Outward Bound - Land Expedition

Carrying haversacks, water bottles and tents, we set off for the prelude of our land expedition. Carrying water bottles was the worst, especially if you are already feeling a little feverish.

At least tents were soft. Water bottles were just hard, solid plastic with no other way to carry than using your arms.

After walking for not more than 5 minutes while holding on to one end of the stick of water bottles, fatigue set into my arms. If I could not find a better description, my arms felt some internal vibration that tend to happen to many people when their muscles were overstressed. Shao Hao, however, from the look on his face did not seem to have much problems, although I am not sure of the truth myself. Not wanting to be a 'slacker' or anything, I persisted until someone else volunteered to take over my role.

Perseverance is undoubtfully good, but never be afraid to ask for help as long as you have done your best.

We exchanged our loads many times along the way, and due the the physical stress we were undergoing, we did not have much energy to channel left into thinking 'how much longer'.

And we reached the place in surprising timing. The sun was just about to set.

There was a sort of cheery atmostphere lingering in the air. We started setting up our tents in a short while. The sandy ground by the beach was rock hard, so we used rocks to weight down the flysheet instead of using tent pegs.

We finished setting up our tents and the sun had set. Working in this situation, with dry shoes and on plain, solid ground was an enjoyable task compared to the day we arrived at Punggol Jetty in kayaks.

We set down on a ground sheet and had dinner. Some nice people cooked mixed vegetables and instant noodles for Ananya and me. This meal, though rather plain, was comparatively the best meal we, at least I, had over the past few days due to the good mood and food (Hey that rhymes!).

The headache, mind-depressing thoughts and bad experiences vanished into the night...

The next day, I woke up feeling fresher than the air, although I did not bother setting up a pillow and was lying on hard ground.

***

Land expediton! This was getting quite exciting for me. After a briefing, we knew that we had 5 checkpoints for that expedition.

1) Highest point in Ubin Estate
2) Highest point in Pulau Ubin
3) Creature that is as old as you (rather vague, could refer to one of the many humans students in the vicinity)
4) Goddess of Mercy
5) Some boring plants

And the worst part was that we had to carry everything along. As usual, water contributed the most of the weight.

Our first stop was the highest point in Ubin Estate. I was carrying the water-filled jerry can which wore my arms out even after many short rest stops. The break we had to properly recover was when the girls had to go pee, which took at least 15 minutes.

While the guys did it in less than 3.

Out of the forest we went, and our path was scorched and blinded by the sun. Fortunately, WC asked to take over my load in exchange for a rubbish bag and water bottle. Although I felt a bit bad, that was quite a relief for my arms and that was all they called for.

Once again, we entered the forest, but this time, it was nearly always uphill. As Jun rui our navigator led us into a less travelled path, the incline became even steeper. Cobwebs obstructed and loose soil and logs paved the path.

My arms, feeling less tired now, started to feel quite slackish as my load was at least 3 times lighter than what some people were carrying. The long path led to a sunlit top. On top of the hill was an aviation beacon, where everyone let down the loads and had a good rest.

Roland asked us to form a human modal of an aeroplane for an extra lifeline question. What we formed look nothing like one, but we still got it. We spent quite some time formulating a question. Soon, people started vetting for loopholes in case Roland gave us a stupid answer. Ananya became quite enthusiastic about this, so with credits to him, our question - "Where is our next nearest checkpoint?" became "What are the co-ordinates of the next nearest unvisited or unconciously visited checkpoint on this map?"

***

Next stop, Bukit Puaka, the highest point on Pulau Ubin. We were also told on the way, that weirdly enough we might see the Goddess of Mercy if we were sharp enough. However that was not considered the next nearest checkpoint as it was a 'special' checkpoint.

We went down the hill. Somewhere along the sunlit path, we stopped to eat. My food bag was mostly filled with powdered food or biscuits, which are quite sickening by now.

Nothing much happened after we entered the comfort of the shaded undergrowth. At some point in time, I got a tent bag, which was comparatively good compared to jerry cans as you get to sling those over your shoulders. However, it can get quite stressful to the back after time, unless the haversack is not already torturing your posture.

Some people like Junrui, Karyee and me walked silently in front, while others like Shao Hao were in animated conversation. We trudged past the obs camp and reached a gravel and rock-covered open aired path. To me, this was the hardest kind of path to walk on.

Meifang and I hooked the tent bag through the camping stick and shared the weight of the load with me. Ease for the back, yet stress on shoulder muscles.

We stopped for lunch. Digestive biscuits were the main course. Among the girls, they started talking about Korean celebrities. I tried sinking a fingernail into my biscuit and it exploded. Then it was time to go again.

In that sun, Brandon's pro spf 130 sunblock became a neccessity. As some people have pointed out, my eye region was lighter, yet the rest of the face was sunburnt. It looked funny, and all the more I needed more sunblock.

We were really behind time. Still being at the middle of the island, there was no way we could make it to the east, visit all of the checkpoints, travel back again, and make it in time based on my reckoning.

