ALLEN TAN’S BATC 2005 JOURNAL

Welcome visitors!

Especially those of you who have just been directed here from SAC’s latest buzz about the Basic Adventure Training Course for 2008! You may also wish to check out BATC 2005 Alumni Journal where I chronicled my batch’s trip to Gunung Belumut, amongst other entries. Do not hesitate to send off the entry form for as long as you have a positive and adventurous attitude, you will definitely enjoy the course!

Cheers,
Allen Tan on 28th May 2008.

16th - 18th September 2005: Finale Pelepah Falls!!!

Posted on 5th October 2005.

As I was mulling over what to write for the final update to this journal, I cannot help but feel a sense of awe that a bunch of strangers could actually bond so strongly over the course of 6 mere weeks. Speaking for myself, the friendships that I have forged have already opened my eyes as my newfound friends shared their life stories over many a nights of ‘chionging’!

Initially, I was busy trying to make a few bucks and hence this entry was delayed. Then after the slideshow 2 Saturdays ago, it seemed rather quaint to rehash the pictures. Or am I just too reluctant to admit that it is finally over? :P

I must admit that my twinge of regret partly stems from the fact that 1 of my newfound friends, the enigmatic Laraine, has left for overseas pasture so soon after the course ended. And another, our dear Uncle Jee Keik, will leave soon in December. Coincidentally, both will be based in Qatar. From the bottom of our hearts, we’ll wish them well and we hope to see them back soon!

Dear reader, you might find that this entry is probably not as conversational as my previous ones. Our finale trek to the Pelepah Falls was simply superb and no words can possibly describe the fun we had. If you are inclined, just scroll right to the bottom and check out the slideshow. I am just going to take the rest of this lengthy entry to say my thanks... yeah, I owe that to a lot of people!

First of all, I must simply just thank everyone who has ever been in the same group as me. Because of my desire to document our experience, I know that I might not have contributed as much as I would have liked in whatever group tasks. But you folks just indulged me and took over the job so that I can continue to run about and take pictures. You know who you are and from the bottom of my heart... thank you all!

Now it is the time to acknowledge all the wonderful people who touched me, in one way or another, during our Pelepah Falls trek. Let me start with the facilitators.

A big “Thank You” to Johnny, Yuk Lin, Seng Mun & Peng Siong, without your assistance for the chicken task, it would have been arduous. My group of 4 become 2 and without your fire, mud, and your wrapping of the chickens, I would have to call upon on the resources of other groups and possibly hinder them.

Eve, thank you for wanting to have fun with the changkol. That was just your way of helping. Gosh, which other group was as lucky as mine? With 5 facilitators helping, nothing could possibly go wrong! And during the supper time, I enjoyed your sharing of your MP3s very much but pardon me if I did not appreciate your ability to mangle song lyrics. :D When you get over your busy period, remember to buzz me and I will introduce you to some more nice songs.

Joyceline, you may be a garung girl but whenever you lapse into your giggles, you are so believable and funny! And thank you for offering to let me into your buddy grouping when I got disengaged from mine. Sure hope to see you for future treks for you are one photogenic and game gal who dun mind posing for my camera. :)

Seng Teong, I admire your quiet, self-assured, and unassuming ways. I learn a lot just by observing you. And I know many of my fellow course mates will attest to that. And I am really glad that you and Chin Chin are going for Gunung Belumut!

And last but not least, to Eric, Ming Zhu & Susan for being so safety conscious and taking care of us while we are trekking. Maybe I am a one unsafe person but I appreciate it whenever I am reminded to watch out for this or that. :P

Now I get to my fellow trekkers...

Kai Ler & Maria, I felt safe in both of your leadership. Both of you were so conscientious about our whereabouts and your deep sense of responsibility, always tempered by a great sense of humour, served to lighten our loads! At the campsite, you two were chipping in to help everywhere and everyone.

Kai Ler’s heart that goes into his cooking delights me to no end and Maria’s ever concern for this ‘brother’ during my chicken task is very much appreciated! I can go on and on about both of you but I better not. You are still the leaders for Gunung Belumut and that is how highly I think of both of you... I am only the navigator. Here’s to more KTV and chionging sessions with both of you!

Pek Yong, Laraine & Don. My fellow group leaders. I had the fortune of interacting with all three of you early in the course and I know our chemistry made a lot things much more enjoyable and possible.

Pek Yong has an inquisitive mind but is always willing to listen and try out things. Without his quiet confidence in me, I think we would have ‘fought’ over my misappropriation of the charcoal meant for his bread. He just accepted my idea of baking the bread over a grill and aluminum pan but greatly improved on its effectiveness by covering the dough with an overturned pot to keep the heat in. You tasted the bread so you know how good it was. The second one was burnt only because we plainly forgot about it while we freshened up.

Laraine, oh Laraine, the woman who makes me happy and makes me sad. Whahaha! Just kidding. You may cut a dainty look but make no mistake folks, this gal can carry her share of load anytime! And you are always so obliging with your time, offering to buy stuff and test recipes. I am sure your search for meaning will reap plenty of rewards.

