Hi guides!

We had our Taiwan Exchange Programme with Dali High school’s venture scouts from 30th may to 3rd june. In total, 5 year 3s, 11 year 4s and 6 year 5s went together with 3 of our guiders. The trip was definitely fulfilling and we sure did have loads of fun there!

Day 1:
We reached Taipei’s airport and around 6 in the evening, then left for Yilan’s toucheng farm stay straight on a coach. We had a cosy dinner on our 2 hours bus ride there, with amazing local ‘bian dang’ chicken drumstick rice and their famous bubble milk tea. We met our tour guide there for the first time too, who explained to us the customs and lifestyles of Taiwanese. We were also told to do a task within our groups, some being food while others being landscape, and to present our discussion after the trip. At around 8.30pm, we reached tou cheng farm stay.

Our first activity was to make a lantern and write our wishes on it, then set it ablaze and watch it fly away carrying our wishes along. It was a beautiful sight as hand-drawn lanterns float in the air with fireworks set off in the background. After that, we went back to our rooms (4 in a room) to rest. The rooms were fantastically huge and clean! It felt wasted that we were only staying there for one night.

Day 2:
After having a good rest, we woke up at around 7am and headed down for breakfast, which was a delicious spread of local cuisine. After which we set off for our farm tour around the place! It was really enriching as we get to do farm chores such as bathing the pigs and feeing the goats, plant rice in padi fields, as well as learn more about traditional farming life. This lasted for about half a day, then we had lunch and left for Hualian.

On the way, we stopped by at a foot hot spring attraction. We had walked long distances for the past few days so this is really one of the few moments we get to sit down peacefully around the spring and simply letting warm water run past your feet- relaxing!

In the evening we reached Tai Lu Ge, a natural scenic place in Hualian that is very famous and a must-visit by tourists. The scene there is breathtaking but unfortunately the sky was quite dark when we took photos, hence the quality is not as amazing as the actual view. After the short visit, we went to a local restaurant to have our dinner. Again, we were free to order whatever we want as long as we can finish the food. With our stomachs happily filled, we were given over an hour of free time to walk around Hualian and shop, as well as observe their local residential housings and schools. Taiwan being a developing country, furthermore Hualian is considered the more countryside areas, their buildings were mostly old and run-down. The housings are block apartments like ours , with a common security gate at the entrance. Only residents of the apartment can enter the gate, if not the visitor has to call the resident to come down and unlock the door personally.

At around 10 plus, we assemble back in the hotel and went back to our rooms, that day having 2-in-1 room. The room was even more amazing than Toucheng’s resort! With awesome huge toilets and beds, it was a really good rest we had.

Day 3:

After a hearty breakfast, we left immediately for Taipei on a coach, the capital of Taiwan.

On the way we stopped by a tea plantation at a rather remote place. It is more of a local plantation and not a tourist attraction, hence everything was more peaceful and we learnt first-hand how to pluck tea leaves and choose the young ones to pluck. It was a rather interesting experience. We also got to taste the different tea freshly brewed from their own tea leaves.

The bus ride was long but filled with small talks and random laughter so hours flew past. After that we continued our journey to the Girl Guides HQ in Taipei. It was the 100th year anniversary on this day, so they were selling some really rare souvenirs such as stamps and postcards which were very pretty. We also learnt more about the history of guiding there, where guides between 15-17 years old were called Rangers instead of Girl Guides. We took a look around their HQ building as well and visited their store to grab some special souvenirs!

After the visit came the shopping part at Wu Fen Pu and Si Men Ding. Both night markets were equally appealing, but selling mostly clothes and accessories respectively. The dazzling lights and buzzing crowd added on to our already high mood and the night was spent with money and in total craziness. Of course at the same time we observed their youth culture to complete our task that was given at the beginning of our trip! Everything sold in Taiwan is so much cheaper than Singapore, so we had to make good use of the money we brought along, hahaha. At around 10 plus, we check in Chung Hua Telecomm Hostel. It was a little cosy room shared by 2.

Day 4:
Today was the first day we had local breakfast- their delicious healthy sandwich and a cup of fresh green milk tea. After that we left for Dali High School to meet the Scouts group there. When we just reaching their school gate they were already lined up at the entrance waiting to welcome us! The mere sight of their welcome was friendly enough and we were all looking forward to meeting our buddies. When we entered their school we were greeted by a magnificent structure they built. The difference was that they used long metal poles and bamboos instead of wooden spars like us. But it was an amazing structure nevertheless.

Then, we were introduced to the history of Scouting in their school and met up with our buddies. There are both guys and girls in the group so it was more of a gender balance. We had station games later which included artsy bead-making, abseiling and climbing of their structures. There were still performance by them as well, and they did a great job out of everything.
We had tons of fun there and definitely made new friends that will last more than the day we stayed.

