Today, there was a family outing organised by my daughters' pre-school - DUCK and Aerophile (DHL) Balloon Tour. I swopped a working day in order to accompany my girls since I have heard good comments about the DUCK tour and the hot air balloon ride. What an adventure this outing turned out to be! Hahaha. Read on... :)
We left the pre-school around 9:15am in two coaches (about 30 children and parents in each coach). Our coach went to the Aerophile Balloon Tour first while the other coach went to the DUCK Tour. Our coach got to Tan Quee Lan St. around 9:30am. But the strange thing is the Aerophile Balloon tour office was still closed. There seemed to be some sort of miscommunication. Half an hour and several phone calls later, the teachers told us that the Aerophile Balloon tour operators were not ready and we would go to the DUCK tour instead and come back for the balloon tour after that. Aiya, wasted half an hour waiting for nothing... the sky was overcast... looked like it is going to rain... Touch wood.
We arrived at DUCKtours @ Suntec around 10:10am. The children and parents from the other coach were waiting for their turn to board their DUCK. Our group of children and parents joined them in the waiting queue. While waiting for the DUCKs to come, it started to rain. What a bummer! I can't take photographs for sure in this weather and I thought there goes the hot air balloon ride too. Hmm... outing not going well. Wasted half an hour and no air balloon ride and now the rain. Let's hope the DUCK will live up to its name!
My girls and I boarded the second DUCK, Darcy. Both Marieann and Juliane were thrilled. "Hello, girls and boys, if you look to the right, you will see the Fountain of Wealth...", went the DUCK tour guide... "And now, we are going into the water...". Splash! DUCK Darcy was in the water. The kids all started cheering and clapping. See this DUCK go. Lol.
As it was raining quite heavily, they had to put down the plastic covers to prevent the rain from coming in. I couldn't take photos at first because of the plastic covers. Then as if my prayers were answered, the rain started to let up. The guide drew up the covers and I was snapping away like nobody's business. Actually, I was the only parent who was snapping photographs, no not just of my girls but also of the scenery along the Marina Bay. Lol. The guide was giving away those things that make quack sounds (whatever you call that) as prizes. A good friend who knew my girls and I were going on the DUCK tour smsed me to answer the questions. Hello, this is a kiddie group. The guide was asking the kids to sing kiddie songs and for those who did, would receive the duck quacking thingy. NO WAY, am I going to sing for it. Hahaha.
When DUCK Darcy made the turn and was heading back to land, it started to slow down. At first, I thought nothing of it, thinking it was part of the routine, slowing down for us to snap photographs. Then the engine went "splut, splut, SPLUT" and the DUCK really slowed down, like 5km/hour. After a while, the engine died totally on us. See this DUCK die. Lol.
We were one stranded DUCK! We were just drifting there with the flow of the tide. We became "Ladies and gentlemen, on your right, is a stranded DUCK" to the other DUCK tours. As the other DUCKs went past us, they were taking photos of us and waving at us as if we were a landmark too. Hahaha. They didn't radio for help until half an hour later. During all that time, the rain got heavier again and we were drifting aimlessly. With each DUCK that passed us, we bobbed up and down even more... there were some who were getting seasick... thank goodness, my girls and I were fine, lol. It was quite funny, the whole situation. Soon, our rescue came. It was another DUCK. They were going to transfer us over to the other DUCK, Orleans, over the water. So FUN. Hahaha. I was the only one who was definitely snapping photos of the transfer from stranded DUCK to the rescue DUCK. Hahaha. After 45 minutes of being stranded, we were finally back on land. However, the rest of our DUCK tour was also cut and we went straight back to Suntec. Not fair! It was close to 12pm. The hot air balloon ride was gone-case. We took a quick lunch at Toastbox before the coaches arrived to take us back to the pre-school at 12:45pm.
