BROGA CAMP (PART 2)

B4 I begin, Heng Jeng has posted some pictures of Broga Camp on the web. Check it out!
 
I was one of the earliest guy to wake up in the camp. The peaceful scenery of the morning was gorgeous. The green hills (1 with a bare area filled only with grass - kinda look like a golf course - it was said that it was bare bcuz the Communist used to test their cannons on that area of the hill), the clear blue sky, the misty air surrounding the camp site... Man I miss that serene moment. Practised my Tai Chi then, and still can't help but forget certain steps... Argh... Need more practice! Do some stretching and jogging after that, under Heng Jeng and Lawrence's direction. 
 
After breakfast, we were divided into 3 groups to do 3 different activities in 3 different time slots. My group started off with the obstacle course. It was much like ur typical obstacle course, but with a few very important exceptions:
 
1. We cannot come into contact with most of the surface of the obstacles, except for the ones which are necessary and permitted. All vertical planks are to be avoided.
 
2. One person in the group have to carry a rather long bamboo stick with him/her, and the bamboo stick has to go thru the obstacle course juz as we do. The stick cannot come into contact of any of the obstacles, and also cannot touch the ground.
 
3. Failure to follow the 1st 2 rules will result in the ENTIRE groupto start over from the VERY 1ST station (we have 14 stations altogether), even if only 1 of the member did the mistake.
 
From the above 3 rules stated, I guess it was quite clear that the obstacle course was no breeze. We did break one of the rule once, halfway thru the course, but the facitilator was nice to us and let us start over from that station instead of starting all over again (thenn again, maybe it's bcuz we were too slow and other groups were arriving... heehee). Tarzan cross was the most memorable,  as some of us got pretty wet bcuz they can't pull themselves up and straighten themselves up in time! Glad to say that I made it thru without a spill! Oh, and the plank walk around the lake was damn exhilarating too!
 
Next came Flying Fox. That is one thing that I've LONGED to do as far as I could remember. The facitilator has earlier briefed us on how to wear the safety harness, and I have to confess, it was kinda uncomfortable around the crotch (no, I'm not copying a line from Spiderman 2). There were these 2 straps that ran over the top of the inguinal canal (refer to Netter's Atlas of Human Body), which.. er.. was very uncomfortable to my.. er.. u-know-wat. Anyway, after climbing a long stairway 60 feet high (I guess it's about 8 to 10 floors high), the view from the top was quite frightening. After one of the helper tied 2 straps from the cords to my safety harness, he asked me to sit at the very edge of the plank. Man, the downward view was horrifying. Ur legs were dangling on the air, and below you is a huge pond waiting for u to fall...
 
Get to chat with the helper while waiting for the ppl on the opposite shore to slow down my fall. Found out the bunch of guys who came to help out are from Klang, Grace Assembly Klang to be exact. In fact, I knew 1 of them from MUET last year in Taylor's! It's really a small world! After everything was ready, the helper blowed his whistle, and asked me to slowly move my butt to the edge of the plank. Shit I was damn scared then. When I was finally off the plank, I started to slide downwards. It was kinda frigtening at 1st, but I soon started to enjoy the thrill and managed to let go off my hand from the harness! Man that was fun! After a few seconds, I reached the end of the course, and 4 of my group members pulled the break pulley to slow me down. After I came down, I replaced my team mates in charged of the braking pulley and started doing the braking.
 
The 3rd activity was the High Rope Crossing, which is certainly the scariest of the 3. Yet, I have to say that it was perfectly safe, for at all times, we have at least one safety cord attach to our safety harness. And well, walking on juz a strand of rope with another on top of u to hold on to 20 feet high up was really freaky and tiring. Still, after completing all the rope crossing, bridge crossing, tyre climbing etc, I can't help but felt a sense of achievement! Man I feel like an elf walking all over the trees! And our group seems to be particularly lucky in this event. One of our members, Victoria, have her harness lock stuck twice, i.e. she can't change her safety cord after she reached the end of each section. Our group leader Lawrence gotta save a damsel in distress twice!
 
I was really starved by the end of the 3 activities, and consume loads of food bcuz of it (eventhough they're not exactly delicious). Also got a really severe sunburn too (kinda look like a charcoal now). After a much-deserved rest, we played all sorts of card games and singing outside our dome. Unlike yesterday, both sems really mix around this time, and I was really glad about it. Gotta know a lot ppl better then, even ppl from my own batch. Nv really talk to Van Gee and Kang Meng b4. Oh and Bernard's revelation of his one year referral is really interesting! Oh, we also get to play Electric Murder after dinner too. That was 1 cool game!
 
At night, we played the Murder Game. A cook working under the Smith family was murdered, and each group has to go to different locations to investigate and also interrogate the suspects. The game was conducted in OSPE style, i.e. each group starts off at different "stations", either interrogating a suspect or investigating a room (there's even a rest station!), and after we have gather all the infomation, we have to come up with the solution of who was the murderer, what was his/her motive, and what was the murder weapon. The game was really fun and have an air of suspense with it, since it was conducted in a moonless night and we need our torchlight to shine around. Everything was planned out really well too (hurray for Aiky!), and the acting skills by the "suspects" were excellent (Shawn is 1 of the best actor I've seen! He actually shed tears!)
 
At the end of the game, each group comes up with their conclusion of the murder case. Man, some of the groups have the most creative and ingenious explanation of the clues! There were some that were really hilarious (Jasper, after he saw the dead body, started smoking and threw it at the floor), and others that were really melodramatic (jealousy and vengeance). But in the end, it turns out that the other groups based too much on assumption for their conclusion, and our group, who based our conclusion on the evidence, came out with the closest resemblance to the actual conclusion. Once again, all hail the Radical Rambutans! In fact, we were the only group that accuse the right murderer, Ah Chong the garderner!
 
Played a few games and chatted straight thru late at night after that, and got to sleep quite late. Can't wake up early in the next morning (man i miss my Tai Chi practise time!) Played Captain Ball for awhile (our group won again!), have breakfast, a debriefing session, and then pack up and leave. Man I was really sad then (and still am now) that the days past by so fast. Reached IMU safely in one piece (Tim was not so lucky.. Met an accident halfway and have to report to the police!). After lunch at Food Ave, I went straight back home...
 
Phew, finally finish the rather long entry! Well, the experience was really memorable, and I'll really cherish it for the rest of my life! Really hope that I can go for another camp like this! But b4 that, I 1st have to get my scuba diving lisence at Tioman for my elective! Hooray, I see a fun-filled holiday ahead!!!