Last Friday, I went to watch the Chingay Parade.
The Chingay Parade is an annual parade held in Singapore as part of the new year festivities. I’ve been to one in 2003 with Geri and I quite enjoyed myself, looking at the many display of colours and costumes.
After noticing the vigorous advertisements for the current chingay, my interest in attending was roused. After all, this could possibly be the last chingay that I’d be watching.
I went with my friend Attilio to City Hall on Friday evening for the previews. By the time we reached there, there were a lot of barricades and we had to show our passes numerous times before being allowed to enter the area.
Eventually we approached the audience area where there were already a number of performers who were getting ready – some were practicing their moves, some were joking around, all of them in interesting costumes.
At length we got to our seats and waited for the performance to begin. There were a number of glitches, but it was understandable as it was a preview.
There were a number of memorable highlights from the performance, such as the F1 Car show, dances from various organizations and of course, the floats. It was a much grander scale as compared to the more modest one of 2003. There were a plentiful of flashy displays. But I felt that the heart element was missing.
However there was one display that I truly enjoyed would be the fireworks after the grand finale. It was gorgeous and it went on for a good 5 minutes! I didn’t mind having a neck cramp looking up!
Here is a quick video clip of the event :
Did you go to the chingay 2008? What did you think of it?
Links :
Hey, just thought you may be interested to know Chingay Parade Singapore 2009 is selling their tickets at SISTIC web site from 15 Sep 2008 onwards.