Had a landmine warfare field camp on Thursday and Friday last week, and thankfully we worked fast enough constructing a 160m by 80m minefield and could sleep by 2am. Gonna be doing something similar this coming Thursday and Friday in Exercise Wolf.
Anyway, Saturday was NE Show 1, aka NDP Combined Rehearsal 4. Reported early to the seating Gallery at Marina Bay, where we did some final preparations for the evening's parade. Managed to take down a video of the Red Lions going airborne in their trail jump as well =p
Anyway, all pictures are taken with my trusty camera phone heh.
View of the Cityscape
By 11am we were whisked off to our schools on buses. My bus driver happened to be a grumpy loanshark lookalike who drove aimlessly. It was only when we asked him "uncle, where you going har?" that he told us rudely in Mandarin "wo bu zhi dao hor, ni men yao qu de di fang ni men zi ji ying gai dong", aka "I have no idea, you all should know yourself how to get to the place you want to go". And so we had to bear with his and give him very very specific directions to our schools. Bad start to the day.
Arrived in Yumin Primary School by 12:30pm, where I started preparing for departure with help from the teachers and 2 volunteers. Distributed the funpacks and stuff, basically. Departed for Marina Bay by 2:45pm.
Eventually, I managed to lead the 270 odd entourage of teachers and students to their seats on the Seating Gallery, but not before half the group got separated from the rest and ended up at stairwell 7 instead of 3. Got me a scolding from the Yellow Sector OIC =(
Excited Students
Then, the show started. This floating platform at Marina Bay is a good idea actually. Not only does it offer a splendid view of the Marina Bay area and the cityscape of the CBD (the view's even better at night!), the place also allows for many water-based performances, not possible in the confined space of the National Stadium.
This year's theme is PossibiCity: City of Possibilities. It started off with the hosts arriving by boat to kickstart the show with Talents Pool.
A Dance Item
Next was the parade, one of the highlights of each NDP. The various contingents marched in, followed by the Colours Party. Couldn't take a video of that though, since I had to stand at attention heh. William, me and the other SISPEC Delta people were surprised to find that the Parade Sergeant Major was none other than our former OC, MWO Shamsuddin. The contingents then formed up the letters "NDP 07".
Parade Formed Up
After the simulated arrival of the various VIPs such as a fake Minister Mentor Lee. It was funny (and it's kinda mean for me to find it funny) how the students stood up in eager anticipation when the emcee announced "Arrival of Prime Minister Lee", only to sit down in disappointment three seconds later when the emcee would add "Simulated" (deliberate delay by the emcee, perhaps?)
At last, the parade was formed up.Then it was time for the Dynamic Defence Display, to commemerate NS 40 as well as our Army going 3G. The segment included the Red Lions going airborne from the Super Puma, Special Operations Forces and Infantry running down the aisles in "battle-formations", the classic F-16 afterburner flyover and bomb burst, and the fly-past of the National Flag (no pics of that, since I had to salute). A CH-47 Chinook flew at a mere 10 feet above the waters near Esplanade Bridge as Divers from the Naval Diving Unit jumped off into the waters, to be picked up by Assault Boats. Then two AH64 Apaches flew into the scene to execute several tricky maneouvres to wow the crowd.
Infantry in FIBUA formation
Chinook flying low over the water surface... kinda hard to spot
Tanks and the Primus
Last in line were the mass performances, starting off with the Sea Segment, with three parts titled Source of Life, River of Dreams and Fountain of Hope.
Sea Segment
Jellyfish... or rather, balloons with lights
Second was the Earth Segment, comprising Green City, Singa City and Digital City. Third was the Sky Segment, featuring Soaring Aspirations, Sky Explorers and Boundless Flight. Fourth was the People Segment, consisting of Eternal Bloom and Miracle Makers.
Shiny lights :O
...and more lights.
Finally, the Fire Segment was the grand finale, consisting only of Fire of Passion. It involved a breathtaking display of water effects, pyrotechnics, flames, lasers, lights and, last but not least, the fireworks. Speaking of fireworks, I took a five minute video of it heh.
Pryotechnics
"High" Crowd
Lasers
Grand Finale
Disperal was somehow smoother than arrival. Anyway I brought Yumin back to school by 9:30pm =)
Ah, before I forget. The fireworks video! Enjoy.
Fireworks, taken by yours truly =)
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kheng yong; 19th dec 88
[x] Ashley
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