Camp Sarimbun

we just pitched our tent

This Saturday was the annual overnight camp-out for Singapore Cub Scout Pack 3017. Every year, the Cub Scouts and their families are invited to the Singapore Scout campground, Camp Sarimbun.

The campground is very nice and very big. There are covered sleeping facilities for 150 campers and room for over 200 in tents. Each family brought their own tent to sleep in. As a treat for the ladies, any mother who wanted to spend the night was offered the few air conditioned spots that were available. Scouts and Dads had to sleep in the tents.

At least that was the plan.

The theme of the weekend was "hot and wet". We were mentally prepared for the heat going in. We know it would be at least 90 deg. all day. What we couldn't plan ahead for was the rain. We were hoping for a dry day, but mother nature had other plans.

the rain

As we were finishing up the group activities around 5pm, the clouds that had been rolling in all afternoon opened up. To say that it "rained" doesn't really do it justice. The skies opened up and tried to drown us. There were puddles 6 inches deep and rivers of rain washoff running through the camp.

While everyone tried to make the best of it, most people had a lot of wet gear in their tents. We've got a pretty good tent back in storage in Houston that I expect may have been able to stand up the the rain. Of course the $27 tent we bought in Singapore for use one night each year was another story. The bottom half of Jack's and my sleeping bags were pretty much soaked along with all of Melissa's extra clothes.

After the Pack meeting ended around 9:30 pm, we decided we were too tired and uncomfortable to try to tough it out in wet sleeping bags all night. We jumped in the car and made the 20 minute drive back to the apartment to get a few good hours of sleep. I'd say about half of the families did the same.

We woke up early Sunday morning and went straight back to the camp for breakfast, clean-up and the closing Sunday service.

While it sounds like a horrible time, we did actually have some fun. Before the rain, all of the scouts did a bunch of group activities. Jack played flag football, learned to use a compass, worked on his knot tying and learned about first aid.

learning to use a compass

There were some covered areas where we were able to cook the food we brought. Each den brought food and supplies to cook for themselves. Tiger Den 2 had chicken skewers and baked potatoes with brownies and smores for dessert. With a little work I was able to get the charcoal fires going in the wet weather and dinner turned out really well.

cooking smores

Mmmmm...tasty

Overall it was a fun but tiring weekend in spite of the torrential rains. Jack got along well with the kids in his Den and it was nice to do something different for a weekend.

That's all for now. This weekend, we're off to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for the annual ABS Singapore Family Day weekend trip.

Cub Scout Pack 3017, Tiger Cubs Den 2