I first met Hong Kong’s Plaisir Ensemble and their conductor Mr Man (think cantonese) at a choral festival held in Vietnam this year.  It was a happy coincidence that they could be in town en route home from Sri Lanka and we decided to meet up and hang out!

Hosting them was a real pleasure…  Not only was there fantastic sharing of food, music, philosophy and ideas etc., it was also a very good excuse to give myself a break and have my maiden visit to the famed Universal Studio Singapore (ya ya, I’m a foreigner in my own country) together with Mrs Tay!

While getting onto the monorail en route to Sentosa, we ended up queuing at the exact door where some of my ex-SAJC choir students were waiting to go to USS as well!  It was great to hear how they’re all in university and doing well.  相见不如偶遇, so we took a quick picture once we alighted from the monorail.

More amazing coincidental meetings with ex-students to follow!  By chance I met Gail from Crescent Girls School who is now singing in the ACJC alumni choir…

Gail formerly from Crescent Girls School

Jiayi formerly from River Valley High School Choir!

and turns out that Jiayi, formerly from River Valley High School choir is also singing with Gail at the ACJC Alumni choir.  Am really happy these students are continuing to enrich their lives with music and choral singing!  May you two have more fun singing and making music together in years to come!

Anyways, it is a big bonus that Mrs Tay now has good company for all her mind-blowing, life-expectancy-slashing rides while the two conductors tried to keep their feet firmly planted on terra firma (where possible) and have a quiet sharing about music and life…  I mean check out the sheer height of this monster ride… it must have been like 15 storeys high or something.

Of course, not all the rides were this hardcore.  The Madagascar ride was pretty infant-in-arms  friendly, the Mummy ride quite thrilling and probably more suited to older kids with a strong heart for speed, sudden drops and other what-nots.

WaterWorld show is a spectacular stunts display by an excellent crew of fantastic stuntmen and 1 woman.  Expect loud explosions, pyrotechnics, wet clothes (not just the actors’, especially if you sit in the middle column closer to stage) and fantastic surprises.  Kudos to these dedicated men and woman for a really great show.  Those with babies, bring ear muffs.

It has been a very long time since I’ve had this much fun at a theme park with Mrs Tay!  What a happy day of happy coincidences and conversations with like-minded colleagues!!