an evening by e beach

[010506] many many people went to East Coast Park tonight. even though there was thunder & lightning & it rained heavily twice. these must be people who think that there are more important things (needs) than having sheltered walkways in their estates (wants)?

Marine Terrace multi-storey carpark + Blk 4 & Blk 8 carparks were full, with cars circling around in desperation for an empty lot (come back after 10pm lah). people were all walking in e direction of e overhead bridge behind VJC:



on e overhead bridge was a videocamera on a tripod trained at all who walked past, controlled by 2 guys wearing vests that said 'POLICY' (forgive e typo).

wayangs usually come with a single stage, with a row of seats right at e front left empty. this one had no such VIP seats, but a smaller side stage. but instead of reserving it for ho1 hia1 tee4 (good brothers), it was used by policies (dunno how to spell) with more videocameras. they also had a powerful search light that was trained across e crowd of flag-waving fans, blinding many & causing e pointing of many many middle fingers.

this was a ge1 tai2 with a far wider appeal - items were not just in Mandarin & very good Hokkien, but in English too....& there were nice fans who provided free on-e-fly translation for those who could not understand any of e 3 languages, like e elderly Chinese lady & a Malay uncle standing behind e cat. it was nice listening to good Hokkien spoken with fervour, unlike e droning heard on FM95.8 dialect news =) there was one guy who had to smoke....but he squatted down & kept his head tucked low as he smoked so that e smoke would not affect too many people =))

following all taken after 10pm (blur cos no tripod & crowds pushing - click for larger image; mrsbudak has pictures take before 10pm)....

lang2 zuay3 zuay3 (people many many), since entertainment was FOC with no cover charge (but many many bouncers):






what e cheering crowds were surging forward to see (because they don't get many chances to appear on TV?):



their idols leaving e concert venue (to prepare to hold another concert like this?)....but it was impossible for fans to jump into taxis to chase after them, since East Coast Park Service Road was jammed with vehicles. about half an hour after e concert ended, traffic on that road was still crawling.








e stage:



e fenced-up area was so small....but e cat is small enough to squeeze through e crowds that extended all e way to e overhead bridge right up to somewhere just outside e fence. not sure where e bigfatwhale was, & it was impossible for him to locate a katek cat that is not carrying a helium balloon (which would make it easier for people to spot it).

simple no-frills stage decor, because money should be saved for more important things:



part of e queue waiting to cross e overhead bridge (hidden on right) to Marine Terrace:



this is minus all those fans who had vehicles parked in East Coast Park carparks or who chose to cross by underpasses leading to Neptune Court & Marine Crescent. e cat decided to sit down & wait....10 min....20 min....30 min *yay* got space to cross e overhead bridge & walk home liao =) there were many plainclothes policies around, & e videocamera on e bridge was still there....guess they must show that they are working just as hard as e ice cream men (at least 3) selling ice cream at e concert =P by now e Marine Terrace carparks had emptied out....maybe all e residents here decided to drive out for a late night supper before e start of a working week? ;)

[ filed under: 9_lives_2006 ]