[Second Day Of MM]

Today was a really fun-filled day too (: We had breakfast at 7.30am this morning and there was quite a variety of food including sausages, fried noodles, orange juice and also coffee to perk us up. We departed from the resort at 8.30am, bound for the Batik Village.

After a short introduction to the complexities of batik-painting like teaching us the different steps of batik making, we started painting our own masterpieces and it soon became apparent that everyone was enjoying themselves. We had six different colors to choose from and several of our cluster mates could be seen putting in a lot of effort as they tried to mix the colors to find the colors that they lacked (one example was green). After we finally finished with coloring everything, we left it on the streets to dry. The great variety of colors entertained our eyes. We put in loads of effort and were definitely proud of ourselves. The tour guide said that our attitude was commendable and his teacher used to tell him that the attitude, not the aptitude, determines the altitude of a person.

Later, we reached the beach. We were told to collect seashells. We found the toilets there to be dirty and could definitely do with a bit of cleaning. We walked along the beach, enjoying the scenery and the warm sunlight. However, most of the seashells on the seashore were either small or broken, which was a disappointment. But then again, through our efforts we finally found a few desirable seashells which were really beautiful.

There were crabs on the seashore too. We discovered a very big one, but someone accidentally stepped on it and killed it. We managed to take a few pictures of the crab. When we were putting our collection of shells together, we found out that someone actually had a shell with a hermit crab in it! The shell was spiral shaped and black in color. What a surprise!

We went back on to the coach, and were told that we would be going to the turtle sanctuary. At the turtle sanctuary, we knew more about the turtles’ babies (how they were born? In what conditions? ) and we got to see a few turtles and terrapins species. Although the guy who explained about the turtles wasn’t good in English, we could still understand and learn more about the turtles’ interesting facts.

Shortly after the visit to the turtle sanctuary, our JC seniors told us that we will be playing a game of ‘Dog and Bone’. We were tired but for the sake of our team, Whatever! We played with our hearts but eventually lost. This game allowed our cluster to bond as a team. We also learnt that teamwork and friendship are necessary in life. Without it you can’t do anything, as you don’t have any support.

Then, we had our lunch at a seafood restaurant. Although the wait for the food was long, we were patient and were soon rewarded with delicious food. Lunch was better than yesterday. The food was better and the condition where we were eating was also better. Our plates were clean at the end of lunch break. What a scrumptious meal! ( :

After that delightful meal, we were once again on our way to an agricultural place. There we were warmly greeted by many of the workers there and to our surprise there was once again another meal prepared for us! That definitely brightened up our spirits and we looked forward to the rest of the tour there. At least, we were quite content till we found out that we were to be the last group to tour most of the farm on a tram. However, our guide, kak su tried to set our mindset into a more positive tone by always saying, “Its okay, always save the best for last!” ( do you understand that? Because quite frankly I am not too sure how that really related to our situation) but it did get us looking onto the positive side of things and for that we really thank her. Some highlights of that tour would probably also be the inevitable mischief by our fellow Rafflesians. One particular example would be the scenario when one of us actually threw something at a bee’s hive which was really gargantuan relative to most bee hives I have seen in my life. That really stirred up a commotion. It was really cool!.... ummmm I mean awful for something like that to happen during our trip. It injected quite a bit of excitement but it did teach us a lesson of not to be so reckless and stupid. In the end, this whole tour was a very fruitful one.

After that, we took a journey home with our pilot, Mr. Zam. Our bus stopped at a supermarket but we decided not to alight as the resort was a few minutes away from the resort. We reached the resort first and we rested while waiting for dinner. Finally, dragging our exhausted bodies, we trudged of way to dinner.