Fireworks at Marina Bay

Last Saturday we decided to take a walk along the Promenade to check out the Singapore Flyer (equivalent to the London Eye) and the track for the Formula 1 race that will take place in September. The last section of the track was closed to the general public due to some racing event that involved some very noisy cars and a lot of driving around in circles generally making a lot of racket and not really going anywhere. Toys for boys I suppose since Max seemed to be rather taken by this event while I was a bit bored and thought the whole thing slightly pointless. However the weather was good and the track overlooks the ocean so the view made up for the noise. We then ambled back to the entrance and sat down on the dock with our feet dangling over the water and an ice cream listening to the swallows chirping happily and diving towards the surface of the water trying to catch small insects.

Night falls rapidly at the equator so after a short while it turned dark and we decided to go to watch a movie at the museum. Old classics are shown at an outdoor theatre called "under the banyan tree" and I have always loved the idea of outdoor movies but while walking to the underground we saw a large number of people moving towards what seemed to me like some big parking lot. Intrigued we decided to divert our course for a while and see what it was all about. Before we knew it we were channelled into the entrance of the new youth sporting centre that sits opposite the new Marina Bay Sands Hotel and is accessible via a bridge whose official opening was going to take place that same evening. As it was already dark we could not really see the bridge but after we sat down with a snack of fish balls in curry sauce and my favourite sugar cane juice some local Minister started blabbing about the significance of the bridge and the name it was given and the importance of it as a new landmark.

In essence the bridge is called the Helix, a name given by the public as it is built like the double helix of DNA so it stands to represent life, youth and the future. All I was thinking about was if it is was going to turn into a wobbly bridge like the Millennium one in London.

He terminated his very long speech and all of a sudden fireworks exploded from the bridge finally illuminating it and showing the beautiful shape and form. It really looked like a strand of DNA and acrobats on stilts dressed in flowing drapes and gowns danced along the bridge like giant butterflies. All in all a lovely evening, outdoor movie the next time.