A Journal of National Day Parade Preview (2007)

Both Cynthia and I felt a bit weird dressed in red while having Prawn Mee. Not just any red, but the kind of red that stops traffic. What to do? We were encouraged to dress this way. It is not as though our wardrobe has lots of red items to choose from. So I donned a Nike T-shirt while Cynthia wore a red shirt with the word … “Mauritius” (a beautiful country in the middle of nowhere). Perhaps no one really recognise the word. What if she wears a bright red T-shirt with the word “Malaysia” instead. Erm … ha ha ha.

We parked our car at Cynthia’s office and have decided to take a train to Raffle City in order to avoid the traffic jam near the parade area. At that time I was still not too sure on how to get there. But then …

We saw more and more people dressed in red. And the situation has gone exponential as we approached our destination. The entire stretch of road was filled with red colored shirts (see below).

As we approached the entry, we saw an array of screening machines. Cynthia walked through the metal detector with a bottle of water and she was asked to take a sip there and then. Pretty tight security we have.

It is because the Indoor Stadium has closed down, our National Parade is at Marina Bay this year. The stage is built on top of the water with four bridges extending from the seating area that has a capacity of 27,000 people. With the backdrop of the Central Business District (CBD), this year is certainly special compares to the previous ones. Below is a picture of a structure that has the seating area on the surface and the VIP car park as well as access area below. I wonder what they will do with this structure after the National Day.

The event started with some music entertainment and to me, it really started when the parades of the representatives from our Total Defence marched into the platform.

And then, our Singapore flag coming from the CBD area flew above us. People spirit was high and we sang the National Anthem.

What better way to please the crowd (especially the kids) was to have the new 3rd Generation solders appeared from nowhere and posted for us?

The parade continued with the participation from the Air Force (that pair of F16 was fast and fury and loud) and the Navy as well as the coastal guards, and the Army (mainly vehicles and 40 commandos jumped from a bridge on ropes). I did not know that those boats can go so fast and they are actually quite big!

Beside a showcase of some of our military assets, there were lots of entertainment on stage. The color and light was just amazing.

Even the river was lit up with some huge light bulbs!

There was musical fountains in front of the stage and by the sides as well.

Throughout the event, I was chatting with Cynthia if the performers have been “recycled” for some of the performances. Partly because it seemed to have many people involved in each performance. Towards the end of the event, the entire bunch of performers all entered the stage. And my oh mine … there were lots of people on the stage (see below)!

The event ended with the display of fireworks from around the stage as well as on top of three buildings at the CBD area.

All good journals begin with food and end with food. By the time we returned to Raffle Place, it was 9.30pm. We had Satay at Lau Pa Sat as our dinner. Local delights from start till end!