I am posting about the forest adventure for fun. Kenneth is at some hotel lala-ing. Hiok Yang had to go for some dinner kind of thing. And i just have too much time anyway.
This is how the activity went for everyone.
Ya just click on it to see clearer. So anyway. This is from the point of view of the 6 retarded people who went to Thomson forest to get bamboo. We went on the adventure of a lifetime.
When we split up, we first went for lunch. Joel and Amos and Anurak joined us. Us = Jack, Alvin, Rong Jun, Kenneth, Hiok Yang and Francis (myself).
So yea, lunch and the usual idle chatter. Then off to Thomson forest. On the bus ride there (bus 163), Kenneth enlightened us about why it was called Thomson forest. Basically, the long story is that, it is a forest in Thomson. So there is no sign or anything. When we actually got there, i recognised it as the "place we stopped to eat our lunch during sec 2 GTC". And Hiok Yang and Rong Jun also rememebered. It was at Old Upper Thomson Road. Yep, the screw up road where there are many accidents due to the way it is made. And Hiok Yang was recalling some cyclist who was suanning us with his bike while we were foaming during sec 2 GTC.
So anyway, picture this. 6 guys. 1 carrying a suspicious looking bundle. The bundle being 5 saws and 1 parang, wrapped in newspaper and held together with rubber bands. =D Hiok Yang and I, trying to be manly and being quite stupid, were wearing shorts, while the others were wearing long pants, after Kenneth's countless warnings of a screw up forest, they decided to play safe. However, Hiok Yang and I cared more about how hot our legs would be if they were in long pants. Anyway, this was a blessing in disguise for me.
We walked to the Fire Hydrant marker. From there, Kenneth roughly gauged the distance to where Kenneth and Hiok Yang had last entered the forest with the guidance of Zhi the almighty parang wielder. In the end we just aga-aga a bit then just chiong in from some place that looked like it was walkable. I dropped my Plum Juice there, to mark where we came in and so we had a drink to come back to later.
The forest "entrance".
I had the honour of taking over the position of Zhi and became "parang-man", AKA, "sacrificial lamb", AKA, "clear the path". =D Quite fun. Take the parang then anyhow whack and chop. So we kinda bashed in. Occasionally turning back when it got too thick to go through. With the rough and general direction of the bamboo in Kenneth's mind, we just anyhow whacked. Chiong through the forest and all that. Basically, we were lost and just bashing around.
So yea, all was fine and dandy until we stepped into an ant nest. Those giant red angry ants. For some reason, even though i was first, Hiok Yang got bitten worst than me. But i did was into a spider web while chionging away... I had to chiong so the others could chiong also. Then we went down slope cos Kenneth could see the clearing where the bamboo was. And soon we could actually see the bamboo. After going downhill a bit, we were there.
We stopped and whacked the ants off ourselves and then down to business with sawing bamboo. We were damn happy cos the bamboo was damn nice. Damn young and green and clean. And it owned the bamboo they cut for NPC last year. With orders from Kenneth, Hiok Yang and I didn't help with the sawing, instead, we walked further on to find an exit out. Cos no one wanted to walk back through the ant nest...
The two of us went further downhill and found another bamboo mini-forest. Cos you know, bamboo grows in groups. Then further down, we found yet another one. We were kinda bashing around and Hiok Yang was recalling the way they came in last time. We found the original bamboo group which they cut the NPC bamboo from. It was quite old and foamy. Haha.
Then, disaster struck! As Hiok Yang would describe it later: "... i was walking behind then suddenly his head disappear." And as Francis would later describe it as: "*squelch*" And everyone was laughing about it later. But as both guys would admit, it was freaking scary at the time it happened and both Hiok Yang and Francis panicked when it happened.
Let me first show you the end result:
Awesome isn't it? A perfect work of art.
To cut a long story short, Francis fell into mud.
For the long story however, this is how it happened, in high definition and with all details included.
Hiok Yang and Francis were just talking and stuff and Francis was swinging the parang around and clearing the way. Francis had a parang in one hand and his handphone and wallet in the other. Hiok Yang had a saw in one hand and some newspaper in the other. And then Francis stepped on to this innocent looking piece of ground, which looked just like any other piece of ground and had leaves all over it, just like any other piece of ground and had twigs on it, just like any other piece of ground, and had a tree nearby, just like any other piece of ground, and it sucked Francis' whole leg in, just totally unlike any other piece of ground.