And Don, you were the first to react when Uncle Ling had his fall. That alone speaks volume about your good heart. When your Fried Tapioca was done, you took the effort to get one for me, and even though it may seem like a small gesture on your part, I appreciated it very much. You’ve got a heart my friend. Follow your heart. And smoke less. ;D

Uncle Ling & Janice, my fellow group members. Thank you for sharing my load. In every sense of the word. Uncle Ling’s decision to turn back is something that I really admire. I was in earshot when he gave his selfless reasons for turning back. I mean, even when he was obviously hurt, his rationale for turning back was for the good of the whole and who can possibly argue against that?

And Janice, you are really automatic. You just took over whatever remaining tasks that a 2-person Group 2 is supposed to do. That’s true initiative and it made my day. And you are one adventurous gal. Looks are indeed truly deceiving.

Uncle Khen, Uncle Jee Keik & Ronnie Boi! The 3 Musketeers of DSTA. Do you folks know why Ronnie suffered from cramps? Because he made me give away his precious 1.5L bottle of H20. That’s why! And your sweet potatoes and corn added too much weight to your bag lah. Next time, do not just think of the welfare of others. You gotta think of yourself too. Okay? Ronnie, our BIG man with a BIGGER heart! And not to forget, you did a great job mudding the chicken and starting another fire.

At this point of time, it would really seem superfluous to sing the praises of Uncle Khen and Uncle Jee Keik yet again. But you two are really a godsend to us all!

For me personally, I am always being asked after by Uncle Khen if I had eaten, or I will fall under one of his mischievous pranks, or he would give me one of his big brotherly smacks on the back. I am sure many of you have kenna his kind gestures and you will know what I mean. Let’s forget about his rope skills and other outdoor skills. It’s his character alone that endears him to us all! When I can make it, together with Ai Yun, I will definitely play badminton with you and your gang.

As for Uncle Jee Keik, he was the last to eat, the last to bath, the last to sleep... and conversely, he was the first to rise, the first to prepare to cook, the first to get his hands full... that is leadership by example my friends! Do I need to say anything more?

Nora & Elaine, members of the Cheng Thng Gang. Before Nora joined the gang, she was with the Beggar Sect. She handed her token of membership to me before defecting. Nora, thank you for seasoning 1 Beggar Chicken. And thank you Elaine for cooking your Cheng Thng so conscientiously and for being the first to volunteer to help to burn the CDs for the rest. In this modern age, it is rare to find someone who still keeps her hair in pigtails. :E

How can I forget our young friends of Jason and Zhi Yuan. Jason the ever gungho boy who brought the alpine line up the cliff. And after that, he worked, initially alone, and later with helpers to hoist bags up. Must have been tough huh?

Ah Zhi Yuan. You may be quiet. You may try to be obscure. But you cannot escape our eyes. You are a man my boy! Your bag was one of two most heaviest bags. I know because I lifted everyone’s bag at one time or another. You were the only man in your group and you acted like one. And you are always so willing to help out. I asked for a few twigs to kindle the fire and you brought back whole trees! And your thoughtful gummy bears... I just want you to know that your selfless giving has been noticed, not just by me, but also by others. (”p)

Melanie, you may be the final one in this long list but it is not intentional. I just strike names off and I kept writing about the rest first. Thank you for being so friendly to me during the trek despite the fact that I am not exactly a sociable person. Your friendliness tears down barriers between everyone. I am sure your willingness to be inclusive helped this motley crew to gel, and then to bond. You know, we are all 1 degree of separation away from Melanie and hence we are all friends with one another concept? Hope I have not been too chim. And you are so very thoughtful. You made a really nice card for Laraine. I know she was really touched by it. (”,)

Whew, did anyone really read all of this? Sigh, BATC 2005 is over folks. Armed with Kai Ler’s highlighters, let us now turn to the new chapters of our lifebooks and let us continue to seek out those few precious moments of epiphany where we can learn more about ourselves, our newfound friends, and our shared passion for the great outdoors!

Before signing off, let me leave you with a modified chorus from a nice Mandarin song called “陪我看日出” or “Watch the sunrise with me”. I gave it to Laraine before she left and I want all of you to have it as well.

Thank you all for making this journal possible!

Tread carefully when it is raining
Please remember these words my friend
No gust will ever blow away my blessings for you
You will see the path after the storm
Just like when we were at Pelepah Falls
As I led you out of the woods
Knowing that a new day brings new hope

雨下了走好路
这句话请记住
风再大吹不走祝福
雨过了就有路
象那年在瀑布
我牵着你穿过了树
叫你看希望就在黑夜的尽处

View slideshow

11th September 2005: Kayaking at SAF Yacht Club.

Posted on 16th September 2005.

I have been looking forward to this day since the course began as I had never experienced ocean kayaking before. Previously, all my water activities were done on rivers. During my National Service days, we did have sea-based exercises but they were done in rather sturdy, motorised boats so they did not really count at all. I must say that I totally enjoyed the experience and I am sure my fellow BATCians did too!

