First and foremost, I'm sick right now, with a temperature running at 37.9°C and I have a plastic bag filled with tissue soaked in my mucus and therefore, forgive me if I write in glibberish because I can't really think straight (Wait! No pun intended!!). I almost spelled "think" as "thick" just now so it means something...
Anyway, last Saturday, I went to Pink Dot at Hong Lim Park!!
This is my first time heading down to Hong Lim Park and it's actually the Speaker's Corner as well. In case you don't know, the Speaker's Corner in Singapore is the only legal place to gather a huge crowd to
wreak havoc, if you get what I mean. But you if you were to make comments, think through it thoroughly first because you know in Singapore, the wrong things might get you into trouble even though they are true, if you get what I mean again.
The Pink Dot event is a public event for Singaporeans and PRs (though foreigners were welcomed as well~) to stand up against discrimination against the LGBT community in conservative Singapore. Yes~ In this developed country, the old men and old women still think like, well, old morons and old hags. It's probably Singapore's only LGBT event yearly (correct me if I'm wrong) so I couldn't miss it since I'm such a human rights activist! Or so I self proclaim~
Surprisingly, the turn out was quite awesome! The entire park, or field, was covered in people wearing pink, holding pink balloons and picnicking away~ It made the humid and hot day worth the trouble because you see so many people supporting this meaningful event.
Unfortunately though, there was hardly anything to do down there because the stage was so far away so I couldn't watch what the hell was happening so I snapped lots of random shots throughout the day. They should set up a few stages around so that everyone feels involved because I didn't that day. But at least there were people giving free hugs but no thanks~ I don't like being touched...
This group of pink men brought a stool filled with sweets on top for their picnic! I was quite glad that there were older people participating in this event that I thought only young people like myself would give a damn. :) Shows that the nation is really growing more open~
There were obviously celebrities at the scene and this is just one of them that I managed to photograph - Abigail~ Did I get her name correct? Anyway, she represents the
T of LGBT and she is fiercely strutting her stuff in her pink dress with what-are-those-pink-sparkling-things. I still remember watching her documentary on TV and her courage is embrace who she is is amazing~
And obviously, lots of people wants a piece of her.
Slight whiny photo - I wore my white shorts to the event and got my shorts stained in mud because I knelt on the ground for some photos. :(
And yes, before you think that I went emo that day and went alone, I didn't - Raven and Chenelle accompanied us there~
While the rest of the world were having their scrumptious picnic, we had Tako balls!! Courtesy of Chua Ying Ying! She specially dropped by Plaza Singapura just to get these for us. So kind~
Raven enjoying her tako balls but before that...
Remember to disinfect your hands with Dettol's disinfectant! Made her pose with the photo because she's been offering me the disinfectant to see if it helps to remove the mud off my shorts but sadly, it didn't. But oh well~ It's handy to have that in your bag, no?
A random shot of some guy with Post It stuck all over himself. Wonder what they say though...~ :P Yes, I'm that kaypo!! :P
Did you know that Pink Dot is mainly sponsored by Google, my best friend? :D Because Google is always the one generating traffic for this blog - as well as Lady Gaga because people are forever searching Her Highness. It's good to know that an international company is sponsoring an event like this~ :)
Chenelle posing with her Puma shoes with pink laces.
Anyway, the key highlight of the event is for every Singaporean who was wearing pink to form a gigantic dot in the middle of the field and an aerial photo will be taken. If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the camera that were used but I could be wrong because apparently, the crowd was instructed to face somewhere else instead of the balloons.
Finally~ The main event of the day that actually involves me not standing in my own corner taking paparazzi photos of other people - the formation of the dot! See the flags in the distance? The Dim Sum Dollies, Singapore's own musical divas, stood on that stage to get people to surround them to form the huge dot. Everyone moved towards the stage and it was really crowded and squeezy but nevertheless, fun~
While the rest were gathering to form the dot, Raven went to the free drinks station to get this plastic glass of punch. Tastes okay but the glass' yours to keep! So sweet of them! And it's no coincidence that the drink is pink. :)
And DGDD peeps! Look who walked into my frame when I was about to take a photo of yet another group of random photos - it's David! He was our character design/drawing lecturer when we were in Year 1 and I remember the perverted lessons because they ended on 10pm on Monday nights! Really tiring~ Still remember those long bus rides I had to take from Clementi to get home from his lessons...
And apparently, he's one of the helpers for the event because he was shouting through this megaphone to get everyone to move towards the stage to form the dot. The words on the megaphone reads "Slide Operator" and I have no clue what that means though.
Everyone was instructed to wave at the camera which was relocated on top of some hotel and I took this photo where everyone was waving their pink stuff in the air like crazy~
After the photo was shot, everyone released their pink balloons into the air and my god it was such a sight! The whole sky was filled with pink dots and it was really magnificent. Too bad the sky was overcast that day and a lot of photos didn't turn out as nice. This is about the only one that I thought was slightly more presentable.
If I don't tell you that the dots are balloons, would you know? :)
Last Saturday was the second time I actually got a chance to use my Fujifilm Instax camera but unfortunately, I was only left with 3 frames and so, I took photos of Chenelle and Raven because they were nice enough to invite us to this event. I'm such a marvelous photographer, no? :P
And the last shot was saved for us - with Chua Ying Ying being the photographer! :)
Nearing the end, Raven's friend joined us and I offered to take a group shot of them. Presenting to you the Uniqlo staff!! If you see them in the boutique, be sure to say hi because they are really awesome people!
I didn't realize that the park is so close to Clarke Quay MRT station and to think that we walked from Chinatown MRT station! Wasted!! But at least we managed to burn some calories... This is how the place looks like after the event - apparently, a lot of people were still reluctant to go home and decided to just hang around.
After having dinner at Burger King, we went to the Singapore River to just sit around and chill while eating that $1 ice cream. Good thing I brought my tripod for this night shot.
Took a photo of the scary ride across the Singapore River that left a blue trail behind. I don't think I will ever have the courage to get on top of one of these rides because it's so high and scary!! :S
And another photo of Chenelle and Raven. Honestly, have any one of y'all thought what would happen if someone falls into the Singapore River because you know, so many people like to sit by the river bank and yet, there are no safety barriers no nothing but people aren't afraid? Besides, I had never heard of any cases of people falling into the river as well~
Oh yes!! Before I end, I have to say that this year, Pink Dot attracted more than 10,000 people to the event as compared to the 4,000 last year! Here's the comparison of the "dot".
The dot in year 2010... Well at least you can see that it's a dot, right?
Woa~lah~~ The "dot" in year 2011!! Well, I wouldn't even call this a dot already. It looks like a huge pink mess but this mess is the prettiest one ever because it shows that Singaporeans are starting to be more open minded with others as well as themselves! Cool, no?
Did you know that I even heard that the location for next year's event might even change simply because this year's turn out was so good? Maybe the Marina Barrage or some other bigger field to accommodate more than 10,000 people! In case you're wondering where I was during that day, I'm hidden by the trees on the bottom left if I'm not mistaken because it was just way too crowded!! :P
Okay~ End of this really pink entry but unfortunately, I can't say the same to my health right now because I'm still having the sniffles and the fever is still haunting me. I hope I can recover by tomorrow then I can start "work" on Monday.
Oh well... Off to shower!! :)
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