NDP 2007 Rehearsal @ Marina Bay

Yesterday, 4 August 2007, I got a chance to witness the Rehearsal of the National Day Parade held at Marina Bay for the first time. I have not even watched NDP live at the actual venue once b4, since every year, I also watched it on TV. Luckily, 1 of my classmates, WR got extra tickets, that’s why asked my other classmates and I to watch the rehearsal together. Although it is only a rehearsal, but it is a rare chance to watch it on the spot, since the balloting exercise of the ndp tickets is always unsuccessful for me. : (

This year’s ndp was special since it has changed location (due to closure of the Kallang National Stadium) and it will be conducted on the smart floating platform for the parade. The rehearsal parade started around 6.20pm or so, with the marching in of the marching continents & other support groups, following by the Colours party and the Guard of Honours (GOH). It was then followed by the usual parade commands, simulation for the arrival of ministers and then came the flying past of the large Singapore flag and the performance by the aircrafts.










After that, the parade proceeded on with the inspection of the continents by the simulated president standing on the new rover and the firing of the 21 bombs from the cannons over at the IR site (can see and hear the impact of the bomb firing clearly). Following that is the Firing of blanks from the GOH called the “Fire of Joy” before they marched out from the floating platform.
















After the GOH marched out of the floating platform, it was followed by some performances from the military personnel in the form of air, sea and land for celebrating the 40 anniversary of National Service. Quite interesting and fresh. Ü Following that, the parade proceeded on with the night performances by other groups on the floating platform, and the design concept of the performance were well set up and very nice too. Ü

Overall, it was a great experience witnessing the rehearsal ndp parade on the spot, but the disappointing thing was that there were no fireworks for us to witness, since I think they want to save it up for the actual day on the 9 August bah. Anyway, thanks WR for the tickets. Cheers. Think got to watch the actual day parade live on TV. Haha.

You can also watch NDP 2007 live on the net with multiple camera angle selection at this site on 9 August 2007

http://ndp.mediacorp.com.sg/