I have the chance to express my thanks to the people who had made the Rally a success.
Here’s an extract of my speech together with the relevant pictures:
From the start, Fei-wei was indentified as a key member of the team. He helped to configure a radio communication system within my small budget. And this involved the tuning of the broadcasting sets as seen in this picture.
Despite our efforts, we encountered radio coverage problem along certain sectors of our drive. But I’m glad that the overall performance had been satisfactory. Fei-wei drove Car # 6 with Jimmy Chong, and played the role of the lead car for the greater part of the Rally.
These 2 XL-size women were in my car for the Rally.
My wife, Irene, is the one with shorter hair. She covered my duties at work while I went about doing preparation work for the Rally. The other lady in the picture, Shuen, acted as my advisor. She was able to provide me with accurate reading of people and solutions for unforeseen situations during the Rally. That brings on another XL-size woman in our team – Angelina Ong from Car # 9.
Firstly, let me thank Angie for MC-ing today’s event. During the Rally, she gave me much encouragement and administrative support. Her gang which includes Jason and Eugene from Car # 10 even played the KJ role while other team members were singing during our karaoke session.
I have one more XL-size woman to mention and she is Cathryn.
Cathryn had been relatively quiet during the Rally. I later found out that she is actually very used to convoying and she sits among the committee members of SG Trackies and Toyota Vios Club. Cathryn was in Car # 7 with Peter. Together, they called themselves P & C i.e. “Private & Confidential”. I shall not ask what the underlying meaning is but I’d like to thank P & C for today’s makan arrangements.
Besides outstanding women, we have some outstanding cars in our team.
And, like our outstanding women, these 3 cars were very well behaved on the road.
Even a macho man like Jimmy cannot resist taking a picture with the 3 beauties.
Here’s the pilot behind the black Porsche - David Wong, whom we addressed as Mr Chairman.
My son, Bingo, accompanied David Wong in Car # 2. During the Rally, the young man managed to multi-task several roles including cameraman, impersonation of Hong Kong boy and Indian lawyer. I am thankful that he has learned much from the time that he had spent with the affable Chairman.
Car # 3 is the blue Porsche driven Hun Twang and Yixiong. Both are good looking young men. As you can see, the Thai girls just couldn’t resist taking a picture with Hun Twang.
Car # 4 is the silver tone Porsche driven by David Lye who was also our Video Man for the Rally.
Here’s David Lye posing for a picture with his co-driver, Dennis Tan. They looked rather close and may be mistaken as a pair of matured gays.
Overall, the team spent a lot of time on the walki’s. We traded jokes and, of course, we had much fun over the radio. Here’s one of the laughing moments for Li Hoon while Neo Chian was on air.
They were our last-minute entry and, hence, they were designated Car # 11. I say we were lucky to have the slim-bodied Li Hoon in our team. Otherwise, our Thai host may think that we do not have non XL-size woman in Singapore. And see how close and loving Neo Chian & Li Hoon were during one of our night outings.
They foot the bill of our karaoke session in KL. Incidentally, the Rally served as a warm-up for Neo Chian who will soon embark on a 60-day overland drive across several countries in the Asean region. As a result, he was hunger for information and had many questions for me every now and then during our long drive. Fortunately, I carried this 60-year old 'encyclopedia' (William) in my car.
William is known for his vast knowledge on matters relating to cars and drives. Thus, with William in the background, I was able to dispense instantaneous answers to most questions that were directed to me. Towards the later part of the Rally, I discovered that we have another ‘encyclopedia’ in the team. And he is Chew from Car # 5.
Chew managed to convince Norman to partner him for the Rally. Both gentlemen treated the team to dinner at KL. And kudos to Norman for his rendition of the song titled Vincent. We initially thought that we would have to bear with him because someone quietly commented that he had chosen a 7-minute long number. It turned out to be pleasant as Norman moved us with his soothing voice.
Here’s Suhaimi who is the head of International Relations at STB. He laid the groundwork for our participation in the Rally and provided the communication links between me and the organizer. I certainly look forward to work with Suhaimi again.
This guy must be wondering why I didn’t thank him.
He is very popular with fellow participants, and …
…he enjoys taking pictures with girl!
Sometimes, he confused us by taking pictures with boys, ….
…but he is always the center of attraction.
That must have explained his winning of the Overall 1st runner-up trophy for the Rally. Here’s a closer look at our undisputed Man of the Rally – Dr Tan Poh Heng
Lastly, on behalf of SMSA and Team Singapore, my wife and I would like to thank STB for a wonderful rally. We would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy Easter.