View slideshow

Less than half of the BATC batch met Chin Yee at Sembawang MRT at 12:00PM sharp to take the ferryvan to the SAF Yacht Club. The rest of the richer folks drove to the club or hitch a ride with those who drove. I heard that SAC actually booked 2 trips but we did not need the second ferryvan at 12:30PM at all.

Our lessons started at around 1:00PM and we started by getting to know the difference between a kayak and a canoe. Our instructor then went on to explain the various parts of a kayak. Now all these while, the kayak was on dry land so we also learned how to carry a kayak into the water.

We were then divided into 2 groups. Those with experience were assigned 8 single-person kayaks while the rest of us paired up to use the double-persons kayaks. I teamed with Ai Yun and she proved to be an able paddler and we even won a few impromptu races, although for one of them, we won after we bumped Pek Yong out of the way! ;P

Now before we even started paddling and racing, we had to procure our life jackets, paddles, and kayak. It was hard work to lift the kayaks as they are not exactly light. Furthermore, I am slight of built and hence, erm, rather delicate. Yeah.

Michelle, our instructor, started us off by getting us to swim towards her co-instructor in her kayak in order to test the sea-worthiness of our life jackets. Pui! The waters were, well, how to I put it nicely, not exactly potable. I leaped into the waters after Kai Ler and when I was halfway there, a shark grabbed my leg! Whahaha! It was our very own Knotty Uncle Khen. Super naughty!

That was followed by Paddling for Dummies, Hopping Into Kayak, and finally the Capsize Drill. In the last module, we had to overturn our kayaks, get out of the cockpit, and swim to the same side as our paddles.

Quite a few of us swam to the other side and it is bad for the paddle because it needs us to reassure it during times of distress. Okay, I got it the wrong way round. We need our paddle during times of distress or else we will just drift in our kayaks. The paddle is light and will float away while the heavier kayak will still stick around for a while.

Michelle then got us to Raft Up which is basically parking your kayaks side by side, preferably facing the same direction. This is useful for staying together for things like briefings and perhaps even meals. We were let loose after that and we had a few races and basically had fun.

Now as we all know, fun never ceases to disappoint and before long, the risk of lightning forced us ashore. Sigh. We stacked up the gear and admired each other’s tanlines while waiting for the lightning risk to go away.

Fortunately for us, we were able to return to the waters and this time, Michelle showed us how to maneuver our kayaks to make turns and so on. Some of us in the double-persons kayaks took turns to try out the single-person ones. They are much less stable at high speeds and tend to rock towards your port and starboard, which increases the risk of capsizing.

Uncle Khen capsized at least twice when he tried the single-person kayak and it was quite a sight to witness his rescue! The next time I go kayaking with Uncle Khen, when I give him his yellow single-person kayak, I will ask him, do you want to Capsize your Kayak? (He will not Upsize his Fries at MacDonald's anymore!) :D So bad of me, cracking “Maria-type” corny jokes...

We had one final race before we had to call it a day. We helped to wash the equipment before returning them to their racks and it was evident that the instructors were impressed with this bunch of gungho people. What can we say, we are SAC trained leh!

After we freshened up, we went our separate ways. Mostly. I had the immense pleasure of dining with Janice, Maria, and Melanie at Yishun. We had “Zi Cha” at a coffeeshop before eating desserts at another coffeeshop.

Coincidentally, I found out that like myself, Melanie read Economics and Philosophy at NUS. And that I support Liverpool FC while she, unwisely, supports Manchester United FC. Hahaha... yup, kant wait for our finale... sure hope to find more common ground with many other folks then!

3rd - 4th September 2005: Overnight camping, unbelievable wilderness cooking, and amazing outdoor survival tactics!

Posted on 9th September 2005.

This day, we met at King Albert Pak to hold our BATC 2005 overnight camping trek. We had arranged to meet at 2:30PM and the folks were all over the place. I was early as I arranged to meet my group at 2:00PM to distribute the stores.

View slideshow

View video

Finally, after we had finished our last-minute shopping at Cold Storage, we gathered in front of MacDonald’s to celebrate Jason and Maria’s birthdays. It was a truly nice gesture of SAC and it really made their day!

You can view a video clip of us singing the birthday song and the slideshow of the happenings by clicking on the thumbnails. There are simply too many pictures this time and I thought that it was better to organise them this way.

We only set off for our campsite at around 3:30PM. The first obstacle was a pedestrian bridge! Good training for our Pelapah Waterfalls trek. We took the road into Rifle Range Road and before long, we trekked into the woods.

View slideshow

Our campsite was near the edge of a reservoir with greenish waters. Clean enough for washing but not exactly clear enough for consumption. It took us quite sometime to find a suitable campsite and by the time we started preparing our shelters, it was getting dark.

My group found this rather nice flat ground, far from the madding crowd, and we finished our shelter in no time at all. Pek Yong’s group joined us initially but the girls decided that they wanted to be near the main crowd.

