The day PM Lee got lost in Punggol
WHEN Mr Lee Hsien Loong attended Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) in 1967, he and his mates had to dash through rural Punggol and navigate checkpoints without a compass.
In a place dotted with pig farms, unrecognisable from the new town it is today, the group of 15-year-olds failed in their task.
'We got lost,' he admitted self-deprecatingly on Tuesday to much laughter.
Returning to OBS as Prime Minister to celebrate its 40th anniversary, he reckoned that today's youth would probably have a far easier time.
'Today I think it is very difficult to get lost in Punggol because if you get lost, you go to the light rail, you follow the tracks and it would take you to the next station,' he said.
Even on Pulau Ubin, where OBS is located and which is just a 15-minute boat ride from Punggol, it is quite difficult to get lost these days.
'It is quite a crowded place. You have tarmac roads ... You have road signs. It's not as much of wilderness as we would like it to be,' he said.
'But with some ingenuity and some effort, we can make the best of what we have.'
It is what OBS is already doing: taking some its annual intake of 23,000 participants beyond its Ubin homeground.
A programme to paddle to Batam and back will kick off next year.
More exciting challenges are also lined up for participants in China's scenic Guilin area, the Himalayas, and even in Croatia.
OBS will also have more activities in other parts of Singapore, making use of nature reserves and also of Pulau Tekong and the Southern Islands.
Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_183434.html 
The day PM Lee got lost in Punggol 
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