To unwind, of course. I can honestly say I never stayed in camp
during a nights off. It also kept me sane during burnt weekends, so
much so I ended up volunteering to do COS or guard duty on
Saturdays (but never Sundays -- too depressing). My unit's system
was such that one could claim days off from excessive duties.
My old camp was at Stagmont Ring, so it's usually Beauty World to
eat fast food & catch the 9 o'clock movie. Can still remember
the John Woo/HK films, before the Straits Times, let alone
Hollywood, cranked up the hype.
Sometimes I would take a hour's bus ride, drop off at Far East
Plaza & later walk down to Centerpoint (checking out my
favorite hangouts & eat something at either place), walk across
to Orchard Boulevard & take the bus back. At Stagmont Ring
itself, there's a coffee shop where everyone hung out & shoot
the breeze &, if hungry, I'd order the wanton mee there for
supper too. One must then take a pirate bus (10 cents) from the
main road to reach the army camps, so it's habitual to see packed
buses from 2330 hours onwards. Everyone seemed to have precisely
finetuned their booking-in time, so much so the order came down to
open the main gate (instead of just the side gate) at 2350 so as to
let in all.
