XXV. the actual visit to USS.

See the rest of the photo album here.

It was crucial that we secured the Subaru Impreza (Huiyi’s mother’s car) for the day and Huiyi used her birthday trump card to ensure that. She picked me up in the morning, not knowing that I had barely three hours of rest the night before; I was tying up all the loose ends of what would be the most exciting day of our courtship so far.

We ate a simple breakfast of chai tow kuay and chwee kuay at Ghim Moh Market. Then we drove to Telok Blangah Road and parked the car behind Seah Imm Food Centre, displaying a dashboard full of coupons to ensure that we didn’t receive a parking summon when we returned from USS.

Then I asked her if she wanted to take the bus or the monorail into Sentosa. It would have been my third time if we took the bus but I had to pretend that it was my first time attempting to enter USS. She opted for the monorail.

We entered USS together – her first time and my third – and I felt so terrible and guilty having to act surprised, astonished and impressed by all the sights and sounds we were taking in.

• “Let’s try to find the map of this place.” (I could navigate USS with my eyes closed.)
• “Look, Kungfu Panda! Let’s take a picture with him!” (This was my third time seeing Po.)
• “This place is really cool uh? I didn’t know it’d be so crowded.” (I knew all along.)
• “We can pick up a couple of souvenirs at the gift shop later if you want.” (There’s nothing nice in there.)
• “Huh? We’ve walked one round already? USS is smaller than I thought!” (Same thing I told Rudith… Twice!)
• “Let’s look for the washroom.” (I pretended to study the map.)
• “Dear, what’s Universal Express Pass?” (I wanted to answer my own question…)
• “Shall we have lunch at Coffeebean instead?” (I wanted to avoid the overpriced and overrated restaurants in USS.)

After we queued up for and completed our first ride (Shrek in 4D), we decided that we should each pay $30 extra and purchase the express pass. And we were glad we did because we took all but two rides and didn’t get a chance to revisit a ride! More importantly, the $60 spent helped to prevent disappointment; the only ride that urged for a repeated attempt was Battlestar Galactica. The other rides simply did not justify the waiting time.

Next chapter: the rain on my parade.