Earlier this month I had the pleasure of experiencing my first public holiday in Singapore: National Day. Every year Singaporeans celebrate on August 9 their independence from Malaysia in 1965. For Americans, this holiday would be similar to Fourth of July, although it seems like a bigger deal here.
In the weeks leading up to National Day, I saw Singaporean flags and Happy Birthday Singapore banners everywhere. Many companies latch on to this holiday and run National Day specials, from special crab buffets to Singapore exclusive items. I enjoyed a very yummy chicken satay bun from Wu Pao Chun, a Taiwanese bakery, and also a kaya cream puff from Bread Talk, a local bakery chain. Too bad these items are limited time only as I would order both again.
Singaporeans have a ton of national pride and also work hard to get things right. As a result, they hold weekly rehearsals for the National Day Parade, including fireworks displays, which are ticketed events! If you ask a local what they think of these extra shows, they will say it’s like watching your tax dollars disappear.
The morning of National Day we head to the Singapore Sports Hub for their National Day Fiesta. It’s cool how Singapore promotes exercise and staying active with free events like these. We participated in the RED-X challenge, a series of 5 different workouts, so we could get free dry bags. No photos because we were a sweaty mess by the end of it. Shuttle runs in a sandy court are so not fun.
For lunch, we stopped by nearby Old Airport Road Food Centre, only one stop away on the MRT. What better way to celebrate Singapore than to enjoy local hawker food? It looked like most stalls were still open, despite it being a holiday. I ordered the wanton mee (spicy noodles with dumplings) at Hua Kee Hougang Famous Wanton Mee for only S$4 (US$2.89)
We didn’t attend the actual National Day Parade, as you need to be a Singaporean citizen or Permanent Resident and score tickets through a lottery months before. Instead, we did the next best thing and watched part of the live stream at the National Museum, which was open and free for the weekend.
I also got a crash course in Singaporean history and was delighted to find they had a small teamLab installation, Story of the Forest. If you’re not familiar with teamLab, they are a digital art collective out of Japan and you have to check out teamLab Borderless if you’re ever in Tokyo.
Oh, and I scored a free funpack! Inside the convertible tote/backpack were a flag, water, snacks, stickers, luggage tag, visor, and tissues. All necessary if you’re sitting in a stadium for hours.
On Saturday, we visited Gardens by the Bay to see the nightly light show in the Supertree Grove, Garden Rhapsody. The show is absolutely worth seeing and changes every month. This month’s theme was National Day and featured covers of Singapore songs that any local would know by heart.
Following the light show, we checked out the free National Day concert at the Meadow. It was nice to sit out in the (relatively) cool air at night and we scored goodie bags full of local snacks, plus a free plant.
Overall, National Day weekend was a fun time and I definitely felt the Singaporean pride. I’m already looking forward to the activities and celebrations around the next holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival in September.
Glad you enjoyed Singapore national day. You looked like a college student.