Wild Wild Wet
While China shuts down for a whole week to celebrate workers day, Singapore like most of Europe enjoys one day off (only). Messrs. Ernest and Anthony convinced us to spend the day at Wild Wild Wet. It is a theme park around water featuring slides, a wave pool, splashes and water rides. The theme park belongs to the National Trade Unions Congress ( NTUC) of Singapore, the main union here. It looks to me like more like a social or benefit club running supermarkets, theme parks, resorts, insurance and -- I nearly forgot -- doing union work. NTUC is a child of the approach to development in Singapore. Instead of confronting corporations the unions make sure, that the dollar earned goes the extra mile.
We had a jolly good time with all the rides, despite the fact that a few were strictly off limits for Anthony and Ernest. To ensure the rougher rides are taken only by older kids (there were no grown ups there, at least after the first ride everybody was a kid again) a simple height measurement is taken. Below 1.2m the very long tunnel slides are out of reach. Anthony and Ernest vowed to add the missing 7 and 8cm until next time
. Being a curious kid I tried the ride: Is is a dark purple tube that is entirely closed. The height from start to landing point is about 12 meters and it is winding like a garden hose in all directions. After the first few meters there is a sharp turn right and downwards and I was enclosed in complete darkness. I think I have a mild case of claustrophobia. My pulse started to accelerate and I wasn't sure if I should hold my breath or scream. It felt like a rerun of the birth channel: going down, longing for the light and not knowing how long it will take. After a few seconds it was over but it left a huge pile of thought to chew on. I'll see the bench for it soon.
When we came back home, Ernest uttered the quote of the day: "Look daddy, there seems to be Gong Fu lessons near our block now". He was referring to the election advertisement of the PAP someone had dropped at our doorstep with a picture of the candidates all dressed in white. More on the election at another day.
We had a jolly good time with all the rides, despite the fact that a few were strictly off limits for Anthony and Ernest. To ensure the rougher rides are taken only by older kids (there were no grown ups there, at least after the first ride everybody was a kid again) a simple height measurement is taken. Below 1.2m the very long tunnel slides are out of reach. Anthony and Ernest vowed to add the missing 7 and 8cm until next time
. Being a curious kid I tried the ride: Is is a dark purple tube that is entirely closed. The height from start to landing point is about 12 meters and it is winding like a garden hose in all directions. After the first few meters there is a sharp turn right and downwards and I was enclosed in complete darkness. I think I have a mild case of claustrophobia. My pulse started to accelerate and I wasn't sure if I should hold my breath or scream. It felt like a rerun of the birth channel: going down, longing for the light and not knowing how long it will take. After a few seconds it was over but it left a huge pile of thought to chew on. I'll see the bench for it soon.
When we came back home, Ernest uttered the quote of the day: "Look daddy, there seems to be Gong Fu lessons near our block now". He was referring to the election advertisement of the PAP someone had dropped at our doorstep with a picture of the candidates all dressed in white. More on the election at another day.
Posted by Stephan H Wissel on 01 May 2006 | Comments (0) | categories: Singapore