Basket.

Well, I am back after four days of sun, sand, surf and seeing most of Pulau Ubin. It was tiring, but overall an extremely positive experience. I would certainly be very glad to have colleagues like this in future, as we navigate the minefields and booby-traps of plotting the future of our great nation.

It did help that many things were tinged with familiarity. From the dormitory being referred to as "bunk" and coming complete with a store and store check to our land expedition, which was a Nav Ex minus helmet, SBO, rifle and military discipline, few things were completely new to the males of the group. Not that we carried the hefty backpacks with ease, but at least we were used to the weight. And no artillery drills this time or leopard-crawling through mimosa. Also our tent was almost completely waterproof, which a flimsy green bashar would quite emphatically not have been. I could go on, but you get the idea.

The one thing completely new to me, of course, was the water expedition. The last time I so much as touched sea water was more than ten years ago. Well, I certainly got an excess of it this time around, and now my question is: why the fuck would anyone want to swim in the sea arouns Singapore? If it is anything like the sea around Ubin, and hopefully it is not, then it is a green, polluted, unpredictable bubbling substance with a distinctly unpleasant taste.

That aside, it was a fun experience, although most of that probably has to do with the fact that we were extremely fortunate. It was a cloudy day and the normally venomous Singaporean sun was meek by its own exacting standards. Still enough to give me light sunburn, though, but I'm certainly not complaining. In any case, I rowed for five hours, eleven kilometres up and down the Ubin coast, 2 people in a boat meant for three, and I think I can definitively say I did very well indeed.

Cooking a meal outdoors was novel, too, especially the rice. Personally, I did the canned curry chicken, but the people in charge did a magnificent job with the rice, albeit of course aided by our instructor. Who possessed experience in spades and was an all-around good guy, even though he referred to us as the "stupidest bunch of scholars [he] had ever seen. Possibly due to the fact that some of us commented on that the sea was salty on our first immersion in the shallows. Hm.

Ironically, my best night's sleep was in the tent. It rained and thus was cool, yes, but also because the dormitories were unbearably hot. And bright. And full of vile stinging insects. The situation was not helped by the fact that I have something of an aversion to insect repellent, to the extent that at times I would rather put up with multiple bites than put on repellent. Especially the SAF variety, which I firmly believe should instead be classed as an industrial solvent of high toxicity. It has been said to melt plastic and I have little doubt about the veracity of that statement. At no time whatsoever in all my outfield activities during NS did I apply repellent - but I did, this time, before we set off. It worked well, but I wonder how much higher are my risks of deadly cancers in later life.

All in all, a very positive experience. We can talk about the value of teamwork all we want, but it is truly an amazing, heartwarming sight in action. That will be the enduring lesson I shall take back from this course past.