unlimited
Sunday, February 12, 2006
More OB goodness
Because I'm just too lazy to bother with writing a lengthy post about the rest of the OB trip, I'll just use photos. Now, behold photo spam like you've never seen on this blog before! I usually get annoyed at having lots of photos to see and scroll down on on blogs. You have my permission to skip this post if you want =). On another note, Blogger makes some funky code >_<. 
Liyana on belay, Nina on second belay. It's an uplifting feeling, being on belay =).
Mim and Karl showing us knotting. Here we learn how to tie our legs to posts. You know, just in case. This was easy for me because I still remember some knots from cadets.
Our tree! Infested with red ants, we still spent a lot of our post-lunch free time relaxing under this tree. Dorms not co-ed and a little stuffy, after all. Many stupid conversations were held underneath its boughs, and freaky belly dancing by Too we need never see again.
A view from the balcony of the guys' dorm, those lights are Pangkor Island I think. It was the best I could do without a manual function on Too's cam.
Too and me on the first jungle trek. The background is some quarry that bordered the bit of jungle we were in. I only look cheerful =).
Light streams through the trees as we begun the forested part of our jungle-y (Nina's word) expedition. It was scenic for maybe the first hour, then it got boring and repetitive and 'Haven't we passed that @#%! tree 50 times already? Are you sure we aren't @#$! lost?'
Too, Kim, Karl, Liyana, and much fatigue.
Liaq and The Jungle Trek That Wouldn't End.
Vernon in the pink, expressing our collective feelings about the jungle trek. @#$!!
Bakar, Liaq, Vernon, washing the canvas tent sheets and Nina watching. Seemed like we just kept washing and washing those sheets... but it was only thrice, I think, once after each expedition. What I wouldn't have given for a nice modern lightweight tent.
The beautifully scenic site of our sea expedition. Sun, surf, sand... a lot better than the land expedition, certainly.
There was, unfortunately, a "dire monkey problem", to quote Karl. Ferocious buggers, at least we made it through okay (except they stole the patties. And a parang, if that's even remotely possible.).
Resting after the kayakking. Sue strikes a pose.
Me and the grand design of the guys tents. No stuffy A-frames, I decided. We brought all the tent sheets anyway. It was fun go mad! I think I was the only enthused person... It was like cadet camp without someone telling you what to do =). Just someone making sure you don't kill yourself.
The final guys' tent, sort of like a giant lean to. I was in the bottom corner, from your perspective. It wasn't really all that comfortable and the temperature drops were killing in a chilling way and the sounds of monkeys raiding the site kept me awake for a while (I kept thinking boars! boars! I need a gun! boars!), but at least it looks good =).
Nina in the guys' tent, chatting the evening away. I can't remember about what anymore.
Other thoughts: sleeping in a jungle really brings out primal fears. As a rule I'm not superstitious, but in the jungle at night, with solid darkness all around, and people telling ghost stories, you do wonder. Your imagination fills out the darkness with horrors. Fear grabs you by the figgins. And my response is to rationalise away the fear.
After all, superstition could be said to boil down to a fear of death, or injury, or loss, I think. There's always some essence. Why are you afraid of the ghostly horrors? Why? Will they hurt you? Will the kill you? Will they destroy your hopes for the afterlife? This one is rather unfounded besides.
I wonder too, why there aren't benevolent ghosts that go around giving you money and such. It stands to reason that if one sort of ghost exists, the other could too. Maybe a philantrophist died without giving away all his money, so he's given a chance to fulfill that generous wish. Or maybe a mother who lost her child in a car accident seeks to save people. That sort of thing.
And since we can't control random acts of ectoplasmic violence, why bother worrying? Might as well fear spontaneous human combustion. We can't live our lives in the shadow of fear, after all. We'd go mad.
Still, in a jungle at night, surrounded by pitch darkness and the incessant sounds of insects and other inhabitants, one can't help but feel a little afraid. After all, when we sleep we are so very vulnerable.
More on OB to come if I feel like it.
Liyana on belay, Nina on second belay. It's an uplifting feeling, being on belay =).
Mim and Karl showing us knotting. Here we learn how to tie our legs to posts. You know, just in case. This was easy for me because I still remember some knots from cadets.
Our tree! Infested with red ants, we still spent a lot of our post-lunch free time relaxing under this tree. Dorms not co-ed and a little stuffy, after all. Many stupid conversations were held underneath its boughs, and freaky belly dancing by Too we need never see again.
A view from the balcony of the guys' dorm, those lights are Pangkor Island I think. It was the best I could do without a manual function on Too's cam.
Too and me on the first jungle trek. The background is some quarry that bordered the bit of jungle we were in. I only look cheerful =).
Light streams through the trees as we begun the forested part of our jungle-y (Nina's word) expedition. It was scenic for maybe the first hour, then it got boring and repetitive and 'Haven't we passed that @#%! tree 50 times already? Are you sure we aren't @#$! lost?'
Too, Kim, Karl, Liyana, and much fatigue.
Liaq and The Jungle Trek That Wouldn't End.
Vernon in the pink, expressing our collective feelings about the jungle trek. @#$!!
Bakar, Liaq, Vernon, washing the canvas tent sheets and Nina watching. Seemed like we just kept washing and washing those sheets... but it was only thrice, I think, once after each expedition. What I wouldn't have given for a nice modern lightweight tent.
The beautifully scenic site of our sea expedition. Sun, surf, sand... a lot better than the land expedition, certainly.
There was, unfortunately, a "dire monkey problem", to quote Karl. Ferocious buggers, at least we made it through okay (except they stole the patties. And a parang, if that's even remotely possible.).
Resting after the kayakking. Sue strikes a pose.
Me and the grand design of the guys tents. No stuffy A-frames, I decided. We brought all the tent sheets anyway. It was fun go mad! I think I was the only enthused person... It was like cadet camp without someone telling you what to do =). Just someone making sure you don't kill yourself.
The final guys' tent, sort of like a giant lean to. I was in the bottom corner, from your perspective. It wasn't really all that comfortable and the temperature drops were killing in a chilling way and the sounds of monkeys raiding the site kept me awake for a while (I kept thinking boars! boars! I need a gun! boars!), but at least it looks good =).
Nina in the guys' tent, chatting the evening away. I can't remember about what anymore.Other thoughts: sleeping in a jungle really brings out primal fears. As a rule I'm not superstitious, but in the jungle at night, with solid darkness all around, and people telling ghost stories, you do wonder. Your imagination fills out the darkness with horrors. Fear grabs you by the figgins. And my response is to rationalise away the fear.
After all, superstition could be said to boil down to a fear of death, or injury, or loss, I think. There's always some essence. Why are you afraid of the ghostly horrors? Why? Will they hurt you? Will the kill you? Will they destroy your hopes for the afterlife? This one is rather unfounded besides.
I wonder too, why there aren't benevolent ghosts that go around giving you money and such. It stands to reason that if one sort of ghost exists, the other could too. Maybe a philantrophist died without giving away all his money, so he's given a chance to fulfill that generous wish. Or maybe a mother who lost her child in a car accident seeks to save people. That sort of thing.
And since we can't control random acts of ectoplasmic violence, why bother worrying? Might as well fear spontaneous human combustion. We can't live our lives in the shadow of fear, after all. We'd go mad.
Still, in a jungle at night, surrounded by pitch darkness and the incessant sounds of insects and other inhabitants, one can't help but feel a little afraid. After all, when we sleep we are so very vulnerable.
More on OB to come if I feel like it.
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