SAF 50

When I was in Dubai, I kept reading about those Navy exhibitions that the Navy was holding in Harbour Front and I wish they coincided with the times I returned to Singapore. Alas, we just never had a chance to attend...

When I found out that there was this SAF50 exhibition, I was really excited. After such a great time at the Army Exhibition, I thought Ace will probably enjoy this as well. On top of that, they also had this balloting for tickets thing for us to go on board one of the ships.



I really wanted to get hold of a ticket lor.. cos the last time we managed to go on board ship was in 2007.. during the Navy Open House.. and Ace was only two years old.. a tad too young to really appreciate the whole thing...  so I tried to ballot for it and tried to ask my friends if they got lobang. Yiin jie jie was so sweet lor.. she went to ballot on our behalf and end up, both Max and her got the tickets to go:) woohoo!:)


But leh, the trip to the SAF50 ended as another exercise to remind me what seems fun to me may not seem fun to my son and that I should NEVER EVER expect my son to enjoy what I think he will enjoy becos it will only drive me up the wall and make me feel like giving him two tight slaps!:) Wahahaha...

When we arrived, it started well enough since Ace wanted to go and take some photos... Check out the army shirt he is wearing.. he specially planned to dress this way for this event one lor:)

Ace was intrigued and tried to tie knots and make a keychain for himself:)

Swee boh:) Actually though, the knots they used are more like Chinese knot than the knots they use on board ship.. i know cos tat is how I made the dragonfly and the human necklace:) wahahaha..

There was this segment where you can take out and pack everything into your BMT bag. Ace gave it a try and i think if he were to do BMT now.. he sure fail and kenna tekan cos he was so slow and so blur:) wahahahaha... One other boy who was younger was a little more observant and managed to unzip and take out everything quickly... I really wonder how is my blur fxxx son going to do NS... hahahaha..

Ace exploring the weaponry...

At this point, Ace started to get bored.. there did not seem to be much he can do and he did not want to do anything other than playing those games available there..

Like this one..

Dun ask me why need to open mouth when aiming lor:) wahahaha

After this point, it was all those weapons and stuff on board the navy ships.. Ace was totally not interested in them leh..

Max saw this and it brought back memories lah.. cos he says this was something he was working with when he was with the Navy:)

Visited Uncle CC and of course must pose with the ship that he helped to build:)

Ace realized that they were giving freebies away so he went up and pretended like he is interested in a career with the army.. wahahaha..

But in all honesty, I think based on what i see now, he feels more passion for the army than the navy lah.. so there is higher chance he will prefer the army to the navy:) hahaha

Time to queue up for our ship visit this is where the small boat cn go in and out...

I did not realize this but hor, I actually visited this ship once before many moons ago during the Navy Open House in 2007..

We were lucky to see the small boat coming back.. but not lucky enough to get a chance to take the same boat ride. According to 207's CO, S, who is also Max's batch boy... that was the last boat out liao.

Ace very funny one.. go on the ship.. everyone so excited to take photo with helicopter.. this and that.. (Even Max says it is rare to see the helicopter on the boat), he just walked around aimlessly feeling bored...

Thought some performance might cheer him up but he just stared at them with a very sian look...

Ok lah, decide to go into the cabins to take a look....

Whose bed.. so cute:) wahahahah

This is the canteen..

The kitchen.. Max says many of the chefs he has met on board ship are very good cooks and they can make delicious singaporean food in the middle of the sea!:) Wahahahahaa

Officer's area for makan...

Check out the captain of this ship... :)

Max explaining to Ace what all the equipment are for

Ace played with this for a long long time.. I dunno why he is so fascinated with guns and stuff when I actually did my best not to let him play with them for as long as possible!

Max says this is one room to go and chill if you dun want other pple around and want some ME TIME:) hahaha

Time for another performance..

This group from SAF dance and drama troupe sing quite well lor:)

Hey, isnt that IP Man from Ah Boys To Man?! He was the host for the performances..

Then it was time for the NAVY DIVERS to show off... I think if we watched AH Boys To Men 3 before we saw this, Ace will probably appreciate it alot more....

First time I made a GIF.. not bad hor.. quite nice:) Hahaha..

Photo time.. my son doesnt want to go and take photos because, "It is not the army what... I dun want to waste my energy..." and he continue to sit there with a sian face that looks like it is asking for a few more slaps.. wahaaha.

Really leh, I dunno why everytime I bring him out, he cannot hor appreciate what he can see but rather want to give me a kiam pak face tat makes me feel like I waste my time and effort... and i always feel like a sucker and ask myself... just why did I bring him out again... should have left him at home. ... or in popo house and I just go with Max can liao:)

I dunno why my son dun understand that not all events come with TOYS, MAC DONALDS, SUBwAY or PLAYGROUNDS... and isnt he too old to only go for such events??

Me and Max decided to ignore Ace and just stay for the sunset ceremony.. hahaha

Flag lowered for the Sunset Ceremony..

Marching in...

And so, the ceremony is just everyone moving into senang diri position and waiting... And they have to do it gently too cos in olden days, ship deck made of wood and they need to protect the wood for it to last a long time..

So this little boy was beside me and asked his dad.. "What are they doing?"

"THey are doing the sunset ceremony.."

"But they are doing nothing... this is so boring!" exclaimed the little boy who looked no bigger than 4.

Hahahaha... and in the deafening silence, I think all these men must have heard him but they are not allowed to burst out laughing like we did:) wahahhaa

Then someone came out and kiss their sword:)

Naval ensign hoisted... it is a special flag used by ships of the RSN..

Then they had to blow this this called the bosun pipe..  According to wikipedia... "A boatswain's call, pipe or bosun's whistle is a pipe or a non-diaphragm type whistle used on naval ships by a boatswain. It is pronounced, and sometimes spelled, "bosun's call"." Max says it is compulsory to learn how to blow this instrument.. which is quite difficult.. cos no learn means cannot end training..

Apparently this pipe is used because it produces a sharp, shrill sound that can be heard all over the ships..

Then time for bugle call and then all march out again..

I agree lah to a young kid, this is quite boring.. but to me is an eye opener:)

Ace only finally became happier when he good friend Lele (whom we saw while making our way to the ship) boarded the ship and met up with him to pass him some freebies that he won:)

After Lele showed off the freebies he recieved above. Ace decided to become a little happier, and he was now keen to just go and collect more navy stuff:) Wahahaha

His loot!:)

The two big boxes of soft toy were from Lele:)

And it just happen so that Max was given one SWEO... which was what he was doing with the navy:) wahahaha..

We went to have dinner and after dinner, went to look at the ship at night and take some photos ;)

While we were on our way home we saw this artist making paintings by scratching hot iron on wood.. Ace loved it so much and so we ordered one for our family:) Nice boh..

And that marked a beautiful ending of our SAF 50 outing:)

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