Late Night Recce at Sentosa

It was Friday night, 2nd Feb 07... and I was very tired after a long day of work. Besides that, I was also hungry (I only ate 1 Filet O-Fish burger) and having a throbbing headache. I can't remember whether this headache began in the afternoon or in the evening after I left the office, but it did last all the way till I reached home at (I think) 11:15pm that night. I was dead beat!

What was I doing out so late, all alone by myself? Well, I decided to do a recce to Sentosa by myself, as this was the place where I had laboriously planned to propose to Rebecca. Initially, I had wanted to recce the place on Tuesday, but I was just too caught up with work that I ended up only being able to recce on Friday night. Thank God that I am not working that Saturday!

After I left office at about 6:15pm, I went to the Popular Bookstore at Orchard MRT station to choose and buy coloured paper for my surprise to Rebecca. I spent like 15-20 mins trying to choose the right colour, right tone, right amount of foldability (coz my plan required me to fold this piece of paper) and I even decided to buy 4 pieces of paper instead of just 1 piece, in case I printed wrongly. It wasn't expensive, but its the amount of thought and planning that went into this concept of surprise that was tedious. Yet, thinking back, I am relieved and happy to have did that for my darling Rebecca. =)

After travelling by MRT to Harbourfront, I spent like 35-40 mins checking out the Cruise Centre, Cable Car Station, Feeder Bus Service and the newest Sentosa Express Monorail. This was tiring as I had to literally walk all over the place around Harbourfront... and I even got lost a few times trying to find my way around (I seldom go to Sentosa). But I did that, so as to give myself a good gauge of which mode of transport I would prefer on that day itself. In the end, I decided to go for the Sentosa Express Monorail because its very new and we have never travelled on it before! Its supposed to be a surprise or at least something new / fresh, isn't it? =)

Surprisingly, as I was wondering about the place, I met my JC friend Thia Jun Mun and his group of friends and volunteers. I was also surprised to see that one girl in the group was someone whom I had once teamed up with when doing the selling of charity tickets! She couldn't recognize me, until I whispered to Jun Mun to ask her if she remembered this guy who teamed up with her to sell charity tickets and also referred her to getting her current job as a social worker at Fei Yue! She was so shocked that she immediately called me on my HP! Hahaha...

Anyway, so I travelled by the Sentosa Express Monorail into Sentosa, so that I can find my way around and not get lost on that day itself. It was a short and comfortable ride. Getting off, I realised that Sentosa has changed quite a bit since I last went there like more than a year ago. Their transport system is very different, with trams that go to specific places in a roundabout loop trip. Some trams were air-conditioned and some were not. That evening, both trams that I travelled on were open-air. Very breezy and I liked it!

I alighted at Palawan Beach, did a brief recce around the Southernmost Point of Asia Continent and chose a nice spot to carry out my surprise. All through this time, my throbbing headache laboured on, and I was really feeling uncomfortable. At some point, I had to clutch my head because it was quite painful. Yet I pushed on because I knew that if I wanted to propose to Rebecca that Sunday (which so happened to be her 25th birthday; I purposely planned it that way), this was the last chance that I had to recce this important place. So I reassured myself that this is a once in a lifetime thing, and gathered my strength to carry on.

Getting to Palawan Beach was relatively easy, but getting out to Sentosa was more complicated coz I didn't take the Sentosa Express Monorail back to Harbourfront. Apparently, I had alighted at a quiet bus stop where I only had the chance to take a bus, followed by another bus, before I could get to Harbourfront. So I waited, no choice. During that time, my thoughts were also worrying because planning to propose at this outskirt location that is also open-air (without shelter) is literally almost romantic suicide!

But I prayed... and I have been praying for many days earlier... and I made a firm decision NOT to make plans for a back-up plan, because I wanted to trust God to provide a good weather, as an acknowledgement of my proposal to Rebecca. After all, this is an event that will mark a turning point in both our lives, so I wanted to make sure that I am relying on my faith in God. In fact, seriously... anything could happen to affect my plan entirely. Anything! Anything from rain, to a packed party event at Palawan Beach, to Rebecca or even myself not feeling well because of the spreading of the flu virus that was passing around. Indeed, I decided to go by pure faith and MUCH prayer.

Upon reaching Habourfront, I decided to save money and take the bus home. I reached home that night, feeling exhausted... but my heart felt warm and excited about how I was going to propose on Sunday... In fact, over the next two nights, I worked till 2am (both nights), just to make sure that my planned surprise program was well prepared. It was a very tiring week, but it was nonetheless a GREAT and meaningful experience.