now that i have finished marking, i can sit by the window and stare at the moon. it's truly beautiful. yesterday was mid-autumn festival and it's said that tomorrow night's moon will be the roundest, brightest and most beautiful.
@ncy thinks i'm sad. she says only sad people thinks the moon is beautiful. um...maybe a little, today. not sure if it's physical exhaustion (the gym work from yesterday) or the conversation i had with vp this afternoon, or from marking those sets of "cannot be rationalished" scripts?
vp says i should come up with some plans to get myself out of this "situation", otherwise i'll still be in the same "situation" next year. i told him i was a happy, peaceful, satisfied and confident person 2 years ago. he asked, "so what happened?" i smiled. because i don't think the conversation was getting anywhere except making me feel worse.
about the scripts. some of the kids did surprising well. but most others did not show any sign of urgency. it's as if exams are the last thing on their minds. perhaps that's really the case. but why am i still disappointed? after all these years, shouldn't i hv gotten used to that already? what's wrong with me? what's wrong with us?
SC retired recently. i hv total admiration and respect for people like her. i'm so tired already. how do they manage to hang on till the end?
take a look at the moon, take a walk along the beach, watch a movie, read a book, bake a cake, blow a candle... Happy retirement, SC.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
mylifene@sph.com.sg
It was meant to be a getaway trip, one for us to unwind and stay far away from work. It did more than that. It brought lots of fun and laughter, and us closer to each other, and nature.
Mt Rinjani is situated east of Bali on the island of Lombok. It is an active volcano with a beautiful crater lake in its centre and rises to 3,726m, making it the second highest volcanic peak in Indonesia.
Our trek up Rinjani was tougher than I thought. We started from Sembalun Lawang, up to the crater rim where we would attempt the summit push the following day.
Our guide woke us up at 2am, shortly after we managed to snooze a little amidst the sound of the howling wind. By 3am, we were on our way up. In the dark, all we felt was cold, strong wind and not much of the height. It was only towards day break that the realisation of how high we were set in. When our guide told us that we were about 100m from the summit, we decided to turn back as the wind was way too strong.
Without of the pressure of conquering the summit, the trek became more enjoyable and lighter. Trotting down towards the lake was a rather “calculated” experience. Because of the sharp turns and huge rocks, one tends to be extra careful.
The lake is beautiful and that camp site was the most scenic. With mountains towering over us and a lake right in front, we enjoyed the luxury of the hot spring and barbequed fish fresh from the lake.
Other than being impressed by the porters who helped us redefine what physical abilities and limits a man ought to have, one other thing got into my head. The attempt up to the summit brought this up very clearly: everything and everyone has a place in life. In the dark, we were relying on everything and anything that’s there to help us stabilise, whether it’s grass, a piece of rock or just sand and gravel.
Trips like this one always give us the space and time to think about what has happened and what can happen. Since wallowing in self-pity is not exactly the best thing to do, we usually tend to work hard and then enjoy life to the most. Afterall, what really matters in the end is that we will always have our friends and family with us. Thank you all for a great trip, again.
Monday, September 17, 2007
they climb volcano in slippers (the original piece)
Home > Life! > Life People > Story
Sep 17, 2007
They climb volcano in slippers
Urban males are wimps. If you want to know what manly is, just travel to Third World countries
By Teo Cheng Wee
THIS time last week, I was on my last legs trudging up Indonesia's Gunung Rinjani with three friends.
Situated east of Bali on the island of Lombok, Rinjani is an active volcano with a scenic crater lake in its centre. It's also the country's second highest volcanic peak - a fact that became increasingly apparent to me on my ascent.
I had been climbing since 3am that morning to escape the heat and by 8am was pretty much running on empty. My body was sore, the sun had already risen and was beating down on my weary face, and my lips were parched because I didn't bring enough water.
And the 3,726m summit was another hour away.
It might as well have been 3,726 hours away. Our thighs, stinging from nine hours of trekking and climbing the day before, felt like they were going to give way any minute.
Perhaps as a form of encouragement, our Indonesian guide, Kian, told me that no Singaporean he had escorted had failed to make it to the top.
Now Singaporeans really hate to spoil a record, so we continued, willing ourselves up that infernal trail, losing one step for every two we took on the loose scree.
By the time we made it to the top, we had barely enough energy to celebrate or really take in the sights, so heavy was our breathing.
But needless to say, our party of three guys and one girl were delighted that we had pushed ourselves as far as we did, and didn't bring any shame to Singapore.
On most days, this minor achievement for a fairly sedentary animal like myself should have got my chest all pumped up with masculine pride - and it did for a while. Yet I've never found myself feeling more macho and yet less macho at the same time.
You see, we had these five porters who had to tag along for the trip.
