Chingay - A Parade of Dreams
Sunday, February 05, 2006
The Chingay experience was truly exhilirating! It isn't like Rag where the competition element far outweighed anything else. Everyone on parade just had fun, Fun and more FUN! The music was happening (speakers blasted from the float itself).. the drums from our neighbouring paraders heightened the energy level extensively.. the dancers were running around having fun.. kids waving at us like we're some celebrity.. and of course standing amidst the very beautiful MidwayFair Float enhanced with lights this time made entirely by Sheares Hall!
It was the 1st time in my life feeling like a celebrity.. with camera all around me..all because I had a tiger drawn on my face.. which attracted hunters from all over armed with cameras trying to poach a picture from me. I should just charge them haha. They wouldn't even spare me from eating my McChicken dinner in peace! Check them out:
Once you start posing...
They just come
And come...
And don't stop taking photos of you!!
Aha the feeling of stardom! Though it gets a little scary after a while when you realise that you lose your freedom and can't get out of the pose. And I wonder where all these people are from anyway.. I only notice a few with the 'Official Media' tags on them.. AND I DON'T SEE THE PHOTOS ON NEWSPAPERS ANYWHERE!
Of course the makeup that drew all the attention was done by the wonderfull YingEng!
Though I was stuck on top of the box with Junsheng while the rest of the dancers could prance around Orchard road and have fun with the crowd.. I captured some really cool shots of the top..
Too bad my camera lens was a bit misty so all the pictures seemed a little blur... aye.
But photo taking was the 2nd agenda for they day.. especially before and AFTER the procession.. we took photos with almost everyone and everything.. inclluding the other floats that waited with us at the end of the road.. blasting music from Elly's iPod and basically having loads of fun now that me and Junsheng are out of the box already,
The zoo float and dunno what float
We took so many photos not only by ourselves but by/with the many passers-by that stopped to take a shot. Many were foreigners and many more were our own Shearites! Haha.. it was great seeing familiar faces especially during the procession. Thanks all for coming down to support!
Escorted by many many policemen the float drove on to River Ang Pao to be parked there.. and now that I'm out of the box I feel so much more freedom!
EVERYONE that saw us waved their hands at us! From kids to couples to gangs of friends to families even people in the cars the drove past were waving to us like we were their long lost friends wheeeeee! Think halfway through we wanted to hit a target of 100 people waving back at us before reaching RiverAngPao and we DID achieve our target hahaaa... It really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
Yea and here we are at the River Ang Pao where the float was parked and many more people came to shake hands and take photos with us. The kids especially loved the 3 fairies who gave them their homemade (from aluminium foil) fairy dust to be thrown all over the floor. Was that licence to litter? Haha and before we left the Static people took a final photo with SuKiang our big boss and the lady who I think is the Co-ordinator on the Peoples' Association side...
The lorry was there waiting for us to go back but how can we just go back without touring the magnificent RiverAngPao?? Sukiang was really great for letting us walkwalk and so we did!
Oh and now that I've removed my outer coat and my hat and my gloves I think I scared a few kids and a lady with my tiger makeover haha.. Wella actually there's nothing much to see here and River Ang Pao.. except making a wish at the wishing well where I threw in all my coins and having cheap thrill with the rest of the crowd grabbing the gold foil splurted out by the giant Fortune God haha.
The greater fun was strolling along the street markets eating JUNK FOOD!
The day ended with us speeding back in the lorry driven by Ivan..
What a day! If you don't know by now all the photos in this entry are clickable and it will bring you to my fotopic site with many many many more photos of Chingay itself.. before and after.. But just like National Day Parade photos and videos are never enough to bring out the immense atmosphere of the procession. I reallyreallyreallyreallyreally wanna do Chingay again next year!!!
I hope my Chingay account did the day justice. It was another milestone clocked in my Sheares experience.. a day that'll be etched in my memory forever.. =)
