Week 4: The Great Midnight Run

Due to a happy alignment of the stars, three major ethnic festivals are happening in the same month this year: Mid-Autumn, Hari Raya and Deepavali. The three festivals also coincide with the convergence of 16,000 IMF delegates on our little island state -- which is the kind of conincidence that makes you wonder about the real power of our government...

http://www.visitsingapore.com/3fest1city/

Anyway, public holidays are sweet. For equity, major ethnic groups are allocated two public holidays each: two Chinese, two Muslim, two Christian, two Indian, and three secular. Singapore banks on these festivals to up the "asian factor" of our otherwise modern and secular country, and so go all out to impress tourists. Which means that it is a great opportunity for a midnight run. :)


Mid-autumn Festival


Deepavali


Hari Raya

The plan was to hit all three light-ups via Chinatown, Serangoon Rd, and then Victoria Street in a grand loop that was to take about 26km. We started about 9:45pm and got home at 2am.

This was the route we took.



What a run. It was interesting to watch how the city changed as we ran. The ah-peks (old chinese men) on bicycles in Chinatown morphed into the young dancing crowd at clark quey, which transformed into the crowded Indian streets at Serangoon, which eventually settled uneasily into the buzzing bright lights of geylang... When it got late enough, we bumped into the midnight cyclists.

The stretch on MacPherson towards Paya Lebar was horrendously long and boring, but I eventually got over my bed-time sleepiness and felt better after the U-turn and stopped running away from home. Smole's knee started hurting at Bugis so we stopped, leaving the battle for another day.

Thank God for taxis that ply the streets at all times of the night. And for seven-elevens and petrol stations too. The best part? No sunburn! ;)