Thanks for the comments and the "Happy Birthday"s, guys. Well, in case some of you didn't know/forgotten/have no idea what i'm talking about, i'd turned 19 last thursday. Besides a few sms' from close friends wishing me "happy bday", nothing special happened, which i didn't mind. To be honest, if given a choice, i'd rather be a kid again than to be an adult. I miss those days when all i had to worry about was what games to play next with my friends... Ah well, one day at a time. :P

 

This week was a tough week... because we'd missed out on 1 week worth of lessons due to the delay in Brunei, our lessons were combined together and we had a crash-course on how to operate the FH2000 (this big artillery gun). Boy, was it confusing having to learn all the buttons, commands and procedures on how it works in such a short period of time. And the thing is, i won't be the one operating the gun in the future! But as future officers, we must know basically how all things work, so in case someone like the operator dies, we can take their place. But that doesn't mean that we will remember everything that's being taught to us!!! I felt like my brain was about to explode yesterday when i was in charge of positioning the barrel in the correct direction. Making sure the elevation and direction is correct, that the barrel breech is fully secured, and a few things that i don't even understand why i must do it, but i do anyway.

 

Well, i've posted a few pics from my trip to brunei, so go see if you can spot me! :D

 

 

Sleep... that's what i'm lacking atm... coz i did guard duty this saturday, there goes one bookout day for me... (which was a public holiday, for crying out loud!!!)

 

Speaking of things i'm lacking, you know the scenes from those love movies where the guy walks down the city streets all alone and everywhere he looks are couples walking arm-in-arm? And he can't help but stare at them longingly? Haha, somehow these scenes seem very familiar to me. :P

 

For those of you who read my blog constantly, you're probably thinking: "Hang on, hasn't he blogged about this before? and now he's at it again?"

 

Well, last week, i've decided not to have a gf until i'm 21. Reason being, i wanna be more mature before i go into another relationship. And also to establish a good network of friends when i return to melbourne (i'll be 20 then) before i make a decision. So having a singaporean gf is highly unlikely for my case unless she's coming back to melbourne with me after i ORD (now will you guys can stop harrassing me about whether i've found a cute girl everytime you talk to me on msn?!).

I've been thinking about coming back to melbourne for a visit... If i were to come back, it would be around early-mid march next year, and i think it'll only be for a few days. Mom is ok with it, but Dad disagrees with me coming back. He says that "once you finish your ns, most likely you will not be going back to singapore again, and you would spend most of your time here in melbourne. So take this time to enjoy singapore/asia." He has a point in a way... but i've been feeling homesick lately and i miss everyone back home... (which place is my home, actually?)

Hey guys, i'm back and alive (last time i checked) from Brunei. Sorry for the late post, i'd planned to write on monday, but i'd experienced some difficulty in Brunei. Thanks for the touching comments guys. [Tom! You're alive as well!] I didn't have that many flashes back in Brunei, most likely because i was too busy to think, or that i was too exhausted to remember them. XD

 

We boarded the airplane (Singapore Airlines) at approximately 0230 hrs and although we had cool onboard entertainment, i didn't bother myself with them. What i wanted was to be back in my room sleeping instead of being flown off to a foreign country in the name of "training". That was the general mood for most of us actually (if i had a dollar every time i heard the words "i wanna go home."...). Anyway, the plane ride was about two hours long; i'd slept most of the way, only having to wake up just to eat supper and wondering just how old the air stewardess was (she must've been 30). After we'd touched down in the airport in brunei (i was too tired to find out what the airport was called), we were driven to the military naval base of some sort where we got onto a fastcraft that would transport us across the sea and then upriver to the other part of Brunei (Brunei is split in two, go figure). I should have slept on the boat ride, but there was a cool Shao Lin monk movie being played and it was too funny not to watch! Anways, after another bus ride, we finally reached our destination: a Singaporean military camp in the middle of nowhere. The toilets were better than Khatib, but the bunks there were laughable. The beds were double-deckered with a thin styrofoam cushioning on a thing spring base.

 

We spent the first three days preparing for our jungle training, which includes river crossing. Here, i literally have to swim across a river with three of my friends. It was an interesting experience, especially when the river current swept us all too far downriver that we had to be dragged up further upriver via motorboat. When this was over, we began our jungle training. Here are the things we had to do in order: Find two checkpoints, find a logpoint (a checkpointed manned by people), cross a shallow river, climb up Mt. Biang (a hill about 300-400m high), navigate down Biang and finally, do a combat river crossing at the same place where we'd practiced. We were given a period of four days to complete this, however, we were encouraged to finish it asap.

