Hey 20

Last week hubs and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it myself. Has it been that long?

Traditionally, we would celebrate by going out for a meal and exchanging gifts. This year I proposed that we do something together instead. Anyway hubs said to not make a big deal of this 20th anniversary.

One day, he said he had a crazy idea. Usually when hubs says he has a crazy idea, it is crazy. I braced myself for it. Hubs proposed we hold a wedding dinner. You see, when we got married, we did not hold a traditional Chinese wedding dinner. We had the civil ceremony at the Registry of Marriage. This was followed by a lunch reception for relatives at his home arranged by his mother. Most Chinese would hold a wedding dinner at a restaurant or at a hotel. That is a lot of money and 20 years ago, we were poor. I didn't want to borrow money and I didn't want to spend all our savings feeding our relatives. And that was what we wanted.

Anyway, hub's crazy idea was to hold that Chinese wedding dinner we didn't hold 20 years ago now. I thought about it for a few seconds and said No. It's even more expensive to hold a Chinese wedding dinner today and seriously, I still don't want to spend any of our savings feeding our relatives.

We ended up spending the day at Universal Studios theme park at Sentosa. Remember I have height phobia, motion sickness issues and I believe hubs has some issues with the scarier rides as well. Somehow that didn't stop us.

We didn't plan the day very well and ended up arriving at Sentosa just before 3pm. And Universal Studios theme park close at 7pm. The tickets were $74 each so once we paid up, we had to try as many attractions as possible to make it worth the money.

Unfortunately we didn't get a copy of the map and later we were too lazy to walk back to the entrance. At first we just walked around very unsure which attraction to try first. The attractions are divided into 7 zones - New York, Sci-fi city, Ancient Egypt, The Lost World, Far Far Away, Madagascar and Hollywood. We went into Sci-fi city first.

I'll be honest. I was very nervous. I haven't gotten on a ride for a very, very long time. Since my height phobia was triggered, I had spent a lot of time avoiding heights. The past few years, I had felt myself getting better. I no longer have to take the stairs at certain shopping malls. I could even take some of the long escalators. I almost wanted to bail but having already spent $148, I had to die trying.

Hubs asked me to make a decision which attraction to try first. Otherwise we would just be walking around. I panicked and then I saw a little boy entering Transformers The Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle. And I thought to myself, if this little kid could do it, so could I. And we walked into the unknown.

This was hubs after the ride. He enjoyed it a lot although I'm pretty sure I heard him scream a bit. I was too numb to know if I enjoyed it. All I knew was I survived the ride. It was a lot of 3D effect. A lot. And a lot of non-stop back and forth throwing you forward, sideways and forward and backwards again. How did the little kid survive?

After the ride, my legs were a little shaky. This was a good choice for me because I knew now I wouldn't die in the ride.

At Sci-fi city, there is one other ride - the Accelerator. Perhaps I should have started with this ride. It's much more harmless.

Next we went to Ancient Egypt zone. This zone is spectacular. I wanted to go to Treasure Hunters which looked not frightening but the waiting time was long. Instead we went into Revenge of the Mummy which had no waiting time. However no bags were allowed and we had to go put our bags in a free locker.

We were behind a couple with an old man and when we were inside, the old man hesitated. So we got on the ride without them. I wondered if they ever got on the ride. Anyway, how do I describe Revenge of the Mummy ride to you. Have you seen the movie? It's like being in the movie. Except it's much, much, much worse. It was the most TERRIFYING ride of my life. TERRIFYING. I'm surprised I did not pee or defecate in my pants. I'm surprised I'm still alive. I'm surprised I didn't hurt myself.

Before the ride started, hubs warned me I had to make sure I keep my head pressed against the headboard. I'm so thankful he said that to me. Because right away, you get flung into hell. Your head and neck get slammed left, center, right, forward and backward and forward and backward. It was unending. I never even got to see any of the 3D effect the maker put so much effort into. I kept my eyes shut throughout. So did hubs. The ride was very, very forceful. If the old man had taken the ride, he would broken his neck. I swear my heart stopped many times. Throughout the ride, I just concentrated on keeping my head against the headboard. Sometimes it didn't work because your neck gets slammed left and right anyway. But I kept trying because the last thing I wanted was a neck injury. And the ride was long. I just screamed in my head, over and over and over: I don't want to die. Seriously, you should be strapped in like in a rocket. It's not funny.

When the ride ended, a crew clapped for us. Inside she must be laughing her head off. My legs quivered for a long, long time.

The Lost World was next and we rode the Dino-Soarin. It wasn't that scary but I didn't enjoy being high in the air. There was a Canopy Flyer which has you flying through the air and it looked too scary for me. But later I thought I should have tried it. We also tried Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. This one is where you sit on a raft and you get prepared to get soaked. We could have bought ponchos but we didn't. Instead I used hubs rain jacket. In the end we got wet anyway. I didn't think the ride was exciting enough. By luck, we walked into Water World when there were vacancies. This is a live water show with stunts and explosions.

We sat in the area where we were likely to get wet. The show was really good. Very entertaining. We didn't get very wet because you can see the water coming and take cover.

We finally got to do Treasure Hunters at Ancient Egypt. It was lame. You get in a jeep and it travels slowly through some Mummy the movie related decorations. Can you see the beetles in the pic above. That's more or less what you get. Hubs lost his regular glasses on this ride and it almost ruined his day.

Next was Far Far Away zone and we went to the Shrek 4-D Adventure. It's really just watching a movie. Except, want to know what 4-D is? You get to feel the action. Like when the characters are riding on a cart, you get to feel the jerking motion. And when Donkey spits at you? Yep, you get water on your face. I didn't like this adventure at all. The jerking around wasn't fun and felt uncomfortable. There was a cemetery scene where I swear I felt someone tough my legs. I think I screamed.

I decided to skip the ferris wheel and the junior rollercoaster. Again I regretted skipping the rollercoaster. It can't be worse than The Mummy.

The Madagascar zone was very kiddy and the rides are totally harmless. We skipped Hollywood as it's a stage show and we didn't want to queue up.

New York was our last zone and we were racing against closing time. We went for the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase. It is a kiddy ride. I don't know. I think The Mummy ride ruined me. Every other ride was nothing compared to it.

We got into the last attraction just in time - Lights, Camera, Action. I didn't expect much because the starting was boring. We had to watch Steven Spielberg on TV talking about setting up the effect for a hurricane. After it was over, we went into another room. We stood in front of some railing and below was water. What happened next was we got to experience a hurricane. Winds, stuff flying, water on fire. The ending was spectacular. Me and hubs got thoroughly soaked. I forgot what came flying into the water and the wave made a direct hit at us. I don't know why we were so lucky to catch the dirty water. Right smack on our faces and hubs front was dripping wet.

We ended the night with a simple meal at Nam Nam. I had seafood noodles.

I think this is going to be our most memorable wedding anniversary. We experienced the most terrifying ride of our lives. We were outdoors for half the day. We had water thrown in our faces, more than once.

Plus I got to pose with Vin Diesel.

 I'm too shy!

After all that waiting, hubs took ONE pic.

Here's to the next 50 years together.