Outward Bound

Just when you thought that all the frenzy for the past week was over, I went to Outward Bound Singapore. Yes, MOE was nice enough to sponsor all the teaching scholars for a 4 days course in Pulau Ubin, with the objective of encouraging bonding as well as helping us to discover our own strengths and weaknesses.

I must say that OBS wasn’t physically and mentally that challenging for the guys in general since we have all survived NS. But still, it was a refreshing change (since most of us got used to office life once we ORD), although I must say I hate the mosquitoes and sand flies.

Anyway, since it was my 2nd time at OBS (I think for most of the guys, it was the 2nd time too), I doubted I will be surprised by the challenges. Needless to say, I wasn’t particularly amazed with most of the challenges, even though I must say my body wasn’t really conditioned since I haven’t exercised in ages.

Ok, let me do a brief run through of the course. The key highlight for Day 1 (which was spent mainly on ice-breakers) is the height activity. Ok, it was almost the same as what I did the other time, but the rain spoilt it so we went indoors to use the hall’s height obstacles. Ok, I didn’t get a chance to do the more challenging ones (I did the semi-rock wall which I think I literally just flew up…), so I will say it was pretty simple.

Day 2 was the expedition. The expedition was different from the one I had as it was half land and half sea. So we embarked on our sea expedition which was really interesting since we had to kayak up a mangrove river in the middle of Ubin, and that was indeed a one in a lifetime experience. But the trip was really tiring, although I think I preferred it more to hiking. Our camp site was all the way at the Northern end of Ubin, and it was a huge pity that we never went to the quarry for a dip. What a waste!

Day 3 saw us hiking back to the school’s compound, and I must say I hated the hike, especially since it rained too! Ok, but we did climb up the top of this hill, and we got a really wonderful view of a quarry. The only sad thing is that no one in my group brought a camera, so we couldn’t capture the picturesque image.

Well, I must say that I was very impressed with the ladies in my watch, as none of them complained, asked for break or request for help from the guys. That is truly remarkable and deserving of praise. They were really nice even though we guys were just trying our best to find a way back to base, even though there were some parts we had no idea how to cross. Haha, kudos to the ladies.

Oh, we also went through the tunnel which I thought was quite an interesting experience, since it was literally pitch-black. A pity that it was too short and not as challenging as what dwin had described.

The highlight of the last day is the commitment activity, which is another height obstacle except that since it is now in the outdoors and it is indeed far more challenging. My watch got the trapeze, which essentially means that we have to climb like 3 storeys high and then jump to try to grab this bar hanging in the middle. Well, from the ground it does looks intimidating, and from the platform which you have to stand before jumping, it is indeed quite formidable. Oh well, but I like the feeling of jumping off (although the belayer had to suffer) and I must say the feeling was great when you manage to grab the bar and hang on to it. A pity that I did only 1 chin-up! I think could have done 8!!! Haiz, I guess that could be one of the regrets that I have for this OBS.

I will say that I enjoyed this OBS much better than the previous one. It could be because that we are all adults, hence a lot of things were done much faster and more efficiently (for example, I think we took less than 15 minutes to set up shelter). Also, most of us braced the challenges as it came and even though some of us hesitated, we still tried our best to conquer our fears. Hmm, and since it was an all scholars event, I must say we talked a lot during sharing sessions. Haha.