Due to preparations for the Malacca trip, i did not have time to blog about what happened on 3rd December, the Sunday before the Malacca trip. I have to blog about that day cos it was quite an experience. Charlie Brown, Kok Kok, Eugene, Mimi and I took part in the Racial Harmony Amazing Race 2006 on that day. We met at Bedok Interchange before going to East Coast:Marine Cove, the venue for the flag off. Upon reaching and registering, we changed into our Amazing Race T-shirts which were quite funny cos in front, on the top left side of the shirt were the words "I'm in a Race!" and that got Charlie Brown and Mimi to think of absurd poses and expressions as usual. We got a bag each that contains a cap, raisin bread, mineral water, a poncho and a map (which got Charlie Brown pissed cos he brought a poncho, a bus directory and a map!) Our group's name was "DE SAYs", each letter representing our name.As we had some spare time, the 5 of us sat down at McDonald's and had "a strategy talk" according to Charlie Brown. We spent the time finding the places where we would most probably go to and their respective bus routes. We saw Ivan there as well. He was part of the organising committee and he told us that he would be located at "some Bedok area." We were flagged off at around 11am and our first stop was at the Bedok Library. Along the way, Eugene tripped and fell due to the wet ground as it was drizzling a little when we started. His knee was badly bruised though but he said he was fine. The organiser there told us to cooperate with another team (the "All Guys Group") to find a Chinese Vocabulary Book on the first level. After what seemed like eternity, Kok Kok found it and we were then told to give them names of Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes. Next stop was the Sri Siva Durga Temple (or something like that) in Potong Pasir. We took quite a long time to find it. We were almost certain that the "All Guys Group" (one of the groups in our category that were all males) that were taking the same route as us would reach there before us cos we alighted from bus 26 halfway and took bus 13 so that we would have a shorter route to run but it was a risk as we had to take into consideration the waiting time for bus 13. On bus 13, we encountered a traffic jam, partly due to the Marathon which happened on the same day. We were almost sure that the "All Guys Group" would have already reached there in no time. Upon reaching, we had to remove our socks and shoes before entering. By that time, there were many devotees worshipping in the temple already but our station was at a remote part of the temple. We were told to cut a lime into half, dig out the filling and fill it with Ghee, stick a wick into the Ghee and light it. When we finally completed that, we saw the "All Guys Group" rushing into the temple. (we were ahead of them! woohoo~) Sadly, the organiser did not convey his instructions well. We had to actually make 10 lime candles and not one! He wasted our time! We could have actually divided the work instead of concentrating our energies on one lime candle! However, the temple caretakers gave us a lot of attention and the "All Guys Group" were on their own. Next was the Bethel Presbyterian Church located near Sommervale Road (where Evangel Family Church initially was in the early days!) The organiser at the temple told us they had a hard time finding the place but we found it in no time. However, they were right in saying that it was hard to navigate your way there cos there were many slopes and turnings. Charlie Brown was saying that we were not as "Geographically Challenged" as them cos by that time, he was quite annoyed with the organisers for not doing their job well. At the church, we had to memorise a plague found outside the main hall, after which they would ask us questions regarding what is written on the plague. After that was charades. Mimi delivered us out of it in no time. Kok Kok was telling us that he could see the words written on the card which Mimi referred to and that was how he guessed the words "Halal" and "Sikh!" There was no sign of the "All Guys Group" even after we left the place so it was a good sign. [there are actually 10 teams competing in our category, which was the Tertiary category. There were 2 different routes, one for 5 teams and the other for the remaining 5 teams. We were the first few in our route but the "All Guys Group" were our direct competitiors. Therefore, I kept mentioning them as a barometer of our performance]The fourth stop was at Bedok Reservoir. This was the deciding factor of the position we get later on cos this was our killer stop! Along the way, I called Cuiwen for help cos I thought she would be sure of how to go there but she did not answer my call immediately and when she finally called back, we were on to another stop already.We took the wrong bus, made some mistakes along the way which led to us waiting for half an hour for bus 87 (our killer bus!) before transferring again to bus 59. The organisers there told us we were third in our category already. (we thought we were first or second) Back there, we had to answer questions again. If we answered correctly, we were entitled to using a spoon to ferry water to a cup some distance away. If we were wrong, we had to use a straw. (another mistake that the organising committee did not look into cos using a straw would be much faster than a spoon) After realising that, we answered our questions wrongly. It was really funny cos they were asking "What do Indians use to decorate their houses with on Deepavali?" or something like that and Kok Kok was like shouting "White Cloth! White Cloth! Wrong right?" before grabbing a straw, filling water in his mouth and