View slideshow

Our ‘anti-social’ decision proved to be a mistake after dinner for the deserted spot was pretty noisy in the night and we shifted to bunk in with Ronnie’s group. Besides, it was quite near our toilet point so it caused some consternation among the girls.

We started cooking dinner only after 6:00PM. Sky was still bright enough and the whole campsite was so busy and bustling with feverish activity. You would not believe the kind of dishes that we cooked!

View slideshow

Each group was tasked to cook rice and at least 2 dishes. Now rice can be as plain as plain rice but the amazing folks came up with Chicken Rice, Pineapple Rice, and Claypot Rice! My group was kinda lazy and we decided to do California Sushi Rolls.

Our side dishes were Scrambled Eggs with Preserved Vegetables and Fried Shrimp Paste. Some of the other side dishes that we shared around included Sweet & Sour Fish, French Beans with Mushrooms, and Japanese Curry with Chicken Breast Meat.

The facilitators mingled with us and shared our food. I still remembered that I gave Eve the first sushi that I rolled and she thought it tasted great. After we finished using the seaweed, I proceeded to let each group savour our sushi rolls. All of them seemed rather impressed with the taste. I guess it is not easy to find fresh sushi when you are outdoors so the novelty was there.

After eating our fill or should I say after overeating our fill, the mood was festive and people gathered in small cliques to chitchat and make merry. By then, it was already after 9:00PM!

Some played cards but most were just contented to lazed about. As I went about taking pictures, I espied Rong Ying and Nora putting the finishing touches to a brownie cake. Whoops! It was meant for the birthday boy and gal! Before long, like a scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the whole group broke into a rapturous birthday song as we marched towards Jason’s group.

View slideshow

View video

As the ‘official’ photographer for this wild bunch of thrill seekers, I had the privilege to get into the thick of the action and the atmosphere was simply touching and overwhelming. Look at the video and photographs to get an idea of the fun we had teasing and taunting the birthday couple.

For the record, I should mention that the brownie cake was Melanie & Rong Ying’s kind gesture. If you are not an outdoor lover, oops, lover of outdoors, you may find it a somewhat amazingly elaborate gesture but it did not surprise me one bit to find such wonderful souls amongst this batch of BATC trainees. Using my own experience as an illustration, my trekking buddies bought me a cake, kept it dry at all costs, before unveiling it to me after our Shinto Shrine trek! :P

After so much fun & laughter, cloak & dagger... it was time for self-reflection and our high priests herded us together for our ‘confessions’ at the tribal council. Whahaha! Nah, we just sat together and elaborated about ourselves so that we can get to know one another on a deeper level. We did get to know the facilitators more but for the rest of us, I guess it is not easy to open up after just meeting for the 7th time.

There were some really hilarious moments as we bantered, joked, and cajoled one another to open up. However, some of the more memorable moments for most of us must have been when Peng Siong revealed that he has a fetish for sexy socks, specifically Laraine’s sexy ‘Pink Panther’ socks!

Personally, I rather liked Kai Ler’s apt metaphor about BATC being a highlighter pen in his lifestory. I mean that may not be super revealing about himself but it sure says a lot about what he thought of the course and of the people! Gee, thanks a lot Kai Ler!

We kinda ended with a vengeance to rehash this ‘confessions’ format during our Pelepah Waterfalls trek. Maybe we will get to hear some really juicy stories then.

Supper tasks came next and we had to prepare Green Bean soup and BoBoChaCha for all. While the supper was being prepared, the folks went about chatting and mingling once again.

I proceeded to set up my hammock and helped Maria with hers. She became my hammock neighbour for the night. Most of the girls had not experience sleeping in a hammock and they had plenty of fun trying out Maria’s. I was perched on mine the whole time and did not budge until supper was ready. (”,)

View slideshow

BoBoChaCha was ready first and it tasted superb! I had 2 cups of the coconut milk dessert. When the green bean soup was done, I had another swipe at dessert. It is just unbelievable to have such a splendid dinner, followed by superb supper.

Prior to this, my outdoor treks were just dangerous liasons with Maggi Mee and Uncle Toby. :D Pelapah Waterfalls should bring us to another level of culinary excellence with bread, tapioca cake, beggar (roast) chicken, and Cheng Thng for supper!

After supper, most of us tried to sleep but the few owls amongst us whispered sweet nothings to each other (Special thanks to Maria & Pek Yong for such an unforgettable night!), shuffled cards in hush tones, and gossiped out loud in plain view. (The X facilitators; Both Y facilitators were sound asleep.) Before long, you start hearing wild boars, then a generator... and when you thought that it was powerful enough, a nuclear reactor came on line! (People snoring in their slumber.)

It must have been at least 3:30AM before I finally fell asleep. I set my alarm to go off at 7:00AM and when I woke, a few of the older folks have already risen, namely Uncle Khen and Uncle Jee Keik.

