Outward Bound Expedition (11-13 Feb 09)

I had spent 3 days at Outward Bound (OBS), Pulau Ubin for the last 3 days, as part of the Young Leader Program course organised by my organisation.

It's a 9 day course, of which the 1st 3 days is a residency programme at OBS.
Frankly, I dreaded the thought of part 1 of the course before I went for it.
Because I know that there will be lots of strenous physical activities and there will be no hot shower. I am not a outdoor person. The only outdoor activities tha I do are nature walking, cycling and jogging.

The OBS programme was planned in such a way that we need to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone and back to basics.

It turns out that I learnt whole lot of stuffs and tried out things that I would never... never...have thought I will ever do and will do.

I tried out ...

- outdoor rock climbing... my team chosen the most difficult portion to climb unintentionally... at that point, how i wished i had learnt yoga and body can be super 'elastic' to bend anywhere.

- going into very narrow underground tunnel to find our team's ball. The tunnel is pitch-dark and has some slopes that we somehow have to squeeze ourselves through, whether by sliding backward or forward. I am quite small-built and has already found it tough... it was tougher for the guys. Not to mention that there are crockroaches in the tunnel.

- kayaking for almost 11km-12km for 5 hours (this is the most memorable one).. Its no joke. My biceps and triceps were almost giving way. It's tough when the waves were strong and anti-direction. Of course, I was praying hard that my kayak will not capsize. Yes, I have learnt how to handle capsize during the drill... but that was near to the shore... capsize in open sea is different hor...

- blindfolded to find a tree in the forest.

- cooking outdoor, setting up tents. The second night was supposed to sleep in the tent, but as one of my course mate was not well, I accompanied her to find a more comfortable place to sleep. We found a hut with 6 other guy coursemates and we just camped there lor. The 2 of us only had 2 ponchos..of which one was used as blanket (no use actually). The best part is that we realised that the hut has got big dogs around. Amazing, they did not bark at us. They protected us instead by 'patrolling' around the area at night. It was chilling cold at night. My gal classmate was literally trembling. Good thing that I brought along the windbreaker that Shifu has bought for me from US... if not, i will also be trembling...

- Waking up at 6am everyday and started morning exercise at 6.30am... waking up early is not my forte...

- Overcome showering without warm shower - I was so stinky and sticky that so long there was a shower room, it did not matter whether it was a cold or warm shower.

- No nice food (really simple fares)

- Learnt what is meant by "must eat more for energy"... I usually eat very little... but during the course, I realised that I must really load myself with carbo to have the energy to do the activities.

The only thing that I did not try out is jetty jump... partly because my eyes were very irritated by the saltwater after 5 hours of kayaking (that it was stinging and tearing) and partly because I think there was no need to risk my life with it.... who is going to take care of my family if anything happens to me. Anyway, good thing there were several of us who did not try this.

The whole course is almost like an endurance course.
I have learnt a lot - leadership, teamwork, survival skills, endurance, perservance, precison thinking, thinking decisively during stressed situations, determination (there are a no. of times that I told myself "i can do it" and this works).

At the end of the course, I decided to go souvenir shop to buy something, because i know i will not come back to OBS again.

However, I must say that the last 3 days will form a memorable part of my life. I am amazed how much I can stretch myself and knowing the coursemates whom have survived the endurance course together.

Finally i can have my warm shower back... and I am no longer so urban-pampered.