Day 2
Woke up hearing the annoying sound of people talking ever so loudly in the cave when they know there is echo. Woke everyone up and made our long descent down the cave and to the assembly point. Keith is having a hard time because (well, if you read my previous post you should know) his butt hurts and this is his umpteenth time climbing down this cave. He doesn’t look too happy.
We had our breakfast, which included fried rice and bread, with a selection of kaya or butter. Both were good, and the meal was kinda filling for me. Quite good considered this was a camp
Rafting was the first activity of the day. Although my team are not an all UG team, we still managed to make a good and sturdy raft. It was great seeing all of the other non-UG teammates learning new knots and lashings and being a great help during this activity. Our hard work did (kind of) pay off since our raft surprisingly float in the water, although we were just seconds from sinking after everyone got out of it. The moment we wanted to carry the raft back to assembly point, the whole thing just broke apart. How lucky are we?
We returned to campsite and had our lunch there, which was kind of okay, once again much better than expected. We brought down our bags from the cave, which was good news, since we do not have to climb a small hill and 63 steps just to get a torchlight or something like that. Abseiling was next. Had a little lecture on the harness, and it was the same lecture just like the one me and some of my friends had a few days back in Ubin when we had our high ropes challenge. After nearly breaking my neck after seeing so many people abseil down from that giant rock, i felt that it was time and I put on my harness and helmet and made my way up. And let me tell you, going up is definitely harder than coming down. There was no road to guide you, and only the ropes to show you the way. By the time I went up, I was sweating from head to toe (exaggerated) because I lost my way. Saw Su Ian there, also waiting for her turn. Went down the rock without any problem, except for one: the trainer did not want to let go of the rope! So i was like climbing down at 1cm every 10 seconds? That was how slow it is.
The third activity of the day was caving. Once again, I put on my dirty, grassy, muddy and disgustingly wet booties and began our little trek to the cave. We had to traverse in mud which sank almost 5 to 10 cm when we stepped on it, walking through muddy streams of water, and climb through a tiny hole that is so small, you need someone at the other side to pull you up, and what do you get in the end? A great supply of natural air-con. It’s worth it you know, where else can you get the feeling of air-con without having the worries of having anyone paying for it? And guess what, we had to go back the same way we came! So everyone was obviously kind of annoyed and giving each other the “what-am-I-doing-here-in-the-first-place” kind of expression. One thing is for sure, not everyone is too happy. Especially Keith, coz he only had one pair of shoes! Which means that he has to wear that same pair of shoes through thick and thin or 4 consecutive days (yuck!). Not enough money to buy second hand shoes i guess?
Finally we made our way back, and packed our staff stuff and welcomed the other buses before setting off to Tekam. We exchanged some tips along the way to make our activities the next day much “cleaner”. Arrived at Tekam and got our room S5, a 16 man dorm (just nice for 16 guys in 3E) with a amazingly big walking space, which means more place more chess (again). Had our dinner soon after, and finally, some good food!
After dinner was this traditional performance which I felt was simple, entertaining(kind of) and of course, traditional. We cheered sabotaged some of our friends up to join in the dance while some were hand-picked by the trainers (i was so damn lucky, I was almost picked out). The trainers used extreme ways to pull out our friends, which includes dragging, pulling, carrying and pushing. In the end, those on stage were giving the “I’ll-make-sure-you-die-after-I-finish-this-performance-since-you-sabo-ed-me” kind of expression. Shawn’s dance was quite, well, “awkward”.
Went back to our amazingly huge dorm and continued our Chinese chess marathon. Slept on top of Yujian (don’t make false impressions! read till the end of the sentence!) on the double-decker bed.
Blooper: Vincent inadvertently slammed his head against the wall on my bed. I was on the ground after hearing countless rants from Vincent before I heard a thud and some silence from Vincent (which is quite rare, no offence). Turned around and saw Vincent cupping his hands and placing it behind his head. It’s apparent he slammed his head against the wall, hard. Ouch!