View slideshow

By 7:30AM, all of us were milling about and waiting for breakfast to be ready. Breakfast was Nasi Lemak and Bee Hoon with soup. I was in the Nasi Lemak gang and it took rather long to prepare. But the gals did a great job with it and when it was ready, it was well worth all the waiting.

The Bee Hoon gang had their breakfast before us but they made sure that all of us had something to eat while waiting for our Nasi Lemak. Yeah, it is all about sharing when you are outdoors.

Soon after breakfast, it was back to some outdoor tasks. Every group had a main task to start a fire using various methods. Basically, if you take a piece of softwood and use a hardwood to rub against it, you can create enough heat through friction to set things alight.

Pek Yong’s group came closest to succeeding and the light wisps of smoke they created on countless occasions lent an acrid smell to our surroundings.

View slideshow

View video

Besides that, each group had to make some useful contraptions to aid in wilderness survival. There was the demonstration of the water still, the animal trap, the bola snag, the animal lasso, and last but not least, the sun compass. I found the 2 animal traps to be rather ingenious. They are contraptions that you place on animal trails. Now that begs the question of how to find an animal trail!

After the demonstrations, Johnny gave a short lecture on quick release knots and some other more exotic knots. Too chim for me. Knotty (Uncle) Khen was probably the only participant who fully appreciated the knots. Still, a big note of thanks to Johnny for sharing what he knows.

We had a short debrief session before packing up to go. The amount of refuse generated was tremendous. Somehow, things have a way of expanding after you unpack them. No wonder they say rubbish takes up a lot of space!

Our trek out was slightly delayed when we took a wrong turn. I thought that we were taking a different route out but Pek Yong wisely noted that we strayed too far from the water’s edge. Being the garbage collectors, we stayed put while Uncle Jee Keik ran ahead to verify our position. Between the 2 of us, we strung 2 large bags of rubbish on a long pole and carried it out of the woods. Soon, we were back on the right trail and by the time we got out, it started to drizzle.

Uncle Khen and Zhi Yuan kindly took over the garbage once we were out of the woods. When we reached Rifle Range Road, it was raining cats & dogs. Man, so heavy. I could not take any pictures of the drenched folks but it is something memorable and I am sure we will remember for a long time to come.

The other memorable thing was that Ai Yun, Melanie, and Rong Ying all chipped in to become garbage collectors. Uncle Khen was rather impressed that the gals were so willing, gungho, and not afraid of getting dirty. Way to go grrrls!

We returned to King Albert Park where some of us dried ourselves and changed into fresh clothings. Most of us stayed for lunch and talked about what else to do after BATC. If you are wondering, a bunch of us have decided that we shall climb Gunung Belumut at the end of October 2005.

Yeah, I have been there twice and it is a much better location than Gunung Ledang or Mount Ophir. So if you are keen to join us, drop me a note. Currently, I believe Ai Yun, Janice, Kai Ler, Laraine, Maria, and Nora are among the confirmed list. More details will be furbished soon and the more the merrier!

Soon after the discussion, we left for home. I shared cab with Joyce and Nora to extreme eastern side and we had a great time chatting away. I am so looking forward to this weekend’s night trek and kayaking!

27th August 2005: Navigation practical in Pulau Ubin!

Posted on 29th August 2005.

Warning: Before you continue reading and lower our national productivity level, this journal entry contains more than 30,000 words based on a 1:1000 scale.

Advice: Ignore the warning and read on so as to cure those Monday blues and somewhat paradoxically, improve the national productivity statistics for the rest of the week!?

8.25AM: Breakfast at Changi Village before setting off for Pulau Ubin.

8.45AM: Getting ready to board the bumboats at the new ferry terminal.

8.59AM: Norah, Hock Teng, and Elaine chatting in the bumboat.

8.59AM: Pek Yong, Johnny, and Uncle Ling posing for the camera.

9.00AM: Uncle Khen giving the camera the fingers while Ronnie attempts a counterstrike!

9.00AM: Jason and Kai Ler enjoying the sun, the sea breeze, and the salt spray.

9.14AM: Introducing the 2 most Ka! Wah! Eek! gals in BATC 2005. They are Ai Yun and Maria.

9.15AM: I really like this picture! Melanie seems to know that I am shooting her and she obliges with an endearing smile.

9.15AM: Some guys have all the luck. I want to become a facilitator for BATC 2006!

9.18AM: 3 cute little sparrows at the jetty. Sparrows are becoming rare in our mainland.

9.57AM: Group 2 leaves for our first checkpoint while the other groups continued to plot their routes conscientiously.

9.57AM: Just staying behind Group 2 as we hurried off to our 1st checkpoint which was a hut in Kampong Melayu.

10.48AM: Spotted some strange looking leaves (Sea Holly) on our way to our 2nd checkpoint in Kampong Mamam.

11.04AM: Met up with Uncle Jee Keik’s group at Kampong Mamam. Our paths will cross many times over.

11.04AM: Mei Foong’s group was at Kampong Mamam too and you can see them busy plotting their route. That is except for Janice.

