Before I begin, I must qualify that this could be the last blog post I am making. As such, I ramble on slightly longer than usual, but I hope you will appreciate it.

The day started with a great deal of excitement and adventure. We hiked to Jack’s Landing West for the bus ride to The Pools, but when we reached there at 8am, we realised a long queue had formed. An alternative however would be to hike up the mountain. We decided to go on the path not taken. Guess which one we did.

In the midst of our hiking, there was an exceptionally enthralling scene – two deers crossed the road in front of us. Now, I don’t think I’ve seen a deer in my life, and it was completely majestic. It was too fleeting and I did not manage to capture a picture, but the image is seared into my head. It didn’t help that there was no one hiking as well – it was just us. The forest was so serene and tranquil. I felt incredibly happy when we were hiking along the forest. Eventually we somehow got onto an unopened trail which was not on the map. We decided to go forth!

Going up the trail

Eventually we got out of the forest into The Pools. I had never done scuba diving before and I was struggling with the equipment. The goggles sort of made me go blind, and the breathing felt very unnatural. I tired swimming with the scuba gear for a while. It was an invigorating experience. Have you ever tried breathing underwater before?

We tried to head to The Barrels afterward, but it started raining heavily. We thus had OTOT until about 4.30pm. Today was a special dinner – we were sharing with Luxembourg and Thailand! We each had our own dishes and we shared it with the rest. We also played a few traditional games as well. Luxembourg and Thailand cooked good food. Unfortunately, our chicken curry is an abomination. Somehow they thought it was ok, so I’m not complaining.

Eating together

There is an old adage which goes, “Time flies when you are having fun”. At the time of writing this, I would be on a plane flying back to Singapore in 72 hours. I have mixed feelings about this. Happy and satisfied? Yes, perhaps. Yet a certain sense of regret that I didn’t do enough – didn’t get to form deep friendships with others, didn’t get to do all the activities that I had. Yet I also am immensely grateful for the wonderful memories while it lasted – Cyprus (Zoe), Eucador (Maya), the Malaysians who always visited us, Thailand and Luxembourg for being great neighbours, and of course the wonderful Singapore contingent, with our CMTs and ISTs. I will cherish the time that we had, and let’s meet again sometime!

This could very well be the last blog post that I will make as the ambassador programme will be closing soon. I would like to thank those who had followed me on this journey together – I hope you had as much fun reading these entries as I had writing them.

The jamboree is unlike any other. Should politicians ever visit this site one day, they would marvel at the spirit of interconnectedness that weaves stories and individuals together. We are not 40000 individual strangers. We are all friends. We will raise our left hand together to the spirit of brotherhood.