Cruise

The queue was long, but I sure was excited. Several minutes passed before it was my turn. I placed my Crumpler slingbag and Osprey backpack onto the conveyor belt of the security scanner, and walked through the metal detector. Oops, the damn thing sounded. It was the camera which I had forgotten to take out of my pocket. I placed my camera on a safe spot of the scanning machine, then re-walked through the bloody metal detector. I managed to get through this time.

At the next station, I handed the passport to the custom officer and stared right at him in order for him to verify my face. He smiled and returned the passport to me, and that's it. I had reached the tunnel-way leading into the ship. Some of the crew member had already gathered there to send us a warm welcome. It was only a matter of a few minutes' walk before I found myself standing right before the entrance of the ship. I had to queue up one last time as the crew verified and registered my boarding pass.

Before I knew it, I was already at the mid-lobby on the 6th level of the Superstar Aquarius. Our cabins were located on the 9th level, so we decided to take the lift up there. I shared a cabin with my mum and brother, while the other 3 relatives (an old couple and their grandson) shared the cabin next to ours. Upon opening our cabin-door, we had a pleasant surprise to find that our cabin was actually quite posh-looking, only that the bed was meant for 2. A third mattress could be found underneath the sofa though.

The lift lobby	Our cabin

We took a few minutes to settle down in our cabins, then moved on to the restaurant for dinner along with my relatives. The old people have a strong preference for chinese food, so we headed to the chinese restaurant, which was already awfully packed. We were given a reservation number and was told that our seats would be ready by 7.10pm, which was slightly an hour and a half later. I did some exploring on the ship's outer decks. There was this poolside Spice restaurant near the stern which really did appeal to me, but I decided to give it a miss as I knew the old folks will not probably be keen on the idea of having non-chinese food. As I walked out of the restaurant towards the outer deck, I spotted Superstar Virgo just beside our ship.

The Spice restaurant	Overlooking the Level 12 deck
Superstar Virgo	Close-up of Superstar Virgo
Looking down from deck 13

After enough gawking and photo-taking of Superstar Virgo, I went up to deck 13, the top, open deck. It looked like a nice place to lie down on the beach chairs and just relax, but I was distracted quickly by a curious-looking door nearby on deck 12, so I decided to check the door out and come back later instead.

Upon stepping into the door, I found the video arcade to my right and a casino to my left. Both were not open yet, so I decided to get on. This time, I took the staircase down to deck 9, just for a quick look. Deciding to leave some exploring for the night instead, I decided to head back to the chinese restaurant to see if we could actually go in earlier. It was a 'no', though. My brother suggested going to the bar nearby for a drink as well as to kill time. At the bar, I ordered a Superstar Special Mocktail, while my brother ordered a Bloody Mary, which he deemed 'unpalatable'. I was sure glad that my mocktail tasted rather good, aside from being too sweet. Finally, after a rather long wait, our reservations at the chinese restaurant was honored.

Outside the casino	Floor plan
Strange contraceptions on deck 9	A bar
The chinese restaurant (with my mum and grand-aunt)

Apart from the buffet-style appetizer, the variety of food served at the chinese restaurant was severely limited. There were only 4 dishes served (exclusive of soup and dessert). However, we could reorder any of the 4 dishes if we wanted more. Sweet and sour fish, veges with spinach and sea cucumber, black-pepper pork steak and stir-fried scallops and prawns.

The folks didn't seemed to be ready to leave the restaurant after a heavy dinner, so I initiated to go on my own first. However, they seemed to have gotten my hint and followed suit. I went back to my cabin and packed my stuff as I wanted to go swimming. However, after I had reached the swimming pool with extra clothes and a towel, I could not find any decent changing/shower room nearby, so I changed my mind. Grumpily, I returned to my cabin once again to lighten the extra weight in my bag, before heading out once again. I wanted to see the ship moving off on the open decks, and the ship was scheduled to leave the harbor at 9. There was still quite some time before 9, so I slowly made my way to the open deck at the bow on the 9th storey, getting lost in the maze of corridors several times along the way. In addition, I did drop by deck 13 in the process, and Superstar Virgo was still there, dazzling onlookers with her beautiful lighting. I tried to take several shots at the stunning scenery there, but my shaky and tense hands weren't of much help in getting clear pictures. I managed to reach deck 9 early, but there seemed to be no signs of the ship going to move off. The ropes were still anchored to the port. Soon after, an announcement was made that one of the captains had to disembark due to some medical problems, and we had to wait for the stand-in to arrive before the ship could leave. Meanwhile, Superstar Virgo had already began to move off, and her passengers were all in such high spirits that I could actually hear screams and cheering from them.

