My week...

Day 0 – The travel from London to Sidmouth

With our bags packed, we were ready for our first field work as a Master student in Imperial College. The weather looks fine despite the cold chilly winds. It is the typical British weather. The sandwich lunch half an hour ago was quite good although I only had a few tomatoes and I feel that some others didn't get to eat any lunch as well. 3 hours lecture and a 5 hr journey to a place called Sidmouth, aaah what a start of the weekk. I looked around some happy and excited faces. I glanced at my luggage. I wished I had brought along a bigger one. The one which can fit my sleep inducing pillow. The bus finally arrived after a few tens of minutes waiting out on the steps of Royal School of Mines. We came to know some Thai friends as we walked down the steps. They were quite friendly indeed!

An hour and a half later! Oh God, I feel nauseous! I could feel my head squeeze and the brakes from the coach really didn't help at all! I kept on shutting my eyes hoping it will help~ At a distance, I could see the next stop. I really need the toilet. Everyone went off the bus and had their late lunch there. While I was still feeling a bit bitter, I walked around and Chong/Hong came and said hi! He is a Malaysian who is in search for a better life after work, thus he came here to study! What a good choice~ He is quite a funny guy. Funny in a good way he makes people laugh.

Arrived in Sidmouth and dislodged in a hotel named Hunters Moon! It was a few minutes further from the other hotels that my friends were in but it was quite quiet (hehe) and I liked it. I was separated from Wani and all. Pushed to socialise and make new friends, I am happy I was able to do so. Stayed in a single room for 2 nights but it was fine and I am not complaining :p

Day 1 – First day in the field!

Woke up early and had an early breakfast. Need to go off by 8.20am and pick up the rest of the troops in the other hotels at a 'carpark' in front of Belmonte Hotel (which is a 4 star hotel)!

A windy, drizzly day. Walked along the beach where the outcrops are and as usual we had a good look at the rocks and made sketches of it. It was really a moderate hike along the beach and I really enjoyed it! Like a vacation out at the beach. It was quite cold but never mind that! The rocks are those that matters! The sandstone was quite impressive here in the south! Red sandstones. Stained with Iron. Looked at real live big sand dunes! Too bad the outcrop was right beside a railway! Or else we could have taken a looong time sitting beneath the outcrop. Aeolian deposits. Nice~

Had really nice dinner and already we were talking about checking out from the hotel and getting ready in the morning for another day. The dining hall was packed with us. Dinner was ready and I came down to see that there was no space for me in Fah's table. But we all moved to a bigger one and had a nice dinner eventually together!

Day 2 – Ready to go to the next hotel!

Field day 2 was also a moderate hike along the beaches. Villagers looked at us and some asked really good questions on why we all wore blue hardhats and walked around in a group. I really think that they thought of us as a mini band or something (haha).Then they knew. The trip ended just like yesterday at around 5pm.

We travelled quite further away to the East to a town called Weymouth. It was already dark in the coach and I was getting travel sick (again!). I shut my eyes and I could feel the food coming up my oesophagus (if that's how they spell it!). I kept it in but as we all know, the muscular movement is involuntary. With a plastic bag in my hand, I threw up almost everything and arrived in the hotel after a few minutes. Rembrant Hotel! At last, Alhamdulillah after bitter hours on the bus, FRESH AIR!! Dislodged and rested before having dinner.

I was apparently named a 'Mr' and paired in a room with another real Mr.! I am a Miss please~ So I requested for a change of rooms due to obvious reasons! I was with Nadia in the end. Thank God!

Sleep~~

Day 3 – Not another day~ argh!

Already feeling the burden of field work, I woke up earlier than my alarm and had a quick wash up before breakfast. The food is much better here than before. But the environment was better in Hunters Moon. Here I feel like there are too many people and when we all started talking I feel like we are in a pasar or something. Very lalat-like sound.

Today is very sunny and I could feel sun burning the tip of my nose. Luckily I had my spfs on (clever me!). Just a typical day out in the field.

Day 4 – oH Dear my legs are gonna fall off!!

The day started with a very weird feeling in my throat, a weird voice and a runny nose. My back aches and on top all of that an hour ride on the bitter coach! I think I was going through THE pain but that was not the end of it.

We came to this place, a beautiful beach with hidden 'thorns'. The outcrops were splendid!! but as typical as it may sound, nice outcrops are worth the pain. Walking through rounded 10s of cms pebbled beach. Getting your feet wobbling around in the ground and sucked in between the pebbles, I thought I'd die of the tiredness! I feel like I was in the gym doing the 'Steps Machine' (if you know which one I am talking about)! But I could always stop in the gym and have some rest if I was tired. Here, I can't or else I would be left behind and it would be a shame to be at the very end of the 'tail' of blue hard hatted people! So I moved on.

When I thought that was just it, we were to go around a corner at the bottom of the cliff at beach level where the sea meets the outcrop. Climbed around the slippery chalk and 2 people slipped into the sea! And obviously it was dangerous since the tide was quite high. So we thought we don't want to lose anymore people getting wet bums, we stopped for lunch while waiting for the tide to go down so we can go the shortest way to Lulworth!

In vain. The tide was still too high for us to go through. We went the other way which was a long (er) way. Back through the pebbles and up the unbelievably exhausting steps up to about 50 or was it close to 100 m high headland. Walked about 3km or was it 4km from where we were to a town called Lulworth!!! A steep climb up the really unstable pathway and a looooong way down the hills. I could feel my joints at its breaking point. And I kept moving on. I pushed back my thoughts on giving up and all that I could think of was “This! Is what my company send me here for!!!” I felt so dizzy with my flu and the chills I got from the winds in the highlands wasn't helping at all. I grabbed my bottle of water, drank and moved on! And when I arrived at the top of the hills, it was like a relief from a torture! After that was just a loong way down from the hill and I knew a toilet was waiting for me at the foot hills! Coughed and sneezed. Felt really dizzy!

Not the pebbled beach again!!!

And I thought my day was enough with all the long walking and the winds blowing. Nope! 2 more localities and as Prof Howard said 'Dont get too comfortable..'

Walked through the pebbled beach (not the one before but it was similar). Up the steps. Walked again through like a small pathway. Bearing left and walked all the wayyyyyyyy to a 'fossil forest'.!! spent like 1hr there and then we all went to another locality and spent another hour there. My way back was as harsh as the 3km walk to Lulworth. But now I push myself to my maximum and imagined a Duracell rabbit going at max speed. Flu or no flu, this is a matter of survival! Asians or specifically Bruneians must not give up! As a muslimah, I believe Allah is always there to protect me and help me through. My amanah to my family, country and most of all to Allah.

When at last I stepped on the bus, I felt like I wanted to cry from exhaustion! I wasn't the only one feeling the pain. Everyone was~ and I was glad we all made it.

Day 5 – Glory!!!

Last day of the trip. Packed and had breakfast. Geophysicists and Engineers went home early and we Geologists still have our 3 localities to go to. I felt my flu getting worse and I wasn't the only one. Georgia was also having flu. I bet she feels as bad as I felt.

Not much was done but it was one looong day! Journey back was miserable as expected. Threw up in the toilet and felt better afterwards.

At the end of the day, when I eventually laid down and snuggled in my comfortable warm duvet at home, with a cup of warm milo and a bowl of cut apples, I really think that this is by far the best fieldtrip EVER!

=) Alhamdulillah~