5 days, 4 nights, 3 days out, 2 expeditions, one awesome experience!

[Sweetdang]

5 days, 4 nights, and lots of madness and craziness!

 

So for those of you who know, I left for 5 days for a compulsory camp, that was pretty awesome. I also managed to miss that sick avvie that came out. :( Well, here's a quick rundown of the camp!

 

>>OBS: Outward Bound Singapore<<

DAY 1

Went to school at normal time – 6.50AM

Sorted into groups of 14 then off to the edge of Singapore!

Watch #13: BATTUTA

Sat on a jetty to Pula Ubin (Where OBS camp was situated)

Got to know our instructor, and played bonding games and such!

Was introduced to first OBS lunch: Biscuits, bread, more biscuits.

Packed out 5 days of individual lunch rations; then group rations of breakfast and dinner for days 2, 3 and 4, where we would not be in the camp we were currently in. (We moved abuot from camp to camp)

Cooked dinner of canned curry, canned veg, and rice!

Ate out of filthy disgusting mass tins.

Pitched and slept in a tent – claimed the side in the tent for 5! :)

 

DAY 2

Woke up at 3-ish and didn't know time, because mobiles are banned and I didn’t have a watch. Nor did anyone in my tent!

Proceeded to take out lenses (I wear night lenses, called ortho-k lenses) and discovered vision was wondrously blurred.

Slept again, and woke up at 6-ish.

Met instructor and did morning exercises/games.

Repacked stuff into huge OBS camping bag of awesomeness

Put in clothes, shoes, individual rations, group rations, tent, etc, for the next three days when we would be out of camp and would not come to be access our stuff.

Did a trust fall from the top of a four step structure! It was a high four steps.

Learnt how to Belay.

WENT CLIMBING ON A ROCK WALL, BUT DIDN’T EVEN GET 1M OFF THE GROUND LIKE A BOSS

Belayed my friend to the top! :)

After climbing was over, got the camping bags, and headed out of Camp 2! (Current camp)

Trekked about 2km with huge and heavy ass backpacks to Camp 3, Isolation camp!

>>I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW HEAVY THE BAGPACKS WERE. Carrying CANNED food, own food, mass tins, clothes, toiletries, and everything for 4 days. Oh yes, and four litres worth of water. And the tent! D: <<

Camp 3: Isolation Camp.

>No Toilet

> No shower

> No nothing but a rocky area to pitch tents.

Cooked instant noodles for dinner, ate it raw for like the first time!

Washed mass tins in the sea, the same gross sea that was filled with food from other people, like curry and seasoning and bits of noodles, and yes, it was the same sea we were told to pee and poop in.

Slept in a tent.

DISCOVERED WE DIDN'T BRING A FLY SHEET AND WAS ANGRY BECAUSE TENT IS NOT WATERPROOF SO NO FLYSHEET = DIE

But it didn’t rain! =D

So then was on SENTRY DUTY from 5-5.30

At 5.30AM we woke everyone up!

 

DAY 3

BATTUTA joined up with AMUNDSUN to become CAMP #2: ECHO!

Did repacking of food, arranging of bags, and settling of people.

Had a kayaking lesson at 8.30, until about 9.30.

Learnt to FLOAT WITH ZE LIFEJACKET, and capsize safely!

Set out at 9.30AM, paddling against the waves. It was hell. :/

Kayaked around 10-14km, over a period of four hours.

Arrived at camp 1 at 2.30, wet and sore and happy and satisfied.

ACTUALLY GOT TO SHOWER.

Did stuff like cook dinner and repack shizz for the trek the next day

Pitched tents in the creepiest ulu-est place ever! D:

SLEPT LIKE A PIG

 

DAY 4

Woke up at 6AM

Found out I got seriously, seriously sunburnt from the kayaking. :(

Kayak = sunburn

Did morning activities

Got a map and compass; planned route through jungle with the rest of my group!

Trekked about 17km and carried the fantastically heavy backpacks - as part of that, we climbed a 36m hill! Well, we got to the top of the Singapore Granite Quarry, and it was so pretty up there! The climb was super steep though. :(

Toward the end of the trek, it rained and just poured, so we had to trek through the mud and gross stuff, but it was fun walking into camp 2 and feeling like heroes because everyone was all like WOAH THEY WALKING IN THE RAIN :OO

FINALLY, arrived at camp 2, and then cooked dinner which was huge and awesome and had cabbage and beans because it was the celebratory OBS ENDING TOMORROW dinner. :)

We ate at like 10PM because it took really long to cook: Here comes the crappy bit.

