Chinatown Chinese New Year Lightup 2006 - Jan 7/118 days left

好介绍！(my foot!)

My mom wanted to see the rare occasion of fireworks being set off in Singapore (in a controlled manner, of course) so we trudged our way down to Chinatown under the threatening clouds of rain.


We were a little late when we reached there (the open area in front of the podium is full) so we ended up standing under the other end of the overhead bridge. That's my mom and dad standing under a long decorative structure.

Some Singaporeans were smart though - rather than squeezing with everyone else on plane ground and trying to tiptoe like my family, they ended up at the lamp posts where they had a bird eye's view. Hrmph.

Finally plonking ourselves at a spot, it was then a hefty 25 minutes' wait before anything happens next. We were standing near the spot where the guests were arriving, so it was a challenge to see people walking in casually with their invitation cards in hand to the reception counter under the overhead walkway and the remaining Singaporeans braving the rain and basking in whiffs from one another's bodies. That's my mom and my dad again. It's starting to get packed..

Here's a close up of the People At The Top. Isn't the man in purple shirt with a newspaper on his head an adorable sight?

Someone save us from this anarchy!

The stage that is around 200 metres away from my vantage point. This picture's taken at 3x digital zoom. Still not too bad I reckon..

but 4x digital zoom beats the cake. I wonder how Mrs. Lee(Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's wife) looks like from this picture..

The podium, the white Mercedes car which the Minister Mentor came in, and the reception table.

To set off tension (I suppose), a man came out dressed as 财神爷 (God of Wealth). He gave out hongbaos supposedly with S$2 in each out and almost caused a stampede, cumulating in a tirade from a woman at the very front who rebuked everyone behind for squeezing her. That wasn't the only exciting thing though. A plump man was also sent off in an ambulance, probably from a lack of oxygen (and a full dose of body smells!) after standing in the crowds.

I was a little late in shooting this one, but it was quite a sight when the 财神爷 had to undergo police checks with the metal detector just like everyone else. Caused quite a laugh from everyone.

Finally the lightup and the dragons and such. We only caught fragments of the firecrackers though as we were covered by the bridge (how silly!).

This is how Chinatown Point (the blue building) looks at night. I think they are so clever to have a decoration theme that fits both Christmas and Chinese New Year in one!

The lion head with lights on at night.

My brother volunteering to take this picture behind the camera.

All of us posing for the camera - how fake!

To top it off, a lovey-dovey picture of my mom and dad.