A National For A Day

What does it feel like to be a national here in Singapore?

Try attending the National Day Festivities here. I was able to attend the preview though (a week before the actual National Day). Tickets are given away via lottery so you don't really get to queue up and buy a ticket. So how was I lucky enough to get a ticket? Long story but it was really last minute. Good thing I went.


Grandstand Entrance

I already arrived late but it was all good. Most of the main events don't start until a bit later. Hmm...I'm being lazy so I copied the program details from my multiply site. :)

There are 3 segments:

(1) Pre-parade: This includes mass-displays, choir performances, school band marches, cheerleader dances, sky-diving displays, and other light-hearted performances to entertain the crowd prior to the parade proper.


Sky-diving Displays


Flag-waving


View of the Singapore Flyer

(2) Parade Proper: This comprises marches from the different sectors of the Singapore police force and military. Then a helicopter carrying the Singapore flag flies in to officially start the ceremonies. Other ceremonies were also performed such as gun salutes to key officials of Singapore, followed by various cultural performances (in different languages). Song Theme: One Nation, One Singapore. The highlight of this segment are the Black Knights F16 aerial stunts (super cool!).


Police & Military Force Parade


Black Knights F16


Cool Heart Formation

(3) Show segment: Here comes in the “Search!”, “Sense!”, “Spring!” and “Shine!” - the four different stages of the whole final show performances. During this segment, you'd see eye-catching props, colourful costumes, energetic acrobatics, and hyped-up performers. The show ends with a spectacular fireworks display.


AVP Colourful Display


Parade Float with performers


Fireworks Finale Display

I was lucky enough to attend since some of my colleagues (who have resided here forever) have not yet attended a single National Day Program.

Singapore National Day: August 9

Tourist Food Trips

For two weekends, I've become a tourist in Singapore.

The first weekend of being a tourist was when my BF came over. I was waiting for him to come so I can finally be able to eat chilli crab - the specialty here in Singapore. Prior to this long-awaited meal, I had to research which places serve good chilli crab at reasonable prices. Location was a priority as well, since the trip itinerary was tight. There were a lot of restaurants that serve this famous dish I tell you. I got a headache just from searching. Finally, I decided to stick with this restaurant near the hotel we were staying called the No. 3 Crab Delicacy

I read the reviews from this site and was interested with the 'bigness' that the author talked about. We were starving when we got to the resto so unfortunately no pics. :) We tried the chilli crab and the butter garlic crab (for the weak stomachs who can't take the heat :P). The fried tofu, yang chow fried and honey spare ribs wasn't so bad but the big treat was the chilli crab. Will definitely go back and try again but this time I'll make sure I snap some pics.

The second weekend I became a tourist was when my sister came over. She's definitely into eating and even has a list of vegetarian-allowed types of food. We were at Chinatown when we chanced upon a hawker area. We scrounged the area for the food on the list. First up ...


Fried Carrot Cake

Unfortunately, there was bits and pieces of meat mixed into it (I guess for flavoring). I didn't even noticed but vegetarians apparently know even in small amounts - they can distinguish. So strict vegetarians forewarned. She still ate a bit since she wanted to try it.

We also ordered peanut soup and teh tarik (my first time trying these) to share and I got the laksa - a coconut-based curry soup.


Teh Tarik and Peanut Soup

Laksa

During our Chinatown tour, we stopped by a pastry shop called Tong Heng which served us free mooncake and egg tarts. It was the mooncake festival and I was starting to get sick of mooncake (no offense to the Moon Girl above). The egg tarts were interesting but not really my thing. My sister loved it.


Egg Tarts, near Chinatown

Our search for food suited for vegetarian continues when we finally found popiah. I was introduced to popiah by my colleague at the food market near Boon Keng station. Popiah is like our Filipino version of sariwang lumpia but this one with chilli. Yummy. :)


Popiah

We also included the meal with roti and teh tarik once more.


Roti (with curry sauce) & Teh Tarik

My sister also craved for some healthy refreshing drinks. Here's an idea for all you veggie, fruit and milk lovers out there. The store is called Mr. Bean . She ordered a celery milk drink (hmmm, sounds too veggie to me). There are a lot of branches around Singapore so it's easy to find.

An interesting dinner that we had was at the community hall near the Mosque in Kampong Glam. Since it was Hari Raya month, the Mosque serves food to everyone who'll come to them. This was a treat and a unique experience for us. We were able to break fast with fellow Muslims. After our Malay tour around the area and a lesson in Islam and Singapore history, we were treated with hospitality and given food to share with our fellow tour mates. Here's the food served and me feeding myself with hand. "When in Rome, do what the Romans do".


Chicken w/ yellow rice and dates

Eating with hands

Of course, the food trippings wouldn't have been complete without Indian food - savory and spicy. Yes! My sister got a vegetarian meal set while I had Mutton curry. Papadums (Indian version of our Chicharap) are of course a snack treat that I got addicted to it for a while. But really the oil can kill if you eat a lot. :)


Vegetarian Set meal

Mutton Curry

These are just a bit of what we ate during the weekend. There were some snacking in between which we didn't take pictures of. The whole two weekends was a feast of the senses - especially taste. Here in Singapore, you can never go wrong with food. There are still a lot of stuff to try and I'm the type of girl who likes to try anything once. If I like it, I'll definitely try again and again. One colleague even told me that I enjoy my food a lot since it shows a lot on my face - kinda orgasmic - that's what she said. Oooh, must've mean something else entirely? Perhaps. Haha.