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Be thrilled this New Year’s Eve in Singapore
Are you ready for the biggest party of the year? If you haven’t yet made plans for New Year’s Eve, head to Singapore for a great holiday and the hottest parties in the region that guarantee to usher in the New Year with a big bang
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re you ready for the biggest party of the year? If you haven’t yet made plans for New Year’s Eve, head to Singapore for a great holiday and the hottest parties in the region that guarantee to usher in the New Year with a big bang.
Postcard shot: Tourists take photographs against the backdrop of the Marina Bay Sands resort and casino in Marina Bay, Singapore. Marina Bay is one of Singapore’s popular entertainment and leisure centers. Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg Markets via Bloomberg
Singapore is a hive of celebrations on New Year’s Eve, with laser lighting, music performances and fireworks illuminating the sky. You are spoilt for choice with foam beach parties, rocking discotheques, night clubs, and public areas such as Orchard Road, Clarke Quay and even malls such as Ion. The Jewel Box on Mount Faber, the IndoChine Waterfront and Chinatown, are some of the many other options available. The biggest parties in town are:
Marina Bay Singapore
Countdown 2011
Marina Sands Bay area, with up to 250,000 people attending is the biggest celebration and also the main focal point of all New Year’s Eve celebrations in Singapore and is broadcast live online. People soak in the atmosphere from nearby hotels and from atop the world’s tallest Ferris wheel — The Singapore Flyer. The view of the skyline from this vantage point is breathtaking.
The Marina Bay located at the mouth of Singapore River overlooks the waterfront, where families gather to write New Year wishes on 20,000 inflatable white paper spheres before floating them on the water. This forms a visual display of brilliant colors beamed from the spotlights along the Esplanade promenade.
Other entertainment consists of a number of live shows and concerts organized with local as well as internationally eminent artists that create a magical atmosphere in every corner of Marina Bay.
The large crowd becomes a part of the countdown to welcome the New Year with an extravagant display of fireworks to create a magical picture of the Singapore sky and skyline.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 31, 2012 at 7 p.m.
Venue: Esplanade Waterfront & Marina Bay
Ticket: Free
Information: www.marinabaycountdown.sg
Sentosa Siloso Beach Party
This is Asia’s largest beach countdown and is a hydro party, which promises to be wetter and wilder than ever. The action will unfold across the 1.2 km of beach which transforms into a party arena, with five distinctive party zones, including a gigantic foam pool, and loads of aquatic attractions.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011 at 6 p.m.
Venue: Sentosa Siloso Beach
Tickets: www.sentosa.com.sg/silosobeachparty/
The tiny island country of Singapore is not only the perfect party destination but also a fabulous holiday destination if you love eating, drinking and shopping. It has bold splashes of art, culture, heritage and the stage for many international performances. Easy and plentiful transportation options through its clean roads and soaring sky-scrapers and fascinating ethnic enclaves form the backdrop. Singapore with its excellent infrastructure is the logical destination, not only for business and leisure, but also for world-class, affordable and safe healthcare. It is also environmentally friendly, and maintains natural and heritage conservation programs. Along with this, it also has one of the world’s lowest crime rates.
As it is the main travel hub for Indonesia, it is the perfect place for an exciting stopover. It has something for every age group and charms the visitor with its blend of tradition and modern.
Soak in the colors, flavors and sounds of Chinatown, Little India and Arab Street, or spend a relaxing afternoon at one of the Garden City’s famous zoos or nature reserves. Shopping centers galore
invite you to shop till you drop. Among the famous shopping centers are Ion Mall, Tanglin Shopping Center, The Heeren, Far East Plaza, Centerpoint and more.
Visit popular attractions such as Jurong Bird Park and the Singapore Zoological Gardens. You will find more than 3,000 animals from over 250 species. The Night Safari here allows you to glimpse rare animals such as the one-horned rhinoceros. The Science center, Underwater world and Universal studios are very interactive, entertaining, and educational, and very popular with families.
It’s less than a month to 2012! Some are starting the New Year’s Eve countdown already with year-end holidays. If you like welcome the New Year while partying the night away under a tropical sky then look no further than Singapore. Just a hop, skip, and a jump from Indonesia for a short holiday or to party, and you will be spoilt for choice. In Singapore, this year-end tradition will brings together thousands of people from around the world, in counting down the final seconds of the 2011 year to celebrate the beginning of a new year 2012 with new hopes and dreams.
The writer is founder of www.indoindians.com — a community portal connecting India and Indonesia. She can be reached at poonam@indoindians.com.
