national pride

nopes. this post is not my afterthoughts from watching our table tennis team clinch a silver medal at the 29th beijing olympic games, or a post-mortem after watching ndp 08 a few weeks back. it was a series of random events that resulted in the unexpected pride that welled inside my heart, over this country i call home.

event one
since coming back, i've been to the southern ridges twice (well, the 1st time was cut short due to the heavy downpour) its a nice 9km trail road that stretches from mt faber all the way to kent ridge park, linked by several interesting routes and bridges. i especially like the henderson waves, which i feel is one of the rare artistic looking structure in singapore, a place that is all about practicality and functionality, yes - even when it comes to constructing bridges. well, i suppose the henderson waves must also be a architectural piece of precise measurements and specific calculations. but it showed how it is possible that we can marry functionability and aesthetics (:

i also like the treetop walk, a metal bridge that stretches over the hills of telok blangah. it was actually a pretty tiring walk all in all, but hitting the hort park at the end of the trail (i skipped the kent ridge bit) was a pleasant closing to the 2 hour expedition.

tip: try looking up the henderson waves from below (i was at the bus stop at the foot of the bridge after being caught in the rain halfway through the hike) especially on a rainy day. its so pretty ((:

event two
i caught the fireworks on friday night. the french romance, choreographed by the, err...french team, is part of the 2 day celebration to mark the end of the month long festivities to celebrate the nation's birthday. the fireworks was great, but it was our night skyline that captured my heart. the night lights were so bright, one can be blinded simply by looking at them excessively. still, they lit up the usually dull skies of singapore and im contented just staring at them.

having been to a handful of cities myself, i can say that if singapore was one of the places i visited during my travels, it will definitely rank as one of my top 3 favourites.