In the evening we climbed Yang Ming Shan, and even though it was raining it did not dampen our spirits! We scaled the steep, narrow, slippery stairs and change to rope slope climbing around halfway through for something more challenging. The overall experience was great as it trained up our mental resilience as even though we felt really tired at times, we did not give up knowing others are feeling as tired as us. The scenery was breathtaking as well :)

After reaching down again, we took the coach to somewhere near Shilin night market for dinner, then went to shop at Shilin on our last night there. It was mainly a food street and just perfect for us to try out the different street snacks sold, such as XXL chicken chop and the smelly beancurd. Clothes and accessories were sold as ridiculously cheap prices and the quality is quite good as well! To our surprise, our Taiwan buddies decided to impromptu and meet us there to accompany us to shop!

Day 5:
5 days just flew past like that and today is already the last day of our trip. First we visited a ceramics shop where we experienced firsthand how the ceramics clay felt like and tried molding it into some designs. However, we were running short of time and the person in-charge nicely agreed to give us some boxes so we can bring home our clay and finish up our product back here in Singapore. After that we rushed to the airport to catch our flight back home sweet home!


The 5 days were awesome, and not only did we have much fun, we learnt so much that could not have been experienced in Singapore. Every moment of the trip was worthwhile and I really hope DHS Guides will have this chance next year again so that those who did not go this year still have a chance next year.

Love Guides!

Outreach to Cub Scouts and Brownies 2010

Last Saturday was Open House cum Outreach to Brownies and Cub Scouts. We were separated into the two groups, with most of us under Outreach.

For outreach, the guides were split into 20 different patrols, and after a few rounds of icebreaker games, we started on our stations.

For my patrol, our first station was the open house booths. The cub scouts and brownies were introduced to the transforming gadgets the guides had designed, and also the kitchen tents, flagpole and the gateway.
Our second station was the Gladiator, and the kids had lots of fun trying to push each other off the beam. They were pretty afraid at first, and most were hesitant to try. However, after constant persuading, they tried, and they enjoyed it. I could tell as they all wanted to go next, after the person playing.
The next station was 夜里行军. All except two kids had to be blindfolded while travelling through the obstacle course. It was a tough job leading the cub scouts and brownies through, as they were quite scared, and sometimes the table is shaky, and they are afraid to step on it. Some people moved too quickly while others moved too slowly, so the patrol was constantly broken. However, my patrol managed to complete the whole course, and they all seemed pretty happy that they completed it.
Next, we went to the electric fence station. The cub scouts and brownies had to advance through the electric fence without touching the raffia string, and collecting the items. My patrol managed to collect all the items, but we touched the raffia quite a lot. We still got the points though, and I think that they had a lot of fun crossing the electric fence. It was quite a challenge indeed. The Kim's Games required them to identify the orange skin in the box, the coke they drank, as well as use their fingers to 'read' the word in the box. The brownies managed to identify the orange skin and coke almost immediately, but had some trouble feeling for the word.
Our last station was the knots and catapults. The catapult was quite difficult, as the targets had to be hit for points. The ammo we shot kept going either over the paper, or next to it. Some didn't even manage to reach the paper. It was quite a challenge, but it was a lot of fun. After the catapult, we had to teach the cub scouts and brownies how to tie a square lash. They learnt it in no time, and managed to tie one without help within a few tries. Their lashes weren't as tight, but they learnt it really quickly.

After lunch we had Mass Games in various classrooms. 4 patrols shared a single classroom. The aim of the game was to get as many patrol members across the line of chairs as quickly as possible. It was a simple game of scissors paper stone, but there was a lot of excitement and thrill as many of them sped through the line of chairs. It was really fun, and one brownie even commented to me that this was the best game of the day, which made me really happy.

All good things have to come to an end, and after the mass games was prize giving. In first place was Patrol 14, with Patrol 9 and 18 in second and third place respectively. The I/Cs then announced that all of us had found the Allspark as we all completed the games together.

It was quite sad to have the brownies and cub scouts leave, as I feel that I've enjoyed my time with them. Despite there being frustrating times, and they kept complaining about having to climb many stairs, but I know that they're just children and we have to understand them for that. We have to be patient with them, as they have not experienced as much as we did, and we have to teach them. We have to find different ways to communicate with them. Through this Outreach, I feel that children may sometimes be a handful, but their innocence makes them too adorable to be held against.

Good job to all the I/Cs who planned this Outreach for us, and the cub scouts and brownies :)

Love Guides (:

Open House 2010

Hello guides,

Last Saturday, we jihe-ed at 7.30 in the morning, all set for Open house. Along with around 10 other year2s and 3s, I was under our UG open house display at the 正心园which was also one of the stations in the Outreach programme, where us guides had set up several gadgets and a kitchen tent in the previous days. The theme of our open house display was Transformers, so all the gadgets had been designed according to that theme.


