Final Outdoor Education Camp (2007)

Hm...don't know what to blog about, so wanna write up things which took place last year. Outdoor education is one of my compulsory major subject to be taken during my semester 1 study. I like outdoor activities so I do enjoy myself throughout this subject.

Although during that time I am still in the recovery process from my anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction but I'm so glad that I am able to overcome the obstacles during my first semester studies. Actually it's not easy to fight against ourselves but luckily I managed it.

We had our final outdoor education camp at the end of the first semester studies which is after our final semester exams (30 November 2007-12 December 2007). We had it in Pulau Singa Besar, Langkawi. This really needs teamwork and everyone must give in a full effort to accomplish every task given. In this camp, we really need to stand on our own.

This is a real outdoor camping experience for everyone. We need to set up our own camp, main camp, toilet & bathroom, cooking area, store room, security tower, electricity and water. Another thing is all the equipments we have to bring on our own all the way from UPSI, Tanjung Malim to Pulau Singa Besar, Langkawi (electric generator, water pump generator, kayak, dinghy, ropes, cooking utensils, cooking gas and many other equipments).

This is the schedule of our camp from 30 November 2007 to 12 December 2007 :
30/11/2007 : Depart from UPSI (night)
01/12/2007 : Reach Kuala Perlis jetty-->Pulau Singa Besar (set up)
02/12/2007 : Touch up, Camp Management Workshop
03/12/2007 : Camp Management Workshop
04/12/2007 : Kayak Expedition
05/12/2007 : Survival
06/12/2007 : Camp Organizing
07/12/2007 : Kembara Ilmiah
08/12/2007 : Snorkelling and Flora Fauna
09/12/2007 : Ropes activities (Rock climbing, abseiling, rapelling)
10/12/2007 : Tidy up, Night Cultural Event
11/12/2007 : Break camp, Depart from Pulau Singa Besar-->Kuala Perlis jetty
12/12/2007 : Reach UPSI, unloading and clear equipments

If want to talk about everything then there will be a very long post here, so I'll just write on some of the unforgettable experience. The one which I won't forget most is the Kayak Expedition. We were all kayaking in pairs and there's one incident encountered by me and my partner. There's once when there is a strong current and we were swept to the side where there is rough water area.

We kept on paddling using all the strength we have to get out from that area and at that moment I'm so scared, some more kinda lack of energy already. The facilitators accompanied us also get worried at that time and they can just guide us on how to get out from there. Really very lucky that at last we managed to pull through the rough water and get back to the centre of the sea. None of our team members capsized during this expedition.

Another moment which I won't forget is the Survival activity. We were sent away from the base camp to another island. We were seperated into a few groups and being placed in different camp site along the beach side. We were required to stay there for 24 hours and were only provided with 1 poncho, 1 bottle of water, 1 fish hook with string, 3 matches, 1 torch light, 1 parang, a few pieces of biscuits, 1 potato and we were not allowed to bring any other personal belongings even a watch (only bring our own body with the items provided).

During night time, we were actually not allowed to sleep and must always be alert and also to make sure our campfire is always burning. There were certain time when we must reply to the torch light signal from our main camp site (ensure that every camp site is okay). Well, we are too tired actually and there's one moment when all of us (my group) fallen asleep and no one is guarding our camp site. We were caught by the facilitators and being scolded as well because we were exposing ourselves to danger (there were a lot of ships passing by there). All the 3 of us were punished (soak ourselves in the water for a few minutes, so cold man...I think that time is about 4:00a.m.)...

That are the moments which I won't forget the most and of course there are many others but too many and will be too long to post up here. If want to know more and in detail on the adventure, do ask me and I'll share with you all. I'll put up a photo slide show which is before, during and after the camp in a random order. So enjoy it...kinda long duration because there were about 101 photos which I have if I'm not mistaken.