCC campsite named Resilience), we dumped our stuff and brought out two inflatable kayaks. Technically, they're not even kayaks; they look like two banana boats glued together by the tips, but when tied together, they make a decent raft.

Before we even started rafting, though, our instructor asked us to go into the water and soak for a while, just to build up some confidence and comfort in the water. It's been a very, very long time since I swam in clothing (with shoes too, and a life vest), so it felt extremely sluggish and heavy. Stubbed my right index finger at the middle joint on a blunt rock somewhere in the water, and didn't notice it till much later.

On to the rafts, then. We raced against another class, 10 per raft, three circuits round the blue detergent bottle (don't ask), and ended up going four rounds since there was enough time. I ended up slacking a lot on my first circuit and paddling a lot on the second because our paddling was too one-sided *ahemaldricahem*.

After that, had a shower in the toilets (which happen to be nicer than our school toilets if you minus off all the bugs) and then changed to fresh clothes. Unfortunately, I couldn't change to fresh shoes, because I only brought a pair of slippers extra, and they disallowed slippers for most activities =(. Pitched up the tents and had a dinner of tasteless noodles (VEGETABLE STOCK UGH) and two fishballs each (and a lot of bridging in the meantime).

The second item was most probably the night walk. After dinner, we set of on our "night stroll". It was just a barely 400m path out of the campsite to the beach, except given the time, it was really 伸手不见五指 - everything invisible save silhouettes.

We sat at the beach for a while - half an hour? An hour? I really couldn't tell, but it was nice to feel the sea breeze and look at the stars (surprisingly clear night, it was), and listen to everyone attempt to tell ghost stories.

The ghost story thing was probably regretted by a few, because after that, our instructor announced that there would be a solo walk BACK to the campsite gates through the path from which we came. I was already informed of this well ahead of time (by Benni's written account, and perhaps Eric's? Can't quite remember), but some of the others didn't feel quite up to it.

No matter, we were all made to do it anyway. Our departures from the instructor were staggered; the next person was released once the previous one had faded away into darkness (and round the corner). For some reason (quote, "to scare away all the ghosts and spirits") the guys were all sent first, and I was sent after about 2/3rds of the guys were gone.

It wasn't as creepy as it appeared to be, though the total darkness (you can't even SEE the path) and the chirping of the cicadas was a little off-putting. There was a stark solitary light in the middle of the path to light some signboard, but that was about it.

Well, we tried to play a trick on the remaining guys, but it failed because they decided to wait for each other and come as a big bunch T.T.


2 things I disliked most about this class camp:

First and foremost, sleep.

Or the lack thereof.

At first, we were supposed to squeeze seventeen guys into the tent. Might as well pack sardines in a can, except sardines might feel a little more comfy. Thankfully, half of the guys decided to chance the possibility of rain and sleep outside, so only eight or nine of us had to squash inside the tent.

Whoever thought of the dimensions of the tent apparently didn't factor in the possibility of taller people. When I lay down, my feet stuck straight OUT the side of the tent and onto the grass. In the end, had to curl up into a ball (and take up more space sideways), rather than let my feet get nibbled.

Didn't help that as I was trying to sleep, got this SMS:

"DOTA!" - 23 March 2009, 10:39 PM, Wenjie
"Hahas you cant escape wenjie in ubin" - 23 March 2009, 10:41 PM, Ryan

In the end, managed to fall asleep, after a whole load of talking with Samuel and Russell (and Xuewen playing Scrabble). Woke up at least twice, one time a few minutes after falling asleep, the other at about 2:30 AM.

Had to wake up at 6:30 AM, still groggy, to consume 3-in-1 Milo (the powder, without the water) and some bread.

Which brings me to the second thing.

Mosquitoes.

Flies.

Bugs in general.

I'm not really freaked out at bugs, and thankfully, I hardly ever get bitten by mosquitoes, but after visiting the Low Ropes site, that has changed. The place was absolutely swarming with little invisible insects that caused everyone a lot of misery. I only got a few bites on each foot, and one on my arm (as I said, I don't usually get bitten), but poor souls like Xuewen and Joan had swellings all over their legs, arms, and necks (XW).

It was in this environment that we commenced to cross a rope-based obstacle course after our sleepless night. Basically, you balance on ropes, logs, and flimsy bridges with various forms of support, and try to get from one end of the course to another. With a lack of sleep and mosquitoes disrupting concentration every other second, this wasn't an easy task to do.

Luckily, or unluckily in my case, because I hadn't finished all of the course, it started to rain, so the mosquitoes disappeared and the cicadas stopped chirping. We headed back into the buildings to wait out the rain.

The rain stopped after a while, so we were able to leave the camp for the jetty on time, at 11 PM. Reached the jetty at about 11:45 PM, then went back to Changi for lunch. Back to school, debrief, and we were dismissed.


5 random photos from my 1.3 megapixel handphone camera:













Other reflections:

Well, it was a fun camp, mostly, although perhaps not long enough to make a lot of new bonds, but I think it did help our class bond somewhat. If not in general, well, in cliques.

Will be interesting to see how our class turns out in the year ahead!

Labels: school