For The Love Of }

Saturday, 23 February 2008, 10:43 pm

Chingay comes to Bishan
Was downstairs not long ago,laying our butts on the spiky,damp grassfield. My mother was very eager to catch the Chingay parade.

So we waited and waited,and as time past,what came were only more and more people.Practically the whole neighbourhood was down to witness this extravaganza!Di di,mei mei,ge ge,jie jie,ma ma,ba ba,gong gong,po po,ah gong,ah ma,ah beng,ah seng,ah mao,ah gou,you name it,we got it.Very heartening to note that people actually appreciates this event.

It was very irritating to keep hearing people muttering "Lai le,lai le!" and you turn your heads and all you see are cars streaming down the road.-.-

After about 45min since we came down?,it finally "Lai le,lai le!" Well,the first vehicle we saw were...traffic police motorcycles hahahaha following by the real parade,of course.

It was absolutely spectacular,with all the dazzling lights and loud music,bring light and sound and life to the quite,stale neighbourhood.Everyone was held in awe!Everyone was waving frantically at the ministers,the people on board the parade.It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience and worth the wait.

However,there was a slight disappointment as it was kinda short.There was a short hiatus after the end of the parade,then cars started streaming in again.Followed by a "Huh,zhe yang er yi ah?" lol

After dinner,Mummy brought us to watch the Getai at the market square.And wow,I am actually impressed by the singer's voices.It was just as good as watching "xing guang da dao",just that it was in Hokkien,mandarin and a lil' localised english.But hey,that's our culture for you.

Probably the only difference is that you have a really clown MC,cracking jokes,spicing up the performance.So it's kinda like a singing performance+variety show on stage in the heartlands.

It kinda hit me at that moment that,hey,maybe we do have some culture or tradition.Getais!It was a great way for the neighbourhood to share moments together.

So overall,I had a whole new different kind of art experience,was truly an eye-opener.Goes to show that art really takes different forms.