Where on Earth is Mawai? Mawai lies geographically in Malaysia, and got its name from the river nearby. More importantly, it was the 'headquarters' of fun, games and activities for a troop of Henry Park Scouts, including myself.
One of the first activities that we did was the Water Games. A huge, muddy pond lay between the path of our sleeping place, and dining hall. Above it, an assortment of balancing poles, monkey bars, and even swinging ropes was constructed. It was like your typical exercise station, but with an 'interesting' (or deadly) twist: if you fell, instead of landing on sand, or the floor, you would land in the muddy water.
There were a few stations you could start from, and I immediately rushed to one, wanting to be the first to try out the obstacles. I swung across through a rope to get to a neighboring platform, and surveyed the two routes I could take. Both of them were balancing poles, but one of them had steep and treacherous inclines, while the other was flat. However, there were a few poles of wood I could grab onto for the former. There were no aids for the latter though. I attempted the former first. Stretching out my arms, and trying to keep my balance, I inched forward. The person in front of me suddenly lost balance, and failing his arms in a futile attempt to balance himself, he fell into the water with a 'plop'. At this point, I was a little frightened, and retreated.
I tried the second route now. It was considerably shorter, and had no incline, so it should be easier, I reasoned. After a few steps, I realised that there were small bumps in the wood plank, and it was not as easy as I had expected. Many people were behind me, and I could not 'chicken out' now. Bravely moving forward, I tried not to be pessimistic. After all, what was the worst that can happen? Just as I was mere metres from the end, I tripped over a small bump on the plank, immediately losing my balance. I searched around desperately, trying to find something to grab onto. To my despair, there was nothing in reach, and giving my 'last' dance of flailing hands, I fell into the cold waters with a big splash. Seconds later, I heard a succession of splashes, as other people fell in to. It turned out that my splash had broken their concentration, causing them to fall in too. The water was rather cold, and there was an 'extensive' network of vines, which made it hard for me to tread water. The bottom of the pool consisted of mainly soft mud, and my shoes sunk into them with a soft squelch.
Grabbing onto the nearest platform, I pulled myself on. However, a vine caught onto one of my muddy shoes, and as I hoisted myself onto the platform, it pulled my shoes away. Muttering a few words of dismay, I went back into the water to find it. However, owing to the muddy waters, and the mud in the pond, it was almost impossible to even see my shoes. Much to my delight, my friends had generously agreed to help me find my missing shoe. Suddenly, one of them shouted, "I think I found your shoe!" However, he appeared to be using a lot of energy to fish up the small shoe. Nevertheless, all of us were staring at him in anticipation and hopefulness. The black tip of my shoes appeared, and I rushed towards him in gratitude. As he pulled more and more of my 'shoe' out of the water, the truth finally dawned on us. It was actually a rubber tyre! We all laughed at this cinematic, and unexpected joke, and continued our search. After a few fruitless minutes of searching, we declared that my shoe was lost for good, and we moved on to try out the other obstacles.
This activity was unlike any other I experienced in Singapore; and I enjoyed it immensely. I noticed that many people were rushing to try out the obstacle course, and we were all very reluctant to leave the obstacle course.
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