11.45AM: Group photo at Noordin Beach which was our 3rd checkpoint. We stopped here for a rather long lunch break.

11.53AM: I just love this pix! It really made my day after I downloaded the pictures to my computer. Their elation is simply infectious! They shared our resting spot at Noordin Beach and took their lunch as well.

12.11PM: There we go, meeting the nature gang again on our way to Everest of Ubin which was our 4th checkpoint.

1.19PM: Our group pix at the summit of Everest of Ubin. The summit offers a splendid view of the island.

1.21PM: A stitched up paranomic shot of the quarry pool and landscape from the summit. Use the horizontal scrollbar to view the whole picture.

1.36PM: Met up with Jason’s group just after we came down and he told me that he was going to Everest of Ubin which was near some seafood restaurant westwards. Huh!? Before I could satisfy my curiosity, Mei Foong shooed me away. Poor Janice, Jason, and Rong Ying... (”,)

1.47PM: A rather shaggy dog at the cold drinks store near the sluice gates where we rested for nearly an hour.

1.56PM: Woohoo! We meet up again. This time, they joined us for coconut juice and some banter. Uncle Jee Keik and Johnny told me about the various flora and fauna that they encountered. Way too kewl! They even saw a skink, probably the rare mangrove skink!

1.58PM: Sitting down to gather some energy before embarking on their next checkpoint.

1.58PM: My group when they were probably into their second helping of coconuts!

2.11PM: A large mudskipper, around 20cm, in the mangrove waters near the cold drinks store.

My group decided to wait for the Johnny & Mei Foong’s groups before returning to the basketball court. We waited and waited and finally we decided that we should go back first. By then, I was getting bored with just sitting down and vegging out. :D

3.24PM: A fire started near our resting place and the policemen had to evacuate the people. We had barely sat down for 10 minutes! When we reached the bike rental shops, 2 groups were already resting there.

3.28PM: We decided to evacuate to the basketball court. You are seeing 3 groups resting here.

3.39PM: Ronnie taking a nap while Melanie was about to pour some water on his face!

3.42PM: Yoohoo! The second last group arrives. Uncle Jee Keik with his nature gang.

3.44PM: Yeah! The last group arrives. We are finally going to get home soon.

As before, we had a simple debrief session where a spokesperson from each group talked a little about the group’s experience. Norah spoke on our behalf and she kindly thanked all the guys for teaching her about navigation. Aw shucks, she was simply being too kind! Most of the time, she was the one doing the hard work of taking bearing, marking intermediate checkpoints, and even doing some pacing.

We left for Singapore mainland and most of us ate some cold desserts at Changi Village before returning home. It was a great experience for all of us and I am sure all the navigating newbies opened their eyes to a whole new world of moving about with an aim and a sound plan. Yeah, I suppose you would have figured out by now that 1 picture is worth 1,000 words. So, thank you for reading more than 30,000 words. See ya all real soon!

27th August 2005: Wilderness First Aid & Navigation Theory.

Posted on 29th August 2005.

I had expected the day’s lesson to be rather dry and boring but to my pleasant surprise, it turned out to be rather engaging.

Our lecturer for Wilderness First Aid was Dr. Eric Tan and he was able to share many real-life experiences with us as he brought us through the presentation. His lecturing style is rather dynamic and it helps to keep our attention. He ended with a short show & tell about first aid kit items. Frankly, that alone was worth the time for now I know I need to update some items in my kit and throw away others!

Navigation theory is important for those of us who might want to lead treks in the future. There are a lot of grounds to cover for this topic and basic geography knowledge helps a lot. Now if you had taken the subject in Upper Secondary, it makes interpreting geographical features much easier. Same goes for the concept of bearing. And distance measurement. And map grid reference.

Needless to say, it would have been a tremendous bore if our lecturer were just going to rehash some forgotten school lessons. And fortunately for us, our lecturer was able to relate the theory to his own true trekking experiences, from getting lost because he forgot to account for magnetic deviation to finding himself submerged in deep waters of a seemingly innocuous ‘small stream’.

After his lecture, we were divided, in a rather ad-hoc manner, into small groups to practise map orientation, taking bearing, calculating back-bearing, and so on. A lot of the participants were totally new to this game but they were able to grasp the basic concepts pretty quickly. What an amazing bunch of intelligent people! And what an effective bunch of facilitators we had!

During my National Service stint, I took more than 6 months to learn to navigate properly. And probably so did most of my cohort, perhaps due to lack of extrinsic motivation. :P

When the lesson ended, we collected our stores for the upcoming overnight camping and the storeroom was an absolute cacophony of activity. With Uncle Jee Keik and Uncle Khen around, there’s bound to be plenty of laughter from the most myriad of things. Now I have been informed that I must address them as ‘Uncle’ in my journal from now on so please extend this salutation when you next meet them! :D

21st August 2005: Sports climbing, belaying, prussiking, abseiling, and bouldering.

Posted on 23rd August 2005.

