!ACHTUNG!
POSSIBLE IONISED RADIATION FROM
[Ai] ALVINIUM
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!ACHTUNG!
POSSIBLE IONISED RADIATION FROM [Ai] ALVINIUM
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RECOLLECTIONS: Remembering those hardships and enjoyable times in Outward Bound School, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia...... 19th May 2002 Sunday I went to the airport very early today. Woke up at 6am. Was so excited. Going to Sabah for camp. My luggage is enormous. Really is. When i got to the airport, i saw Lee and Roger. Their bags were so small... My "mammoth tank" far exceed theirs in size and weight. 15kgs. Later, we gathered around the OBS woman, she gave us our boarding pass to check in. We were also introduced to this tall guy called Yew Tong... 1.95m i think... He should be a measurement. He is our liaison officer and is accompanying us to Sabah. For example, the door is 1 yew tong tall... I bought a postcard at WH Smith... I think it was a picture of a merlion... i forgot to bring a gift for the Sabahans... We went into the terminal 2 immigration hall and of course we got past without any glitch. I wanted to go shopping for magazines. BUT... Yew Tong refuse to let me... how evil of him... deprive me of the right to shop and boost Singapore's economy... Traitor~! Anyway, we boarded the plane. It was a small Boeing 737 aircraft. Since it was MAS, i couldn't expect too much. The air-con wasn't even turned on when we boarded. It was so stuffy... SO HOT~! But you couldn't really blame them... Malaysians... The condition of the air was fixed after the plane went to cruising height. Soon.... time sure goes by fast... 2 hours later... we arrived at Kota Kinabalu..... So backward.... Malaysia... The airport is very "high-tech" ... got open-air concept .. very innovative... we got past the Malaysian customs... i was checking to see whether they "forgot" to stamp my passport or tore a page out... under my scrutiny... they didn't dare pull anything off... After exiting the rickety old airport, we were escorted to this loser bus that did not have air-con and creaked for the whole journey. My luggage was sure HEAVY~! 15kgs.... i am sure i didn't miss out anything... A 1 hour bus ride saw us to OBS Sabah... That place... first impression really counts... the hall was filled with bats and swallows and their excrement ... so disgusting... but this is Malaysia... we were split up into groups... i was hoping to be in the same group with Roger and Chengjie... but too bad... they went to Kingfisher... and me Mat Salleh... Must Slack... yea... that's my group's slogan... MUST SLACK~! haha... we carried that attitude throughout the whole camp... We were assigned to this Sabahan called Sabastian...he looks slack... just like us... then we were showed to our dorms.... rickety old wooden bunk beds... i took the lower bunk.... coz hot air rises and cold air sinks... we settled in... before Sabastian pull us out for some activities... First up was team-building dynamic activity... 15 of us stood on a piece of small canvas, tried to form circles and bring hoola-hoop down.. the usual lame stuff... Sabastian insisted that we had a review... he said "What you get from this activity? " ... <silence> ... " It's okay if you don't say, you keep in your heart, i know you get something, its UP TO YOU." Then on... UP TO YOU became another of my team's slogan. Later in the evening, after the dynamic activities... it was kayaking in the Kinarut river. We changed into our wet wear... it was quite fun yet boring... capsize drills ... then we went out to sea... near the coast that is... i partnered with Chengjie... Roger partnered with Desmond... aiyo... canoeing captain and vice-captain partner... we played sea war games.... splashing water at each other with our paddles and ramming each other's boat... it was fun... We got sick of kayaking and beached our boats... we cleaned them and went for a bath... Whoa... it was so refreshing... after that... we had dinner and the usual cock talking session by Sabastian. Then it was the fun part... we had night line... walking in the dark with a blindfold and holding onto a rope... i think we went into a forest... i really think we did... yea.... so much vegetation... teamwork was shown... and we trudged on... and finally reached out destination... SUPPER~! After supper... we went to the conference room... it was air-conditioned... (* I didn't know they had air-con ) So relaxing... we had this Norwegian / Sabahan guy talking to us about sailing... main sail... and all that crap... i forgot... since Desmond was from canoeing and the only able seaman... he assumed the role of the Captain for out sailing expedition tomorrow... yes.. that's good... we can slack... After that... we were getting weary... at least i was... so we retired to bed.... Lights out. Oh no... the bed sucks... too coarse and thin... haizz... well this is my home for the next 7 days... i'll adapt to it... Snorezz.... 