NDP 2008

9th of august 2008 has been the day i hv been waiting for in a long long time.. its the one day every yr i hv reason to get all patrotic, dress-up in red n proclaim my love for my motherland w/o bearing the brunt of weird glances!!!

this yr, singapore turns 43 n gosh, tt is old. =P
i love exotic destinations n all.... but ultimately, i still love my country the most of all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!!!!!



just after i got decked out in red n was abt to leave hm, gong gong came by with the most humongous baguette i hv ever seen!!! its nearly the size of a baby n smelt so so so goood~



the reason for my excitement for this yr's parade!!! the first time i submitted my name for balloting (on the last day somemore), i won tickets for the actual day n i'm taking lucky alisa on this experience with me. =)



my chosen attire.. nice nice? was supposed to attend in just the red tube but faced great resistance frm the conservative mother who was afraid squeezing in the crowd wld just tug the whole thing down. :( so i wore a white tank inside to appease her.. it didn't look half as bad as i tot it wld. hence, i conclude tt i hv gd taste. muahahaha!



my mei mei n me!

she is freaking sweet lah!! in the bus, i found a coin on the seat...
me: omg, i'm gonna be lucky today!
alisa: hmm, was the coin facing up or down?
me: down. why?
alisa: down means bad luck... put it facing up on another seat.
me: why leh?
alisa: so someone else can hv gd luck since u can't hv it lah!



自HIGH~~ ^^



either she is trying hard to stay restrained or overnight movie marathon just the night before maxed out all her energy. tsk tsk.. =X



i dunno why but this sign made me even more excited. or perhaps it was the presence of all the uniformed men! *giggles* :P



everyone in red... the unity was a comforting sight.



though its not v obvious in this photo.. but all the s'pore flags hanging frm the hotel's balconies looked really orderly n made me feel so proud to be a citizen of singapore. =D



the signboards showing us tt we were near the action already! we were pre-allocated seats at the extreme right - blue zone. i tot the position was quite gd coz we were the nearest sector to the water performances n fireworks!



met up with liying n family...
[frm left: aunty, uncle, liyi, liying]

i also saw shaun n rachel in the blue zone... so qiao can?!


liying n me queuing up for our funpacks...



the packed floating platform! all according to theme in red n white!!



it started drizzling but tt didn't dampen our spirits as we enthusiastically waved inflatable hands.. these hands damn difficult to blow up hor! POO!



as we waited, alisa n i got quite busy tatooing ourselves! STARS WE ARE!



liying n me were happy with our "shine singapore" too!



stupid shots of my surroundings coz i was bored n liyng was busy photographing the sky! haha. i wanna try the flyer someday.. *hint hint*



my future! gambette!! =)




true blue singaporeans, now n forever!



STARTING TO MUCH APLOMB!



soldiers spelling out 'NDP 08' even with shadow edges... *respect*



the president arrives in his ceremonial land rover tt is prob only ever used on this day every yr.



there he goes inspecting the parade.. we can't really see much frm the grandstands anyway. so ppl at hm watching the live telecast will kinda get a better show i guess.



the brave red lions landing despite rain n dark clouds.. the parachutes hv the s'pore flag emblazoned underneath.



speedboats n wakeboarders cut the numbers "08" in the sea to signify the yr!



everything had to match in red u see... even umbrellas. haha. i think i "tsk" quite loudly coz the umbrella was kept shortly aft n nv to be seen again. lol.. block my view leh! =P



hmmm, minister mentor lee kuan yew, looking just like the rest of us in a red poncho but his kinda contrasted starkly against a sea of white while the rest of us blended in.



the black knights showing a marvellous display of the 5 total defense aspects.. the emcee also kept going on n on abt the importance of civil defense, military defense, economic defense, psychological defense n social defense.. its like national education for even the adults. haha.

aft history class comes the highlight of the black knight performance...........



black knights 5 n 6 going at 2000 km/h looked set to collide!!



*deep breaths everyone, they r abt to kiss*



my really good camera zoom caught this! hahaha... one plane swerved just soooo narrowly (n not to mention quickly) to avoid hitting the other. it was kinda to prove their superior communication skills which was actually broadcast live to the audience.

the top blur one obviously is the flipping plane.. i wonder which one was zoe tay's husband - he was one of them. *big clap*



there they go aft they by-passed each other.. see the gloomy clouds?? n someone was leading me to expect blistering hot suns hor?! i even came with sunblock n sunglasses lah!! hehe. =P



heart in the sky.



the vertical loop performed in F-16 fighter jets! woots~!



at nightfall, the lights on our inflatable hands n caps came on... it was a very breath-taking sight as light glistened frm the large crowd.



lights down, its time to party hard!



fireworks finale!!! notice the s-shaped fireworks? SUPERMAN! no? S for singapore!!



n again much to my delight! =)



rounding off the fantabulous parade!!!!



reliving ourselves at a toilet shortly aft...

but so much for our creativity when i read this on mrbrown.com.



japan's teaching as a profession advert...



singapore's official ndp 2008 music video with the similar child colouring in one colour, worrying the grown-ups, etc idea.. copycat? *sighs what a disgrace*

anyway, this yr's goodie bag wasn't as fantastic as the previous yrs n the crowd was HUGE! 350,000 according to yahoo. needless to say, we took an awful long time getting out n getting hm. but the experience was great n my heart melted when alisa came into my rm aft her bath n said, "jie, thanks for bringing me. sleep tight."

happy birthday again, my country...