Words alone cannot possibly describe the fun that all of us had on this splendid morning. I met Maria at Tanjong Pagar MRT station and by the time we reached the rock climbing gym, it was bustling and the air was filled with excitement!

The pictures above shows the participants wearing their harnesses but Pek Yong is more interested in posing for the camera! The next picture illustrates the egalitarian nature of SAC for they allowed a pair of Siamese twins to sign up for the course!!! They are Melanie and Rong Ying.

We have gone into battle mode. If I remembered correctly, the leftmost picture consists of Melanie, Maria, and Laraine. Grrrl power! In the centre picture, in the swirl of swinging climbers, you can see the intense concentration displayed by Ai Yun and her belayer, Mei Foong. In the rightmost, and in perhaps one of his most inspired moments, you have Ronnie doing the locally flavoured Mee Siam Impossible.

Let me digress a little here to talk about Mei Foong. She is a quiet and unassuming person but she knows a lot. She spotted and corrected my slightly dangerous way of belaying. (Dangerous to myself.) She also demonstrated her sports climbing ability when she managed to scale the overhang wall. Later, she showed the motherly side of herself as she chaperoned a young kid called Justin.

Now in any battlefield, there is always some downtime for the troops to brush up on their skills. Above, you can see one half of the Siamese twins doing the Figure-of-8 knot.

In the above pictures, you can see prussiking in action. This is an amazing skill that allows top rope climbing using the Prussik knot, a harness, and a karabiner. That’s Melanie on the leftmost and Kai Ler in the center. In the rightmost picture, I can only recognise Zhi Yuan as the one in yellow helmet. The person wearing the cap is one of the facilitators. Now who is that lady in red?

When it came to my turn, I made the mistake of going barefooted. Those 6” ropes bit into my sole and caused a little discomfort. By the time I was halfway up, it was too much of a hassle to go down for my shoes. Maybe I should have asked for them to be thrown up to me. Hmm...

Kah Khen, or Ah Khen, our very own wise old man, is giving the troops the inspection. This picture was taken from the outside so you can see some smudges on the glass panel.

After prussiking, all the participants abseiled down. It was a thrill to do abseiling again after so many years. I lost myself momentarily and abseiled down too quickly, much to the concern of the SAC facilitators. To them, safety is of paramount importance and I neglected that aspect. I’ll remember that!

By then, it was way past lunchtime. I proceeded to have lunch with Jee Keik, Kah Khen, Ronnie, Laraine, Maria, and Norah at the nearby hawker centre. We had a great time and we got to know one another better. Hawkers can be rather biased people. Laraine and I ordered from the store, albeit at different times, and her food was served to her while mine was self-serviced. Ah well.

During dessert time, I discovered that I had the talent to be a hawker assistant. While expertly maneuvering with 1 Chendol and 1 Ice Kachang, I was accosted by a young man who proceeded to asked for 1 Ice Kachang! Now that was not the funniest. The wild group witnessed what happened and laughed so loudly that the poor embarrassed bloke left the scene with his girlfriend. (”p)

After lunch, I wandered about the rock gym attempted some bouldering. Despite the low height of a bouldering wall, it is a rather difficult activity. I had to stop sports climbing after I hurt myself while bouldering. The most important thing about sports climbing is to know your own limits. Do not overexert or else you run the risk of serious finger injuries!

Ah, in the sweet pictures above, you can see a young girl lying down contentedly. (She had just finished fighting with her sister, guess who won?) The other picture is of Eve, a facilitator, and Melanie.

At around 5:00PM, we gathered for our debrief and extended our appreciation to our facilitators. The loudest applause was given to Johnny and Sharon, our prussiking and abseiling coaches. It was evident that all of us enjoyed ourselves. Yeah, kant wait for the next round of activities!

20th August 2005: Gas stove and gas lamp handling, wilderness cooking theory, and group discussion on food recipes.

Posted on 22nd August 2005.

When I arrived at Aljunied MRT just before 1:45PM, I was famished from the morning’s trek to the Woodcutter’s Trail and I immediately went hunting for some snacks. I used to stay at MacPherson and there is this ‘dimsum’ eatery near the clubhouse that I used to frequent. I met Jason there and we chatted as we ate before making our way to the clubhouse.

Some pictures from Woodcutter’s Trail taken earlier in the morning

The lesson proper did not begin till around 2:30PM. We gathered around a table full of empty gas canisters to practise fixing the stove. After a while, Mei Foong showed us how to fix the gas lamp. Now the gas lamp has a mantle which is rather fragile and toxic. I never knew that! The next time I use my gas lamp, I must remember to wash my hands before touching food.

We had a new facilitator to lead us through the Wilderness Cooking Theory lesson. Now for most of us, theory tends to be dry but fortunately, the facilitator conducted the lesson in an informal Q&A manner.

The most memorable incident must have been the discussion on wilderness ethics when Pek Yong wondered what was all the fuss about doing your bowel movements near (Or was it in?) a water source. His contention was that it cannot possibly be a hygiene issue since there are plenty of stuff in the water anyway. I totally agree with him. It was never a hygiene issue but one of how we want to impose civility upon ourselves.

