Since my college friend was going to propose to his girlfriend of 5 years, he then planned of giving her a surprise party overseas and invited all of us the close friends to take part in it, too. Before getting everything figured out, he asked me for travel advice that which tropical place would be the most suitable. Without hesitation, I burst out "Boracay" in the Philippines. There was no special reason, it's just the place I had always wanted to go. When we were discussing what kind of props we would use in the proposal, I once again suggested "building sand castle", which led to the troubles that I would be facing.
As a result, I got myself involved in this whole sand building thing, and our prior practice even lasted for a month long!
Day 1:
Today we only had 3 people. As it was my first day, I first learned how to build the base of the sand castle with my bare hands. And then shaped the corners with our homemade wooden boards. Secret trick: cannot build it with full force, have to control the force that applies on the sand and make them more cohesive.
Besides, I also learned the skills of pouring water from a bucket and making sand balls. Hence , there were many balls for decorations towards the end of the whole practice.
Duration: 4 hours
After practice, we tried to brainstorm the design in one Mc Donald's and what equipment we had to prepare for later.
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| It didn't look all bad on the first day, right? |
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| The first draft we had come up with |
Day 2:
Today I needed to wake up at 4 a.m. again, and was managed to see the beautiful sunrise in Clear Water Bay. Excitingly, we had new member today, thus the sand building process was much lighter than yesterday's.
Perhaps it was more efficient with more people, I had the time to learn how to build tower with wet sands and sharpen it with a specific stick (my friend brought it back from Boracay). It was more difficult than expected.
Duration: 6 hours
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| The sunrise was stunning, but the sun was so evil afterwards. |
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| We even built a sign in the front. |
Day 3:
One member had to go back to Canada, hence we only had 3 people today. Though there were less people, the newly added tools made the best complement to our process. We didn't need to build towers with bare hands anymore, thus more time was saved.
Today I learned how to build/sharpen small houses, as well as my favorite part - windows sculpting. Unfortunately, I couldn't put my hand on the sand to steady myself and I nearly fell most of the time.
Duration: 6 hours
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Day 4:
Today is my rest day, but my friend still went to the beach on his own in the morning. He built some more houses and towers on both sides. The sand castle did look more magnificent when it was bigger!
Duration: 3 hours
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Day 5:
Today we were back to 2 people again, therefore, there was no complete sand castle. In addition, it was too harsh to build the base with only 4 hands.
Learned how to make tall towers today, despite it was just by luck most of the time. For the rest of the day, I just improved my window sculpting skill.
Duration: 5 hours
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Day 6:
Morning - I slept in. My two friends who came pick me up waited downstairs of my home for an hour. I never showed up. (sorry~~~)
At 10 p.m., I rushed to the beach and took a look of the progress. Even though there was new blood today, the pace seemed slower than expectation.
Duration: 4 hours
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| Wind blew so strong today, and our towers could not stand against it at all. |
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The best and the most beautiful round tower I have seen so far
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Afternoon - In order to make up for the morning session, we headed to the beach again in the afternoon. After the new blood left, another new blood joined us in the afternoon session. Sadly, tidal waves came earlier in the evening, our incomplete castle was almost destroyed in the end.
Today learned how to sculpt small house, and kept sculpting windows!
Duration: 4 hours
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New design of staircases
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Day 7:
Today was one of the rare days that we could build our own sand castles. As a result, I took my time to build tall towers and to sharpen houses. It was unfortunate that the sand was very grainy and it was mingled with many gravels. My towers was thus nearly broken down.
Duration: 5 hours
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My masterpiece - a miniature Sagrada Familia
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Day 8:
Today we were back to 2 people again. Maybe we got well practiced, our pace got somewhat faster. (Though I was more than reluctant to build the base)
And I continued to build towers and sculpt windows, this was how I could sculpt 7 windows in a minute. Moreover, I tried to sculpt patterns today. My sand building skill got one step forward!
Duration: 5 hours
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Day 9:
Today is my rest day, but my friend insisted to go alone in the morning. He refurbished the 2 round towers and added more spikes on one side. The layers indeed looked more outstanding after he added more on the side.
Duration: 3 hours
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Day 10:
So as to build a complete sand castle, 2 of my friends first went to the beach in the early morning. I just joined them in the afternoon. (I was really not that interested in base building part)
Despite we had 3 people, we didn't have enough time. From the top towers to the round towers, we at least spent more than 5 hours. We just barely finished when the sky got darker.
Besides building towers and sculpting windows, today I learned how to sculpt heart and refurbish the round towers. One step closer to be the sand master!
Duration: 10 hours
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| Me - sculpting heart |
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| We always heard compliments like "wow, it's amazing! wow, it's beautiful!" on the beach |
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| It's not finished yet |
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Had to leave when it's dark
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Day 11:
Today is the last practice in Hong Kong before the proposal, so we gathered all the guys who would go to the trip and including me, we had 5 people in total for today's practice. We had to build a complete sand castle within 8 hours.
In fact, the base was quickly shaped when there were more people. Sadly, sculpting team lacked talents, we wasted most of the time on sculpting in the end.
Everything went very well today. The sand was fine and moist, the best condition I have ever seen on this beach!
Our final product was the best one among all these practices. Couldn't be more proud of myself every time I looked at the photos.
Duration: 8 hours
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| Sunrise |
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| Sunrise was even prettier |
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| Unprecedentedly many people for base building |
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| Sh! Sculpting in progress! |
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| Made a donation sign next to our sand castle |
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| A super nice guy really donated a 20 dollars bill to us |
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| New member of Daft Punk |
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Our last one was an excellent masterpiece
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Conclusion:
Initially, I resisted the idea of building sand castle, as it was time consuming, and it could be paid to do so. Nevertheless, after numerous times of practice, I started to fall in love with this art. Whenever I looked at the final products, whether it was incomplete, I felt a sense of achievement that I had never felt before.
In the end, the proposal trip had a great success. Our next target, shouldn't it be the sand building competition?
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