National Day in Singapore!

This morning we had breakfast at the apartment and headed to the gym for a workout. We got to the gym just in time; before we knew it, it was packed! We worked out for an hour, headed back upstairs, showered then when out to do some more food shopping.

We dropped the food back at the apartment, picked up some reading material and then walked to Spinelli's Cafe for a coffee. Afterwards, we walked about the Hereen Mall and I made a booking to get my hair done at Toni & Guy tomorrow afternoon.

We walked back to the apartment for lunch and Ross chatted with his brother John on Skype. We spent the afternoon relaxing and before we knew it, it was 5pm. We walked down to Somerset MRT station and made our way with the throngs of people to Marina Bay for the National Day celebrations. It took us a while to walk to the marina but, being Singapore, everything was incredibly well organized - signs, barriers to keep people on the right track.

We dropped into 7atenine to see if we could get a table but they put us right in the back and we couldn't see anything so we left. We joined the masses and tried to find a 1m square patch of grass to sit and wait. Around 6.30 we started to see a bit of action. There was a 'parade' (really a stage show) but you had to have tickets to see it. However, we did see Schnook helicopters, fighter planes, helicopters towing massive Singapore flags, a 21 cannon salute off small war ships in the marina, massive 'paper' boats and a truck load of fireworks (see video)! It was a pretty great show.

National Day celebrates Singapore's independence from Malaysia 44 years ago. Pretty funny considering that Malaysia will celebrate its independence from the UK on the 30th of August! Out of all three countries, I think Singapore is probably doing the best! At 8.22pm (the time they signed the agreement), all the Singaporeans in the crowd joined together to say the oath of allegiance followed by a massive firework display again.

After the show, we joined the moving river of people again and tried to find our way to Clarke Quay for something to eat. We walked for ages and didn't find Clarke Quay but we did end up at Boat Quay (just down the river). We stopped at the first bar we came across, Harry's, and had something to eat and a drink. A jazz quartet were playing and it was a beautiful night to sit out on the street and watch everyone walk by.

From Harry's, we walked to Clarke Quay to catch the MRT back to Somerset. We picked up a McDonald's sundae on the walk back to the apartment and after finishing it, we fell into bed exhausted! What a great day!