The next time you take a dip in the sea, remember that you are swimming in a soup of prawn pee and shark shit! Oops, sorry to puncture that lush imagery of nature you might have in your mind. Nature is red in tooth and claw, never forget that.

We had our first group discussion for our upcoming overnight camp after that. I am in Group 2 with Don, Laraine, and Maria. We discussed our dinner menu based on a budget of $20. Later, we discussed with Group 1 to prepare our recipes for supper and breakfast. Our discussion is secret for now... yeah, on that day, come to our dining area to savour burnt rice, raw meat, and jumping beans!

In preparation for our practical lesson tomorrow, a facilitator named Johnny showed us how to wear the harnesses that Mei Foong had distributed earlier. We were going to climb at Tanjong Pagar, in an airconditioned rock gym called Climb Adventure. Yeah!

Lesson ended early and I had a nice chat with Pek Yong over drinks and ‘dimsum’ before returning home. And guess who I met at Aljunied MRT? Melanie! She was going to town to play. Sigh, older folks like Allen gotta go home to get more rest...

14th August 2005: Trekking Woodcutter’s Trail, wilderness cooking, and putting our knots into great use!

Posted on 18th August 2005.

The true start of outdoor training essentials. We were asked to meet at 8:30AM at Pending LRT which is in Choa Chu Kang. I was dismally late by 20 minutes! When I reached, the people were learning the Alpine Knot plus they probably practiced the other knots that were taught the day before. This is a supremely good example of making full use of time. I am sure the organisers have anticipated that there would be latecomers and they structured the waiting time for extra lessons.

I am rather familiar with the Woodcutter’s Trail, having brought friends to trek from Dairy Farm to Upper Pierce Reservoir. This time, SAC ended the trek at Seletar Reservoir. The trail was not straightforward at all and I will certainly not attempt it. They did pass by the first stream which was our training ground for wilderness cooking. Then when we were nearing the second stream, we took the other trail leading to Seletar Reservoir. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Around 10:00AM, we were on start of the trail. There, the President of SAC briefed us on some of the common and useful plants that we may encountered outdoors. There was the Clidemia Hirta shrub which yields a sweet, succulent blue berry. Its leaves, when grounded or chewed, can be applied to wounds to aid blood clotting. Having used that in an attempt to staunch blood flow from a leech bite, I must say that it is not quite effective. The anti-coagulant secreted by the leech is rather powerful.

After that, we got to witness the use of the leaves from the Simpoh tree as a food wrapper in the wild. As we meandered through the trail, we encountered the curry plant, wild pepper, and wild ginger. We stopped near a series of steep slopes, probably caused by erosion, to practice getting up and down slopes using ropes and knots.

Next, we packed to go and before long, we got to the first stream along the trail. There, we stopped for a briefing regarding the proper use of a gas canister and stove. After that, we were paired up and given a can of sardines, 2 packets of instant noodles, 6 eggs, and 2 stalks of leafy vegetables, 1 groundsheet, 1 large piece of aluminum foil, and a gas canister with stove.

I was paired with Ah Khen and before long, he fashioned a container out of the aluminium foil and we started boiling our water. To our dismay, the container leaked, not once, but twice! We had to abandon the use of our origami bowl and switched to using the sardine can as a cooker.

Later on, we were told that the aluminium foil was, well, a foil to get us on the wrong track. The foil is too thin and cannot withstand the heat from the stove. Lesson learned! One of the facilitators was an accomplished cook and he made enough pineapple rice for all of us to savour. I have his recipe so I can try that the next time I go outdoors.

By the time we finished lunch and cleared up, a slight drizzle had begun. We started trekking again and after some uphill and downhill climbing, we finally reached a ‘nice’ clearing full of creepers. Now creepers have thorns to aid their infestation of trees so they prove to be a hassle when you are working near them. Ah, but what the heck! Our facilitators showed us how to construct a ‘basha’ for cover. As usual, we were then divided up and the groups worked on their own construction.

The exercise finished rather quickly. It was an easy task after all. Especially for those of us who have gone through National Service. After a mere 5 minutes walk or so, we were out in Seletar Reservoir. It was then the ropes we carried along were put to use. We were divided into 3 groups of 6 each and we alternated between constructing a rope ladder and a stretcher. It was during this period that Ah Khen wowed the whole lot of us with his rope skills. Even Ming Zhu, a facilitator, was full of praise for his rope management skills.

Around 5:00PM, nearly all the groups finished practising their roping management and knots tying and we had some fun and games. Before long, we gathered in a circle and shared our experiences for the day. All the participants were appreciative and the mood was great, albeit a little mushy when a facilitator started to have watery eyes... whahaha, just kidding.

The feedback session marked the end of a long and tiring day. We washed up, took a bus to Ang Mo Kio Central, and waved our goodbyes before going our separate ways. I cannot wait for this coming weekend’s activities!