HOI

Post EOPT, so its time to blog!
Last Sunday evening, I headed down to the Marina Bay floating platform for NDP! Incidentally it was ten years after my last NDP in pri 5. How things have changed since then! The venue was one thing - the Marina bay integrated resort, the city skyline formed the backdrop of the Marina barrage. The Singapore Flyer, to my left, was just across the ECP and looked huge close-up.
Once the programme started, there was simply no time to look into the goodie bags. Everything happened so fast - one moment you were rummaging through the bags looking for the national flag, the next thing everyone would be waving their glowing hearts, and while you're busy figuring out what on earth is happening commandoes would be falling out of the sky in parachutes screaming for photos to be taken.
Of course there was the simulated "terrorist attack", which seeked to showcase the fighting force of the defence force and the home team. You could hear the crowd oohing and ahing as the Apache helicoptors made waves just next to the grandstand, get the adrenalin rush as the speedboats deftly manouvred their convoluted course, and feel the surge of nationalistic pride as f16s flew overhead.
I really admired the fact that the show went like clockwork. But the key draw for me was the show segment, which though was really neatly packaged, managed to capture some of the flavours of each decade with catchy tunes, blinking lights, and show-stopping performances. I can't recall the depiction of the 50s and 60s too well, but the "Agogo"/disco feel of the 70s and 80s, and the familiar pop tunes of the 90s really drove up the atmosphere many notches! Familiar songs like "Stand up for Singapore" were lined straight after Michael Jackson and Bee Gees tunes.
But you know what's the BEST part of the parade? The fireworks come close, but the FUN PACKS were awesome. Free crumpler-ish bag/ discount coupons/heart-shaped torches/ food/ Vita-C/ Yeos packet drinks/ NEWater anybody?