2004 | HKIR Territorial Camp

Notes by Keith Chan, Chief Scout and then-Troop Leader

Day One

Ready to go ~

All of us gathered at HK Island Regional Scout Headquarter with our heavy backpacks. Everyone was carrying their responsible camp gears, e.g. bamboo and tents ready to head to the “Hong Kong Island Regional Scout Camp 2004” held this year at the Sai Kung High Island Reservoir West Dam near the Chong Hing Water Sports Centre. It was a wet day with some drizzle. Some of us worried that it might be difficult for us to set up our tents.

Getting there ~

Most of us were looking forward to the camp and wanted to have fun. From Wan Chai to Sai Kung, it took us about 50 minutes. While the bus was on the West Dam, we could look down at our campsite which we would stay for 4 days. The landscape was very impressive. Finally, the bus arrived at the campsite and we headed to our assigned site. On our way, we found that the grass wasn’t too green and the most interesting thing was … that the ground was full of cow dung. We had to walk very carefully trying not to step on them.

Setting up ~

We started to find a place to set up our tents within the Wanchai sub-camp. We allocated the work: someone to set up the tents, someone to remove the cow dung in our small campsite and someone to set up the shelter (which was the most difficult and important job).

Food ~

After finishing the above jobs, we had our first lunch(box) of the camp. The food in camp came from Fairwood. Since the whether was sweltering, I didn’t want to eat though I was very hungry. After lunch, we had some time to walk around and we found some interesting “Camp Gates” of other scout groups. The sun was going down and dusk neared, we had to prepare our dinner. Since dinner was cooked by ourselves, it was tastier than the food we had for lunch.

Game ~

The first night activity of the camp was an orienteering game, in which we had to form groups of 20 to play. There were many checkpoints in the campsite and you had to reach as many as you can so to win more points. While we were still busy tidying up the mess we made after coooking, it was time to gather in the plaza. Wanting cleaner cook-sets for the coming days, we decided to clean up first before going to the orienteering game. After cleaning up, we arrived at the plaza and were lucky that the game hadn’t started yet. The first task was to puzzle up a map of the campsite in order to find out the locations of the checkpoints. We hurried to the nearest checkpoint but found that it was too crowded. So we decided to head to the farthest checkpoint. The task in that checkpoint was to use towels to carry water from a tank to fill two buckets. All of us got wet, our [then] SPL Lee Hiu Chun even used the hat of his jacket to carry the water (this was cheating, please don’t try), and fortunately we finished the task. Another interesting task was to play “two people, three foot” altogether, that means to do “eleven people, twelve foot” and walk for about 60 meters. The most creative game however, was to pick up beans on the grass in the dark. This was also a meaningful game too, because the title of the checkpoint is called “粒粒皆辛苦;”. Do you think we won the game? If yes, you should try it yourself, but if not, good for you.

Private Time ~

We went back to our sub-camp and started our small party after the orienteering game. Warming up, we discussed the latest love affairs of an APL. Apparently, we knew more about his love affair than he did himself. Next we had a lot of fun playing cards but our joy was short: our shelter couldn’t stand the strong wind and collapsed. We had to fix it up immediately. But we at last gave it up after several unsuccessful attempts in the dark. The night fell together with our shelter.

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