Chingay Parade 2010

This year is my second time to witnessed the Chingay Parade, dubbed as Asia's grandest annual street parade. Unlike last year where it can be viewed at three grandstands distanced apart, this time it was held at the Formula 1 Pit building, next to Singapore Flyer.

Chingay Parade is an annual event held in Singapore as part of Chinese New Year festivities. This event was introduced the next year after the government banned firecrackers as a substitute for a different kind of noise.

I was able to catch only the tail end of the parade as I have anticipated not to be able to watch it due to no free area along the parade ground. Yes it's not a free affair, you have to have a ticket to enjoy the whole parade.

Barrio Fiesta at Singapore Art Museum

Last saturday I went to Singapore Art Museum for the barrio fiesta celebration which was being held for two days last weekend. It is part of the National Heritage Board's Philippines Fiesta, an on-going event that started last October and will close in April, commemorating the four decades of diplomatic relations between Singapore and the Philippines. The The Land of the Morning, the Philippines and its People was part of this Philippines Fiesta event. The barrio fiesta program includes the Santacruzan procession, Ati-atihan, and the concert of Noel Cabangon and

Chinatown lights up

Last night was the Mid-Autumn Festival street light-up and marked the official opening of the Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival 2009. The street lights are mix of flowers, butterflies, lanterns. The festivities will be month-long which will end on October 18, 2009.

What a superb occasion to baptize my new gadget. Since its my first time and have no time to study the features, I rely mostly on the camera's scene modes. I hope i labeled the pictures below correctly as I kept constantly rotating the mode dial.

The show is about to begin. This was captured using dusk/dawn mode.

This shot using high key

Before the lights on, using blossom mode I guess :)

Lights switched on. Captured using food mode

This one I think is night landscape mode

This one using high key. The Higantes :)

The after-show

One of the floats

After that I took the opportunity to walk around Chinatown to captured new and old buildings. The pictures can be found in iBen on the loose