Based on my River Hongbao experience, I was looking forward to the New Year countdown in Chinatown. The Chinese invented firecrackers and the countdown was gonna be televised so I figured it must be really big. I wore my vintage Bruce Lee shirt to show my participation. I brought my dslr and my tripod. When we got to the Chinatown MRT station, there were already lots of people. But there wasn’t as much aura of excitement as there was in the River Hongbao thingy. I was looking for food stalls but there weren’t any. It was crowded. There was a variety show ongoing while waiting for the countdown.

As midnight neared, we setup the tripod and tried to look for a nice spot. There were a lot of tourists and you can feel the anticipation. Then the people on stage started counting down in Chinese. Then pak pak pak, a lot of smoke, then it’s over.

A lot of people had puzzled looks. I was like “That’s it?!”. We didn’t even see the fireworks. They launched it from the rooftop of a small mall that’s beside a tall building. There was only 1 good vantage point and that was across the street from the mall. So probably about 40% of those who went didn’t see the fireworks. But it wasn’t actually a big loss. It was more a waste of time than anything. They were more like firecrackers than fireworks actually. The cheap kind too, coz there were lots of smoke after. It was soo disappointing. It was definitely no Ayala New Year’s fireworks show. We have better fireworks at home during New Year, and longer show times too! The whole shibang lasted like 2 mins and then it’s over.

I wonder if Singapore competes in the World Pyrolympics. Oh well, I suppose that’s why they’re a rich country. Maybe they don’t like spending dollars on 5 mins of fireworks.