At 11 when it started to rain, we found out that the people who were meant to pitch tents didn't finish pitching the tents, and only pitched one. So we went to sleep, after pitching our tents in the dark, and in the rain.

It rained overnight, too, so I was wet like DRENCHED in the morning, because I was at the side. And I was freezing cold at 6.30AM.

 

NOW IT'S DAY 5

Woke up!

WAS WET > :(

Ate

Did stuff, unpitched tents, cleared our junk, got ready to go home!

And then we had a trust JUMP thing, which was like the trust FALL, just that you leapt forward from the third or so step, face first, onto the sheet. The aim was to hit the dangling bell, and kind of tie it to the commitment we were meant to make earlier.

Packed up and headed toward the jetty – and here is where the wetness starts!

On the way to the bus, after getting off the jetty, it absolutely POURED.

And with our heavy bags, no one bothered running. :P

SO.

Day Before - Wet

Morning - Wet

Afternoon – Wet

 

AND THEN. I. RETURNED. TO. SINGAPORE.

 

 

CAME HOME

BATHED

ATE AT 5PM

AND THEN.

 

SLEPT AT 7 WOKE AT 11 TO WEAR LENSES; SLEPT TILL 10.30AM NEXT DAY THAN WOKE UP. SLEPT AGAIN IN THE AFTERNOON AT 4PM, WOKE UP AT 8.30PM, ATE, SLEPT AGAIN AT 10PM LIKE A BOSS.

---

 

Let me tell you right now, it was NOT a "life changing" experience, but I did bond with people who I didn't even previously KNOW existed, and I did learn some... valuable things in life. I would go back. A million times. <3

 

And yes, I did miss you guys. ^-^

 

 

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[Kaana]

*Facebook is reading about your camp :shiftyeyes_anim:*

 

Glad you had an awesome time, but happy to have you back too ^.^ Is the camp compulsory just for your school or your year or Singapore in general?

[Sweetdang]

Well, most schools go through it, but most students don't.

 

In my school, every student gets to go, but in most others its just the leaders that get to attend.

IM SO GLAD I GOT TO GOOOO ^^

 

Yea, I missed civilization, too. :P

[Ruka]

That's one totally hardcore camp you went through there, Sweetdang! I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that before!

 

Glad to see you had a really awesome time there! ...you make me wanna go too! >__<

 

WENT CLIMBING ON A ROCK WALL, BUT DIDN’T EVEN GET 1M OFF THE GROUND LIKE A BOSS

 

I tried climbing on a rock wall before, and managed to get way above than one metre! xDD

[Nataluna]

WENT CLIMBING ON A ROCK WALL, BUT DIDN’T EVEN GET 1M OFF THE GROUND LIKE A BOSS

 

 

read that and was like xD

 

once my PE teacher made us climb ropes, i got, maybe 1 metre off the ground, *FAIL*

 

glad you have a great time! (apart from being very wet) hope you don't get sick, sleep lots and enjoy hot water and plumbing!!

 

once i went on camp and a girl refused to go to the "toilet" until we reached civilization. thank goodness only a weekend hiking trip. no idea how she did it, it was a gorge hiking trip + overnight camping so.. :P

 

and YAY!!! :rock: Sweetdang is back! _{*we missed you too*}

[LillytheGrundo]

That sounds like one crazy trip! No one really understands what a real drenching rain is until they've lived on the equator. While I lived in Singapore I had one amazing life experience after another. I got see and do things that most American kids watch on TV. I can't wait to go back someday!

 

Congrats on surviving that week! lol

 

And Welcome back! Did you miss the Neopocalypse? It was interesting to say the least....

[neon_nightingale]

Wow....sounds like a tough experience...congrats on getting through it! I'm not much of a camping person but I do love hiking and rock climbing/abseiling...that part sounds great (the drenched part not so much :D). Glad you had fun and welcome back to civilisation (and neopets!).

