Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Festival 2018

September 7, 2018

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Elaborate lanterns, a golden tree, and moonlight serenading at Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Festival 2018.

Long, long ago, during my primary school days to be exact, a substitute teacher of mine joked about how the Chinese would soon stop celebrating Mid-Autumn festival.

Wait a minute, the man wasn’t joking; he was actually dead serious. His rationale was, you know, because the Americans so unceremoniously visited the moon in ’69 and found it to be quite the lifeless rock.

In other words, he was dissing Chinese myths. I only realised that years later.

Well, it’s the lunar eighth month for 2018, and Chinese communities throughout the world are still celebrating Mid-Autumn festival. In the case of Singapore, I guess it’s because it’s an opportunity to remember one of our heritages and to do some tourism promotion/sales?

Besides, romantic full moon and lanterns and (hipster) mooncakes leh! Got better marketing combination ‘anot? LOL. Right, right, was just ranting to fill up the text for this post. Here are some pics from Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Festival 2018. When I visited yesterday evening, the entire attraction was packed because of opening celebrations.

Mid-Autumn Festival at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. — Day shot of the star display, “Leaping over the Dragon’s Gate.” According to Garden’s website, this spans an impressive 70m.

Mid-Autumn @ Gardens by the Bay 2018 — Another feature display. This one is named “The Phoenix and the Peony” and is at the Supertree Grove.

Golden Wishing Tree at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore — The Golden Wishing Tree! For a small fee, you could hang a Mid-Autumn wish on this. (Tree was blasting the main theme from Castle in the Sky when I was photographing it)

Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Festival 2018 Supertree Grove — The Phoenix and the Peony illuminated. The close-up version is at the top of this post, of course.

Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Festival 2018 Main Entrance — This year’s “tunnel of lights” at the main entrance. The colours of the lanterns constantly change, by the way.

Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Light-Up 2018. — Another very elaborate lantern display at the Dragonfly Lake.

Gardens by the Bay Mid-Autumn Festival 2018 | Tales of the Moon — This feels very autumn-y and Japanese *hanatorou*, doesn’t it? This was one of the lantern-lit alleys leading to the Supertree Grove during the *Garden Rhapsody: Tales of the Moon* performance.

Of note, Garden Rhapsody: Tales of the Moon replaces the usual evening time light-and-music show during Mid-Autumn @ Gardens by the Bay 2018. Might I highlight the music selection was simply wonderful. Not only were all songs moon-related, there was a mix of the East and West too.

For example, there were “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Moon River.” There was also Teresa Teng’s Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin. (The President Ong Teng Cheong song for some of us older Singaporeans)

And apart from Garden Rhapsody: Tales of the Moon, there are nightly cultural performances too, with double sessions on weekends. Unfortunately, however, I couldn’t get anywhere near the stage for a decent shot, no thanks to crowds. And so I don’t have any decent picture of those …