So how was everyone's New Year's Eve? [or did some of you just sleep past it and wake up the next morn like always? Shame on you...] With no pending invitations [sob sob] and the DF with his family, I spent NYE with Necroz wandering around the Marina area.
And I really mean wander. We met early for dinner, shopped a bit, and then when the stores closed, found ourselves with nothing to do till midnight. So we walked around from Marina to Esplanade to Boat Quay to Clarke Quay and to Fullerton to await the New Year.
ALL the places were packed more than usual, no surprises there. At 8-10pm, there was already a sense of party fever in the air, as revellers increased in numbers, making their pilgrimmages to these holy spots of wild abandon.'
Clarke Quay prepares
Singapore waits for the fireworks
After walking and walking, we finally staked out a spot at the One Fullerton overlooking the Merlion to wait for the fireworks display.
I know some of you will think, "WTF you wanna go to somewhere so crowded for what???" What can I say? There's a difference in the atmosphere when you're celebrating with 1000s of strangers the coming of the New Year. In the last hour before midnight, we felt it as the people increased, and the heat of the moment increased as well. You feel a heightened sense of anticipation in the air, and the feeling of waiting that everyone is going through with you. Some jokers may suddenly spray the air full of crazy string and foam. Others suddenly bawl and scream. Someone actually released a small hot air balloon, complete with gas flame. [i kid you not]
There's a strange feeling that strikes a mob that is waiting for some action. I guess that was the high we were looking for.
And when the fireworks heralded the zero moment, WA-HOO!!!!
Aside: IN case you haven't noticed, what with all the digital cameras and the camera phones, we have suddenly become a nation of aspiring photographers. [moi included, hehe] Which means that in any national event, what you inevitably see is the whipping out of lens on the phones or cameras:
Unfortunately, my phototaking skills, when it comes to fireworks, are horribly pathetic.
bleah.
still too slow, sucker.
And after a few aborted attempts,
Yahoo!
Yeah!
And that was the two only good shots. -_-!!!!!
After the countdown was over, though, the sparklers came out in full force.
Sparkly time!
Cute kid!
His friends with him
Singaporeans attempt to set the Merlion on fire.
But I did catch one pose, unawares, and I didn't even realise it till I uploaded the pictures. Which made it one good shot for a fireworking opportunity, and also became one of the funnier shots ever:
Finally, it was all over. The last firework, the last sparkler.
Well all is said and done, however, one problem remains.
WTF do we get outta there???
There are only a few routes out of One Fullerton, I realised, and all of them were choked with people.
Here's an example of one of the exits on that night:
Blardy hell!
Eventually we got out, walked around the river to get to Esplanade.
If you walk that route, though, you'd remember that before reaching the Esplanade, you'd have to cross under the bridge just before the Durian.
We aptly named that stretch of tunnel the Tunnel of Doom.
What with all the aerosol cans and the guys all high on party fever, and the tons of trash on the floor, the area resembled some apocalyptic vision of Singapore's doom.
Not to mention the weird party calls, the people all huddled furtively trying to escape the gangs fighting with the aerosols, and the gangs all fighting with one another spraying each other with that white foam left over from christmas.
And yes, we got sprayed by some dude. -_-! If not for the fact it was just white foam, I'd be cursing the guy to Kingdom Come.
erm, no pix of that scene because I was afraid of the flash attracting unwanted attention via foam. -_-!!!
And this was one of the few nights where there were virtually no taxis on the road. Because all of them were on freakin' call or were already ferrying customers. I bet you some of these uncles can now send their kids to uni already. In the UK even, maybe.
We assessed the traffic situation, decided the case for the cabs was hopeless anyway, and skipped to Marina Square where thankfully, Changing Appetites was still open, and we had our first meal [supper?] of 2006.
As I jokingly told Necroz in haltingly bad Chinese, cheesecake for a sweet mouth when talking to people [like when asking your boss for a raise], and for a rich life. [because of the richness of the cake]
Iced tea for a 'liang shuang' life. [i think literally translated, means something like 'light and carefree'?]
"And water?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.
That's easy. "So that we may always be humble, and yin shui si yuan."
See, my china buay pai eh.
And thus, we started the New Year full of wishes for a sweet [and glib] mouth, a rich and carefree life, and a humble disposition. Not a bad start, I would say.
So, on one last note, from the boredslacker to all the friends and blog readers:
2 comments:
Where did you get that last picture? Did you actually take it or just found it off the net? Anyway, looks like you had heaps of fun... I had fun too... but there was just waaaay too much 2nd hand smoke... bleah... :p
happy new year too! :)
Post a Comment