For the uninitiated (unless you follow me on Twitter and hear my incessant, exasperated rants), hell yeah, you heard it right, the frumpy auntie here, by some sheer act of greater powers, actually managed to drag her sorry ass out of her comfort zone, and graced one of the biggest party events of the year!
Those who know me REALLY well, would probably go “WTF?! Seriously?“, and those who still have no absolute idea how misunderstood I am, would probably go, “Aren’t you a party animal…?”
Just to set the record straight, I can’t remember when was the last time I clubbed or partied just because I wanted to, instead of some hen’s party/birthday/supporting a performance/peer-pressured event that I felt like a total misfit in.
“You look like you party one, I got tickets for you, you wanna go or not?” I hesitated, and she continued, “come down lah, I drink with you! Freeflow leh!”
I don’t even drink, I told the person who had successfully coerced me into turning up, though I admit my curiosity and a deep sense of nostalgia were also contributing factors for me to join what seemed like 50% of Singapore’s population in Sentosa.
I thought I had officially retired from ZoukOut after not finding it within me to feel the slightest interest in it in the past years, but something about this year kinda put in the excitement in me – it’s the 10th anniversary of ZoukOut. And that means, it has been 10 freaking years since I went to ZoukOut.
Yes, don’t remind me that I am old enough to actually witness the first ever ZoukOut. And if someone has some old data footages, I was actually interviewed BEFORE ZoukOut, just outside Zouk (I remember they asked what was my occupation, and the fresh, 19 year-0ld me in minimal fabric, quipped “Teacher”. There was an awkward silence on set).
They contacted us for another interview on ZoukOut that day, and apparently the interviews were both shown on the big screen 10 years ago. I am just glad till today, I have NEVER, EVER seen those footage, or I might just cringe myself to death.
Tsk tsk, don’t see auntie no up, I also got “Once upon a time” one okay? When I attended the 1st ever ZoukOut, you probably hadn’t reached puberty yet. *Flips hair/bounces perm*
Can you imagine?! 10 years of ZoukOut already?! I shudder at the thought that the next time I go for ZoukOut, it might be with Minibean, just so I could spy on her throughout the night, and ogle at some young meat along the way or something.
That aside, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THE PRICE OF ZOUKOUT TICKETS HAVE INFLATED OVER THE YEARS MAN! Really kill people set fire can?
And that’s why, if you’re a Citi Clear Platinum Card holder like me, you could have gotten special deals for the tickets at 10% less than what everyone else is paying for!
It is not the first time I am raving about the Citi Clear Platinum Card, first time being in 2007.. and with their exclusive invitation, I just feel I should return the niceness by sharing more about its awesomeness.
On the day of ZoukOut, if you were lucky enough to buy tickets (they were snapped up at the door in flash!) at the door, you would be entitled to the 10% discount as well with you Citi Clear Platinum Card!
Since the invitation allowed me to bring a guest with me, I asked Liwen, who is an absolute eye-candy to join me for the night since she was clearly looking forward to ZoukOut, the plus side of youthful exuberance, deffo.
Though I was slightly apprehensive that some people might think I am WAYYY overage for a vibrant scene like this, I was surprised how many friends who belong to my era were there as well!
The charming darkness of the night would mean that this cougar here had some young men fooled. I say, alcohol is dangerous lil boys, and clearly clouded your judgment.
I should have known better than to drive (HOHOHO, and yes, I am now a driver, watch out you people on the road!) to Sentosa after a packed day of activities and family commitment, but since I was heading to the party earlier, I thought I might get lucky.
Lucky was obviously not my entitlement for the night, cos though the traffic at Sentosa Gateway had initially fooled us into thinking how smooth it was, the silly diversion by the management brought us to Sentosa Cove to park, so we had to take a feeder bus that would bring us to the action zone.
We ended up going in circles, and got lost into a zone where we could hear no music, see no people… and a frustrating search for the bus stop with a severe lack of directions was quite the dampener.
We managed to run for one when we finally could find someone to ask, and then the bus was jammed up in the traffic (so apparently, they didn’t divert EVERYONE)… which had us reaching the venue much later than planned.
Nonetheless, having an understanding companion who was a delightful company meant that I slipped into party mode almost instantly when we found the entrance to ZoukOut 2010!
Me and the gorgeous babe, just before our entrance to the party.
Thanks for the invite! And the plus point of having my Citi Clear Platinum Card, also entitled us to enter via the priority queue without the need to wipe the sweat off the other sweaty bodies with our clothes cos the queues were so insane.
The checks were stringent and I wasn’t surprised as there were so many disappointed faces stranded outside the entrance begging for tickets, and I felt a slight guilt knowing that I wouldn’t be utilising my tickets to the max as I had to leave early to help out at Xiuzhao and Zhen Ming’s big day the next morning.
