we woke today, with a hazy sky... visibility getting worse as the day progressed.... not the *best* day to be outdoors, but oh well! 3 puffs of ky's inhaler cleared my coughs and breathlessness :)

today was the day that the cubscouts wd use their own steam to get from lower pierce reservoir to amk park. they had to find their own way there with a map...avoiding the 2 main roads, and sticking together along e way. it was a lesson in patience for me... an *EXTREME* lesson.

it proved to be a similar experience for ky. (which i'd not counted on)  he's qt a good walker so he found the pace to be gratingly slow ;)  he had plenty spots of boredom along the way... so busied himself finding grasses,  bamboo, thorns, and berries to fill his pockets with.  it made me realise that he's qt a fit little boy, and cd qt easily do qt stiff hikes of a number of hours if him and i were alone.  (yes, his mommy too!...inspite of the extra love-handles ;))

so for us, the walk ended up being a qt short one, ie relative distance covered...but oh so long in covering that 'short' distance.   :b  yes, did i already say a lesson in *patience*? :-)

looking at e kids, many seemed hot and tired not long into it. and alas, not much road-sense amongst them! it made me realise how little they prob get out w/o e luxury of car/ bus /mrt.  cant be blamed i suppose... time is of the essence on this little island, so mums n dads hv to get places fast... no value in taking one's time, unless u start out a few hrs early... "what, in this heat?" i hear u say ;))  city-kids yes, but rather clueless on foot. :b ...ok, mb i'm being a little harsh.... they r still young and this is prob their 1st experience  :)  ... so there's hope yet!

on the upside, a purpose was served:

- e littlies, and biggies, had to push themselves physically beyond what any of them hv probably expereinced b4.

- and e 2 kiddy leaders had their 1st tastes of proper responsiblilty.... they had to plan the route/ AND make sure that they kept to it/ AND keep checking that nobody had got lost.

one chap in particular, took on that resposibility rather well, and actually stuck to it w/o distraction... *and* he showed great inprovement in map-reading & general orientation by the end of the journey ... *and* he behaved in a manner quite befitting a young man leading his troops to dinner :)    well done E... i can see that u tried very hard!   and well done to everyone for making it to the end!

so our next walk on the wild-side?...

bukit timah perhaps?  and i'll be soooo glad not to worry abt them getting knocked down by traffic along the way! :b

and ky?.... "kota kinabalu pls mama!" :) ....and he means it!