Went to check out the renovated Starbucks at Raffles City after dinner and half guessed I would met DK there since this was his favorite joint. So it was no surprise I saw him at the counter waiting for his order. He mentioned that he is heading off to the Merlion to take some photos and asked me to come along because September 15th is the Merlion’s 40th birthday.

I felt bad that as a Singaporean I didn’t even realise the eight-meter tall sculpture was set up in 1972 even though I have seen it all my life. I recalled I even tried to draw it when I was a boy and failed dismally. This is the icon that has watched over our nation for almost as long as it has separated from Malaysia. Since I have nothing to do and I also happened to have my camera in the bag, I went along to take some photos of our national icon and popular tourist attraction. After all, I haven’t really tested the Nikon D5100 at night. Met Geng Hui there as well while DK is set up and waiting for the musical show at 9:15pm.

I am glad I went because it’s been a really long time since I see the Merlion up close, even though until September 2009 it was just a short distance away from the office. The organisers of this event had put up a dazzling seven-minute light show titled “Merlion and I: An Inspiring Journey”, complete with a nice song, dance and pyrotechnics. The shows are repeated at 45 minutes intervals and it starts at 7:15pm tonight. Even for those who are not into photo taking, they can still enjoy the show and if I am not wrong, tonight maybe the last night so go catch it before it’s gone.

Here are the selected “spoils” of the night. I didn’t bring the stand out so some of the shots end up blurry and was deleted. And before I go, here’s my belated greeting to the Merlion –

Happy 40th Birthday, Merlion!