That would have been a damn "wah thaaaaanks" moment if it wasn't so damn life threatening. My first thought was: "shit my shoe dirty now." Second thought was: "oh crap i can sink all the way in and die." Third thought was: "WTF!" All three thoughts came in within a second. And Hiok Yang shouted: "grab my hand!" Which was quite impossible for me cos i had a parang in one hand and my valuables in the other. And so i panicked and tried to use my other leg to push myself up by stepping on the "innocent looking" ground next to where i sunk in. And guess what... my left leg went in also... Now i just felt screwed... So without thinking and relying on natural instinct, i just stepped fast and tried to go BACK instead of FRONT, cos FRONT is probably more shit, while BACK is where i know there is solid ground and a good friend who can pull me up. And yay i got out =D. And both of us laughed.
We circumvented the now "not so innocent looking" piece of ground. I mean, after it has been trashed up by 2 legs, it just looked like mud. And Hiok Yang and i were discussing the screw up-ness of that situation. "I thought it was quick sand" and "Wah damn scary", kept coming up. But we walked on towards the sound of cars and the road. We stopped and then went back cos Hiok Yang could recognise the route liao. Went back and we were like shouting to Kenneth, Alvin, Rong Jun and Jack about the screw up we just went through. Then Hiok Yang said: "you all have to see". And we walked up the slope and they could see my legs and shoes. Alvin thought i was wearing scout shoes cos they were all brown and blackish. Haha.
So then Hiok Yang and i helped out with the sawing of bamboo and stuff. Kenneth got a deep cut from the bamboo. We all suggested using saliva. Cos you know, saliva is a natural antispetic. And being the random retards we were, we didn't bring a first aid kit or water with us. Damn screwed up right? But yea, the saliva helped. And we sawed and cut the bamboo into sizeable chunks to fit into the garbage bags and for us to carry.
We also found out that bamboo has hair. Hairy bamboo. Go into puberty liao. Meanwhile, my legs were just foaming in the mud. And Alvin, Jack, Rong Jun and Kenneth were all complaining about bites on their necks. Hiok Yang and i didn't have any. New hypothesis: Because the 4 of them wear long pants, so the insects bite their necks. The 2 of us wore shorts, so they bite our legs instead. Haha. And due to my mud caked legs, the previous bites felt ok cos the mud has healing properties or something. And the insects couldn't bite me liao, i got mud armour!
And we had our photo-taking before we left. Just to show that we were there.
Wow, all of us are inside.
Guess who the photographer was?
Remember our other batch photo? The one at the recce for SUTC orienteering? The "Hiok Yang phone on a branch" photographer? Go archives and check. 2008, march or april period.
Now we are Ventures. Level UP!!
Use vines! Got counter-balance! Natural Tripod!
This just shows that we are modern scouts. Mixing modern technology with our skills with nature!
Awesomeness upon awesomeness.
And then we bashed our way back out. The rest were careful not to make the same mistake as i. And i volunteered to go in front. For a few reasons. Number 1: I am parang-man. Number 2: my legs and shoes all screwed up liao, step into mud again never mind one. Number 3: its damn fun!
So we just bashed back out. And we came out damn happy and full of that "victory" feeling. And we walked back to my plum juice bottle to see how big a circle we went. With a bit of guesstimation. And then i stupidly went and took off my shoes. The results:
Some Michael Jackson.
But yea it was damn fun. And we were all talking about it on the way back to RI. Like how we got ownage bamboo and stuff.
And the bamboo smelled nice. =D
Back at RI, Joel and Amos opened the RJC gate for us. And we went den. And Jack and i went to storage den. To put the bamboo there and for me to wash my shoes. Thanks Jack! For helping me wash my screwed up shoes.
We then went back to the den with a first aid kit to aid the others. Kenneth was going off and we met him at the security guardhouse there. So he got the antiseptic and a plaster. Then back to the den to treat the other wounded warriors. Then the hamster people arrived. Jon Ed, Sup and Zhong Jun. Soham the Zohan had to go for his class. And we were all saying the hamsters were "soooo cuuute" Cos they were.
And after the hamsters went off with Joel Foo, people started heading home. Hiok Yang and I went to the swimming pool toilets to shower. And then both of us and Zhong Jun and Alvin went to J8 for dinner. I walked there barefoot because my shoes not dry yet.
It was a great day.
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