The walk to the venue was an excruciatingly long one, that I think walking around the stretch just to reach the actual entrance to the party was enough to give me a sore bum the next day.
Thankfully, I was able to get some leg-rest at Citibank’s bar, which already had a lively party in swing, yet not overly crowded like everywhere else.
Liwen getting into the exclusive bar area for some drinks before getting the party started.
I myself, have to admit I was a little overwhelmed with how much the party had progressed over the years, and I actually felt an indescribable sense of excitement and awe cos it way exceeded my expectations and how I had last remembered ZoukOut to be.
Liwen and I got into ZoukOut mode!
We had people MSN-ing and messaging us, and apparently our pictures on flickr was the very first picture to be showcased on Yahoo! Singapore. Gulp.
We looked all sweaty and tormented by the traffic!
What best way to chill and get the party started with… FREE FLOW OF DRINKS?!
Wooohooo! The free flow was available from 8pm to 10pm, and unfortunately, we reached a tad too late.
Anything you want! On the house! Where got such good deals one?!
But nonetheless, we had 8 drinks before time’s up, and the bartender widened his eyes when I told him, “uhm, just one glass of green tea for me, thank you very much.”
Don’t judge me! I am a cheap drunk! Party wouldn’t be interesting for me after one sip and my allergy to alcohol makes me cautious too. Free flow is so wasted on someone like me, I tell you.
But not for Liwen who got somewhat high by 10.30pm with the remainder 7 glasses of vodka redbull, which I might add that came with double shots of vodka!
While Liwen and I were at the front of the queue, they announced free flow was over. Gee, how lucky were we to be the last-est one?
I don’t know what he put into my green tea, but maybe it was the atmosphere and the awesome music, I find myself naturally high in the midst of all the action.
Despite with the free flow’s end at 10pm, we could still get 1-for-1 drinks at the booth since I am a Citi Clear Platinum Card holder, thus we stayed on quite a while to wait for some of Liwen’s friends to join us, while bumping into some familiar faces!
Jiechuan, who was seen puking before it was 11pm. Can’t believe that we know each other for 7 years already. And after 7 years, he became Chingchongboy.
There were many cool props for us to take pictures and get into party mood, but apparently a lot of them ended up walking away from the booth with them, so I was left with the lonely light stand..
.. and not some cute wigs or huge-ass glasses to pose at the photobooth.
Liwen’s props. We were almost becoming some campaign girls. And look at the drinks on the table, we saw people sitting in front of a table having 10 times the amount of drinks we had.
Radiant bride-to-be Claudia and the sexy mama-of-2 Diana were also there, and that was my favourite part of the evening.
The 4 of us and the many drinks on the table!
Diana’s sexy legs and her Spongebob squarepants on her crocs! I should get Minibean one for her crocs. Totally random, why does everyone like to buy crocs for my daughter?!
The photobooth were we got to take instant pictures by photographers.
Liwen looking like she was gracing some watch launch. Watch model, anyone?
The staff at work getting our pictures cut. The guy couldn’t see very well in the dark.
Where’s ours?
And the little souvenir for us to commerate the night! Like I said, the guy couldn’t see that well in the dark heh.
The words got a little jagged, and when I asked what were the rewards and privileges, I was told, and apparently I had never known that with my Citi Clear Platinum card, I could enjoy 5 time the rewards at those happening places like Zouk, Butter Factory, Wala Wala, Helipad, Timbre, Brewerkz, St James Power Station and blarblarblar. You also can get invites to events like I did, ahem, parties, sales preview and things like that.
No wonder it is my one and only Visa card I use regularly, until now it is a bit chui already.
After we left the comfort of the booth when Liwen’s friends arrived, we went for a long walk around the premises, and it was unfortunate to know that one of her friends was denied entry cos he was sold fake tickets. The audacity and greed of people to do such things!
Anyway, we scared people didn’t know we were at Zoukout hahaha.
Feeling a little bloated, so refused to get my top off, but you guys ain’t missing anything!
As we were strolling, we saw many people sitting around just chilling and enjoying the company of their friends, picnicking, chatting, and it just made the quieter areas of the event so cosy and nice.
I bumped into Jiemin as we walked and it was so nice to see her after so long!
We should really catch up some day soon.
And then, after a long walk to the carpark where Liwen’s friend was parking, the urge to pee was starting to get to us.
And the horror of the queue to the washroom struck us.
The both of us decided to ask the 2 boys with us to check if the Gents’ cubicles have working doors, and after given the go-ahead, we strutted into the Gents like it was the most natural thing to do, and queued right outside one of the 2 cubicles. The other cubicle was covered in puke, and was a squat toilet, and we hoped for the best as we queued outside the other one.
