On March 23, I acquired the ScoutingAdventure.Org domain name. I created a website with the domain name to chronicle Scouting adventures. It will initially start with the 2017 National Scout Jamboree, followed by other Scouting adventures in the future.
As much as I have traveled around the world, I can’t help but think that I have yet been to many of the places that Ricky Nelson’s Travelin’ Man song mentioned. For instance, Mexico, Alaska, Berlin and Waikiki have been missing in my travel itinerary. Would my travel to Munich be close enough to Berlin? See my post on the places I’ve visited.
I’m a travelin’ man
I’ve made a lot of stops all over the world
And in every port I own the heart
Of at least one lovely girlI’ve a pretty Seniorita waiting for me
Down in old Mexico
If you’re ever in Alaska stop and see
My cute little EskimoOh my sweet Fraulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my returnPretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tightOh my sweet Fraulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my returnPretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tightOh, I’m a travelin’ man
Yes, I’m a travelin’ man
Yes, I’m a travelin’ man
Woe, I’m a travelin’ man
Today would have been my father’s 79th birthday. My father passed away on June 20, 2015, seven weeks before I could visit him. I had planned to visit him right after my World Scout Jamboree adventure in Japan. To celebrate his birthday, I dedicate this post in his memory by telling about my adventures with him.
My first adventure with my father was when we first moved into our Melawati house in January 1977. On one weekend morning, my father decided to walk along the nearby pipes to find out where it would lead to. I tagged along but did not have the stamina to continue far enough to find out if the pipe led to a dam as my father thought it would. Little did I realize then that I would walk the same pipe six years later with Scouts from my Fridtjof Nansen patrol – this time with the intent to reach and ascend Bukit Tabur.
The pipeline trek imparted my father’s love for outdoor and adventure to me. In that same year, I had the adventure of my life when my father took the family with him to live in Oregon for two and a half years. That experience broaden my view of the world and indirectly inspired me to unconsciously always seek/create adventure. It was the best gift I received from my father – it provided me the opportunity to learn through real-world experience. My father, on the other hand, had mostly learned about American culture through books and movies till he arrived in Oregon.
My father introduced me to Scouting two years later. He told stories of his Scouting adventures as the patrol leader of his Lion patrol. He later became a troop leader and Scoutmaster. He spoke of a fixed blade knife he had as a Scout. He incorrectly called it a dagger – I guess it was because of his boyhood memories of the Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller. According to him, he and Scouts in Malaya at that time had fixed blade knives made in Sheffield, England that included a leather sheath. (I recently learned from a Scouter that the American Scouts had similar knives but made in Michigan, USA.)
Over time my father acquired knives, namely, Schrade, Buck, a knock-off Bowie, a Japanese fixed blade knife similar to the one he had in his youth, and Swiss Army pocket knives. He gave me a couple of Victorinox pocket knives when I visited him in 2000. Since then I have cultivated an interest in knives, especially American-made ones, and have started a collection of my own that included Schrade, Buck, Victorinox, Ka-bar, Case, Bear and Son, and Remington. Like my father, I believe that I will probably use them for my next great outdoor adventures coming my way later in life.
Another interest I shared with my father was the love of photography. My father had a high regard for Pentax — probably because his peers had it — and bought his first SLR camera (Pentax ME Super) in 1981. As a result, my first SLR camera was also a Pentax (MEF). My peers had Nikons (EM, FA and F3HP), whereas I was the only one using Pentax (LX). As an adult, I shifted my preference. Not because my peers influenced me. I just find Nikons to be more useful and practical, especially from a photojournalistic perspective.
My father’s liking for second-tier things extended to the performing arts. This was apparent as he was a fan of neither Elvis Presley nor the Beatles. Although Gene Autry was more popular and perhaps a more talented entertainer during my father’s youth, he liked Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger. In Oregon, he enjoyed listening to a radio program called Country Crossroads that played Roy Rogers songs.
My father introduced me to 1940s, 1950s and 1960s music. I think of him whenever I listen to the oldies music performed by Johnny Horton, Vera Lynn, Guy Mitchell, Russ Hamilton, Roy Rogers with Dale Evans and the Sons of the Pioneers, Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman, Lennon Sisters, Andrews Sisters, Eydie Gorme, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Skeeter Davis, Nat King Cole, Kitty Wells, Bobby Helms, Claude King, Hank Locklin, Conway Twitty, Frankie Lane, Marty Robbins, David Houston, The Platters, Lawrence Welk, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon and the Four Seasons, Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Brian Hyland, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee, Jimmy Clanton, The Cascades, and Peter, Paul and Mary. Notice that the Beatles and Elvis Presley are missing from the list….
Part of the music adventure I had with my father was the love of folk, country and gospel music. Songs included This Land is Your Land, Blowin’ in the Wind, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, Sounds of Silence, Puff the Magic Dragon, Turn! Turn! Turn!, Happy Trails, Red River Valley, Don’t Fence Me In, South of the Border, High Noon, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Deep in the Heart of Texas, My Elusive Dreams, Church in the Wildwood, In the Sweet By and By, Will the Circle be Unbroken, I’ll Fly Away and I Saw the Light.
