Singaporean expat mum in Madrid: Welcome 2014

After Christmas, four of my cousins and I had planned to go disco on 31 Dec to celebrate the New year. The last time we went party together was about 7 years ago before we had our children. For this, we sought help from our parents and parents-in-law to help to look after them so that we can party till wee hours.

New year celebration is a BIG event in Singapore, many places including Sentosa's Siloso beach, Marina Bay area and Yishun town were packed with party -goers and heartlanders, even our ministers joined in the fun. At The Float at Marina Bay were performances by British boy band The Wanted and Taiwanese- American Singer Wang Lee Hom. Also for the first time, a specially designed LED display lit up the Ocean Financial Centre during the countdown and at the stroke of midnight there were fireworks. There were road closures at Marina Bay area from 10.30pm to 1.30am and the train service operated till 3am. Therefore, we all have to travel by train.

For me, I started to prepare at 11.00pm after my children slept . And I was in the train when the clock strikes midnight. I missed the beautiful fireworks at Marina Bay. When I reached Bayfront station, it was full of people. It was really an eye opener for someone like me living outside of Singapore. The stations exit were all controlled by police officers, security and the train service members. Below are some pictures that I took while waiting for my cousin.

We arrived at the disco around 1.00am and It was very crowded. We danced, played five ten and chit chat. Unfortunately, there was a commotion at the dance floor and the DJ stopped the music. We left at about 4.30am. At the non disclosure taxi stand, there were many people waiting. Therefore, my cousins and his friends decided to walk further to try our luck. To our horror, many others walked out too and there were some waited for an hour. We decided to on call for a taxi but the line was never able to go through. One of my cousins, left 30 mins before us also waited for an hour or more before getting on one. Finally, my cousin managed to book a private service which send us to 3 locations at S$80.

I lay on my bed at 5.45am and my boys woke up at 8am. In short, I have sacrifice my sleep in exchange of going party with my great cousins.

I wish everyone a Happy 2014 and be blessed with good health and good luck. May you be successful in whatever you do.