The Amazing Race camp - Day One

30 Sept 2009
On this day, woke up around 7.30am to get ready for the camp... well, actually I din get enuf sleep (though I went into dreamland very early) cos I'm too excited abt the camp that I can't wait for it to come

Anyway, I wasn't very sleepy at that time la. Hee.. had a quick wash-up, then breakfast. After having a final check on my luggage bag, I headed outside my house to wait for Shirley Lee to pick me up to CBGC (fellow camper Alex Foo called me the previous nite, asking me to wait for Shirley at 9.15am in front of my house). Then at 9.30, she came but she's not the driver (Eugene was driving). After getting my luggage into the car, off we go.

PC briefing the campers abt the camp

When we arrived there, several members were waiting there dy. We unloaded our bags n headed into the church. Around 10am, when everyone there, PC gave us a short briefing abt the things we need to know for the camp (rules, regulations & other info). All the campers were divided into 4 grps n Patty, Shirley Lee, Pei Lee & Mun Yee were appointed leaders for the 4 grps. Sum ppl (Alex, John, Koon Eu & Richard for the guys; Jessie, Jialing, Irena & Patty for the gals) were assigned to get the necessary items like bedsheets, pillow cases, blankets from the office after arriving at the campsite.

Around 10.15am, bus arrived. Wooo... time to begin the journey. During the journey, sum ppl start sum conversation while sum just enjoy the sceneries along the way. Then in less than an hour, we arrived at Kem Sentosa, Chenderiang - our destination. Everyone (carrying their own bags) gathered at the dewan.

Tada.. the camp booklet

Route Information time: The officials of Kem Sentosa gave us a short briefing abt the campsite. After that, PC took over and distributed the camp booklets to all the campers. Anxiously, everyone start checking which grp they're in. There were 4 grps: Courage (led by Patty), Faith (Shirley), Hope (Mun Yee) and Perseverance (Pei Lee). And I was in the Patty's grp, together with Alvis Lee, Alex Foo, Irena Chua, Jimmy Lok, Mikey & Lishia.

Here are the teams (leader's name italicised):

Courage

Back row: (L-R) Alvis Lee, Quay Lishia, Irena Chua, Patty Koy

Middle row: Anthony Chan (me)

Front row: (L-R): Alex Foo, Michael Scofield, Jimmy Lok

Faith
From left: Hau Chia, Daniel Chi, Richard Ng, Stephen Chin, Charmaine Lok, Chong Jialing, Angelin Tang, Shirley Lee

Hope
Standing (L-R): Isaac Chay, Eugene Goh, Koon Eu, Sam Kok Chung, Koon Yan

Sitting (L-R): Jessie Liew, Mun Yee, Evonna Pock

Perseverance
Back row (L-R): Esmond Goh, John Kim, Jack Choong, Huan Yang
Front row (L-R): Wei San, Yu Hsia, Pei Lee, Sin Yee

Lunch time followed. While waiting for the rain to stop, we had a birthday celebration for Esmond Goh (Eugene's brother). John, a former Hotel Management student at TARCollege Kampar, cut and distributed the cake to everyone.

Eugene: Blow the candles, Esmond!!

Esmond's birthday cake

PC praying for Esmond

Esmond posing with his birthday cake. Blessed birthday, Esmond! May God bless u always!

While John was busy cutting the cake, those assigned to get the necessary items went ahead to get 35 each for blankets, pillow cases and bedsheets (32 for the campers, 2 for PC & KL, 1 for the speaker). John was one of them, but I volunteered to take his place.

The dorm on the left is where the female campers stay while the dorm on the right is for guys.

All the campers were separated into 2 dorms according to gender. Everyone had a short rest before getting ready for the race. KLynn explained how the race goes: all teams needed to get sum items into a bag and carried it along the way. If the bag touched the ground, a 3-pt penalty will be given to the team. Also, teams should stick together during the whole race.

LET THE RACE BEGINS!!!!!! All the four teams (of 7 ppl with Mikey, Jialing, Jessie & Mun Yee not playing) started the race by heading to assigned locations. However, Courage lost its way and paused to check the map. During this time, I was too anxious to find out where we're supposed to go until unaware of where I'm going. I had a small cut on both my legs and KLynn led me back to the dewan to let Mun Yee look at my injury. Oh crap! Is the race gonna be over for me? No way! Not even 5 minutes into the race, Courage was 1 man short. After Mun Yee washed and bandaged my injury, she told me that I can rejoin the race if I want. In the end, I've decided to finish the day's race together with the rest of my team. The obstacle courses was challenging and I managed to overcome them. The toughest obstacle for me was crossing the hanging log, where I've tried a few times trying to cross over but lost balance sumtimes. But thanks to my courage and determination plus support from my teammates, I've finally done it.

The final task in hand for all 4 teams was cooking eggs in the forest. We were the last team to go into the forest cos sum members had difficulty crossing the Monkey Rack obstacles. Using the items we picked up earlier plus additional items such as charcoal, we began our task. In btwn, while waiting for the eggs to be boiled, all the teams took a break by having a small picnic there. Then, Courage was the first team to leave the forest, leaving Hope, Faith & Perseverance behind. We thought we're gonna win this one, but due to some minor mistakes, we had to settle for 2nd place, with Faith winning the race, while Hope and Perseverance finished 3rd and 4th respectively.

After wash-up and dinner, time for first session of the camp. First a short ice-breaking by Irena followed by worship session (Check In). Pei Lee was the worship leader and she began by singing Hari Ini Ku Rasa Bahagia followed by few more songs. Then, PC introduced the speaker to us before handing the time over to Bro Joseph for his sermon (Yield Time). In the first leg, Bro Joseph talked abt faith and citing Abraham from the Bible as a case study. The Lord has asked him to leave his home and go to a place "he assigned him to go". He also promised Abraham a great nation, but the sad thing is both Abraham and his wife Sarah were very old. In the end, as promised by God, Sarah got pregnant and delivered Isaac. But Abraham faced his BIGGEST roadblock when God asked him to offer his only son as sacrifice to him.

After that, supper time. Then, some of the campers went for jungle-trekking at night (I'm one of them). Under the guidance of Encik Iskandar, 15 of us weaved through a jungle nearby the campsite. Great experience I had. Glad that I brought along my torchlight. But sumtimes, we didn't switch on our torches cos we had the natural torchlight (the moon) shining our way. After abt 1 hr plus, we exited the forest and return to our respective dorms. Sum campers still haven't slept yet, but I had a quick shower before going into dreamland, preparing for the next day. What a day!