Before we begin, we must thank willy for the 5 minutes he spent on that nicely done picture to kickstart this series of entries. And now on to the second day of JEX...

Day TWO: Awoke early around 5am to prepare for The Journey. And after a swift breakfast, we were off by bus to the Paka river mouth, an hour's ride away. Arrived at the river mouth, which was essentially very muddy and the bank was dumped with hidden small piles of cow dung everywhere. Quickly loaded the backpacks onto the mother boat (pls do not add any words between mother and boat), which wasn't wad i was picturing. It's basically a wooden fishing boat that's about two bump boats large. Stepping into the water is really like stepping into quicksand, or quickmud for that matter, it threatens to devour your leg and you sink in. So after a quick water confidence test in the ass chilling waters and some last minute peeing, we were ready to roll. Noteworthy was the large rainbow we saw, a sure sign of things to come.

My partner for the day was to be ELY, who keeps singing L-O-V-E and had an super cool cap with in-built sunshades (which mr shah totally laughed his ass off at). The journey started with rather rocky waters, which i found to be tremendous fun, but not so for others. I believe many got a little sea sick at the start but luckily the waves blew over so it was calm again. Poor ralph ng kenna sea sick damn bad, turning green and hyperventilating (i heard) and so had to be sent on board the mother boat. Licui also got a little sea sick and had to take a break.

So Qianhua was paired with Mr Low and that was when i borrowed Mr Low's power paddle. (Supposedly can paddle on its own one.) The ultra light, hollow, black paddle was made of polycarbon something like that, and basically its damn light and cuts the water very nicely. Another interesting thing was how we were using our fingers to measure how far tenggol island was, fitting as many fingers into that distinct 3 peaks that was tenggol island.

After lunch i not only relieved myself, but also relieved those struggling with their single kayaks so i took over nicole's bathtub kayak. And quite honestly, the initial part saw me bitching and cursing cause it was really a lot more difficult compared to the double kayak. But after a certain time, you realise that using brute force and putting all your strength would not work. The kyak literally had a speed limit and the trick was to keep the momentum of rowing, the arm movement. Kayaked for a reasonable amount in it before i swapped with Lawrence for the single fiberglass kayak.

And truly, its speed was worth the shakiness and instability. It could outspeed the double kayak and the pointer although a small tilt and it would threaten to capsize, and you don't want to capsize it cause it'll just fill with water. And if you still had doubts about the power of the fiberglass, well i was kayaking when we all saw the motor boat holding a paddle up vertically in the air, ie. a raft up signal. So i had to check it out and as i kayaked i realised i was not getting nearer cause the stupid guy had the engine on so basically i was chasing the motorboat. But hey hey, i managed to catch up with it and realised it was a false alarm, he was trying to get the attention of the another motor boat. But i caught up with a motor boat how's that for a pro kayak.

So after much kayaking, we finally neared the island, ie to the point where 10 fingers were not enough. But it's this "so near yet so far" moments that were really irritating. And unfortunately, we had really strong currents sweeping us port side and we had to keep moving starboard to compensate for it. Finally we kayaked near enough to chiong straight for the beach and finally arrived at our destination of Tenggol island.

And no, we did not do the tango once we got there. It was upon landing that i felt all the fiberglass splinters on my knees and you can't even see these splinters. Anyway we arrived right at dust and had to make whatever was left of the daylight (about 45 min) to set up tents and wash up. Helped out with QM and after everything was done then we heard that water supply in the toilets was cut. And we were really shit, cause kelly, me and michelle haven't bathed at all and the sea doesnt exactly smell nice. But fortunately, the water came back on.

Oh and i have to talk about our tent area. Basically it's in front of "Tenggol Resort" which is essentially this brown hut-like structure with an open balcony in front and a kitchen behind, that's about it. And we had really beachfront view so its quite neat. Before we knew it, the whole campsite was mazed with clothes lines that made walking a hazard in itself.

Dinner was mee sua with....mee sua. Basically nothing but sardine sauce which was quite disappointing, but we make do with life. Fortunately, i had one pack of army rations, some "Jap curry noodles" that was bomb nice and damn shiok. Quickly cleaned up and we turned in for the night, in the spare tent that was supposed to be for the teachers but they had rooms to sleep in, so James me and gtay conveniently occupied it. It was right in front of all the tents, giving us truly beachfront wind and scenery. As the next morning will reveal.

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The Breaking of the Fellowship, a song that we should all listen not just for its apt title but for the slow harmony that brings back memories and more memories of all the time spent together. A song that i believe will see me listening to after each expedition.