Chingay 2012

Last week, Chingay 2012 was one of the deal of the day! What do I mean by that?

Although the tickets were priced at $50 each, you can save 25% if you purchase through Deal.sg!  There are many more similar deals if you're looking for a short getaway trip, meal deals and/or treatments.

Deal.sg invited us to catch the Chingay performance at the pit building, category 1, which was worth S$50!  I had no idea the pit building was so far away from the Promenade station. 0,0  I was drenched in sweat by the time I found my down.  There was a delay and I think the performance didn't start until after 8.30pm.

Here's a view from my seat:

I didn't expect to see a big pool of water in front of me. Little did I know that it was ACTUALLY the stage. Its stage set-up was very different from the previous years and I know I was in for a real treat. 

The show started with a huge dragon swimming across the sky, looking magnificent and very"huat".

As it moved across the stage, I see how challenging it was to control the direction of the dragon and make it look "alive".  The dragon was off to find his partner on the other side of the stage - a phoenix.

The VIPs arrived in style. They stood in sampan boats and waved to the audience.  I thought that was really cool, making use of the water stage!

We then enter Prelude Scene 1 where students lined the stage, playing the Erhu (although it does look a bit creepy since the girl on stage wore traditional Chinese clothes, braided her hair and playing a rather melancholy tune against the blue lighting...).

There were fire torches and speedboat! It zoomed across the water so rapidly my shutter wasn't fast enough to capture 0.0!

The performers used a spade or something to create patterned splashes, very creative and looks good!

Clearly the theme this year was Dragon, because it almost all the segments, there will be at least one.  These two dragons are made up of drums!

AND THEY LIGHT UP. SO NAISE.

Combination of rhythm and gusto!

Well the first vehicle on parade is a replica of the Singapore Flyer, gorgeous!

Does the dragon have a spastic expression? Hehe.

This has got to be my favorite. There's actually water flowing down, almost like a veil wrapping around the vehicle, pretty!

The beautiful swan and elephants were presented by the Indian community.

A huge colorful vehicle made of balloons!

I was very impressed with the Taekwondo performance. Not only did they break wooden planks while showing their moves in the water, they also threw some high kicks and did a few flips in the air. Fwah.

Bicycles and unicycles in the water!

What about characters from your favorite movie?

At first glance I was like, cheh, it's lion dance performance again.... sian *goes back to phone*. But upon a closer look, these are balloon lions! I can imagine how gentle the guys have to be in order not to pop them.

Balloons, brides and trishaws~

HIGHLIGHT OF MY NIGHT goes to these two horses that gallantly trod across the water stage. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

This was the final scene and nearing the finale!

Burst of colors and confetti!  I was really thankful that it didn't rain and the air was cool throughout the performance. :)  Can you imagine the confetti being damp and sticking onto us and the color runs? Eek.

Chingay 2012 ended on a good note with fireworks display lasting about 10 minutes. And this post also officially marks the end of Lunar New Year 2012. Hope you had a great one, just as I did!

Huat ah!


To be honest, even if I'd to pay $50 for this year's Chingay, I would say it's worth every dollar! It was really a spectacular performance and enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you Deal.sg once again for bringing us to the Chingay Parade! 

Anti-Drug Game Launch: Escape From Drugs Land

In a refreshing approach to send the anti-drug message to the younger generation, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) have launched a series of online gaming challenge on Facebook.

There are altogether three games that will be launched, and the one I'll be introducing today is the final one, launching on 1 February (tomorrow)! :)

The first game that was launched in December was Jump Jump Rescue, followed by The Right Choice in January and now, Escape from Drugs Land.  These games were designed and created by local students, who bagged honors at the competition held last year.

In a nutshell, Escape from Drugs Land is an interactive online board game (like Monopoly, Life, 大富翁...).  Designed by three ITE College Central (MacPherson) students, their game emerged the first runner-up at the competition.

Alvin Seow, Lee Eng Chuan and Maung Nay Oo Linn of Team E.L.A.  They look so proud and happy! ^^

Here are some of the gameplay screenshots:

 First, you click on the dice to determine the number of steps you move. 

Then depends on wherever you land, you may have to answer questions related to the drugs.

If you're uncertain about some properties of the particular drug, you can enter the Drug Study Corner to learn more about each of the harmful effects.

During the game, it will provides information about the drug effects on abusers.

There are some points in the game where there are mini-crisis challenge games like the one below:

The game is full of surprises - quizzes, mini-games, puzzles and Q&A!  I believe a lot of hard work goes into the making of the game, from the colourful graphics to incorporating informative anti-drug messages into challenge.

Although this board game idea is not new, I feel that the team has given it a new approach, adding other elements to keep the youth engaged. It's also very time-consuming and  not easy to create the graphics!

I personally like puzzle games because I like to answer questions, so yeah if you think you're very well-read and knowledgeable about drugs, put yourself to the test!  Beat the other online gamers.

Log on to the Life Does Not Rewind facebook page to play, and the top scorers for each game will win an iPad 2 each! Sweet!  In addition to the games, you can share about being clean and making The Right Choice to win addition tickets to iFly.

Targeting at youths aged 13 to 25, if you're still within this age range *ahem*, the Challenge will run on Facebook until Feb 26!

When I attended the media launch in November, we tried out the games at the HQ.  Here are some photos from that day:

 Bloggers moving around to try the games.

 That's Qiuqiu trying out The Right Choice. 

These are students from Singapore Polytechnic, who are the creator of The Right Choice, now available on the facebook fan page.

NCADA chairman, Dr N Varaprasad, said: "Our youths are spending many hours online every day, especially on games and social media sites such as Facebook. We want to be where they are, and leverage these platforms to drive home the anti-drug messages."

Life Does Not Rewind - Make the Right Choice: 

Choose Life, Not Drugs.

When I Turn 22 Last December...

There are no more elaborate parties nor celebrations, just a quiet cake-cutting ritual that took place at night.

Cake from The Icing Room failed to impress my taste buds.

Only that greedy girl seem to enjoy it much.

Sis had to go off straight after, she had a date elsewhere.

In the day, we just roamed around a mall.  Not knowing what to get me, he eventually got me a pair of handy earphones.  I like his confidence, knowing that I would use it often.

The night before, the sleepover was fun.  He presented me with a video, inspired by HIMYM:



A video he started compiling just a few days before.  +1 for effort, -1 for the last minute effort.  Hur.  

I've finally completed my Thank You messages here, to the 71 people who cared :)

I'm sorry I took so long to just say thank you! And I know it looks super amateurish. Heh.

Last but not least, special love to B for spending the day and night with me.  Thank you for your effort trying to make me happy. :)