Yuan Blogs Yuan's Talks

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It was meant to be a job, but I felt anything but that. Was called upon to act as an ‘interpreter’ for a critically acclaimed Taiwanese director on his visit to the Asian Attractions Expo. The international amusement parks fair was held at Resorts World Sentosa last week and it was only opened to intended clients. Director C was here to source for his wild dream of having a carnival during the premiere of his upcoming action flick early next year. His entourage included his wife (deputy director), their adorable son and a company staff, E. It was more like a family holiday rather than a business trip.

Over at the Expo, we saw exhibitors from all over the world, promoting and selling their latest theme park rides and technology. Yes, not the tickets but the rides. Got to see some of the latest, yet-to-be-launched rides at the fair; 4D simulators would get pushed down the pecking order when the 5D and 6D ones became available, being the player itself holding the physical gun shooting baddies in a  RPG game within an sophistically set up arena looked pretty exciting too.

Director C had ambitious vision for his macro-theme park. However, the dream was too big to be realistic. There would be a carnival held at seafront; there’s supposed to be a 4D simulator suspending you in the air, bringing you through an breathtaking jet plane dogfight adventure; there’s supposed to be a roller coaster which roar over the sea; there’s supposed to be a 30m inverter ride which ‘throws’ you into the sea over and over etc. Wow, with his concept, we went to many exhibitors, we were introduced to many ideas and rides. The translation task was the sidekick, an eye-opener it was. Moreover it was the first time I discussed quotations (the word is quotation, not price) in millions. Sounded pretty rich then.

Work aside, the surprise package during the two-day stint with them was the 10 year old son, Y! He’s only 10 and he whip up drool-worthy dishes, plays the drum, listens to Greenday and Linkin Park, knows martial art and he even discussed Taiwanese politics! The deepest impression he left on me besides his geniuses was his sensibility. Knowing he misplaced his Expo pass and sensing his dad’s impatience, he offered to stay outside the convention centre and wait for us to finish. When asked what he gonna do while waiting, he said he could buy a drink with his money. How adorable! Of course, he got in with us in the end. P and I thought he was a shy kid initially and found out it wasn’t the case. Y got pretty attached to us almost instantly, hugging us whenever we were to leave them. There is a need to meet up when we visit Taipei huh.

 When you experienced such joy, it doesn’t matter if my service was FOC.

 相你哦，羽！