Cynthia, my husband and I only managed 3 major things for the 8 days 7 nights in Tioman.
Eat. Sleep. Dive.
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A little aside for the Ubin trip.
This year, we started preparing dinner much, much earlier and consequently, we were able to start our night cycling even before the sun set. As usual, the Sea Scouts took it in turn to lead the trail. We made for Nordin beach using the the off road trail and due to the construction around the prawn sluice gates area, the trail layout became unfamiliar.
It was rather daunting to cycle along that muddy, rocky, port holes filled made-shift road. It became more scary when we were trying to maneuver the bicycles across many of these obstacles in the half-light conditions. In the end, we gave up this leg of the journey totally and made a U-turn. Erhm, I wouldn't say that the hooves marks on the muddy trail did not made its point with us. I would not want my Sea Scouts and Akelas to meet with a family of charging wild boars in these diminishing visibility conditions.
If I was scared initially, I was terrified while we were making our way out of the off road trail. I was not able to make out the person cycling directly in front of me! We resorted to calling out loud. Were we relieved when we reached the tarmac road!
We went for a drink or two at the shop with no fixed prices - somehow, the shopkeeper charges different prices for the same items. The jetty was breezy and it was nice to laze around before heading back.
Nobody talked about the returned trail but well, you guessed it, we decided to stick to the tarmac road! inverted a turtle at Friday, June 05, 2009,
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Manta Ray Sea Scouts Hike cum photographer badge
05/06/09
I cannot believe that the last time I brought Cub Scouts to the island was 4 years ago as informed by my indignant Akela group last night while we were on the jetty enjoying the breeze. They have never been to Ubin!
After breakfast and striking tents this morning, we cycled- tents, equipments and all to the jetty to await for the cub scouts. Thanks to the other 3 leaders, Yanling, Wanling and Marcia, the cub scouts had a rather uneventful bumboat ride to Ubin.
The real ordeal began after that nice group photo. I believed the hike to be one of the most gruesome undertaken by the cubs. We hiked from the jetty to Chek Jawa, clambered onto the boardwalk, peaked the observation tower, trekked through the off-beaten trail to Mamam beach for outdoor cooking and finally concluded by another hike back to the jetty. A whole 10 km of hike. I measured.
Well done, cub scouts! You have shown us that you have courage in enduring this whole hike. I am rather proud of the majority of the cub scouts, I believed many of them enjoyed this trip.
I am even more proud of my Akelas and Sea Scouts. Even though they must be really tired after a night under the stars, they were able to facilitate and lead the hike, conduct the outdoor cooking and take care of their charges! Kudos to you guys and gal. :)
How can I not thank my leaders? I suggested a trip to Ubin and all my leaders unanimously agreed. Angie led the Sea Scouts and Akelas with me for the overnight camp, Jacques came to support for the outdoor cooking and the night cycling. Wanling, Yanling and Marcia, despite the mozzie bites and the long long trek, good naturedly ploughed through it all.
Manta Ray rocks, seriously. inverted a turtle at Friday, June 05, 2009,
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04/06/09~05/06/09
Manta Ray Sea Scouts annual pilgrimage to Ubin.
For once, it didn't rain in Ubin.
As far as my memory serves me, every overnight camping in Ubin is sure to be accompanied by rain. The weather this time round could not have been more different than the previous one. For that camp, I remembered that the rain came in torrents and by the time we reached our campsite, there was not an inch of dry skin to be found anywhere on our body! It was scorching hot this visit and many of us were actually reminsciencing about the weather during the previous visit! Talk about fussy Singaporeans!
We had a rather, for want of a better word, unorthodox menu from the Sea Scouts this year, it rather deviates from my idea of backwoods cooking. Oh well, like what I told Mrs Goh, let them try, we may have surprises. The banana dessert from Dolphin's group was nice. The other item's erhm....good try good try! :)
I almost forgot the presence of an irksome insect - the sandflies. I was rudely reminded this morning when I woke up inside the tent scratching my legs. My worst fears came true after we reached school, my skin along the length of my legs were punctured by little bumps that itch like mad! For others sharing my fate, I would recommend the aloe vera. Mind you peel off the outer skin first before use! Rub the jelly-like substance over the affected areas and stay in an air-conditioned room. The cool temperature prevents your skin from being irritated and hence reducing the itch.
Of course, I am sun burnt. For people with tan complexion like me, we tend to turn red before turning dark brown. This afternoon I was lobster colour, now I am milk chocolate colour. Oh well, another excuse to splash on Body Shop's white musk body lotion and switching on the air-con!
PS. I have a healthy aloe vera plant growing outside my house, if you need it, let me know.
PPS. Hey guys, do not be discouraged, looking forward to yet another outdoor cooking session! inverted a turtle at Friday, June 05, 2009,
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Manta Ray Sea Scouts Sports day
What an eventful day! First, we(my 2 poor groups!) waited 45 mins and 2 full buses before we managed to get on Bus 913 which brought us to the stadium. Then halfway through the bus journey, our fears became reality. It rained! Luckily, this downpour lasted for only awhile. We were held back but not too much. Thus, we were able to carry on with our telematch, 100m and 4x100m relay.
