It's strange that when I had an official opportunity to do lots of jungle bashing, I wasn't able, and now that I'm off the whole NSF system, I'm actually actively picking jungles to bash.
No, that wasn't a mistake---I have been picking jungles to bash through just for the sheer fun of seeking some geocache that is located right in the middle of the said jungle.
Jungle bashing from a civilian perspective has a different allure from that of military jungle bashing, for sure. For one, when you are bashing through the jungle in the capacity of a military personnel, you are there for a serious purpose, with heightened tension from any potential enemy attack. But when you are jungle bashing as a civilian, you get to actually enjoy the terrain challenges that the jungle throws at you. Of course, I use the word ``enjoy'' in a loose sense---it takes a certain type of person to find it pleasurable enough to go through a jungle to actually do it.
To me, the allure of jungle bashing comes from the near primal nature of it all. There is nothing more visceral than facing nature itself---all the theories and what-not mean nothing in the face of the realities of the undergrowth, the thorns, the humidity, the chirping of the cicadas, the sloshing of the mud, the crunching of leaves and the like. Maybe I am seeking some sense of balance in life, having work and its multitude of complications on one side of the balance, and health with wellness on the other side of the balance. A tricky position indeed.
I wouldn't be very surprised if I get more and more adventurous the older I get. One needs inspiration for stories after all.
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