OB Spirit

Remember the camp I mentioned so many times in previous posts, the one I wished not to go to, the one I loathed even before knowing what it actually was and the one I hoped was cancelled due to many outrageous reasons?

Well, I'm done with it.

It was so tiring and we were restless most of the time.
We had two rounds of expeditions, camped by the beach in between them, which makes the sea our new home for more than four days.

What surprised me the most was that : I find the whole thing fun and awesome!!

I was in Lumut for a week, stuck with another eleven amazing persons in my group, handphone-less, ipod-less, perfume-less and internet-less. We weren't allowed any food too, any kind of food, which I find quite ridiculous. Once, the instructors caught a small group of mischievous students having cereal bars, and we were punished with a two-hour nag and lecture.

On the first day, all fifty something of us were divided into four watches. My watch consists of twelve young and energetic (haha) students, and these were the people I had breakfast lunch dinner and supper with, whom I stole sunblock and insect repellent from, and also whom I shared the damp stuffy tent with.

They're all studying in Australia. Except for me, the sesat one.

With En Syafri, the instructor

On the second day, we learned how to operate the whaler. We were taught how to row, raise the sails (mainsail was the hardest and tedious) and also to control the marine radar for direction. It was all basic which lasted for about an hour.

The next day, I vomited. Twice. I never thought the effect of the rapid temperature change, from winter and snowing in London to the direct sunlight and dehydrating heat reflected by the seawater can be so significant and do harm to my system. My body was weak and my head was really heavy. 

But hey! I didn't sign up to miss all the fun of rowing and shouting and eating lunch in the rain just because I threw up my breakfast. So I followed them on the boat, despite the constant uncomfortable stomach. At first I only had the energy to do the easiest job, controlling the radar (it's quite tricky ok). But after awhile, the rowers got tired and started to look like dead people, and there wasn't anyone available for substitue. So I took over the oar and rowed, and rowed, and rowed. 

In white hat, giving support to the rowers while handling the radar.

Spot me!! :)

It was raining heavily, so we took shelter under the tentsheet.

We reached the campsite at about five in the afternoon, after almost nine hours of rowing. Oh! Did I tell you, the sea was our toilet? It was also our rinsing water. Our play water. Very unhygienic, but we weren't taught how to complain. We didn't want to, either.

It was raining when we arrived, everything was unpleasant. It made our jobs ten times harder, especially lighting up the fire as the firewood was wet. Pegging the tents wasn't easy, too, as the soil was rather soft. Cooking? Haha, we had food in tins. Sardine and chicken curry. We also survived on sugar crackers, sad kan?

Anyway, I shall continue writing about the adventure in the next post as it's getting quite lengthy now.

*pics credit to En. Syafri

Outward Bound Malaysia Lumut (OBML)