Our retreat was at The Lakeview Room which faces the Flamingo Lake. We had a very nice view of the flamingoes at the lake. However, I think it were the flamingoes which were enjoying watching us - this bunch of people who were supposed to be listening with rapt attention to the presentations but some were dozing, some were doddling and some were sms-ing. Hahaha. We had presentations in the morning. We were given a lunch break of 1hr 15mins. We had buffet lunch and each of us were also given a free complimentary panorail ride ticket.
My group of friends (C, KM, BR, E, and a few others) had our lunch quickly and we set off on the panorail ride. While on the ride, we really behaved like tourists! We all had our cameras out, snapping photos here and there, exclaiming excitedly at the lovely birds that we saw on the way, such as scarlet ibises, crowned pigeons, pelicans, and flamingoes. We gave the Lory station a miss and went straight to the Waterfall station as we didn't have enough time. We had a walkabout at the Waterfall Aviary. It was really nice to see the birds flying around and the tallest man-made waterfall. We had several group photos at the waterfall. We were a lucky bunch too as we got back on the ride, it started raining. When we arrived back at the Main station, we saw more of our colleagues going off on their rides and it was almost time to return to the retreat. So we decided to take one more last photo shoot with the Caribbean Flamingoes, those really bright orangy-pink ones or is it pinky-red or.... never mind, it is just a nice bright colour which looks really nice in photos. Hahaha. Oh, I also made a trip to the sourvenir shop to get something little for the girls. Yes, I know. My friends were rolling their eyes and laughing at me. Well, since already behaved like a tourist, so what's one more behaviour of tourist - shopping for souvenirs.
In the afternoon, we had group discussions and sharings. It was actually not as bad as I thought and quite enjoyable. The retreat ended right on time at 5pm. Before we left the Bird Park, we went to one last place.
We went to see the penguins at the Penguin Parade. We were behaving like little kids, "oh"-ing and "ah"-ing at the penguins "flying" through the water. Again, cameras were out in full force for the photos and videos. I don't think you will see a more touristsy bunch of "tourists" than us. =)
Overall, it has been a very enjoyable day, the first ever for the centre's retreat. I think what made it so enjoyable was that we had time to bond with our colleagues, not at the presentations and sharings but actually at the ride, the walk-about, etc. It was during those times that we got to know each other better as we were all relaxed. I think the centre should have future retreats at tourists' attractions. SO where next - Zoo? Chinese Garden? Sentosa? Haw Par Villa? Museum? Centre, please kindly CONSIDER?!
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