We came to a proper concrete road. It was a lot easier to walk on compared to the previous ones. We passed some holidays chalets and a drink stall. We ran into a tiny shack which was supposed to be the miniature Goddess of Mercy.

As we walked furthur on, we came across a rock platform with a worshipping altar on it overseeing the water-filled granite quarry. Across it, as mentioned by Roland, was supposed to be a granite carving of the Goddess of Mercy, which I did not see.

Walking furthur on, we took another less travelled path and somewhere along the way I managed to get rid of that weighty tent bag and got my grip on water bottles and the company of a camping stick once again. Admittedly, the snaking path towards the highest point on Pulau Ubin was rocky, yet whether the rocks would give way upon stepping on them would be a good question to ponder about while falling into the abyss of the hills after a wrong step.

Seeing that WC was carrying the jerry can, which was a lot less water-filled than before, and at the same time wanting to repay my debt of having surrendered my jerry can before, I took over. In fact, the jerry can, having a larger base than that pathetic camping stick, gave me a tad lot more support by leaning on them when scaling steeper inclines.

The air was not very fresh. The trees seemed like they have been planted there to rot. Overall, there was a rotting feeling along the path. As we got higher, the feeling gradually subsided as rockiness overtook undergrowth.

After some walking, which took approximately 15 minutes, a surprisingly short time to me considering how far we have trekked to the top of Ubin Estate, we reached the top. I suppose it is because of the steepness of the incline. But that experience of climbing that hill inspired me to go to Bukit Timah Hill someday (yeah I still haven't visited that place)

Comparatively to the path we took, the atmosphere at the top was wonderful, and would be even better had the sun not been shining there at that time. The view was quite good. Below us was the slow rippling azure waters contained between the rocky walls of the granite quarry. The mainland seemed quite small from here though...nothing much to see.

We slacked up there for a really long time. There was not any more time for the rest of the checkpoints. I got the tent bag and we went down the hill. Downhill was just about as hard as uphill. Soon, our navigator lost the way and thus we cut across trees to create our own path out of the stale undergrowth onto the main road.

For a small person like me, carrying the tent bag over long periods can really drain abdominal, quadricep and back strength. With the sling weighing my back down together with the haversack, the tent repeatedly hitting my thighs and leaning on my stomach, stamina can deplete real fast. Without any doubt, I walked slow and no matter how in front of the group I get, I got overtook within 10 minutes and would end up behind.

The trip back was plain, so plain that it seemed like a routine. The distance seemed a lot shorter than when we went for me, because I was tired and was not thinking much. It was just me, my haversack and tent bag, travelling alone with desperate hopes to rejoin the group in front, but my stamina fails me.

Roland played some songs on the way. Songs like top of the world were really encouraging. Old songs were the best. Songs these days are really getting more horrible. The tunes are easily forgettable and all sound the same with the usual chord progressions overpowering the melody. Recently I have started to listen to Chyi Yu's music again like I did when I was really young, and the music is really beautiful and lyrics are well-written. But that's going off topic. The point is, taste of music is deteriorating nowadays.

Like I was saying, I caught up when the group rested, and started lagging to the back. Roland was like drifting between the group and me, making sure I was alright, which I was. However, I felt that my abdominals were really strained from the weight, and it was hard to walk and breathe at the same time.

I could move on, but my steps were getting slower. Soon, I could not have been less than 20 meters away from the last person in the group. I told myself that it did not matter, trying to encourage myself. What matters is that I walk on and do not give up, no matter how slow.

We entered the forest. What made me rather angry was when Jun Rui saw my walking really slowly at the bag and shouted at me to move it. I could not care less about him and continued walking at my own pace and shouted a really loud "sorry" to him. Actually I was not feeling sorry at all, one would be able to hear from my tone.

Eventually after a really hard and slight speeding up, I caught up with some of the people at the back. Once again we hit pebbly and rocky ground which is not easy to balance your footing on. I trudged slowly along and my foot collided with a rock, twisting it to one side, and causing my body to collapse in that direction to avoid twisting my ankle. My already weak legs were unable to give the support my body and load needs in time. Slight scratches, but I was okay. Ananya was nice, he saw the trouble I was having and took over my tent bag.

We walked back to camp 2. It wasn't too far now and it started drizzling.

We reached.

We dropped our load.

Oh man was I glad. My abdominals were still stressed from the previous stress.

The drizzle escalated into a heavy downpour within seconds. With the sun shining onto the open flooded parade square, the water evaporated very fast and the parade square turned into a land of misty wonders. A rare and interesting sight.

My food stores were empty. I felt really hungry. So I went to eat some of Ananya's food. I quickly went to take torturous bath to clean myself.

The water in the bathroom was freezing. It was hard to breathe in the shower with the rushing powerful waters spurting out of the shower hole. It was like air was sucked into that vortex of water. Not wanting to lose even more energy from the cold and possibly faint in the bathroom etc... I got out of the cubicle after a minute.

Feeling a lot more comfortable, I went around borrowing and trading more food, and ate till I felt comfortable once again.

To be continued...