Happy New Year 2009
We spent the last few hours of 2008 and welcomed 2009 with these friends from Yh’s Uni days after a sumptuous meal contributed by everyone. 干杯！
Team Spain at Singapore Fireworks Festival 2007
Finally got some time to organize the photos taken from last Friday’s (17th August 2007) fireworks from Team Spain. We had managed to get seats at the Marina Bay floating gallery since Yh won tickets via Lianhe Zhaobao’s lucky draw.
The place was packed to the brim by the time we got into our seats. The weather that day wasn’t the best, with showers earlier on but luckily had cleared by the time the show started. After about a 30 minute wait and a lot of yammering by the MCs, the show finally got under way with a 15 minute light show first before getting on with the actual fireworks.
GoFlyKite was also around for a quick interlude before the fireworks and as usual, it was great spectacle as the kites lit up the night sky like fireflies.
The fireworks were a huge treat and way better than what we got from National Day. From our seats, we were captivated by the 3 platforms of fireworks that danced and lit the skies with furious explosions and patterns.
With the whole sky covered with fireworks, we almost couldn’t capture everything at a glance and my camera was kept busy as I captured each shot hoping to get some great photos. A lesson learnt at the end of the shoot was that I should just use manual mode and a mixture of settings instead of going automatic with the fireworks scene mode on the Canon S3 IS. This created a lot of noisy images. Luckily, some seemed rather nice like the one below with the red rings and lights.
After the 15 minutes of fireworks that left everyone with a great memory, we headed off back to Raffles MRT to catch a train back. Managed to get some shots along the way.
National Day celebrations at Marina Bay
After finishing up some work for the day, I headed out to meet Joseph at Raffles Place Mrt. We had wanted to set up near Merlion park but alas we forgot that the huge crowd would already be there! By 5.30pm, Fullerton, Merlion park, Esplanade bridge were already packed to the brim with people from all over. We spent about 30 minutes weaving through the crowd before finally heading to Marina Boulevard where similarly the huge field was already packed. Luckily, there were some open spaces left that allowed us to setup. Overall, managed to get some decent photos. The roar of the F16s overhead and the flag fly past was very well received although the cries of “SQUAT DOWN” just went to show how crowds behave.
There was a little gal perched atop her father’s shoulders who couldn’t resist posing for the cameras as she went on to wave her flag everytime she noticed a photographer snapping away. The hot air balloons that dotted the sky in the evening were beautiful as they floated in the bay (thinks this is one of the coolest addition to the parade).
The fireworks while nice seems rather short after Joseph’s experience in Japan where they had 2 hour long fireworks celebrations. We were both wondering how come fireworks can’t be set longer during national day, 30 minutes for photo taking seems more suitable.
Managed to get a nice photo of the Marina Bay as the crowd thinned out after the second fireworks session. Happy National Day Singapore!
Getting excited about 9th August?
Over the past few years, my interest in the National day parade hasn’t really been the strongest. Most of the time we (the family) would spend it by catching the parade on the tv but have never gone to attend the actual parade. However, after catching the rehearsal on 30th June, I’ve been thinking a lot more of going down on the actual day to catch the sights (and sound) from nearby locations. Yh sent me a list of possible places to go to
Esplanade waterfront
Esplanade bridge
Merlion park
One fullerton
Also, just saw the encore of “Parade on the Bay”, a one-hour documentary which takes a look at how a new venue for National Day Parade 2007 was chosen and the work that went into making it a reality. Was quite interesting to see how the different government agencies and companies came together to put the whole event together as hosted by Daniel Ong.
Looks like Yh and myself should be heading down to catch the sights and hopefully get a nice spot to take some snaps. Wonder if I’ll meet Bqube (just know him from Flickr) who happens to be studying in Singapore and wanted to experience the moment too. Will be looking forward to the fireworks too 
National Day Rehearsal at Marina Bay
Hot afternoon as we reached marina bay stadium for national day rehearsals. We got tickets at yellow sector and already one third full. First time attending one live so should be interesting.
A short stay at Beaufort Hotel
We’ll be heading out soon to Beaufort Hotel, Sentosa for good buddy Zh and Jo’s ROM ceremony. Have been asked to help take photos and video to remember the event by. *grin* Kinda nervous since have only taken photos for fun.
Sean & Eunice are getting married!
Its finally the big day for Sean & Eunice. Been a busy week for both of them so glad they can enjoy a little today Think its going to start soon! 8.15am
Break-in but nothing got stolen?!
My office at 267 New Bridge Road had a break-in on 18th April between 2330 and 19th April 0900. Colleague arrived just slightly before 9am and discovered that the door to our office had been pried open. I arrived shortly after and quickly called the police to report the break-in. Also noticed that our neighbour and downstairs tenants also had similar forced entry marks on their doors. Informed our landlord and she quickly informed the rest of the tenants to come down to check.
Two police constables arrived shortly after to check out the crime scene and take statements on who was around, who opened the door, etc. We did a quick inventory check and found that nothing was missing (drawers and bags were tampered with though). Our neighbour was not so lucky because he found that his coin box had been taken.
The weird thing is that the main door than leads to our office appeared to have suffered no forced entry as the wooden door seem untouched. Only the doors leading to each company had been forced into. Only other way was to have either scaled the back wall and climb through the windows?
First time I’ve ever experienced this so was kinda weird giving statements to the police and watching them do their investigation. Must say Singapore police sure responds super fast! Hope the thief gets caught!
Our 30th month and a delicious home cooked meal
Yh came home a little earlier today and quickly got to work creating a delicious dinner for our 30th month anniversary. Char Soba, unagi, salmon sashimi and sushi!, what’s not to love about a lovingly prepared meal? Thanks dear