(Okay, I don't really mean that. They were very helpful local men we hired to carry our tents, cook our meals and clean up after us. I'm pretty sure we would have died some time on Day 2 if they didn't 'tag along'.)
Still, these were the very same guys who made me realise that however much my male ego may have been boosted by scaling this challenging peak, it still pales in comparison to the Real Deal.
If you want to see extraordinary, you need look no further than the quintet, who are Sasak natives on the island. The oldest looked like he was in his 40s, the youngest no more than his early 20s.
What they had in common were abundant fitness and steely grit.
At the summit's base camp, when the temperature dipped below 10 deg C and the howling winds chilled the four of us to the bone, we struggled to keep warm with our fancy thermal wear, fleece jackets and windbreakers in our windproof tent.
All our porters had was a thick blanket each and they huddled together by a fire for warmth.
When we were scaling Rinjani, we did it with good trekking equipment: polypropylene shirts that kept us cool, Gore-Tex trekking shoes that provided us with good cushioning and balance, and trekking poles that took the strain off our legs, among others.
Our porters were dressed in grubby T-shirts, sarongs and trudging up the mountain in - believe it or not - slippers.
Not that this ever seemed to affect them. Although we usually started trekking first, these Indonesian supermen would invariably catch up within an hour, after they had finished cleaning and packing up the camping gear.
Each man would easily be lugging some 20 to 30kg of camping equipment and food, their muscular shoulders balancing a thick bamboo pole with the wares on both ends as they navigated the rocks and paths with ease.
True, they probably had more experience climbing up this mountain.
But visiting a Third World country always makes me redefine what physical abilities and limits a man ought to have.
What we considered a minor milestone, it would have been laughed off as child's play by these men - literally.
Kian, who is 34, made my jaw drop when he told us that he had already climbed Rinjani when he was 10. The only peak I recall scaling at that age was the top of the playground slide.
It's not just the men in these places either - even the women sometimes seem more masculine than us urban jungle males.
In Myanmar, I remember a pint-sized villager in her 40s in the hills, carrying a full load of firewood on her tiny back as she overtook us on a walk.
In Laos, there was a grandmother guiding a group of young children down a waterfall's path. They waited impatiently for me as I gingerly made my way around the slippery rocks.
After I let them pass, they were out of sight in mere minutes.
These incidents are enough to make my male ego whimper, but since I have had a few days to reminisce about these memorable incidents since returning home, I feel I would still rather celebrate my own little breakthrough on Gunung Rinjani and the ruggedness of the men living and working on the mountain.
After all, wallowing in self-pity would be even less macho.
chengwee@sph.com.sg
Sep 17, 2007
They climb volcano in slippers
Urban males are wimps. If you want to know what manly is, just travel to Third World countries
By Teo Cheng Wee
THIS time last week, I was on my last legs trudging up Indonesia's Gunung Rinjani with three friends.
Situated east of Bali on the island of Lombok, Rinjani is an active volcano with a scenic crater lake in its centre. It's also the country's second highest volcanic peak - a fact that became increasingly apparent to me on my ascent.
I had been climbing since 3am that morning to escape the heat and by 8am was pretty much running on empty. My body was sore, the sun had already risen and was beating down on my weary face, and my lips were parched because I didn't bring enough water.
And the 3,726m summit was another hour away.
It might as well have been 3,726 hours away. Our thighs, stinging from nine hours of trekking and climbing the day before, felt like they were going to give way any minute.
Perhaps as a form of encouragement, our Indonesian guide, Kian, told me that no Singaporean he had escorted had failed to make it to the top.
Now Singaporeans really hate to spoil a record, so we continued, willing ourselves up that infernal trail, losing one step for every two we took on the loose scree.
By the time we made it to the top, we had barely enough energy to celebrate or really take in the sights, so heavy was our breathing.
But needless to say, our party of three guys and one girl were delighted that we had pushed ourselves as far as we did, and didn't bring any shame to Singapore.
On most days, this minor achievement for a fairly sedentary animal like myself should have got my chest all pumped up with masculine pride - and it did for a while. Yet I've never found myself feeling more macho and yet less macho at the same time.
You see, we had these five porters who had to tag along for the trip.
(Okay, I don't really mean that. They were very helpful local men we hired to carry our tents, cook our meals and clean up after us. I'm pretty sure we would have died some time on Day 2 if they didn't 'tag along'.)
Still, these were the very same guys who made me realise that however much my male ego may have been boosted by scaling this challenging peak, it still pales in comparison to the Real Deal.
If you want to see extraordinary, you need look no further than the quintet, who are Sasak natives on the island. The oldest looked like he was in his 40s, the youngest no more than his early 20s.
What they had in common were abundant fitness and steely grit.
At the summit's base camp, when the temperature dipped below 10 deg C and the howling winds chilled the four of us to the bone, we struggled to keep warm with our fancy thermal wear, fleece jackets and windbreakers in our windproof tent.