Superstar Virgo in the night	Virgo moving off
Looking out from deck 13	BBQ restaurant at deck 13
Jacuzzi at BBQ restaurant

Determined to have a good view of the sea when our ship was moving out, I waited all the way up on the deck. Eventually, I saw the workers below beginning to remove the anchor ropes from the hooks on the harbor. Yes yes, finally the ship began to move! I watched as the ship went out of the waterway at Haborfront, out into the open sea. As usual as this may have seemed, I always get very excited watching the sea when on a moving ship/boat. I only started heading back to my cabin a good 20 minutes later. Halfway through, I dropped by the lousy arcade just to try my luck at the UFO catcher game and to waste a few minutes on a car-racing game.

As the casino wasn't open yet, I suggested going to watch the Ladyboys show to my mum and brother. As my mum's main aim for the cruise was the casino, she had nothing else to do and naturally accepted my suggestion, along with my brother.

We reached the Stardust Lounge at 10.45, which meant that there were only 15 mins left before the show ended. However, I found the show quite entertaining despite the fact that I'm usually irked by the thoughts of transvestites. Basically, there were dancing and lip-syncing to songs pre-sung by real women, of course. I really respect these transvestites and wonder how they can gather up this much courage to alter their gender, though I would not want to alter mine!

As feminine as they may seem, they are actually gender-altered men.	This one too!

By the time we finished watching the show, the casino had just opened. The casino happened to be just beside the lounge, meaning that only a few steps were required to get there. I'm never a hardcore gambler, but I did have initial plans to try out the slot-machines there. However, it was a different story the moment I stepped in - the whole casino was infes.. erm.. crowded with old folks and I changed my mind about trying out the slot machines after I saw how boring it was to just sit there and press a button repeatedly in hopes of winning a few quick bucks. I walked a few rounds and watched people play and ogled at the hot female dealers there, until supper-time.

The buffet-style supper was served at the restaurant right at the end of the corridor where my cabin was located. By the time my mum and brother and I reached there, the restaurant was packed with passengers like a can of sardines. We still managed to get a seat, though we had to share with with 2 other strangers. The queue was crazily long. My brother stayed behind while my mum and I went to get our food, and he took his turn after we returned. Porridge, noodles, and quite a number of dishes were served, but I found the ham and cheese way too salty for my taste.

We returned to our cabin after supper to take a short break. However, once my mum and brother left for the casino at 1am, I decided to take a nap so that they could have the bed by the time they returned. I was awaken by my brother at 4 in the morning. Already starting to feel restless, I decided to walk around the ship in wait for the sunrise, and my brother decided to tag along too. We went to various places - the open deck on the 8th and 9th level, the musterstations, the reception room, and finally settled down at the open space on the uppermost open deck. We found a spot of our own, grabbed some beach chairs and just lied there, relaxing to the sea breeze. I almost falled asleep on the beach chair, when I felt several drops of water on me. It was beginning to drizzle. My brother woke up and decided to go back to the cabin, while I stayed as I was determined to watch the sunrise, which would happen anytime from half an hour later. However, I noticed that I wasn't alone. A crowd was beginning to gather despite the drizzle. Many more people were there waiting for the sunrise too.

Soon, a little of the total darkness in the sky had faded away. The sun was slowly beginning to rise, shining in from behind the dark clouds. I stayed there for an hour, snapping away continuously and watching the morning scenery with awe.

Relaxing on the beach chair	The open deck
Early dawn	Spice restaurant at dawn
An industrial ship	Are those volcanos?
The dawn continues breaking	Solitary ship
Many other ships	Looks luxurious, doesn't it?

Before making my way back to my cabin, I took a walk around the open decks of the ships, deciding to utilize my camera well this time. As I walked around, crew members who were starting work greeted me as I passed by, displaying the fleet's awesome standard in terms of courtesy. I went back to the musterstation once again for some photo-shots. Before heading back to my cabin.

