It's hard to say goodbye to some new friends made... but as the chinese saying goes... "tian xia mei you bu san de yan xi" - literal translation means "There aren't any parties that never end" so all good things will come to an end.
True... it's the third time I say farewell - first in Durban, second in Fremantle and last in Singapore - home port. This time it's not just saying goodbye and see you again. I might not see them again... well the singers will be back in Singapore in June/July so that's not really a problem but it's the international friends made. oh well, back to the usual technology for communication - emails and handphones.
It was yet another of Uniquely Singapore's party for international crew - we had good breakfast for all invited guests and crew... oooo.. there soon kueh, nasi lemak, carrot cake, siew mai, chwee kueh, fried dumpling, chee cheong fun... and most exciting Yakun toast and coffee (sponsored by Yakun). It was quite a treat for all of them.
At this big sending off party, our Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong graced the event as Guest of honour. He raised a tiny sail using the coffee grinder - on the sail were 'bon voyage' in all 4 languages. For the first time I shook his hands too as he made rounds to all the teams in the usual protocol.
Another highlight is the lion dance. This time, each boat had a lion dance to perform in front of each boat... followed by giving a scroll which says "yi fan feng shun". Very auspicious indeed! Uniquelys Singapore has a pair of lions performing stunts on the poles and each poll has a scroll. A small scroll was also given to the skipper when the lions performed in front of the boat too.
The boats had the usual slipping lines every 2 min and then boat formation for the sail pass at the waterfront. It's a good waterfront area for big send off but the sending off party were largely Keppel staff, crew, crew's families and friends, sailing fraternity skippers and commodores and security guards... ahahah. Really - Singapore is the only port that I know has so many security guards for the sending off party. I know the main reason for the tight security is for SM Goh but if you have seen the sight, the black T-Shirts with the word "Security" at the back, beefy-looking man are scattered everywhere. It's was a different sight from those that I saw in Durban and Fremantle.
Any how, there weren't many sail boats following the clipper fleet outside Keppel Bay. In fact, only commodore's boat from each of the marina clubs in Singapore were motoring a sail- past at the waterfront too whilst Collin de Mowbry gave the introduction on each of the marinas. But being a markerteer ... I see subtle messages. One-marinas want to get more members... Two-skippers are looking for more committed crew. Isn't this the best time for them!!!
Ange - a pity that you missed this. Lots of photos that you could take for us and upload to the Uniquely Singapore site. I tried to double up as photographer but a little difficult as I was making my rounds to say goodbye. What a pity! There was a large balloon net releasing lots of balloons and confetti paper into the sky (and sea eventually).
here's to ALL my team mates of Uniquely Singapore on leg 4 and cool friends.... John Fabio, JB and Graham of Western Australia, Claire and Alex of Victoria, Nikki of Qingdao and Will - the cameraman who gets to sail around the world on different boats.... Good luck..safe sails and take care. I will miss all of ya!
Lots of HUGS and KISSES.
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