racing to spit it all in the cup. The Sri Gurdwara Temple (wrong spelling again I think!) near Katong Post Office was our next stop. It was a Sikh temple (if I'm not wrong) Here, the organisers screwed up again. Our group and another group from the "Open" Category reached there at around the same time. Our group had already arrived there together as a group and the other group still had some members who were on their way there. However, the oranisers decided to attend to the other group first, causing us to waste even more time! Anyways, we were told to do "Kolam" (those paintings in which coloured sand were used. I think I spelt it wrongly!) to do a picture which represents Racial Harmony. The group decided to use the different types of sand to make handprints and connect them together in a circle. After that, we were told to enter the temple and find the name of a sage whose limbs were chopped off. For the next stop, the clue required us to solve a maze, in which we had to trace our way to the right alphabet to form the word to our final stop-the Khadijah mosque.By the time we arrived there, many groups were on the same bus as us, heading to the same destination. However, they were from different categories so it was not so bad. At the mosque, we were required to play capteh-as long as each member in the team passes the capteh to the other without it dropping on the floor, we complete the challenge. We decided to use our hands instead! We raced back to East Coast:Marine Cove but along the way, there were disagreements among the group. Kok Kok decided to change buses along the way as he thought it would lead us to East Coast faster but the buses were going in the wrong direction. As he was so enthusiastic and panicky, he caused me to panic and when we realised that we boarded the wrong bus, I had already tapped my card so the whole group had to take the bus and alight one stop later. After that, the same thing happened and Mimi and Charlie Brown were already quite irritated. We decided to stick to taking our original bus, bus 196, instead. We reached the registration booth and the person in charge gave us a tag with the letters "T3" imprinted on them. I asked if that means we were the 3rd among the 10 groups that reached but he said nothing. [silence meant consent!] Not long after, someone from the team that reached earlier told us that we may be first in our category cos they had additional time added due to them not being able to complete some stops. Moreover, the "All Guys Group" reached a few minutes after us which means that we were the champions!! We were shrieking and yelling in delight cos we thought that we would not even win anything at all but after that we decided not to be complacent and see what happens first. Otherwise we would be rejoicing too early.
Before the results were announced, they had performances going on. There were fire eaters, "bubble boys" [a term I coined for the contortionists that were squeezing themselves in bubble-looking things]. After that, the emcee was going around and asking the particpants how they found the race and what they learnt. When he asked Mimi, she said "I found out that bus 87 was the best bus on earth" or something like that.hahaha!!
Mrs. Jessica Tan was the guest-of-honour and she went onstage to give out the prizes. We got 2nd in our category [which was not too bad already] and surprisingly, the "All Guys Group" got first! According to what we discussed, it must be due to some time deduction on their part cos we reached earlier than them but it was just a guess. Anyway, second was better than nothing and we got a trophy (which we found out had double-sided tape to aid in its construction) and a $600 sports voucher which means $120 for each person! woohoo~
We were photographed with the winners from the other categories along with Mrs. Jessica and I think we would be appearing in the Northeast CDC Magazine in no time! hahahaha! Charlie Brown said he would look out for that.
It was off to McDonald's for dinner after that. Mimi and I were laughing at what Kok Kok said and he confused me with playing pool. (inside joke!) Stayed there till 7 plus until Mimi's family gave us a lift in their van to Bedok Station where Kok Kok and I took bus 28 back.
All in all, I think we did better than expected. Even Kok Kok tried his best. He was very motivated, he told us. He ran very fast and he was carrying our bag too! I'll post the photos soon when Charlie Brown sends them to us...
We are DE SAYs! [Dixon,Eugene,Shi Yun,Amellia,Yu Kai]
In the bus
This bizarre woman kept leaning so close to me that her foxtail scarf kept touching me. Mimi just couldn't resist taking a picture of her!
They're really Amazing!
Clue 5 to the Sikh Temple near Katong Post Office
Clue 4 to Bedok Reservoir
Clue 3 to Bethel Presbyterian Church
Clue 2 to the Indian temple at Potong Pasir
Clue 1 to Bedok Library
Our masterpiece at the Sikh Temple stop
Charlie Brown holding his trophy proudly..hiak hiak!!
Second Part to Clue 6: Puzzle Maze
First part of Clue 6:Instructions to the Puzzle Maze
The bus ride
Mimi decided that she also wanted a picture with the now infamous Miss Foxy
Just look at the sweat stain on Eugene's shirt! A testament to the calories we're burning!
Group photo again
The bus-the best place for cam-whoring during breaks
The free goodie bags which we got at the end of the race
The guys taking a break by cam-whoring(?)
Our flag-off begins here!
Our trophy for second prize!
The envelopes which contain our clues. Charlie Brown calls them the "noob envelopes"
The bubble boy which I mentioned in my post
Bubble boy wrapping his bubble around him...
Appetiser: Multi-grain bread served with butter and Chilli (weird but its good, surprisingly!)