Safety float	One of the emergency crafts
Another one	Exploring the decks
Stern of the ship	Stern of the ship, from above

The moment I reached my cabin, the first thing that hit me was that my mum had not returned from the casino yet. Wow, I seriously don't think I'll be able to spend an hour there, much less the entire night. The second thing was that it was breakfast-time, and I had to rush if I wanted to get a seat at the restaurant. I quickly woke my brother up, and we hurried to the buffet restaurant located near our cabin. We managed to get a seat for 4, and we were lucky that the remaining 2 seats were unoccupied throughout. The queue wasn't as terrible as the one during supper the previous night, and there was a drastic improvement on the food. Scrambled eggs, fried rice, french toast, sausages, porridge, braised peanuts. Yummy!

Right after we were back in our cabin, I could hear my mum unlock the door. Finally, she was back, but she went out again almost immediately for her breakfast. Meanwhile, my brother went back to sleep, and I just hooked myself onto my iPod to kill time. My mum returned an hour later, just to leave once again, this time to collect our passports. When she finally returned, she announced that we would be disembarking from the ship at 3pm, much to my dismay. The reason was so that we would not need to push our way through the crowd of disembarking passengers at the official disembarking time at noon. I was already starting to feel restless and bored as I had been to almost every single corner of the ship, apart from the engine room and control room. Fortunately, I managed to convince her to leave at noon. We had 2 more hours to go. I tried to kill my boredom by doing silly things like balancing bottles and tissue boxes, and taking random pics.

Balancing trick	Fanciful toilet paper
Bedshock

The 2 hours have finally elapsed after a painstaking wait. There was indeed a human-traffic jam like my mum had anticipated, it was worth it. Soon, after half an hour of pushing through the human crowd, we met up with my sis who was waiting for us there, and we were home in no time!

Seletar Island Kayaking Expedition - Backdated

I've just posted a backdated entry for the Seletar Island Expedition in 2005. Check it out Here.

Caught in the Act

Looks like Cai Shen Ye is having some problems with cashflow..

I'm Going to War

"Shit!", I thought, as my comrade has been hit. The enemies are closing in, and I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out, hiding behind the barricade and firing point-blank in hope of defending my base. As I slowly raised my head from above the barricade, I noticed the helmets of 2 enemies from behind a concrete structure. I tried to take aim, and "BANG!". I missed. I had expended all the rounds in my magazine. I shouted to a nearby comrade to cover me while I reloaded. Once I was done, I rose from behind my barricades and fired another shot at the enemy, but I missed once again. The enemy counter-shot, but the bullet did not head towards my direction. Instead, it hit the mark a couple of meters behind me. A blaring siren sounded. It was over.

Yeah, the match was over in our little paintballing game, and it was time to switch bases with our opposing team. I was starting to enjoy it, unbothered by the smell of the bloody helmet which had probably been worn by hundreds of people before me. Using the last few seconds of time left before the next round started, we devised a rough strategy which involves 3 attackers and 2 defenders. The siren sounded to signal the start of the next match, and in the midst of the rumbling chaos, I was once again lost on whether I should attack or defend. However, since 3 of my teammates had already begun to charge, I decided to do the defense, along with Kest.

Like the previous round, the aim of the game is to burst the enemy's balloon which is attached somewhere near their base. If you got shot, you would have to run back to your base to touch a mark - simple as that. This time, our base was the castle, and the enemy's was the fortress. As much as I would love to charge and experience the acclaimed painful feeling of being shot, I considered it a blessing to be able to do the defense as I was totally aware of my feeble stamina, and I knew there were more rounds to come. During this match, I was more careful with spending my ammunition, as I was using the last of my 2 magazines, which would be needed to last me for another few matches if I did not want to spend $15 for another 2 extra magazines. This match was scary though - it ended even before I had the chance to aim at an opponent. We had lost again.

Upon returning to the rest area to be briefed about the next match as well as to catch some fresh air outside our helmets, I realized that Chee Keong's neck was blue-black from the impact of the shot he had received. It was an eye-opener, as I had finally witnessed the power of the paintball gun which I was initially rather skeptical about. Luckily for him, the paint pellet did not split upon the impact on him, else it would be rather messy.