Lessons from these shared experiences with my father included:
These adventures are part of the legacy and memories my father has left me. Happy trails dad till we meet again.
I have been going camping since I was about 12 years old. My first camping experience was in 1982 when I went to the Spring Camporee with my Boy Scout Troop 61 based in Eugene, Oregon.
Starting with a simple pup tent that was held up by two metal poles and rope, I’ve gone on to use…
Unlike the modern dome tents, the canvas tent required me to learn and use pioneering skills. It also taught me to waterproof the canvas by using wax from candles, and to safely use sharp tools, such as parang (a Malaysian machete) and saw. Leveraging reused rope, lashing skills and abundant bamboo, my patrol and I built sturdy double-decker platforms, with the top platform used for sleeping and the bottom one for equipment and supplies. We also built a larder, a fire wood table for cooking, a clothes drying line and a sharp tools rack entirely out of bamboo and lashings.
In the tropical rain forest of Southeast Asia, my Boy Scout troop camped near rivers, where we got water for cooking, drinking and washing. In the hot, humid and sometimes wet conditions, we dealt with mosquitoes, flies, leeches, and occasional scorpions and snakes. We used neither bug spray nor sun screen. We hiked in with our heavy metal patrol box, patrol first aid box that once was a military ammo box, equipment like kerosene lantern, and supplies.
The last super full moon eclipse occurred 33 years ago in 1982. Although clouds obscured the moon for awhile, the eclipse showed its full color on September 27, 2015 .
20 years after my withdrawal from the 1995 World Scout Jamboree (WSJ) in the Netherlands, I am now finally finding myself at the 2015 WSJ in Japan.
It is indeed an experience of a lifetime to be meeting and working with Scouters from around the world! Over 8,000 International Service Team (IST) adult volunteers from 150 countries and territories have convened in Kirara-hama as of today. Starting tomorrow for the next couple of days, over 25,000 Scouts and unit leaders will arrive at their respective WSJ sub camps.
A big challenge the 23rd WSJ had that the 1993 National Scout Jamboree (NSJ) did not have was to keep personal devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, connected and powered for the duration of the jamboree with limited Wi-Fi access points and charging facilities.
At the IST opening ceremony, the speaker said something that I had not realized till then. The one precious thing that anyone could give to another is his/her time because it is something that cannot be taken back or replaced.
My Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) team was comprised of Scouters from Japan, US, UK, Hong Kong, and Italy. We were responsible for ensuring the 20 tablets, 10 laptops and wi-fi access are functioning properly in each of the three participant subcamps.
We wore two neckerchiefs:
Each neckerchief are tied together with a friendship knot instead of a woggle or neckerchief slide.
I brought two mirrorless digital cameras — Nikon Coolpix A (28mm f/2.8) and Fujifilm X-E2 w/ Fujinon XF 55-200mm f/3.8~4.8 — to cover my WSJ adventure. Unlike at the NSJ where I was limited by the amount of film for my Pentax LX w/ Pentax SMC-M 50mm f/1.4, I had to conserve battery power for my X-E2 at the WSJ. In order to travel light, I had intentionally left my battery charger at home but also inadvertently left behind the additional spare batteries I had bought just for this trip!
The WSJ was very hot and was lacking any wind. I woke up by 5:00 AM every morning to take a shower. The shower unfortunately produced hot water only. The toilet turned into an oven in the afternoon. Over the course of the WSJ, I eventually got darkened by sun burn.
On August 6, a select group of representatives participated in the 70th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima. For the rest of us at the WSJ, the Boy Scouts of America led an informal gathering that included a moment of silence at 8:15 AM and the singing of Let There Be Peace on Earth, which I had learned from a LP record over 35 years ago.
The small town of Kirara-hama was host to Scouts from around the world for 12 days. People there also gave several parades and shows about Japanese culture. Families from around Japan and Yamaguchi City convened at the WSJ site and bought tickets to join in the Yamaguchi Jamboree Festival.
In an unplanned trip to Asia, my overnight stop in Singapore on 22-JUN-2015 afforded me the opportunity to appreciate various kinds of orchid flowers.
I have found adventure in the least likely of places — in a fortune cookie on June 14 and on a can of Coca Cola on May 21.
I have been itching to go places since my travel had been significantly reduced. Well, I forget how flights sometimes don’t go as planned. That is what is happening to me right now. Due to a hydraulics problem, my flight returned to the gate after an hour wait on the tarmac. Since I would miss my connecting flight in Denver, I decided to go to my destination via Los Angeles with an overnight stay there instead. This trip has become an unexpected adventure but I am making the most of it – I got to see a beautiful sunrise off the coast of Los Angeles.
Started 2015 with below zero degree Fahrenheit temperature in US Midwest. The wind chill temperature was at least 10°F-15°F colder.
