Dubious Dhobis

While I can be like any other slob at home, I do have some remnants of my army days still programmed in me. I remember those days when we would return from a mission or exercise, and the first thing we would do (despite being up all night, moving swiftly through the jungle brush to our objective, then striking hard and fast) would be to clean our equipment. Rifles, signal sets, all equipment was cleaned up even with camouflage still on our faces. Next would come a hastily cooked packet of instant noodles over a bunsen stove. Then the shower, then finally, blissful rest.

I'm no longer in the army now. Haven't been back for the past few years now (sweet taste of freedom! Yeah!) and the programming seems to have slipped a bit.

Two full days of the Santa Cruz trek saw us stepping on small piles of poop while avoiding the big ones. The skies that opened up on our return journey had us all soaking wet, from head down to muddy shoes. Our ride back to civilisation was in a truck filled with chicken coops, thankfully with no chickens, but I had telltale white stains all over my jacket and backpack, not to mention having to hold the icky cages back to keep them from falling on me whenever the truck went over a bump!

Perhaps it is a sign of having returned back to civilian life, in mind and in body. But when we returned to Huaraz, the first order of business was to shower, then eat, then sleep. Washing of equipment was relegated to "have thought about it, and decided when to do it" status!

The next day was nice and sunny, and after a quick breakfast, we proceeded to the rooftop of our hostel for some serious cleaning. The rooftop was a nice location because:

1) There were a couple of heavy-duty sinks there that could take sediment being washed down.
2) The clotheslines were already strung up by the hostel owners.
3) It was relatively secluded, and Ching Ching can make all the noise her petite frame could conjure up

Ching doing the underwear while I did the footwear

And what a washup we had! The staff of the hostel lent us some basins which we made full use of. Rinsed off the muddy stuff. Soaked the sweat-stained stuff. Removed insect legs and the remainder of clingy plants from our socks and gloves. Scrubbed the shoes till they looked almost brand new. Even the alpaca sweater/jackets we bought from Otavalo got a good washing!

Ebony and Ivory

We spent about three whole hours scrubbing and cleaning everything with detergent that we bought earlier. And frankly, it was really quite fun because our spirits were high from the good rest we had. It was great basking in the warmth of the sun, and sniggering at the thought of the other poor angmohs up in the snowy mountains with wet socks and underwear from the previous day. Nya nya nya nya nya!

Lending a few sets of helping fingers

What really struck me was also how well the three of us worked together. Other than stopping to wow at the scenery from the roof, none of us slacked for the entire time we were up there. When the two sinks were being used, the 3rd person would be scrubbing at another basin, or helping hang up the clothes, or even just getting drinking water. We reveled in being totally Singaporean after being among foreigners for so long. Even a bad case of finger cramps couldn't dampen our spirits!

Proud of their handiwork!

By the time we were done, almost all the clotheslines were taken up by our clothes and gear. But the potent combination of the sun and breeze meant that some of the clothes could already be kept. Which caused me to ponder - in conditions like this, is it better to wash the thicker clothes that are harder to dry so that they get more exposure to the sun before dusk, or is it better to wash the quick-dry clothes so that you can keep them first?

A bond that's hard to sunder

Little did I know that I should have pondered more deeply on another question. In the event where most of my clean clothes were still with the donkeys accompanying the rest of the group, and I had only one clean t-shirt with me, is it really wise to take it off while washing in the hot sun for three hours?

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch!

Seriously, it's such a good thing we have a sponsor for aloe vera products! Thank goodness for good friends like Ching Ching (who came to South America to join us) and Jasmine (who mailed the lifesaving aloe vera gelly to us. It was too late to prevent the peeling, but it sure soothed the raging heat in my back!

Forever fans of Forever Aloe Gelly

Way back in 2007, the wife and I organised a dive trip to Mabul/Sipadan with our friends (miss you guys and gals!).

A few of the pals who were diving with us. L to R: Sue-Anne, Wifey, Nick, Jasmine, Randy. I'm in front.

After spending days in the very hot sun, you could smell the crispiness of charred flesh whenever you walked past us. Our skins were so inflamed that no amount of soaking in the pool could cool us off. Except for Jasmine, that is.

Sue-Anne, a pained, tortured wreck of the woman she once was, begged Jasmine to let her in on her secret. And within a few hours, Sue-Anne was smiling as serenely as Jasmine.

Clued in to something incredible, the rest of us found that Jasmine was using Forever Aloe Vera Gelly to soothe her skin, and prevent it from burning in the sun. We all shamelessly used it as well, and before you knew it, we were a bunch of happy divers again!

Since then, Forever Aloe Vera Gelly has featured in our cache of items to standby whenever we go swimming, diving, wakeboarding or chilling at Sentosa. It is therefore no surprise that Forever Aloe Vera Gelly now features prominently in our trip. After all, we did spend 4 consecutive days on the beaches of Miami, before going down to Key Largo for another 2 days on another beach! (As I'm writing this post, I've already spent the past week on the beaches of the Bahamas! And we still have no sunburns or peeling skin! Power!)

What makes this Aloe Vera Gelly different from all the rest we've tried before is probably the type and concentration of aloe vera in it. Like coffee, aloe vera comes in many different sub-species and grades. Forever uses Aloe barbadensis Miller, which is the best of the aloe vera that is approved for use by the FDA and USDA.

Forever Aloe Vera Gelly = Forever Lifesaver

You could go around the resorts that you're staying in and chop off the leaves of the aloe vera plants here to get your aloe vera, but then you'd need to lop off new leaves every 48 hours as the nutrients dissipate.

Yilin really chopped this off at our resort in the Bahamas!

Forever has the nutrients of the plant locked down in a stabilising transparent gel using their patented technology.

The value you get in Forever Aloe Vera Gelly is made obvious by looking at the list of ingredients. Under the Fair Packaging and Labelling Act, ingredients have to be listed in order of highest to lowest concentrations. Most other aloe vera products seem to have water or oil as the ingredient with highest concentration, whereas Forever Aloe Vera Gelly has aloe vera as the first product, so you really get what you pay for!


How to use Forever Aloe Vera Gelly

Preparation:
While the Gelly can be used as is, we have found that relief is a dish best served cold. So, chuck it in the fridge!

Instructions:
1) You've just spent a day in the sun. Go take a shower first!
2) Remove tube of Forever Aloe Vera from fridge (if you did not place in fridge, skip to step 3)
3) Apply on parts of body that have had longer exposure to the sun. This probably means your forehead, face, shoulders and forearms.

♪ Metro, metro man... I wanna be, a metro man! ♪

4) Find someone who loves you enough to rubba you.
5) That someone should help you spread and apply the Gelly all over your back, or any other hard-to-reach parts. It's much better when your special someone has a knack for massage. Yes, Yi Lin is a very lucky woman. Sigh. :)

Wei.... spread it properly lahh....

6) Breathe out a contented sigh of relief. Ahhhhhhhhhhh..........
7) Say "Shiok-a-doo-doo"

The Gelly does leave a slightly sticky feeling, but it disappears after awhile. Small price to pay for not shedding little skin-flakes at work over the next few days!

If anyone is interested in getting some Aloe Vera Gelly for yourself, please feel free to contact my friend Jasmine by clicking here or emailing her at jasjas.ng@gmail.com. She's a skincare specialist, and will treat you right if you let her know that Dannie sent you.


p.s: Jasmine assures me that the Gelly is also good for diminishing inflammations, burns, cuts, insect bites, itchiness, rashes, haemorrhoid, eczema, mouth ulcers and pimples/acne. Haven't tried out on these situations yet, but I trust her. :)