Singapore National Day 2010

When was the last time you have been to Orchard Road without throngs of people around?

Notice what's absent in the photos above? Yup, the throngs of people !

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Today is Singapore's 45th National Day. Later in the afternoon there will be the usual National Day Parade at Marina. There will be lots of people by then. These photos were taken in the morning after a short but heavy rain which explains the absence of people.

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You may be wondering why I am so fixated in the absence of people. The thing is when I came to Singapore in 1994 the population of this country was just 2 million (if I remember correctly). Out of those 2 million, 400,000 are foreigners working here (that included me).

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Sg back then was very spacious.

Let me digress a bit, things that I remember are:

1. there was no Suntec yet

2. Takashimaya just opened

3. there was a K-Mart at Lucky Plaza

4. there were lots of jobs around

5. people were all busy going after their 5 Cs (cash, credit card, condo, car, country club membership)

6. I talked to someone in ECP who said that Rollerblades are just a fad and that they would die soon.

7. I still played rollerhockey at the numerous futsal courts near ECP

8. HDB flats were soooooo expensive you'd think the fixtures are gold

9. there was this very nice bak kut teh stall in Cantonment Rd

10. I used to but Dark Horse and Image comics at the 2nd (or is it 3rd flr) of Lucky Plaza

11. You have to stock up with food before Chinese New Year because all stores will be closed.

Some up to 1 week.

12. Singapore was still playing in the Malaysia Cup

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(Back to my fixation about the throngs of people)

BUT now the population of Singapore is 5million !!!! There are crowds everywhere. You have to wait for a long holiday before you can go out to see the streets empty of people. You can't breathe.

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Anyway, things have to go forward. Sg might be richer today than 16 years ago... but I think I preferred the Sg I came to in 1994. Nevertheless, Happy Birthday Singapore!