Repeat: Executives are not the army.

Times are tough at Outward Bound when dealing with participants. Well not all participants: it has been said, by one much wiser than me (apparently some OB Korea man), that 'Good participants are fun; bad participants are our responsibility'. And so it must be, though I would prefer otherwise when said participants take nearly 12 hours to climb two hills.

According to their report afterwards, they 'are not the army - we are executives!' which really seems to have nothing to do with anything if you ask me, especially since they're prospective executives. As it was, the Final (the Hell trek as it is known) did not end in disaster. A series of unfortunate events did occur that seemed set to drive me insane: the waist belt on my bag broke forcing me to take the full weight on my shoulders (we're talking heavy stuff here), I fell (multiple times, as I am wont to do), Usop tried to push me down the hill while singing (as he is wont to do) and than Girl in Green started walking with her eyes closed 'cause she was tired, so I took her bag off her. Two bags are HEAVY, especially when carried for an hour through a swamp. And no thanks received, I am sad to say.

Peanut butter/chocolate spread, provided by Najib revived me much. 'Course, than my hammock (which looks nothing like the picture) broke while I was sitting in it, but I fixed it up and swung happily (well, carefully).

The next day was perhaps better, if you discount the large girl who had the crying fit two minutes from the peak, despite not having carried her bag for half the climb. Her movements had been as follows:

*pantpantpantpantpant* one minute walking - A TREE, A TREE, A GLORIOUS TREE, LET ME LEAN AGAINST YOU TREE - slide down the tree, sit for three minutes while two guys fan her with a hat. And repeat.

It was interesting.

Fortunately, despite my impatience threatening to send me into a fit of anguish, I have since had time to recover and have also finally had some time off! Saturday was a glorious day filled with Malaysian Invasion festivities. Didy, a great food lover, took me to her friend's wedding, which appeared to have a Fairytale Princess theme occurring. For those of you used to English weddings, Malaysian one's are far nicer for guests - for one, the bridge and groom GIVE you care packages, as a 'Thanks for coming!' as well as fabulous flowers decorations, topped with an egg boiled for three days as a symbol of fertility.

Eggs don't taste good after being boiled for that long, I am just saying.

The evening was devoted to the Chinese Open House, in celebration of Chinese

New Year, in which the fair President of Perak and the Head of the Chinese Association of Malaysia came to Sitiawan, and a congregation of 12,000 people turned up to eat free food. While the celebration was certainly beautiful - traditional dancing, flashing lights and lanterns, delicious food - I do not envy the clean up crew, considering what appeared to be the rubbish of said 12,000 strewn across the field, since the bins had overloaded early on.

And yesterday was Scuba! Yes, it finally happened, something I am much delighted in, despite utterly awful visibility. It was basically like being a snowstorm in slow motion, suspending everything in sepia tones. However, there were some rather intriguing plants and fish - a purple trombone; green tubes with alien pods; zigzag clams; a seahorse; a fish shaped like a box; and my personal favourite, a black ball of spikes with a crazy lightshow in the shape of a star, surrounding a turtle ball with blue dots.

For now, I am in training once more: excitement is already arising regarding the Whaler, where I have been assured we get to capsize it. Man overboard to the extreme!

Emily