It was quite funny, really, seeing Sakthi overtake Lit Han and some of the cubs can really run!
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Thanks to Kayci and 6 Endurance, I had a wonderful party today - complete with table cloths, tidbits, drinks, sparkling juice, cakes and balloons! I must say that 6 Endurance has set a high standard for a well-organized party!"Mrs Ariel, you must open this to share with the class!" One of my boys shoved a nicely wrapped box at me.
I ripped off the wrappers, opened the box and saw cute little cupcakes! To my utter amazement, 5 of my boys actually baked those little chocolatey bites....and to my utter woes, they had spend a good 6 hours of their precious revision time yesterday conjuring it up in Surapunt's house! The little cakes required very little persuasion to be eaten and in a blink of the eye, the whole box was devoured by my class!
I was, needless to say, touched beyond words.
Thank you, Surapunt, Michael, Sanchi, Andrew and Canyon.
Enjoyed the chocolate cupcakes and jeez, this is one birthday I will never forget! inverted a turtle at Friday, May 15, 2009,
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Paintings in my mind
One of my students, Surapunt - a very innovative individual who started song dedication in his blog, asked me to dedicate a song. I dedicated Tommy Page's
I told him his friends' are going to laugh at him because, I mean, who has ever heard of Tommy Page? Truth be told, songs have always played an important part in my life experiences. Certain songs invoke pained memories but many more bring forth a smile, a grin,happy thoughts of a camp or a wonderful road trip.
Songs that stays with me are songs can shows me captured still images in my mind - flashes of certain milestones in my life.
Now, whenever I hear
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The campfire was totally awesome! Well done Sea Scout, especially Ice, Simon & Saks.
This year's campfire was a little special, in the sense that we were celebrating Earth hour too. The cheering and rallying before the campfire was great. Saks, you were really nice, you made sure that poor group without a cheer had a cheer. I thank thee.
The campfire started exactly at 8.30pm, because we did not have skits but have cheers plus the fact that the sea scouts were prompt in executing every task, the program ended early. Real early, in fact 25 minutes before 9.30pm where we could have the lights back on.
So what did we do? Improvise! I struck up a chord, the whole sea scouts came in as one and we just went on and on and on. But guys, it was good. It has been a long while since I enjoyed a campfire this much.
I love campfires, in case you haven't noticed, and there will always be a few campfires that would ligger in my mind. One in Trang, one that broke my heart, one that warms me up and this one, I will always remember. The one that made me feel that its all worthwhile!
I believe in appreciating others, well, because you never know, I might just disappear or die or something and I really wouldn't want to go without having said my thanks.
So, my dear fellow Sea Scouts leaders, Manta Ray would not be where we are without you. Your support, understanding and most importantly comradeship means the world to me. Each of you have your unique strength that somehow compliments each other just nicely, never overdone,always just in time. Kudos to you.
Scouting forever.
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I tasked myself to find some saga seeds for the Science Activity card and during a games session in the STC, I chanced upon a whole big branch of it! I thought that I should just take a few and be contented with it but you know, human nature.....greed crept in and oh well....I decided that I do want all the little red seeds on that branch!
I spent a minute plucking and then realised that no, that cannot be the way because I was being stung by a no less than 20 mosquitoes! Those mozzies were driving me nuts!
As can be seen from the pictures above, my ever ready Sea Scouts were there to "rescue" me.....(of course the promise of ice cream was the actual lure). In the end, I think Yao Wei won the contest with 78 saga seeds?
Talking about stress relieve. I believed I wasn't the only one who felt that the camp was a break from the crazy norm. Somehow the camp "normalized" me and even though I was really tired after the camp, I think it was all worth it! :)
I love this life, mozzies and all....
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The Volvo Ocean Race - 160109
Total movenpick count:
Top devourer: Simon (5 tubs)
2nd inline: Mr Rajoo (4 tubs)
The rest of us: at least 2 tubs each!
Update me and I will update the count!
A modest count of the total tubs of movenpick ice-cream eaten by us:
27 cub scouts, 7 sea scouts, 4 leaders.....estimated about 83 tubs. Thank you movenpick!
By the time Mdm Lim and I brought the P6s there, we were only left with 2 hours to soak in the sun and the sea! The group who went in the morning seemed to have had a great time, on simulator rides, the air balloon and the numerous booths that were closed by the time we get to walk around! I wonder if I would get a chance to be on a chase in one of those sailboats! inverted a turtle at Sunday, January 18, 2009,
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Seletar island (030109)
I felt my under-used muscles pull with every stroke of the paddle, I have no doubt of how I would feel two days later then.
2 weeks later, after the harsh reminders via stiff shoulders and backache. I would say that it was a fun trip, a worthwhile one. Urchin crab, are you looking at the fried chicken?? Yummy! The boys are pestering me about the annual Ubin trip that did not take place last year. inverted a turtle at Sunday, January 18, 2009,
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about
"Aye! Sun! Sea! and Scouts!
Name: Ariel
DOB: sometime someday
School: WDP (!)
Location: little red dot
Address: Ocean is a place to be so be there where I am
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My authentic japanese name is 中村 Nakamura (center of the village) 歩 Ayumu (walk, deeper meaning: walk your own way).
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