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Gardens by the bay

Driving over the Benjamin Sheare’s bridge towards the city, the Singapore Flyer looms up on the left. Far in the distance beyond the sea is what looks like a dam under construction – the Marina Barrage – and that’s just about where we tucked ourselves to enjoy the National Day fireworks. 

That’s where KK works, day after day, stomping all over the reclaimed land and inspecting the soil to make sure it can hold up the spectacular Gardens By The Bay. Highlights of NDP 2008:

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Trekking across slippery hoarding boards, drains filled with muddy brown water and climbing up huge gunny-sack covered earth mounds (technically called “surcharge fills” and how I know is because I vetted his report) to get a better view. 

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With both of us carrying one child and one umbrella each (plus I had a camera and a bag of Ruffles chips) I am seized with joy at our foolhardiness. Day scampers happily alongside, digging in for handfuls of Ruffles every few metres. Dee hates roughing-it-out and she refuses to put her feet down on anything other than tarmac. 

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The Black Knights fighter jets – because we are all alone in a great tract of dark-brown land – seem perilously close, defeaningly loud and life-threateningly treacherous. Me and KK protect the girls. I feel sorry for Lu’s delicate ear drums. Dee buries her face in my neck. Day claps his hands over his ears. Me and KK’s ears are left unprotected, but I am awed. 

We bide out the rest of the time, before the fireworks, in KK’s swanky office, which is sort of a glorified container with a laminate parquet floor and Ikea shelves. 

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It’s one of the nicest, most spacious site offices he’s ever had and we are alone. In the huge air-conditioned space with drinks vending machines, hot water and a squeaky-clean toilet at our disposal.

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Canadian pizza, grapes and drinks. Lu, in her royal high chair which we removed from the car, looks on in faint disapproval. Dee had just hit her head on the corner of a table, hence the tears.

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The fireworks are disappointingly short and blocked by trees. But in this case, truly, the journey mattered more than the destination. Excepting a 1-hour jam to get through a stretch of road which normally takes 2 minutes when the whole thing ended, we had a great time. 

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