Exabytes Team Building – StoneAge Island

April 23, 2008

3555

We work hard, we play hard! That’s right! This time, Exabytes invites all of you to share our adventurous team-building trip to the “StoneAge Island” – the Jerejak Island! It was one of those trips that you just can’t stop think about, and believe it or not, we were THAT looking forward to this trip, we even had countdown to the big day! Teehee. 😀

Our adventurous journey started at the jetty, where all of us gathered at one place while waiting for the boat to arrive. Words really can’t describe how excited we all felt at that time! It’s as though the kid deep inside each and every one of us have long been waiting to be freed! And after what seems like forever, the boat finally arrived and we got on board. Now look at our excited happy faces! 😀

As soon as we stepped our feet on Jerejak Island, we were immediately held captivated by three stone-aged people! We got panicked! But there was something funny with these stone-aged people though. They looked awfully familiar somehow! Those eyes, those nose, those.. Hey, that’s Vickson! And Alysa! AND Gaveen, the OCs of this trip! We almost didn’t recognize them with the face painting and mops on their heads! Look! 😀

Oh yes, Exabytes is full with creative people like this! 😉 We were then brought to the campsite where our tents are being set up and us being separated into four groups :

• Black Group (Black Eagle)
• Blue Group (Blue Bird)
• Orange Group (The O’s Fighters)
• Red Group (Red Alert)

And here’s the snapshot of our colorful tents!

Nice aren’t they? 🙂 After dropping off our bags and belongings, we then started our first game, which was the flag designing game. We were asked to come up with the most creative flag design with the tools provided and the winner of the Most Creative Team will be announced at the closing ceremony of this trip. Now let’s have a peek at Exabytes’ own “Picasso” in action!

So who won this flag designing game? Go on and read on! 😉

The activity of the day continued as we were ushered to the field nearby where basins, balloons, and loads of flour were waiting for us to get dirty! We were then introduced to the second game – the Chocolate Factory game where we were told to pass rubber bands to our other team member using only the sticks into the basin nearby without using any hands! The team that accidentally dropped the band would have to restart the game all over again!

Who won? Hehe. Red Alert won with the most rubber bands in the basin! Congratulations, Red Alert! 😀

The game continued as we were introduced to the third game of the day – the Jaw’s game! That’s right, people. The game was as scary as it sounds! In this game, we were told to select 4 members to represent each team. The members selected had to put their hands inside a “mystery box” and guessed as many items as they could without looking into the box! What WERE the things inside the box? Let’s have a look!

Some guessed fish, hotdog, cucumber, etc etc. But do you want to know what the items REALLY were inside the box? They were..

Coconut shell, Leaves, Rock, Sponge, Brush, Kiwi, Brinjal, frogs and.. EEL!

And there you have it! The 9 secret items in the box! Nobody guessed everything right, of course. But then again, who would have thought an eel would be part of the items? Yuck!

The adventure continued after our quick lunch, where we trekked along the trail to attempt the forth activity of the day – the Suspension Bridge! Hanging at 50m above a dam, the Suspension Bridge was really a test of bravery and steadiness. As though the bridge was not shaky enough, there just had to be someone cheeky to shake the bridge even more! Afraid of heights, some of us shouted and some of us prayed that we would not fall down. But in the end, all of us managed to cross the bridge safely, but with knees as wobbly as jelly, of course. 😛

Next was the highlight of the day – The Flying Fox! We were given safety belts and helmet by the Jerejak crews before “flying”. Holding on to the rope and hanging on to it as though our life depended on it as we “flew” across the dam, Flying Fox was really one of the nerve wrecking and exciting games ever! Of course, we went through everything safely, but not before being swung like a pendulum when we reached the end! 😉

Looks like fun? It sure was! 😀 But the fun did not just stop there as we also took part in few other games like Wall Climbing, and Wire Obstacles!

Wall Climbing

Wire Obstacles

And before we end the day, we played one more game – the Ping Pong game, where each team had to blow their team’s ping pong ball out of the box which was filled with flour. Very fun, but also very tricky!

As you can see, at the end of the game, all of us were soaked white with flour! If given a chance, we would have played some more but it was getting late, so we were told to get ourselves clean and get ready for the dinner.

On that night, we couldn’t decide what affected our appetite more – the variety cuisines prepared by the chefs, or the grumbling tummy we’ve been carrying all day long. All that we knew was that we all had fun eating like hungry people who have not seen food for ages! 😀 While we were busy stuffing ourselves with the scrumptious food, Vickson came out with a big cake in his hand! Suddenly a soft Birthday song played in the background of the restaurant and the rest of us joint along to sing the Birthday song to Avian, Ivan, Jackie and Thara! Happy Birthday again, the four of you!

And here are the snapshots of us taken at the dinner!

Once our tummies are well contented, we all went back to our tents and slept like babies after that! But not for long! The real adventure began again at 2am in the morning when the rain poured heavily and flooded our tents, causing the 40+ “turtles” to rise from the shore on to the.. Meeting Room! Haha! That’s right! Since our tents were flooded, we all had no choice, but to sleep as one big family in one big Meeting Room, like illegal immigrants waiting for departure back to their countries! Unbelievable? Believe it! 😛