Outward Bound Program

Outward Bound Program is a Leadership Development Program which is made compulsory for all PETRONAS scholars to attend. It is way different if to compared to Soaring The Eagle (STE) that I went for last year. There were no theory indoor classes. All modules were done outdoor, closer to nature.

Departed from UTP at 12.00pm on 5 June 2010, we reached Outward Bound Malaysia, Lumut (OBML) around 1.5 hours later. We were introduced to our instructors for the 7-day course in a simple opening ceremony. On the first day itself, we already took our group photo, the so-called "before" photo. lol

I was put into Mulu watch, under Mr. Azmi as our instructor. My members were Shanggar, Pau, Louisa, Camtu, Fareeda, Alif, Shah, Hariss, Chung, Zul and Joel. "Mulu Fighting" was our motto. =D

Others watches were Tahan and Yong Yap.

On second day, we were taught some basic lessons on whaler. Yeah, we would be going for sailing on the next day. I was kind of fascinated by water transportation, really, not to mention ships. Terms like bow, stern, starboard and port side are somewhat familiar to me. Ah, I learn them from my obsession of TITANIC. lol

Anyway, we started our first expedition on the third day morning. Get everything ready, we set sailing as early as 9a.m.

Get to ready to sail! Eh, no. Get ready to row~

Everyone was excited in the beginning and keep on taking photos. Well, not really sailing yet, I would say. It was ROWING. Yeah, rowing the whaler in the middle of the ocean.

Row, row, row your boat~

The whaler

Guess each of us were tough, none of us were getting seasick, just feeling a little dizzy. Rowing for nearly 4.5 hours, we stopped for a while for lunch and we were eating on the boat!

Floating restaurant!

We resumed our journey at 2.30pm if I recalled correctly and we reached our destination around 6.30pm. So yeah, a total of 8 hours of rowing and a little of sailing. It was crazy and sounds impossible but we did it! =) We camped at Shawal Beach for one night before returning to OMBL in the next morning. Oh, it was stormy in the morning but only last for a while.

We still row despite of the unpleasant weather.

This is better than the hot sun. I had severe sunburn throughout the course. =.=

In the evening, it was kayak lesson. Yup, our next expedition was kayaking, surrounds the Pangkor Island! My kayak partner was Hon.

Similar to the time we had for our first expedition, we embarked our journey at 9am. Kayak is more physical demanding than rowing a boat despite of the smaller size of the kayak if to compare to a whaler. In a whaler, there is a group of 12 people on board. One down, at least there are still back-ups to keep it going.

For kayak however, if similar situation happens, only left with one person to move the whole thing. It wasn't that easy. It is not about physical strength anymore. It is all about your positive mindset in resisting negative elements to keep you going with high will power together with extreme optimism despite of seem-to-be-impossible circumstance which can really make you depressed and feel like giving up, in the middle of nowhere, but we both stayed till the end. Have to say, the waves were huge at that time. Sometimes, we hardly see any kayak nearby as it was hidden under the rising waves. 0.0 It was fun though. =D

Not much photos taken while kayaking tho. =(

We reached our destination, Tanjung Sekadeh at 6.30pm. Again, another 8 hours of sea expedition. You wouldn't realise you have been on the sea for that long because all of you have been thinking about is to reach the site as soon as possible and in the end, voila, 8 hours of kayaking!

On the 6th day, we returned to OBML and have our Barbeque Night as a farewell party for all the participants with the instructors. Singing "Auld Lang Syne" will always remind me of the sweet nostalgia. We left for UTP at 9.30am on the last day.

MULU!

Last day

With our dear instructor, Mr. Azmi

Guess that's all I would like to share here. It is more than words. I miss the time there but going there again? Somehow I doubt it. LOL! All the best to other batches. Enjoy yourself there! =)

Credit given to Fareeda for the photos posted here.

I have the OB spirit,

Up in my head,

Deep in my heart,

Down in my knee,

All over me...

******************

I'm finally homed on 12th June 2010. I left immediately on the day I returned from OBML, at night. Leaving alone this time, I reached KLIA at 3.00am and had my supper at Burger King. Wandering around until 11.00am before going for departure hall. And oh, I just realised it is so hard to find a socket in KLIA. If not, I will be bored to death waiting for more than 7 hours there. =.= Ah, I need the socket to charge my laptop. lol

Enjoying my holidays so far and I am kind of into Sudoku lately, to spare my time. Well, till here for now. Happy holidays, people! =)

**Huhu, your thumbnail picture seems to always appear first, randomly. ='(

***World Cup fever is on. I am not real fan of football. But, if World Cup could lead to world peace, there is nothing wrong in embracing the sensation of this football season, yea? Waka-waka is damn catchy! Shakira looks so pretty in the video!