There, we were each allocated to a gadget, and thoughout the entire morning, we introduced out gadgets to parents, primary school students, brownies and scouts, and indeed many of them were very fascinated by our gadgets. (: Many seniors from guides and scouts also came to check out our gadgets, and we received many positive comments and also suggestions on how to improve in future.


At around 12, we broke into shifts to eat our lunch, and after that we took a break before taking down everything.


On overall, not many parents came to see our displays, although those that came seem to have been convinced to consider guides as a CCA for their children. I feel that we could have been more spontaneous in approaching and bringing the parents around our gadgets. On the other hand, I feel that we have done a good job of impressing the brownies with our gadgets. :)


I feel that most of our gadgets were very innovative and movable, something one would not usually expect. However, when building the gadgets, we should have had a greater sense of urgency and measure properly before building, as we had to rebuild some of the gadgets. Through these open house displays, I hope that many guides have gained some experience in gadgeting, and also exposure to the possibilities in gadgeting, and in future be able to come up with even better and more creative designs.

This was also the first time that year3s have taken charge of and planned a guides activity, and it was a great experience for all the ICs. Despite some hiccups in the preparations, it all turned out well.


On overall, it was a fun and enriching experience for all!

Happy holidays!


Love guides!

Hi guides!

For last Friday's jihe, we first broke off into our batches and went for separate activities.

The year 2s went for the test for the Total Defence Silver Badge. It was a 15 minutes test and we have to rely on what we have learnt about total defence in Singapore to answer all the questions there.

Then, after the test, we are given time to prepare for our PDP item.

After our discussion, we went back to the gen sci labs to jihe with the rest of the company, and the activities for the day started (: It was a patrol activity that let us have some opportunities to teach our yr1s some skills. We were broken up into combined patrols for the activites: p1 with p8, p2 with p7, p3 with p6, and p4 with p5. There were 4 stations altogether.

For my patrol, first we went to the station at the obscourse. There, we first dinged girls style while two from each patrol come out and do 12 jumping jacks at the same time. It was quite a good job as the morale and spirits were high with us having constant cheering :D However, there we learnt to always listen to instructions given by the seniors, as due to our lack of attention, we ended up doing two rounds of jumping jacks even though we are only required to do one round. We did not clarify with the seniors regarding the instructions, and were not aware that only one round is required.

Then, the yr1s were taught how to use the compass to find the bearings of the given places. Some of them managed to have the chance to try finding the bearings themselves. Though due to the time constraints some did not have a go, it is hoped that all of them understood how to use the compass at the station.

Then, we proceeded to the red-tile area for the station on traditional games. We are required to tie a Roman Chariot with the mus and masheng given within the time limit of 6minutes. However, we exceeded and needed a time extension of 1 minute. This serves as a reminder for us to practice our lashes and make sure we can tie them faster, and also to revise the knowledge of tying a proper Roman Chariot.

After evaluating our Roman Chariots, we then proceeded to carry people on it. The task was to finish 8 rounds within 9minutes, yet for my patrol, we only managed 5 rounds. We have to be faster the next time and improve our timing. Also, we have to work on making the lashes tighter so we do not have to use up time for re-tightening of the lashes in the middle of the transportation process.

After that, we went to the pltc campsite area for the third station. First, the year2s have to teach the yr1s on using the yuanzila and yuanzilu to light a fire. The task is to sheng huo and then to sterilise the forks given. For my patrol, we have already taught our yr1s about the yuanzila and yuanzilu, so we could proceed with the actual fire-lighting. However, we were unsuccessful due to the wet yuanzilu. We learnt to have the initiative to take the newspapers to dry the yuanzilu, or else a fire will never be lighted. Though we did not manage to sheng huo, we took note that to see if the fork has been sterilised, we have to watch for the appearance of bubbles on the fork in the hot water.

Then we were given 4min to let the yr1s tie a square lash each. Some of them did not manage to finish within the time limit, though their lashes were neat.

Finally, we went to 3S classroom for our final station - yelizingjun. Here, yr2s are supposed to lead the patrol out of the obstacles. For my patrol, quite alot of confusion was caused as the instructions given were not very clear, and also, we passed down the instructions too quickly even when we have not even completed a step. It was a lesson learnt so we will not repeat that mistake again. Then we were given information regarding first aid to memorise.

After arranging back the tables at 3S, we jihed back with the rest of the company and cheered for the yr4s who were getting their Gold badge. It is indeed something they worked hard for, and something we as juniors all look forward to getting, and it fueled our desire to work harder in guides.

Jiayous (:

After that, we were dismissed.

Love guides (: