National Day Parade @ Marina 2007

national day ended with a blast, our very first parade on the world's largest floating platform known to date. for once, we celebrated away frm padang and our to be torn down kallang national stadium. altho most of the different performances and ceremonies were pretty much similar, it was a whole new experience.

the new platform can onli hse 27,000, slightly less than half of the capacity of the national stadium which can hold 60,000 strong voices. nevertheless, the cheers n joys dint seem to be any softer. 73,000 singaporeans, n non-singaporeans, filled the empty spaces outside fullerton, the merlion n none other than our durian-look-alike esplanade. these numbers added up to an estimated 100,000 people, who arrived as early as sunrise, to find themselves perfect spots to view the parade. others watched from hotel rooms in The Oriental, where they paid over $700 for a nite jus to witness the born of the new parade venue.

like before, arrivals of ministers n mr president were a must. something different this yr was, the president did not survey the platoon with his feet, but on a truck-like vehicle which i dunno wad it was. the good thing abt this was, the truck made its way around the platform, such that every single participant in the parade was able to gain an upclose look on mr president, something they'd been looking forward to.

other highlights include using the surrounding waters to display the fighter boats or something liddat. also, it was the first time the canons were visible to the crowd. many other interesting performances were the floating lanterns (or octopus if u like) and the lighted skies of the 42 remote-controlled kites.

for me, the highlight of the day was definitely the part when kit chan stepped onto the stage, n sang 'no place i'd rather be'. true enough, no matter where we are, singapore wud still be the place we wan to be, at least to me. many ppl talked abt migrating, but where else is better than singapore? i truly believe that singapore is the place i wan to live forever, even if i mite live on a foreign land in future, my heart will stay.

singaporeans had made singapore proud. nvm the kiasu-ism, kiasi-ism, variable bans (no smoking in bars, no chewing gum, no spitting etc), evolvement of singlish and the long queues for hello kitties - these are things that made us unique, one of a kind. n that's singapore, a place where i was born, n a place where i will live to become wad i will be.