All our porters had was a thick blanket each and they huddled together by a fire for warmth.
When we were scaling Rinjani, we did it with good trekking equipment: polypropylene shirts that kept us cool, Gore-Tex trekking shoes that provided us with good cushioning and balance, and trekking poles that took the strain off our legs, among others.
Our porters were dressed in grubby T-shirts, sarongs and trudging up the mountain in - believe it or not - slippers.
Not that this ever seemed to affect them. Although we usually started trekking first, these Indonesian supermen would invariably catch up within an hour, after they had finished cleaning and packing up the camping gear.
Each man would easily be lugging some 20 to 30kg of camping equipment and food, their muscular shoulders balancing a thick bamboo pole with the wares on both ends as they navigated the rocks and paths with ease.
True, they probably had more experience climbing up this mountain.
But visiting a Third World country always makes me redefine what physical abilities and limits a man ought to have.
What we considered a minor milestone, it would have been laughed off as child's play by these men - literally.
Kian, who is 34, made my jaw drop when he told us that he had already climbed Rinjani when he was 10. The only peak I recall scaling at that age was the top of the playground slide.
It's not just the men in these places either - even the women sometimes seem more masculine than us urban jungle males.
In Myanmar, I remember a pint-sized villager in her 40s in the hills, carrying a full load of firewood on her tiny back as she overtook us on a walk.
In Laos, there was a grandmother guiding a group of young children down a waterfall's path. They waited impatiently for me as I gingerly made my way around the slippery rocks.
After I let them pass, they were out of sight in mere minutes.
These incidents are enough to make my male ego whimper, but since I have had a few days to reminisce about these memorable incidents since returning home, I feel I would still rather celebrate my own little breakthrough on Gunung Rinjani and the ruggedness of the men living and working on the mountain.
After all, wallowing in self-pity would be even less macho.
chengwee@sph.com.sg
they climb in slippers!
Subject: they climb in slippers!
Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 11:17 am
To: chengwee@sph.com.sg
Dear Mr Teo
Thank you for the very timely article.
You see, me and 4 crazy friends embarked on that same journey one week before you did. So your story came at the very appropriate moment for us to "look back and reflect". Is it time for a 36-year-old man to stop putting his life in danger? (and who says driving is not dangerious?) That 3,726m was.........very far. And no, we did not reach the summit. The wind was way too strong. (If Kian has us in his group, we'd have broken his record.) Our guide said that we were 100m away from the top. People who overtook us on the way up and overtook us again on the way down said that the view was not so different from the top than from where we turned back. I think the bottom line is: we tried. We all can't be Mother Teresa, but we do good anyway.
And the slippers! The thick blankats! Supermen of Lombok! You captured all the thoughts I had during that longest 2 days of my life (so it seemed). Other than redefining physical abilities and limits, trips like this also brings out the value friendship and togetherness. On this trip, my group met a very lovely French couple who instantly identified us as Singaporeans. They have come to work in Singapore and it's too bad that we only met them towards the very last days of their stay in Singapore. And they said we're kind of different from the other Singaporeans they know generally. We were not bold enough to ask further. 
Thanks again for the very timely and well-written piece. Your article shall take up the final page of my photo album, when I eventually do it up.
Have a good one.
###############
Subject: Re: they climb in slippers!
From: Teo Cheng Wee
Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 4:17 pm
Hi
Thanks for your email and sharing your story. I think we have a common bond now with that difficult experience on that mountain! But you're right - at least you tried and I'm sure that will provide with memories as deep as anyone who made it to the top.
Don't give up though. Maybe you guys can return to conquer it another day. =)
Cheers,
Cheng Wee
###############
Subject: Re: they climb in slippers!
Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 4:26 pm
To: Teo Cheng Wee
i think the sun is nice enough from 100m away from the summit. no need for a re-climb :)
u hv a good one too!
Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 11:17 am
To: chengwee@sph.com.sg
Dear Mr Teo
Thank you for the very timely article.
You see, me and 4 crazy friends embarked on that same journey one week before you did. So your story came at the very appropriate moment for us to "look back and reflect". Is it time for a 36-year-old man to stop putting his life in danger? (and who says driving is not dangerious?) That 3,726m was.........very far. And no, we did not reach the summit. The wind was way too strong. (If Kian has us in his group, we'd have broken his record.) Our guide said that we were 100m away from the top. People who overtook us on the way up and overtook us again on the way down said that the view was not so different from the top than from where we turned back. I think the bottom line is: we tried. We all can't be Mother Teresa, but we do good anyway.
And the slippers! The thick blankats! Supermen of Lombok! You captured all the thoughts I had during that longest 2 days of my life (so it seemed). Other than redefining physical abilities and limits, trips like this also brings out the value friendship and togetherness. On this trip, my group met a very lovely French couple who instantly identified us as Singaporeans. They have come to work in Singapore and it's too bad that we only met them towards the very last days of their stay in Singapore. And they said we're kind of different from the other Singaporeans they know generally. We were not bold enough to ask further. 