20th May 2002 Monday We all woke up feeling groggy.. the bed was really bad... didn't had a good night sleep... All of us... including people from the other groups... rushed to the toilet to wash up before heading to the beach for morning physical training. Today, Sabastian had a padawan learner... Thomas... Oui... We had our morning PT, which was very lame, we were suppose to play a kind of game, there is dwarves, giants and witches.. and you are suppose to go... "ti ti ti ti ti" for dwarves and "Rarrrrrr" for giants and "bzzzzzz" for the witch. We had a great time laughing at how lame Sabastian was. We gathered for a photo-taking session. The camera man was using this ancient and gigantic camera... Then, we went for breakfast. After breakfast, we were told we pack our stuff and put them in waterproof bags. I stuffed 3 bars of Uncle Toby's museli bars into bag as well... i might need it... 10 jerry cans some canvas and a few rucksack formed our supplies for this exciting sea expedition. We were as usual, the last group to leave our bunk... coz MUST SLACK... Desmond reported for "duty". The rest of Mat Salleh went into the shed to collect the equipment. 6 large paddles... 1 main sail. 1 subsail. I think that's about it. We boarded the whaler "East Wind" and assembled the ship. its "D-I-Y" sailing boat... Malaysians... We also had to bail water out of this pathetic vessel... it could sink any moment... considering how much water it had onboard... the supplies were loaded and we all hopped on... with Desmond at the helm and all of us the "slaves" rowing the boat... My GOD~! the ship was heavy... so were the paddles... after much brute force... we manage to get the whaler unstuck and moving... there was no wind inland... so we had to get out to open sea before opening the sails to aid us... and that meant lots of rowing... that is not what we had intended... that doesn't look like slacking to me... "row... row... row..." monotonous rhythm of commands rang out... slowly but steadily ... East Wind manage to get out into open sea... surprisingly... we were 2nd considering we were the last to set out... the wind came... and it was pushing the whaler at a good speed... we could stop rowing... and we slept.... fatigued overcome us from the previous night.. i laid on the side of the whaler... using my life jacket as a pillow... my hands trailing in the cool ocean water... that's the Mat Salleh spirit... but... complacency so got the better of us... we ended up as the last to reach this pristine island... but considering that we the last to set out and the amount of effort put in... it was consoling... haha... the island at last... Upon seeing the crystal clear water... we all hopped off the boat.. leaving the supplies onboard to play in the water... Sabastian was trying very hard to speak in proper English to get us to unload the whaler and get it into deeper waters... Thomas... however... did not say anything and helped us silently... disdain began to grow for the Slack Sabastian (S2)... With all our supplies off the whaler ... we began to play... foolish we were... to wet our pants because soon ... the sea water evaporated ... leaving a layer of salt... itchy groins we had.. and that's bad... we searched frantically for a freshwater supply.. to our horror... there was none... none, zero, nil, zilch. we accepted our cruel fate and began to eat those packet lunch... boy.. were they horrible... the bananas that came with it tasted much better... but a hungry man can't be a choosy man... so we just ate it anyway... after lunch... then did we try to find a spot to set up camp... to our horror again... while we've been slacking.... other groups haves been securing excellent campsites... we got a very bushy one and it wasn't large... but we weren't planning to sleep in the tents that night anyway... so ... we just hastily built a tent and went off playing... but i was practical and didn't want to have an itchy groin for the whole night... so i used my limited supplies of personal freshwater to have a little bath to clean off the salt... it felt great... i changed and cleaned up... then i felt very bored... one whole afternoon to waste on the island... i decided to explore with Chengjie.... and explore we did.... armed with my trusty Victorinox Swiss Army Knife... we went off in seach of firewood in the woods... To be continued... 21st May 2002 Tuesday 22nd May 2002 Wednesday 23rd May 2002 Thursday 24th May 2002 Friday 25th May 2002 Saturday 26th May 2002 Sunday
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The
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