The School Camping Trip

Have you ever been camping?

It was the school camping trip. All of us dressed smartly in our uniforms with scarfs around our necks, busy setting up our tents. Looking around for places to put the pegs and tie the bamboo support for the handstitched canopy we had spent our after school hours preparing.The tents were decorated with the team logo and name.Sweating out in the heat we prepared the refuse pits and cooking areas.

All set we spread our mats inside the tents to take a breather before venturing into yet unknown territory of cooking.

Stoves were lit, while some couldn’t light up, thanks to the tango of the wind. Some managed to cook rice into a gruel and while some had undercooked lentils for dinner. However, the savoury self made candle light dinner cooked together had a flavour like none other.

Satiated and tired we dragged ourselves to the main focus of a camp. The campfire. Singing, dancing and playing games. With the warmth of the fire for company, our tiredness long forgotten and an unexplainable joy of camping with friends overcoming us, as we entertained ourselves into the dark of the night.

The most difficult part was the night patrol. Patrolling teams changed every hourly. While some managed to take up their posts, others slumbered into the night out of exhaustion.

The ride back home the next day was filled with mixed emotions… a longing to get home, yet a sadness of end of an adventure.

These memories are now distant yet precious. A reflection of the time spent with friends that are now scattered at all the corners of the world.

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