No one actually thought it was a big deal, probably because it was pretty empty.
But I WAS VERY URGENT.
I knew I was probably to load off one hellava heavy bladder, so I let Liwen head in first.
You know how things always will happen just at the “right time”? This was when the toilet started to become REAL packed.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I actually gawked at everyone in the Gents. Sorry! I shouldn’t be this rude but.. curious mah!
Thankfully, no one dropped their pants to the ground (which I once asked why do some men do that?!?!).
And right about when Liwen went in, a group of ladies decided to follow suit and came in and queued behind me, I really wished they hadn’t cos I know I was not going to take a short time.
Cos…… mother of stupidity, I had worn my one piece swimwear, and my bladder was filled to the brim.
Just as I went in, the washroom became so damn packed, and some men who came in squealed in absolute horror (you would think we were guys who invaded the ladies and they screamed) at the sight of us, some shrilling, “Are you kidding me? Am I seeing things? What is happening?”
Grow a pair, I wanna tell them.
The funniest part was when I finally came out of the cubicle, as I washed my hands in front of the mirror and tying my top together again, Liwen decided to hold the camera up to take a picture of me with many men behind me, some taking a pee, some queuing.
No one protested. Though some kept stealing glances at us to make sure we don’t peep or something.
Then, I actually did a very man-thing.
I was standing in front of the mirror, washed my hands, then I started to button up my shorts, like the guys who were standing next to me zipping/buttoning up.
I was even toying with the possibility of straddling the urinal to pee standing up, but then since I was wearing a one-piece swimwear, how can possible?!
Initially I was pretty much worried my age might make me feel out of place, but it didn’t cross my mind throughout my night at ZoukOut.
The party was so full of life, flamboyance, that I think it must have been the best ZoukOut in a decade, though I had missed the others in between.
As I left the party after walking from stage to stage, rubbing off the vibes of party-goers immersed in the awesome tracks, I bumped into Shukun.
Yet another friend whom I know for almost half my life-time.
Truly nostalgic night for me.
I felt damn good by the time I left, and actually had hope to stay on a little longer.
Many people were still waiting to get into ZoukOut, and many had self-made posters to beg for tickets.
Some got lucky cos I saw a guest leaving and he actually had an extra ticket in his wallet which he didn’t need.
I should really have stayed on cos I was asked to wait for a bus that had ceased service, which is utterly a screwed up on the organiser/Sentosa part because they had transport to send me from my car to ZoukOut, but no transport to take me back?!
And they told me to wait for the bus, because they failed to realise there wasn’t any bus anymore!
So I waited for more than an hour, in the rain no less, for a bus that didn’t turn up.
They told me to take a cab, and I told them I had tried but no cab uncle would wanna take me there.
So, it was only when I started to get another bout of full bladder, then did I nearly blow.
Cos I was told the toilet at where I was waiting was already closed. So I have to go to the beach side.
When I got to the beach side, the people told me the only washroom was inside ZoukOut, which was a bitch to enter at that point of time, and I had got rid of my wristband (when you’re bored when you’re waiting for more than an hour, it was the natural thing to do).
I approached the rangers again, to ask them to check for me if I was waiting in vain cos it was way too long for the wait, and there was no washroom for me.
He did, and apologised that the service had stopped without him realising (he was the one who told me to wait, KNN!), so they had activated the bus for me.
*$&^^%* The dictionary of expletives that went through my mind, you really wouldn’t want to know.
There was no signals for me to call out either.
I wanted to walk, but was told the walk would take me an hour. They said I could try. *speechless*
When I said I really need the washroom, I was almost in tears.
Guess what they told me?!
“I think my best suggestion, and the only way, is for you to go behind one of the bushes.”
SERIOUSLY?! Sentosa?! You want me to fertilize your greens for free also not like that right?!
Maybe I should make a statement by peeing right in the middle of the road because.. there is no where else, right?
Of course I would get a towel or something to cover my modesty lah.
Why the fuck did they divert the traffic in the beginning and not arrange transport to bring people back there? Then now I need washroom, why is there no washroom?! I didn’t ask to wait, you guys told me to wait because you guys are ill-informed and didn’t bother to check when I first asked you.
What a dampener to what could have been an awesome night.
Anyway, though I left the party shortly after midnight, the bus they activated only came at 2ish.
The uncle was playing music BETTER than the party’s, and the party-goers on board actually asked if they could have his USB!
I was so relieved to get to my car, though the eerieness of the quiet night got to me, and was still buzzing from the high the splendor had brought as I drove home in the breezy night.
