Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas!! Well, I am 45 mins late . . . guess Xmas came and went real fast. Didn't even realize the significance of it this year, perhaps because my loved one is kinda far away in another land.

Did you read this article on CNA online today?

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Monday December 25, 10:17 PM

Thousands turn up to celebrate Christmas at Orchard Road

SINGAPORE : Thousands turned up at Orchard Road on Monday evening to celebrate "Christmas in Singapore."

The entire stretch was closed for 12 hours for celebrations which will last till 1am.

Organisers said $800,000 and 3,000 volunteers were needed to put the event together.
Many got up close to the seven specially designed Christmas floats which have been on display since mid-December.

"Singapore is one of the great Christmas cities of the world. We travelled quite a bit and this is just spectacular," exclaimed Suzanne Sald, an American residing in Singapore.

"It's the first time I'm in Singapore. It's really nice. It's a bit too warm but it's okay," says Jonathan Craven, a tourist from UK.

The parade attracted three million people as it kicked off at Orchard Road. Of that, 94,000 were tourists, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.

This year, organisers hope to hit the five million mark islandwide, since the floats have also been travelling all over Singapore during the festive period.

As day turned into dusk, the voices from 200 carolers rang through the entire Orchard Road.
Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean also took time out to join in the celebrations.

STB said 1 in 5 tourists surveyed last year chose to visit Singapore during the year-end festivities. And 22 percent were also repeat visitors during the Christmas season. - CNA /ls

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Doesn't the article sound a bit too 'propaganda-ish'?

First of all, the headline wrote "thousands" turned up and then in the article itself, it said "3 million", that's a bit misleading right? Maybe it meant the all the floats travelling to 3/4 of the island, and then somehow it meant that 3 millions people saw it?! I sure as hell didn't, guess I am part of that remaining 1 million unhappening folks.

And then, which part of the world does "Suzaane Sald" come from!? "Singapore is one of the great Christmas cities of the world"?? You're kidding me right? Has she been travelling to places like Papua New Guinea, Afgahnistan and Rwanda - and then somehow she's making the comparison? How can an island located at the equator be one of the great Xmas cities when we dont even experience snow?

And to top it off, STB said 1 in 5 tourists chose to visit Singapore during this period.

I wonder what did the other 4 say?

That they REALLY didn't want to come to Singapore and they unfortuantely ended up in Singapore on some unpredictably predictable rain/sunshine weather.

Anyway, it's just my 2 cents - be careful of what you read in the papers ... hv your own misintepretion and make your own judgement. Oh btw, this is not targetted at any media company in particular ... so dun come knocking on my doors. =)