[Trig]

That sounds really awesome- I would've really really enjoyed it. I'm surprised you had to go to the bathroom in the sea though- whenever I've been on wilderness excursions we just go in the forest in a whole or against a tree or something. I would not have enjoyed the kayaking though- I absolutely despise kayaking. I'm glad you met some new people and had lots of fun. It really really sounds like a fantastic experience. I agree with you though that things people say are life changing aren't always life changing! I'm on a 3 month exchange and while it's a great experience I don't think it's going to change my life- but maybe that's just me and maybe I miss home too much. Also I find it amusing that it was your first time eating raw noodles- in Canada, when I was younger and even now, my friends (and sometimes me) used to eat noodles raw because we really liked the taste of them. That sucks about getting wet in the rain, but it still sounds like you enjoyed your time. If you ever get the chance to go out to the wilderness again I recommend camping without a tent. I've done it twice. Once was because all of the older kids in the group decided it would be nice to sleep on the rocks by the shore (it rained that night but the camp counsellors covered us with a tarp) and the other time it was because there was no more room in the tents and I volunteered to sleep outside with a friend; he ended up ditching me and the other girls wouldn't let me in the tent (meanies!) but it was really nice and peaceful. Just me on a tarp in the middle of the forest :) Anyways, I recommend it!

[Sweetdang]

Clicky for images!

 

My really, really bad sock tan - flash makes it less serious but you can still see it.

Left leg!

Right leg!

I'm not putting up the ones of my neck, because they are just UNSIGHTLY. Just know that I have first degree burns, and it's peeling, and the skin is dry and flaky, and I really do look like a burn victim. Apparently I'm the only one among my friends IDK why I've never burned before. Can't wear anything but T shirts. :(

 

 

read that and was like xD once my PE teacher made us climb ropes, i got, maybe 1 metre off the ground, *FAIL* glad you have a great time! (apart from being very wet) hope you don't get sick, sleep lots and enjoy hot water and plumbing!! once i went on camp and a girl refused to go to the "toilet" until we reached civilization. thank goodness only a weekend hiking trip. no idea how she did it, it was a gorge hiking trip + overnight camping so.. :P and YAY!!! :rock: Sweetdang is back! _{*we missed you too*}

Thanks a bunchies miss you back! :D

Didn't get sick. :) Hey, to be fair, the rock was was so impossible to climb - every single other person who tried it only got as far as I did, unless you count the one girl I belayed to the top. That was partially because I was such an awesome belayer. How modest. xD

 

That's one totally hardcore camp you went through there, Sweetdang! I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that before! Glad to see you had a really awesome time there! ...you make me wanna go too! >__< I tried climbing on a rock wall before, and managed to get way above than one metre! xDD

Hey hey hey don't get the wrong impression here I CAN climb rock walls, but this one was seriously crazy! It was a free standing rock wall, the first of its kind in Singapore.

 

That sounds like one crazy trip! No one really understands what a real drenching rain is until they've lived on the equator. While I lived in Singapore I had one amazing life experience after another. I got see and do things that most American kids watch on TV. I can't wait to go back someday! Congrats on surviving that week! lol And Welcome back! Did you miss the Neopocalypse? It was interesting to say the least....

Yes, I did. I wanted the avvie. :(

 

Wow....sounds like a tough experience...congrats on getting through it! I'm not much of a camping person but I do love hiking and rock climbing/abseiling...that part sounds great (the drenched part not so much :D). Glad you had fun and welcome back to civilisation (and neopets!).

Drenched was quite fun while trekking, other than that... no. xD

 

That sounds really awesome- I would've really really enjoyed it. I'm surprised you had to go to the bathroom in the sea though- whenever I've been on wilderness excursions we just go in the forest in a whole or against a tree or something. I would not have enjoyed the kayaking though- I absolutely despise kayaking. I'm glad you met some new people and had lots of fun. It really really sounds like a fantastic experience. I agree with you though that things people say are life changing aren't always life changing! I'm on a 3 month exchange and while it's a great experience I don't think it's going to change my life- but maybe that's just me and maybe I miss home too much. Also I find it amusing that it was your first time eating raw noodles- in Canada, when I was younger and even now, my friends (and sometimes me) used to eat noodles raw because we really liked the taste of them. That sucks about getting wet in the rain, but it still sounds like you enjoyed your time. If you ever get the chance to go out to the wilderness again I recommend camping without a tent. I've done it twice. Once was because all of the older kids in the group decided it would be nice to sleep on the rocks by the shore (it rained that night but the camp counsellors covered us with a tarp) and the other time it was because there was no more room in the tents and I volunteered to sleep outside with a friend; he ended up ditching me and the other girls wouldn't let me in the tent (meanies!) but it was really nice and peaceful. Just me on a tarp in the middle of the forest :) Anyways, I recommend it!

I don't get home sick. Kayaking was really superb! ALL my burns/tans are because of it, though. :( God, I would love that, no hot stuffy tent!