We were lucky enough to be in Singapore when they were having their National Day for the year. We arose at a relatively early time to meet up with some Filipino’s whom we had met. Seeing at the show started late afternoon we went to lunch first at Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road. Little did I know that Lucky Plaza is practically the Filipino hang out of Singapore, with several Filipino restaurants and shopping outlets and almost resembles a shopping mall in the Philippines. We loaded up on some Sinigang, Kare Kare and Adobe before making our way towards the Marina Bay for the show.
We opted to grab a taxi to take us down there as taxi’s are not very expensive in Singapore, this however wasn’t the best idea as practically all close drop off points to Marina bay were militarily closed off for the event. Not only did we end up walking a couple extra kilometers to get there, but we were in shock to find out that we couldn’t buy tickets to enter Marina Bay for the show. Apparently these tickets are sold based on a draw conducted months earlier so the opportunity of getting one on the day was slim to say the least. We walked around for a while and asked several of the military staff were the best viewing point was, and a consensus was that we should head to the Merlion. This was another couple kilometers of a walk, but we did get to see a large variety of Singapore’s military vehicles. Why a country like Singapore needs such a diversified military is beyond me, but most of the soldiers allowed us to take photos with the equipment. Feeling a bit strange taking photos of another country’s weapons we took a few quite snaps and started heading towards the Merlion. Unfortunately unless you have tickets to enter the colorful grandstands at Marina Bay you’re not in any luck as you won’t actually get to see the majority of the show. You get to choose from watching the parade that marches up to Town hall and starts in Marina bay, or watching the fireworks and military jet and boat show at the harbour. Once we reached the Merlion the crowds in this area were already starting to pile up and we were lucky enough to be let into the restaurant area which was a good spot for viewing the fireworks and show. About 30 minutes after we went in here Singapore Police closed off the area to new visitors. Afraid that if we left to see the parade towards the end we would miss the fireworks and not be let back in, we opted to miss the parade and just stay for the rest of the show. We arrived harbourside a good 2 hours before the show started and already standing room was at a premium. All the restaurants had been fully booked out which just left Starbucks for our hungry stomachs. Not that it mattered with the ridiculous $200 courses that most of restaurants had set out for this particular day.
The show finally started with some paragliders and some river boats making a bit of noise. The air force paragliders skillfully landed at the stage area and everyone was amazed. Unfortunately there was no TV screens for the rest of us to see what was going on at the stage, so we did miss a lot of the National Day festivities that were going on in front of the heads of Singapore and the lucky guests who got a ticket. I’m sure that because of the 2 hours standing I probably raised a few complaints that we were unable to see much at all. A little while later more started to happen on the water as transport boats (similar to those in Saving Private Ryan) started rocking up, followed by Jet fighters, Chinhooks and Apaches. So delighted we actually got to see something our spirits were at last raised to a satisfactory level. It was getting dark and the reason why we waited here for so long was about to come. I was expected grand fireworks, or at least something equal to Sydney’s new year fireworks (considering how affluent the Singapore Government is).
Small boats adorned lamp lit lanterns across the whole of Marina bay, this was a sight in itself and was a great prelude to the fireworks that were about to come. The parade that was marching through the streets had already passed and the last part of the show were the fireworks. A small countdown to the correct hour and the sky was ablaze with colourful fire and smoke. From were we were standing the fireworks seemed like there were only a hundred meters away and this part of the fireworks was quite amazing. The actual fireworks show on the other hand was not the greatest, but I’m sure if I had tickets to go and sit in the grandstands the whole show would of been quite the day. But as we had to stand for so long, with the fireworks lasting less than 10 minutes (pretty average if you ask me) the feeling at the end was just to get home and get some rest. I was slightly disappointed to say the least but nonetheless I was happy that I got to attend one of Singapore’s National Day’s. For those who are expecting the grandest of spectacles, then you might have better luck with the Singapore F1 (In my opinion). But it is definitely worth checking out if you’re here during this day. Next time however I’d probably prefer to watch the parade and just the fireworks from a distance. But beggars can’t be choosers. Getting home was a bit of mission, navigating through the tens of thousands of people who were about to cram the MRT system and take up every taxi in the city. But eventually we were able to make it back in one piece ready for another big day.
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