A Glimpse of National Day Parade 2007

National Day Rehearsal @ Marina Bay - 7th July 07

There’s No Place I’d Rather Be….Even though I’ve roamed the world, it’s still my home I loved to see….

"For me, the proudest moment of every National Day Parade is always after the arrival of the President when the National Athem, Majulah Singapura is played. With the huge Singapore Flag hovering above us, it always feel good to be a true blue Singaporean standing at the spectator gallery. This year Kit Chan’s Theme Song,“There’s No Place I’d Rather Be” simply sums up the sentiments of everybody present at the rehearsal today. At the end of the day, Singapore is still a “fine” place to live in despite the numerous complains day in day out."


This was how it begun


7th July 2007 ~ Clare and I had finished watching Transformers at AMK Hub on Saturday afternoon. Sentosa was cancelled as it was raining earlier. At 3.10 pm, thinking that this was going to be a “lobo” Saturday afternoon, I received a call from Tom that he has tickets for the NDP rehearsal today ~ on 1 condition that we need to reach the venue by 5pm.

I had not managed to get the NDP tickets this year. So the telephone call was simply god-send.

4.50pm - We met Tom, R and her parents at Esplanade where he handed us our tickets imprinted “NDP 07 Family Day, 7th July 07”. This was going to be the first full dress rehearsal at the new floating platform @ Marina Bay. And we are going to be among the first 27,000 Singaporeans to witness this year’s NDP before our eyes!

The spectator’s gallery commanded an excellent view of the Marina Bay & CBD Area. The preparade segment consisted national songs from the various ethnic groups. The Dim Sum Dollies, Sebastian Tan and Kit Chan flawless renditions of the national songs promised to delight everybody in this year’s preparade. In contrast, the classical performances by the Tang Quartet nearly bored me to tears. I’d rather they remained at Esplanade. They were good, just that their music did not appeal to the masses.

The traditional parade itself continued to draw our attention. So did the red lions free fall from the sky, not once but TWICE! And of course, the water parade stunts in conjunction with 40 years of National Service was a major surprise in this year’s NDP.

The mass display after the parade consisted the usual fare from the People’s Association, SOKA and from my alma mater, Mayflower Secondary! While colourful, it was draggy stretching a good 45 minutes between 7.30pm - 8.15pm. There were no precision drill displays from the Provost in this year’s NDP - they can finally take a rest!

By 8.10pm, thinking that there would be no fireworks tonight, we slowly made our way out. Barely 5 minutes, the CBD skyline was litted with the spectacular fireworks. We managed to catch a glimpse of it outside the venue. Impressive & they sure made our evening!

To be able to catch this year’s NDP at Marina Bay was totally unexpected. Special thanks to R’s brother for the tickets. Even though it was just a rehearsal, the standard was good. I hoped that everybody present today enjoyed themselves as much as I do.

Happy Early 42nd Birthday Singapore!!

Tips for non-ticket holders who do not want to missed out on the fireworks ~ It will be held at 8.15pm on 9th August at Marina Bay.

Notorious porta pumper..yucks

Good vantage point will be at The Merlion Park, the Esplanade Roof Top and the Food Court at Marina Square. “Book” your seats early in order to command an excellent view of the fireworks. Enjoy :)

All pictures taken courtesy from Nokia Phone.

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