Just like Hindus celebrate Deepavali, known to all as the Festival of Lights; the Chinese seems to have a replica of it every year during the Chinese New Year festive season: Chingay. Once a controversial topic, Chingay was actually mistaken to be known as a parade for chinese gays.

I took a walk down Orchard last Saturday for Chingay with Jeremy and his friends. We were greeted by a boisterious crowd. Only this time, there were more foreigners and more curious eyes. I couldn’t take any shots of the parade while the floats pass by  in action, all because of the darn crowd.

I managed, however to catch a glimpse of the floats after the procession. In fact, you can roam on Orchard road and party through the nights without being caught for jay-walking, just for that night! Must get the tickets for the parade for next year!

Here’s the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raynor/sets/72157594554083233/

When Jeremy first asked me whether to join him at the crowd in Chinatown for the Chinese New Year countdown, all that went through my mind was: “You got to be out of your mind!”

The crowd’s obviously impossible for one to manoeuvre freely around. And true enough, we jammed, squashed and wedged our way through the sea of people.

Luckily for our small-enough frames, we managed to get behind the hosts from MediaCorp.

It’s been a tradition for my family that we stayed at home after reunion dinner and probably watched the television. Then we wonder how on earth people on the right mind wish to get themselves trampled on in the midst of a festive celebration. We will all then heave a wave of euphoric relief, thanking God that we were at home.

This year, I realized what I have missed out over the years. I have been to crowds and year end countdowns, albeit have never been to a Chinese New Year eve celebration. It’s not fun being stepped on, and not great having to smell the odours of numerous semi-drunked dudes within the crowds. However, you wouldn’t want to miss the contemporaneous cheering and laughter that’s happening at Chinatown, River HongBao and the studio.

A friend of mine recently got into some trouble with the laws - Copyright Infringement laws. I haven’t spoken to him on the case because I got to know about it from his blog. I don’t exactly know what happened but the following is what I spectulate. Apparently, he was downloading some movie off BitTorrent (a popular file distribution network) on NUS network. NUS computer centre got a copyright infringement notice from BSA (Business Software Alliance), a non-profit organization established to thwart software piracy. They traced the route and found that my friend’s account was involved. He was invited for coffee session with some authorities in the school.

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