This letter via the 75557 gateway came from Russell Chan last night (Sept 25):
The lantern festival is back at the Chinese Garden. Given the impressive displays in the previous year and the fact that it coincided with IMF, my fiancee and I had high hopes for this year's event. We went early this time, arriving just 1 1/2 hrs after the stated official opening time of 5.00pm on 15 Sep (opening day), hoping to avoid the crowd and draw in the sights. Little did we know that we would be avoiding the lights as well.
Indeed, when we reached the second display (ironically the Taj Mahal), all the displays in the park went out. Believing it to be a power outage due to the heavy rain just that afternoon, we decided to take a break by the pond and await the rectifications. After nearly an hour with dusk falling, a couple of tourists came by and asked if we knew when the lights were coming on as they were getting hungry. We put on our best smile (hey, it's IMF after all!) and suggested that they hunt for something to eat; we sincerely hope they managed to find food.
We eventually discovered, together with some other Singaporeans who were equally frustrated, that the outage was in fact not due to an electrical fault, but that the displays were not supposed to be lit till after the opening ceremony by a Minister, at 8pm! Mind you, we got this information not from the organising staff, but from some friendly foreign worker cleaners (who were all smiley too). Fancy that we had not seen mention of an opening ceremony (or that they would save on the energy bill till the ceremony was over) on the official posters at the ticketing booths, nor on the tickets, nor on the official website. It must have been in the fine print.
After failing to further clarify on the order of events at the ticketing booths (it would be too much to ask of the ticketing staff to know that a VIP would officiate the opening), we eventually got hold of an organising staff (he identified himself as Ty) by the side of the stage for the opening ceremony (silly me, where else would he be?). Barely a minute into our conversation, he offered us complimentary tickets. While it might seem a nice gesture, it would appear from his readiness to make amendments that we might not have been the only ones to complain. Or maybe the guest-of-honour's imminent arrival played a part.
Be that as it may, it was already some 2 hrs since we arrived at the Chinese Gardens without actually seeing any lantern displays (lit). We felt we had to oblige the organisers by leaving them to their very important tasks, and left. On route to the MRT station, we noticed one other Caucasian tourist ahead of us (armed with a big SLR camera), who had also been enquiring earlier about the displays at the ticketing booths. At that instant, I wondered what was going through his mind, and of the minds of all the other unfortunate tourists who had left disappointed by then.
I certainly knew what was going through mine.
Just talk lah
Blackout @ Chinese Garden Lantern Show - Kiasu organizer spoils fun
Linear Mode
