Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Enjoying a sacred moment

A dear old friend. Guozhang, invited me to his place recently for a lunch. He lives in Pinnacle@Duxton, the tallest public housing estate in Singapore, and one of the most unique since Pinnacle incorporates gardens at the 26th storey and 50th storey. The view from the sky garden on the top floor is phenomenal as you could see almost the whole stretch of the southern part of Singapore, the financial district as well as a vast horizon buildings along Orchard Road. I have known Guozhang since the year 1986, and in 1987, we were sitting next to each other in class. We have kept in touch since we graduated from primary school many years ago.  

After lunch, he brought me to the sky garden on the top floor, and we eventually ended up watching a container ship maneuvering a U-turn. As he was very interested in ships, he was able to explain to me the purpose of the red/black line on the container, as well as the purpose of smaller pulling boat. We watched a container at the Pasir Panjang terminal making a U-turn in twenty minutes, and I enjoyed listening to his explanation on the maneuvering but most of the time we kept quiet watching the container together. It has been quite a while since I last sat down listening to someone explaining new stuff to me. It was like a sacred moment. It was the sharing of life together I appreciated most. Sitting on a bench with backrest under a shade was not ideal, but I treasured the experience of watching a container making a U-turn. It was the first time I watched a container making a U-turn, and I can't say it is an extra-ordinary experience, but it was not ordinary either. Thanks, Guozhang, for making this experience possible for me.
The container in the middle of the picture is about to make a U-turn

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