Our next mission was what I had initially expected - capture the flag. However, instead of having to capture our enemy's flags, both teams had flags of our own which was planted near to our own bases, so things were greatly simplified. We were supposed to capture 2 flags each. Danny, the leader, suggested that all of us charge towards the flags at the same time upon the start of the match, and run back to the base as soon as we had gotten them, without much need to focus on any offense. Soon, the match was started with a hail of the siren.

Danny's plan worked out better than I had expected - I managed to grab a flag despite it being placed on a tall tree, and then ran as fast as I could back to the base. Birdie managed to get one as well, and soon, we were waving the flags to our victory atop of our base. It was a quick one, and I was already huffing and puffing away non-stop. I barely had time to recover for the next match during the switchover of bases.

We decided to use the exact same strategy for the next match. We had to win this match in order to tie against our enemy. Soon, the starting siren sounded. The 5 of us charged towards the flags with all our might. I managed to grab one once again, and ran back to the castle. Victory once again - earning us a tie! On to the elimination match.

The rules for the elimination match were simple - just "kill" every single opponent off or exhaust their ammo. Once a player was shot or ran out of ammo, he's out. The origin of the last man/woman standing would decide which team gets the victory.

Unfortunately for Chee Kiong, he had expended all his remaining ammo during the previous match, which would mean that he would automatically be out. But since I was already tired out from the sprinting earlier on and I knew how much my accuracy sucked, I decided to leave my weapon in better hands, so I exchanged my loaded rifle with Chee Kiong's empty one. Then, I volunteered to remain at the base instead of the resting area, so I could still experience at least a bit of action. I might really have made myself useful though, cuz an opponent had actually mistook me for a free frag and tried to shoot at me, wasting 2 or 3 of his precious ammo. I was so close to getting hit that I could hear the ammo whiz past me and splatting safely onto the wall behind. Deciding to stop confusing the players, I raised my weapon in surrender and walked towards the rest area.

In the end, Chee Kiong managed to outlast the last opponent who ran out of ammo, scoring a victory for our team. Woohoo!! Victory is nice, but that aside, it was a nice game. I'm sure we would have felt that way even if we had lost. In my case, it's a totally new experience - unlike the monotonous gameplay of similar computer games like Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat, I could actually PHYSICALLY feel my stamina depleting as I ran and hid about.

Still chilling out before the battle	The weapon rack
Team A	Team B
Team C	Team D
Cheekeong's Gunshot Wound

After Team A and B had a go, it was Team C and D teams' turn. Eric, as well as Huiling, belonged to Team C. Meanwhile, the players from the previous participating teams, including me, stayed back in the rest area to watch the next 2 teams play. Though not as fun as participating in the game itself, watching it was rather interesting too.

In the first and second 'pop the balloon' matches, Huiling and Eric's team fared well, scoring a victory in both matches. However, they had lost both of the 'capture the flag' matches. This earned them an opportunity to partake the extra elimination match. During this match, a couple of comical things happened. When the siren sounded the start of the match, no one from Team 3 appeared until some time later when Huiling finally emerged into view, alone! It was comical how garang she was, charging out to the front lines all by herself.. Wahahaha.. However, a few seconds later, the rest finally appeared. Huiling was taken down rather quickly, with a HUGE dark bruise on her right arm. Ouch!! Soon, she had attract a few people to gather around her, just to ADMIRE and take pictures of her wounds. It was just really funny.

Huiling in action	Proud of her war medal
All-Stars!!

At the end of the match, Eric happened to be the last man standing, earning a victory for his team. The match was over, and most of us were shagged, though I really wouldn't mind if I were to be invited for another round. Eric and I headed towards the toilets to get our sweaty clothes changed, and we did a bit of looking around the Discovery Center, before heading to the canteen to join up with the rest of the participants. We were like waiting for nothing to happen (for the bus, actually). I ordered 2 pieces of pizza as I have not had lunch yet, and still had plenty of spare time after that. Soon, right before the bus arrived, we were given gifts for taking part in the event. After that, we headed towards the car park and boarded the bus. I talked crapped for like the entire journey with Huiling, Eric and Cheekeong. Finally, back to Kampong Chai Chee CC. We're home free!!