We left the pre-school around 9:15am in two coaches (about 30 children and parents in each coach). Our coach went to the Aerophile Balloon Tour first while the other coach went to the DUCK Tour. Our coach got to Tan Quee Lan St. around 9:30am. But the strange thing is the Aerophile Balloon tour office was still closed. There seemed to be some sort of miscommunication. Half an hour and several phone calls later, the teachers told us that the Aerophile Balloon tour operators were not ready and we would go to the DUCK tour instead and come back for the balloon tour after that. Aiya, wasted half an hour waiting for nothing... the sky was overcast... looked like it is going to rain... Touch wood.
We arrived at DUCKtours @ Suntec around 10:10am. The children and parents from the other coach were waiting for their turn to board their DUCK. Our group of children and parents joined them in the waiting queue. While waiting for the DUCKs to come, it started to rain. What a bummer! I can't take photographs for sure in this weather and I thought there goes the hot air balloon ride too. Hmm... outing not going well. Wasted half an hour and no air balloon ride and now the rain. Let's hope the DUCK will live up to its name!
My girls and I boarded the second DUCK, Darcy. Both Marieann and Juliane were thrilled. "Hello, girls and boys, if you look to the right, you will see the Fountain of Wealth...", went the DUCK tour guide... "And now, we are going into the water...". Splash! DUCK Darcy was in the water. The kids all started cheering and clapping. See this DUCK go. Lol.
As it was raining quite heavily, they had to put down the plastic covers to prevent the rain from coming in. I couldn't take photos at first because of the plastic covers. Then as if my prayers were answered, the rain started to let up. The guide drew up the covers and I was snapping away like nobody's business. Actually, I was the only parent who was snapping photographs, no not just of my girls but also of the scenery along the Marina Bay. Lol. The guide was giving away those things that make quack sounds (whatever you call that) as prizes. A good friend who knew my girls and I were going on the DUCK tour smsed me to answer the questions. Hello, this is a kiddie group. The guide was asking the kids to sing kiddie songs and for those who did, would receive the duck quacking thingy. NO WAY, am I going to sing for it. Hahaha.
When DUCK Darcy made the turn and was heading back to land, it started to slow down. At first, I thought nothing of it, thinking it was part of the routine, slowing down for us to snap photographs. Then the engine went "splut, splut, SPLUT" and the DUCK really slowed down, like 5km/hour. After a while, the engine died totally on us. See this DUCK die. Lol.
We were one stranded DUCK! We were just drifting there with the flow of the tide. We became "Ladies and gentlemen, on your right, is a stranded DUCK" to the other DUCK tours. As the other DUCKs went past us, they were taking photos of us and waving at us as if we were a landmark too. Hahaha. They didn't radio for help until half an hour later. During all that time, the rain got heavier again and we were drifting aimlessly. With each DUCK that passed us, we bobbed up and down even more... there were some who were getting seasick... thank goodness, my girls and I were fine, lol. It was quite funny, the whole situation. Soon, our rescue came. It was another DUCK. They were going to transfer us over to the other DUCK, Orleans, over the water. So FUN. Hahaha. I was the only one who was definitely snapping photos of the transfer from stranded DUCK to the rescue DUCK. Hahaha. After 45 minutes of being stranded, we were finally back on land. However, the rest of our DUCK tour was also cut and we went straight back to Suntec. Not fair! It was close to 12pm. The hot air balloon ride was gone-case. We took a quick lunch at Toastbox before the coaches arrived to take us back to the pre-school at 12:45pm.
Off we go!
Waiting for our DUCK
Our DUCK Darcy
US!
The Rescue Mission: Transfer from DUCK Darcy...
...to DUCK Orleans
Bye bye, stranded Darcy
Yeah! We are on the move again
Nothing comforting like FOOD!
It was really an adventure today. It seemed nothing was going well. But it was indeed an experience to remember, a funny one I guess, maybe for me only. Hahaha. Yes, I have been told I have a weird sense of humour.
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