Birthday Shakes

To name this after my birthday after nearly a week seems to be a joke of sorts. What I can say is that there are many changes that has happened over the past few days.
The number of people leaving is now a reality. New guys are here.
My birthday was meant to be quiet until it was discovered ‘accidentally’, adroitly uncovered by a well-timed parcel addressed to me.
Subsequent regimental duties to be performed was as boring and non-traumatizing as per normal which is good.

Enough about that then!!

The new guys are good and well I shall reserve judgment on them as I’m not really in the best of positions to make them. I’m not that saintly myself. I haven’t gotten into any trouble or done anything stupid. So there! Nothing remarkable about my unassuming life.

I went up and started picking up the guitar again somewhat though how good I’m gonna be remains to be seen. I read a couple of blogs myself and was quite impressed on some of them. Some of them puts me to shame just by their apparent sophistications of the world at large and usage of impressive words while others write pretty good articles ranging from airplanes to zoology. It doesn’t matter what age they were, heck some of them were younger than me. It just goes to show just how much out of touch I am with the current affairs of the outside world.
I read with some sadness on a friend’s blogs of her troubles and heard of another’s lost of a parent. I’m not there in spirit and neither am I there in person. I could say I didn’t even make much phone calls at all. Something is seriously wrong with me. I have to get my act together and do something. I’m complacent. Face it. I won’t get off my butt to do something because I’m far too lazy to do something about it. Frightening isn’t it when you start realizing it. Must be the effects of age I suppose. The problem here is what am I gonna do about it……………….

Life is like a forge (here I go again), Trials and Tribulations are part and parcel of it. Trials is like the fires of the forge testing one’s mettle to see how far you can go before melt into despair entirely. Tribulations are like hammer blows to shape into a useful tool or may shatter the material should it proved to brittle. When that happens, pick up the pieces and start forging anew. Only how many would be willing to do that? It’s a question worth pondering isn’t it? Just how many pieces are worth putting together again instead of just giving up gathering the pieces all over again? I’d only you would know the answer to that.

Belalong and Changeovers

Today is the day I went out on a Official Camp Trip to a place called Belalong. Well it seemed at first to be a boring place to go to but I ended up having no regrets as it truly is a beautiful place. Turns out there’s an Outward Bounds Brunei Darussalam there as well. Lol.

It’s quite a distance from the camp to Belalong which incidentally is also a National Park. It’s home to some of the tallest trees and has claims that it is not fully explored with hints of having secrets hidden in it. Meaning to say this is a virgin tropical rain forest untouched by the construction efforts of civilization. The one thing I was looking forward to was having a chance to have a better look at the majestic Hornbills. I saw them last at my Mars Station which is outfield and that rarely so I saw this as a chance to observe them even better just that there was one little snag…………I saw none of them, not even
heard a single cry. Sad isn’t it? Maybe it was their day off.

To start off we sat in a boat. Short and simple and does it sound familiar? Seems everything in Brunei have this reliance on boats. Anyway back to the story of this day. The boat or in this case sampan/long boat was different from the other boats in that this time there was a plowman who sits at the front or the prow to guide the boatman manning the engine. The plowman or woman also has the job to plow the boat through shallow and rocky waters which turned out to be pretty often. It’s not an easy job and it takes skill to navigate the river itself as there are rapids and the waterways are mostly restricted to narrows channels due to the river’s state. The boat itself was built low and sometimes one can even feel the bottom scrapped by the riverbed.
One good thing is that the water is marvelously crystal clear giving a good view of the riverbed just under you. The depth at most times were around the knee level so getting out to sometimes help push the boat whenever it got stuck in the river which seemed to happened pretty much going upriver than downriver. The scenic value of the trip along the river is not to be underestimated as one can take a good look as the forest lining along it giving a tranquil veil. Another thing worth noting is the rocks that litters the riverbed. It reminds me a bit of my Geography lessons. The rocks are polished smooth by the fast flowing river and come in various sizes as well as shapes and colors. I haven’t really seen an jagged or broken ones so could attest at the subtle power of the river. Having stepped into it I can bear witness to the strength of the current.
Another highlight of this trip was the 1000+ steps we had to climb after a short crossing of a part of the river. Climbing it was pretty tiring though it wasn’t so strenuous that one could just give up. The rewards though for preserving through made it worthwhile as one can then climb up a steel ladder and walk on a suspension bridge that is above the canopy also know as the canopy walk. The view was amazingly spectacularly breath-taking in that not only were you at the highest point and could see over the canopy but also that one could see in the far distance a part of the ridge line of Mount Biang. The sky and low lying clouds hovering to obscure part of Biang added to the scenic value of it. It was truly too bad I didn’t have a camera.
After a short walk down a jungle trail, swimming and playing in the blessed cool waters of the river, we then headed back for camp

Sometimes Life is like the river. Sometimes it’s wide, slow, tranquil and smooth while at other times it’s fast, furious, rough and narrow. There are good times and bad times just as there are shallow and deep parts of the river. Like the river Life also has hidden rocks that could be obstacles or stepping stones but should never be dismissed without thought as sometimes even a small hidden rock could make a difference between a boat capsizing.

It’s Changeover time!!! Seems like I’ve walked into a time of change again. Many new perm staff and just as many leaving. I’ve seen people go and new ones replacing them so many times that I now feel old. Even the new ones that come replace the old are serving only 5-7 months and I see them leave too only to be replaced by others who may or may not serve the same time here in Lakiun camp. Some instructors are leaving as well as drivers, storeman and messing. There are times on reflection that I do miss the ones who ended their tour and have returned back home. It is things like these that make me long for home myself. A word, a feeling, a certainty. The word home often evokes strong feelings. I’d end up missing my loved ones and also reminiscing on lost opportunities. I wish I could stay in further contact such as more sms but I know as well I just don’t make the effort to do so.

I’d stop here and yes I attempted to organize my photos somewhat as a last note.