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The weekends are never long enough, not even with an extended Hari Raya Haji public holiday weekend.

The weekend was what I called my 'Marathon Weekend'. Everything surrounded the Standard Chartered 10km Marathon Run. In a nutshell, the run was of primary importance.

Saturday was suppose to be my day of rest before the big battle. It was a day to carbo load, get hydrated, move as little (for fear of accidentally getting myself hurt in some stupid way) and get plenty of rest. I did none of the above.

I had wanted to pay the Singapore Expo a visit. It wouldn't have been a choice if Wendy hadn't picked up the marathon pack on my behalf the day before. Thankfully too, cause the running singlet situation were all messed up come Saturday. In conjunction with the pack collection, other halls of attraction included the John Little Mega Warehouse Sale, Borders Books Sale and the Fitness and Sports Fair.

However, the thought of a possible 50,000 strong crowd fighting for
- car park spaces
- MRT seats
- changing room spaces
- toilets
- payment

made me quickly throw the idea out of the window.

Doulos Book Ship Singapore
The Doulos docked at Vivo City, Singapore

Dennis had read about Doulos, a book mission ship which was at bay at Vivo City for the weekend. The Doulos was built in 1914 as passenger liner and after its final cruise through the Greek islands, the ship was purchased in 1977 by the German charity organization GBA and converted into the largest floating bookshop carrying 500,000 books with 6,000 different titles. Over the past 28 years the ship has visited more than 100 countries spreading their book mission.

We figured that it'll be a good time to stock up on our Christmas shopping since he was holding Uncle James' car for the week.

Doulos Book Ship Singapore
What the Doulos bookshop look like

We've never been on a Book Ship before, so exploring Doulos was an adventure in itself. There was a wide selection of books which were sold in the currency 'units'. 100 units = SGD$4. The books on sale were indeed much cheaper compared to prices at a local Christian bookshop. There were so many titles to pick up. Dennis picked up a whole bunch of stuff while I picked up a couple of baby books with CDs.

While departing, I had a quick conversion with a volunteer crew from Germany. Figured that Sharon with her fancy idea to sail the Gutenberg can consider this as an option.

Basically, the volunteers offer their services from 3 months to 2 years. I've later read that there are 2 weeks internships to take on. Volunteers on the ship will be tasked to work on different aspects of the day to day operations. All meals and lodging will be provided, but volunteers pay a minimum fee to offset the expenditure on board. A better developed country will pay more compared to a poorer nation. According to the German fellow I spoke with, he pays around EURO$600 per month to be on the ship. It is still cheaper then what he has to pay back home.

We embarked on some hardcore shopping for the rest of the day... or at least Dennis did. Oh Christmas... the joy is in the giving...

4 comments:

  1. I think the ship's in port last yr at vivo too. Do they accept volunteers like me that worship bateria? I can navigate if they trust me.. :)

    teddybird

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've seen the crew - people from all over the world, different races and maybe different believes. And what really is the worship of 'bateria'? They have a captain, guess as long as you meet their criteria, you can assist.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bacteria celebrates perserverance and thriving under challenging conditions. I have an alter for them in my residential ant nest, the ants goes around spreading the message.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Seriously... the things people worship these days... germs is a new high...

    ReplyDelete

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