National Day Parade 2014

Happy National Day 2014! :)
This is my second NDP and the first I have attended at The Float@Marina Bay. :) My friend, Vanessa and I met up at 3pm at Raffles City, had tea before we slowly made our way over to The Float@Marina Bay. Along the way, we saw many people wearing red and white, presumably they must be attending the NDP too. :) I was in red and black lol. Didn't know the significance until my friend told me. :P Nothing was intended by my choice of colour except for practicality reason. :)  We picked up our funpack and proceeded to our Orange sector (mainly for ministry people) for seating by 4:15pm. We were early lol.

Wanted my green funpack :(

From my seat - 270 view (part i)

From my seat - 270 view (part ii)

From my seat - 270 view (part iii)

From my seat - 270 view (part iv)

From my seat - 270 view (part v)

Me being early at NDP 2014 :)

For a while, I was worried because dark clouds were forming. But thank goodness the weather held except for a drop or two. :) 

Dark clouds looming overhead

As the sun set, it became cooler with the sea breeze.The pre-parade activities started around 5:30pm with the hosts singing and leading us in old Singapore favourites such as Singapura, Chan Mali Chan, etc. This is nostalgic for me as these were the songs that I used to sing when I was in school! :)
Soon, a loud booming noise was heard overhead. Looking up into the sky, the Singapore Armed Forces Parachute Team - the Red Lions - parachuted from their helicopter to loud cheers from the crowd. With precision and skill, the 9 Red Lions, including the first female Red Lion 3WO Shirley Ng executed a free-fall jump and landed in front of the audience on the floating platform and the junior Red Lions joined them to salute the audience.

The Red Lions

Next came the Parade and Ceremony with a Military Tattoo which comprised of the band and SAF precision drill squad which exhilarated the audience. The singing of the national anthem started after the arrival of the president, followed by the president's inspection and the presidential gun salute. 

Singing of the national anthem

A total of 35 marching contingencies (including 14 non-uniformed contingencies and 15 social and economic organisations) participated in this year's parade. After that was the Dynamic Defence Display in which the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force wowed the audience. I was busy snapping pictures of our military might lol. :P

The Unmanned Fire Fighting Machine (UFM) from SCDF

Caught this photo just before we got showered by the UFM :)

The show started close to 7:30pm with four different acts - Act 1: Celebrate it!, Act 2: Love it!, Act 3: Live it! and Act 4: Be it!. Love the fireworks at the end of each act and at the end of NDP 2014.

The end of a successful NDP 2014

The crowd streaming out

A selfie with my new Lumia 930 lol :P

Me and the iconic city backdrop :)

A little after 8pm, the NDP 2014 came to a close. As my friend and I waited for the crowd to thin before setting off on our way home, we were treated to an extra display of fireworks by the organisers who wanted to thank all the performers, volunteers, multimedia team, and everyone who has contributed in one way or another to make NDP 2014 a success. Bonus! :)  

Leaving The Float@Marina Bay

I finally reached home around 10pm after stopping at Raffles City for a dessert lol. :P

Everything I have in the funpack!

The beautiful city backdrop and skyline: Victoria Concert Hall, CBD, Fullerton Hotel

The CBD

Marina Bay Sands, the Helix Bridge (in red and white)

The Singapore Flyer, the Helix Bridge and the moon

I really enjoyed attending the NDP 2014 at The Float@Marina Bay. :) 
I am proud to be a Singaporean. Singapore has indeed come a long way but it still has a long way to go. We all need to play our part for we are Singapore. :)