 

 Jungle training in brunei, where to start? Well, let me start by saying that Singapore's "jungle" is nothing compared to Brunei's. Trees, vines, thorns, ants the size of my pinky (i'm serious!). Second, there are so many steep hills in the jungle that it's not funny. And since there are so many freaking trees everywhere you look, following the ridglines of these hills are the only way to navigate in the jungle without getting totally lost. Thirdly, stream water taste awesome! Especially when you're extremely thirsty. I was slightly apprehensive at first, but after the first gulp, i was surprised at how sweet it tasted (must've been the wild boar's urine a bit further upstream). Next, you can't see for nuts after sunset. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face as i waved it back and forth. Because of this, we had to find a harbouring spot at 4pm and have our hammocks set up at 5pm before the sun set. After which, we cooked dinner and just sat around by our campfire talking cock until late at night.

 

What's one of the most freakiest creatures in the jungle at night? Well, to me, it'll be (don't laugh).... fireflies.

I'm not kidding! I was lying on my hammock with my eyes closed, trying to ge some sleep, when suddenly i heard a noise in front of my hammock, and when i opened my eyes, i saw two growing eyes staring at me (keep in mind that the jungle is pitch black). I reflexively jerked and said a few things i shouldn't have said before i realised that they were only harmless fireflies.

 

Well, since the sun doesn't rise until around 6am, we couldn't wake up and pack out things before then. So we had about 12 hours of free time before we had to set off again. But i dreaded it every time we had to move off, because there would never be a flat piece of land for more than 10 metres. And we also had to keep an eye out for bees' nests and thorn plants which we might accidentally grab onto when we are slipping, as well as tree roots and vines which would trip us up if we're not careful, not to mention the slippery mud and moss-covered rocks. I'd fallen about 6 times on my back (thank God it's not face first). The walking was very monotonous along the way, occasionally i talked with some of my friends around me, but afterwards, i was too exhausted to do anything other than breath and put one foot in front of the other. More than once, we had to climb up steep hills (about 80 degrees), which made me wonder whether i was rock-climbing instead of jungle trekking. This is why you should stick to the ridgelines and avoid direct bashing.

 

The climb up Biang was tiring, but going down from it was even worse. The vegetaion was thicker and the environment more unforgiving. We all had a couple of close calls with a sharp jutting rock, or a dead tree or a ten foot drop. Fortunately, no serious incident occured in my group. The only serious injury I'd sustained was when i'd banged my shin on a tree root (yes, they can grown that tall). A bit of bleeding, but it healed up pretty fast. There were very little streams on Biang, so we nearly ran out of water on our trek down Biang. Fortunately, we found one clean stream which we drank from before we headed off again. It took almost 3 days, but we finally reached the last river where we crossed it. Marking the end of our jungle experience.

 

Well, after resting for a few days, we were taken on a tour in the capital of Brunei for one day. Pretty boring, in my opinion. I got an SMS from Vanessa and my aunt that my grandfather on my father's side passed away. I was sad that i couldn't attend his funeral, which was to take place on monday afternoon. Even though i wasn't really close to him, i'd wished i could go and pay my respects before i said goodbye to him. From what i remembered, he accepted Christ a few months ago, so when i got the message, i closed my eyes and said a prayer of thanksgiving to God on a speedboat in the middle of a river. Anyways, we had meant to fly back on monday, but due to the heavy haze over singapore (visibility was less than 3km), our flight was cancelled and postponed all the way until wednesday. So we had basically nothing to do over there except play ball games and watch movies before we could finally fly back. The plane was not the commercial flight, but rather, the army airplane which they used to paradrop trips and supplies (yes, we all were joking about it on the flight back). I didn't like it. The seats were uncomfortable and my butt was cramping at the end of the flight. But i was glad to be finally home in singapore.

 

A Major asked me after i finished my final river crossing whether i respect the jungle now. My reply?

 

"Yes, I respect the jungle, sir. I keep away from it, and it keeps away from me."

We'd spent a majority of this week learning about the voice procedures to call for artillery fire. Quite boring when you're not the one calling for it, but yeah... Anyways, we also spent time packing our stuff for Brunei as well as mentally preparing ourselves for our first overseas trip. I must admit that i was very nervous and reluctant about going, i mean, it's a bit too soon in my opinion and i needed time to mentally prepare myself. But i guess after talking to other people and Dad, i'm pretty much okay with it now.

 

Lately, i've been having random flashes about my life back in Australia. What does this mean? Well, because of these "flashes", i felt extremely lonely and homesick... especially when i would have a flash of me joking with Felicity, or playing X-box with ray and the guys, or wasting my life away playing computer games straight after school (LOL)! I wonder why am i having these flashes this week. I mean, of course i'd often thought about my life in melbourne before, but that was voluntarily. This is a totally diffent experience. Some of the flashes had events that i'd long forgotten about but had somehow managed to claw it's way into my consciousness again...

 

oh well, tonight, i have to report to Changi Airport at midnight, where i would catch the 2:30am flight to Brunei with my friends. From what i'm told, i'll be doing some jungle navigation, river crossing (with possible crocodiles in it) and climbing a hill/mountain. Please remember me in your prayers and tune in to this blog next monday which is when i'm coming back (maybe). XD

 

Well, guys, take care and have fun!

(All the best with your exams, bro)