TLDR:
- Dinner at Pasarbella (Go after the sunset)
- Walk to floating platform for the Segway (now called: Ninebot)
- Get Segway guided tour, enjoy the sculptures
- Pit stop at Hagen Daz
- Continue rest of the tour
- Be immersed in iLight 2016
- Repeat with more friends
iLight 2016 is here! And this is "Asia's Leading Sustainable Light Art Festival", this festival used to be a bi-annual affair, but from this year on, it will be a yearly one. Also, this year's festival is touted to be the largest so far. Pretty exciting stuff!
So yesterday I was given a full access media pass to check out the festival. Special thanks to Ning for hosting the Instagram contest which allowed to win this pass (See my iLight Entry here!)!
Food.
Okay, so back to the festival. We met up about 6.30pm and went out the Pasarbella for dinner.
* Pro tip: It gets quite hot before 6.30pm, head over after that time when the sun sets.
Ice cold beer, like-minded peers, great music, iLight: Perfect!
Really good man-tou with pork!
This is amazing! Look out for the stall with a grill station!
Pasarbella's pop up stalls opened just yesterday, so come by for great music, food, and skyline. It overlooks the city skyline, and it will make you appreciate the beauty of Singapore.
* Pro tip: It gets packed really quickly! Also, if you're gonna do the Segway, go easy on the alcohol!
Fun.
We walked over to the floating platform to get our hands (or rather, feet) on the Segway.
The staff at Ninebot Asia were really nice, they guided us and taught us how to use the Segway. There were 2 versions, I had the smaller one without the handle, and then there was a larger one with the handle.
* Pro tip: The larger one is easier to use. And it is more convenient because there are cable casing along the festivals, the larger Segway allows you to go over it, while the smaller one requires you to dismount and wheel it manually over these cable cases.
I think the Segway made the festival a lot more enjoyable. We were able to cover almost all of the exhibits with little sweat. The full distance of the festival is about 3.8km. So that would take a while on foot.
At the Segway booth, you can choose either a full guided tour or partial tour which covers either the exhibits along the Marina Bay Sands side or the Esplanade side. Personally, it is a lot more fun at the Marina Bay Sands side.
We Segway through the festival ground, towards the mid point, we found the perfect pit stop. Haagen Dazs Ice Cream!
We were treated to this really yummy Royal Milk Tea ice cream. It tasted very unique, with a blend of thai ice tea, but it was a little too sweet for me. Then I also had one of their whiskey cocktail ice cream. Love it!
Incidentally, I met my friend who was with a friend from Cambodia! And naturally she requested for magic, check out the video:
Did magic for my good friend at Hagen Daz in ILight Festival!#ningxilight #ilightmarinabay #magic
Posted by Alexander Yuen: A Finer Side of Magic on Friday, March 11, 2016
We resumed the festival, and the next thing we saw was the "Angels of Freedom". Fantastic photo opp!
There were queues to take pictures with these sculptures. There are 4 of these angels, so don't worry!
* Pro tip: If you, like me, are tall, you can line up at one with a higher halo. You might not be able to see this, but I was in the shorter halo sculpture and I had to bend my knees.
We then finished the last leg of the festival. Here are some pictures i took!
This festival is really quite fun, it is good fun for kids and adults as well. Also, it is important to incorporate the message of being eco friendly and sustainability to our children. This festival does it in an engaging and interactive way.
So I hope you all have fun! I know i-Light it, a lot.
Signing off,
Alexander Yuen