Thanks again for the very timely and well-written piece. Your article shall take up the final page of my photo album, when I eventually do it up.
Have a good one.
###############
Subject: Re: they climb in slippers!
From: Teo Cheng Wee
Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 4:17 pm
Hi
Thanks for your email and sharing your story. I think we have a common bond now with that difficult experience on that mountain! But you're right - at least you tried and I'm sure that will provide with memories as deep as anyone who made it to the top.
Don't give up though. Maybe you guys can return to conquer it another day. =)
Cheers,
Cheng Wee
###############
Subject: Re: they climb in slippers!
Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 4:26 pm
To: Teo Cheng Wee
i think the sun is nice enough from 100m away from the summit. no need for a re-climb :)
u hv a good one too!
kolkota
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,141395,00.html
Subject: kolkata
Date: Sunday, September 9, 2007 3:00 pm
To: tzeyong@sph.com.sg
Dear Mr Ng
Congratulations on a very real, touching and heart-warming report on Kolkata.
Your story comes at the very moment when I think I have to take a break from my 10 years of teaching. I've just came back from trekking in Lombok, Indonesia and last December I was in Nepal and India. Recently I've also been contacting marvellous and beautiful people working in Kenya and Thailand.
Mother Teresa's story is all inspiring but what's more important is what comes after. I'd be very grateful if you could share some of your personal experience while volunteering at the House and advise on how I may be able to embark on a similar journey.
Anxiously,
##########
Subject: Re: kolkata
From: Ng Tze Yong
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 4:31 pm
Hi,
I don't think I can enlighten you very much on a similar journey. I'm pretty sure that with what you've done and where you've gone, you are already experiencing much of what I experienced. People ask me why I go abroad to help and I cannot really explain why. Not that I don't help here, but I feel that, as politically-incorrect as it is to say this, there's really no comparison. There are poor people here and you cannot compare pain, but at the end of the day, none of the poor people here eat tree bark or starve to death, as they do in many countries.
When I go to these places, I am not trying to change the world. I'm just a volunteer with one or two weeks at most. Maybe I'll share this story someone once told me to explain.
In this 50s, there was a big hoo haa about nuclear testing in america. One particular big test was coming up, and in San Francisco, a big crowd of people protested. The govt listened, but proceeded with the plans anywhere.
On the day of the test, one man turned up in the desert, holding a placard, still protesting. A reporter went up to him and asked: "What are you doing? Nothing you do will change anything. The test will still continue, whether you hold up this placard or not."
The man replied: I'm not trying to change the world. I'm trying to stop the world from changing me.
Hope it inspires you as much as it did for me. Keep in touch!
Ng Tze Yong
Journalist
The New Paper
Subject: kolkata
Date: Sunday, September 9, 2007 3:00 pm
To: tzeyong@sph.com.sg
Dear Mr Ng
Congratulations on a very real, touching and heart-warming report on Kolkata.
Your story comes at the very moment when I think I have to take a break from my 10 years of teaching. I've just came back from trekking in Lombok, Indonesia and last December I was in Nepal and India. Recently I've also been contacting marvellous and beautiful people working in Kenya and Thailand.
Mother Teresa's story is all inspiring but what's more important is what comes after. I'd be very grateful if you could share some of your personal experience while volunteering at the House and advise on how I may be able to embark on a similar journey.
Anxiously,
##########
Subject: Re: kolkata
From: Ng Tze Yong
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 4:31 pm
Hi,
I don't think I can enlighten you very much on a similar journey. I'm pretty sure that with what you've done and where you've gone, you are already experiencing much of what I experienced. People ask me why I go abroad to help and I cannot really explain why. Not that I don't help here, but I feel that, as politically-incorrect as it is to say this, there's really no comparison. There are poor people here and you cannot compare pain, but at the end of the day, none of the poor people here eat tree bark or starve to death, as they do in many countries.
When I go to these places, I am not trying to change the world. I'm just a volunteer with one or two weeks at most. Maybe I'll share this story someone once told me to explain.
In this 50s, there was a big hoo haa about nuclear testing in america. One particular big test was coming up, and in San Francisco, a big crowd of people protested. The govt listened, but proceeded with the plans anywhere.
On the day of the test, one man turned up in the desert, holding a placard, still protesting. A reporter went up to him and asked: "What are you doing? Nothing you do will change anything. The test will still continue, whether you hold up this placard or not."
The man replied: I'm not trying to change the world. I'm trying to stop the world from changing me.
Hope it inspires you as much as it did for me. Keep in touch!
Ng Tze Yong
Journalist
The New Paper
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