Last July 7, we had our company’s annual summer party at Tanjong Beach Club. Now I haven’t attended a corporate summer party in years, but I made sure not to miss this one because it’s special – our company is 10 years old in Singapore!
I am so glad I did because this is one of the most enjoyable company parties I have ever attended!
The party kicked off with an amazing race. My team signed up as one of the competing groups and called ourselves Team Tam. Tim Tam, get it? 😁Team Tam was composed of 5 members from my work team plus 2 other colleagues, Alan and Brenner.
TEAM TAM
Before the race even officially started, we were already in a race, because 3 of our teammates were racing against time and we weren’t sure they would arrive on time for us to register. 😅But whew, they made it!
Each participant was given a small backpack with supplies which we could use for the game – face towel, a bottle of water, a packet of biscuits, ponchos, and pens. Our team leader Nic was handed our first clue and we were off!
We figured out the first clue – a crossword puzzle – very quickly, and ran off towards the southernmost point of continental asia. However, we didn’t run together, so we ended up scattered. I am not a fit person so I was the last, huffing and puffing and wondering what on earth possessed me to join this and was it too late to quit. My teammate Guohao ran slowly to keep me company.
Nic and Brenner were ahead of the pack, reaching the location ahead of everyone. By the time we got there, I was surprised that Evelyn and Alan were not there yet. When they arrived, we started the next series of challenges, which involved throwing our footwear, doing a ping pong ball maze, and Nic jumping up and down to dislodge ping pong balls from a container tied to his back.
We got the next clue, but it was hard to figure out. It said something about “7 wonders of the world” so we thought it was at Port of Wonder. It wasn’t.
Then a line about “reminiscing” made us think that maybe it was at Wavehouse, where we previously had a summer party. Nic and Brenner ran all the way there, while we decided to take a tram to conserve our energy. By the time we were on the tram, they had seen the place and seen there was nothing there.
So Evelyn decided that we should just go to the spot where she and Alan had gotten lost earlier, where she was sure there was at least a station, even if that probably wasn’t what our clue was pointing us to.
Evelyn and I reached it first, while Guohao and Alan stayed at a tram station to wait for Nic and Brenner. The station attendants explained the series of challenges we had to do, which culminated in having to flip a bottle of water and making it land upright. I decided that we should practice doing that while waiting and I surprisingly got the hang of it – who knew?
Then the guys finally arrived and we finished the challenges. Poor Alan got stuck with having to smash 6 eggs on his forehead and I managed to stick the bottle landing but not easily. Stage fright is real, my friends.
Then we decided not to try to finish the clues because we’re obviously last, so we just went back to Tanjong Beach Club. 😂
Our celebrity emcee was there – it was Alan Wu, the actual host of Amazing Race Asia.
After that, our MD took a dip in the swimming pool and told us to join him. I didn’t bring any swimwear so I said no, but he said we could just swim in whatever we were wearing, since we had brought extra clothes anyway. We had rented the whole place so we could do whatever we wanted. After confirming this with the waiter, I jumped in because I felt so hot and that water looked so inviting!
We were allowed to drink beer and cider in the pool but they decanted them out of their bottles and into cups which I realized we could put into floating flamingo cup holders.
Those pink flamingo cup holders are so photogenic, aren’t they?
They also had other floaters. Evelyn got on a donut and Guohao got obsessed with a palm tree one which just wouldn’t stay up.
They had hired a live band who sounded so good and had games like giant jenga which you could play around the beach.
We just stayed in the pool, chilling and listening to the band until we had to eat dinner and watch video montages of the past 10 years.
The food was good! Our favourite was the truffle mac and cheese.
Tanjong Beach Club is actually memorable to me because it’s the restaurant where I first tasted Moscato, which ended up becoming my fave wine of all time, and truffle fries, which I also really like.
After dinner, we had a program which included raffle draws, awarding ceremonies, and a tug of war game that Nic participated in. It culminated in the winning team going against the senior management, and surprisingly, the senior management won!
The evening’s finale was fireworks! It went on for quite a good length, for the duration of Katy Perry’s “Fireworks” which was played to accompany the fireworks. You can watch a segment of it below.
After that, I jumped back in the pool. Yes, I stayed in my wet clothes for the whole event. Totally worth it!
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