Stories of me and myself

It means "Big Bamboo".

Guess what was for breakfast? We just sat at the table and they served us bread and jam. Because our expectations were already rock bottom, we assumed that was all. But no.... they served us (much later, after lots of bread was being consumed) sunny-side-ups, sausage, baked beans and tea/coffee. And of course, I walloped a whole lot of egg yolks cos kids don't sem to like yolks!


I shooed them to gobble up their breakfast and return to their bunks to check out. So this was our bunk of 6 beds.

3 monkeys in the longhouse just outside our rooms.

Another cool form of transportation. A safari lorry, they call it. But obviously none of us wanted to sit down! We all stood up to enjoy the breeze and played "Duck" with the tree branches... (the boys and myself being the first 3 to warn the others of tree branches, as we were standing in front), while the kids sang "A whole new world" at the top of their voices. Pretty fun!

I had one silly, blur kid who would stand sideways and not listen to the warning, so "BAM" the tree branch would go, and she would be dazed. And before she knows it, the next branch would come! Haha! So she was the joke of the day! =)

View of the path in front of us, on the safari lorry

Damaged phone. Observe the bend in the battery! One of them dropped her phone off the safari lorry, and the lorry ran over it! Hahaha!

But you know what the amazing thing is?? Although the inerts seem crushed, it could still vibrate and answer calls!!! =)


The next part of the day was to be the most exciting part... River study! We travelled a whole 30 mins on the safari lorry winding along the tea plantations to our destination. When we hopped off the lorry, the lorry got stuck in the mud! So we joined forces and pushed the lorry with all our might. And we succeeded! More fun there! And my girls would claim... "We're man!" =)

I led the trek this time round, although I didn't know the place! I just followed the route, and directions from the guide at the back. We literally climbed up and down for 15 - 20 mins or so before reaching the river.

The trek to the river...

I was filled with excitement and shock. Excitement because I absolutely loved the river, and the prospect of going into it. Shock because the current was quite strong, and I was worried over the safety of my kids and the feasibility of the river study. There were rapids before and after the 100m stretch of somewhat calm water in which we were to study. But the guide claimed that it was safe to swim. And he's the guide right?

So without further ado, I divided my kids up into 2 groups, and we went about measuring the width of the river, the cross-sectional area, the velocity, etc.

I ventured over to the other side of the river with my 2 "ma" girls and the 2 boys. Hmm... one girl and myself almost got washed away to the rapids as there were lots of turbulence around the rocky area on the opposite side. What a frightening experience! Haha! But I stabilized 1 boy and 1 girl on a rock, before starting the measuring. There was once when the metre rule was too short to measure the height of the river at the opposite side, so I just made do with 1m. I mean, how accurate can one be in that turbulent waters??

Measuring of the velocity was a whole lot of fun. Why? Because I used a hardened mangosteen as a float! And I instructed my kids to guard it with their lives, by forming a line to catch the mangosteen before it enters the rapids! It was hilarious when everyone got so uptight over the mangosteen! Hahaha!

In the end, we used human floats, as the guide provided a safety tyre. So the kids had lots of fun floating down the river, while we timed the velocity. Afterward, we just spent the time searching for pretty pebbles (heart-shaped ones) and skipping stones. Heh. There was this girl who was always so engrossed in searching for her heart-shaped pebbles that it seemed like she was planting wet rice in the river, and oblivious to all other activities around her! Hahaha!

So this was the meander at the bend of the river.

Measuring the velocity of the river, and forming a line to catch my mangosteen.


Group photo in the river

And splashing the kids after the photo! =)

And when we returned from the river, there was a whole plain in front of us. No forest. And an Obstacle course! I must say these boys are rather strong! One of them made it up without using his legs at all! Sheer body strength!

And of course, I can't miss out on the fun! =)
That night, the guide even showed us illuminous mushrooms! And the stars just filled the sky! What a beautiful beautiful night! And some of my kids and myself tried to scare the rest by walking in front in the total darkness and screaming, as if encounteringng some huge insect. Haha! But our plan fell through, as the timing was wrong! So we got laughed at instead! =)

Well, there was lots to debrief and teach that night! We sat in the longhouse (perfect place... with the breeze and all) and talked about fieldwork of the river, did calculations, described the different flows and their conditions, explained river features, etc. And the highlight of the day was for them to break into 4 groups to put up a skit of the most memorable time of the day. It turned our to be a great time of fun and laughter! Heh. Afterward, we just stayed up in our room and talked, before venturing out to talk to the others till we all dozed off.

Perfect day. *blissful*