i was there!

on this fateful day, i just decided to pop down to the concourse to buy plastic bags before heading off to church to meet wenhao to paint the banner and prepare the 40 Days of Purpose book packages. so since i have been procrastinating, i was determined that i shall buy the plastic bags today. so off i went and arrived at city hall mrt at around 3.30pm. with my breadtalk cheese bun in my mouth, i was shocked to find out that raffles city was all dark! there was a blackout! at that point, i thought to myself... "OH MAN! should have brought my camera!" never saw a shopping mall so dark before... that explained why everyone seemed to have diverted to citylink mall.

anyway, caught the 3:47pm free shuttle bus to concourse and happily went to buy my stuff. with 10 pounds of plastic bags in hand (they sold them by 5 pounds per packet!) and a bundaberg root beer, i walked towards the small road that led to nicoll highway to catch bus 70. was wondering why there was so many people standing outside concourse along beach road, but not being a typical singaporean, i ignored them. walking along the small road, i found more foreign workers lining the road. all in serious chat. i guessed there was some strike! but in singapore??? nah! ignored again. continued walking... the next sight i saw was astonishing! there were so many people on the overhead bridge along nicoll highway! althought it was such a sight, it still never sparked anything in my mind yet. guess the sun was shining so brightly, it burnt some of my brain cells. check out the picture above. in the middle of the background, you would see the overhead bridge. that's the one!

still walking towards the bus stop, i stopped to wonder, "how come there are no cars on the road today?" hmm.... something was wrong! so i walked to and fro pass the overhead bridge, trying to figure something out. saw two double-decker SBS buses and i thought some bus might have overturned. but both sides of the road closed? cannot be. and they refused to let me walk through the small road back to beach road to catch a bus towards kallang. (thank God they said no. what if that part of the road collapsed too?)

decided to just walk up the overhead bridge. and that was when i discovered the big news! everyone was discussing it. and from afar, we saw a lot of civil defence cars, fire engines, ambulances and police cars. but still no one knew exactly what was going on. just that there was a very serious accident.

anyway, since i was in a hurry, i walked off the overhead bridge and found myself on this small road call republic boulevard. no one probably knows where it is. it's the small road parallel to nicoll highway. and what was i trying to do? catch a CAB! haha... called jon and told him what was going on and where i was stuck at. and he told me to walk towards suntec. but that's like so far away.... arghz! so i walked, and i walked, and i walked... still hanging on to the 10 pounds of plastic bags and my bundaberg root beer! 15 minutes later, i was at the slip road towards the ECP. oh great! trying to catch a cab.... haha! in all my years of cabbing experience, i've never gotten myself in a more impossible-to-catch-a-cab situation! so i talked to jon again.... and decided to drag my way to suntec. and then there was a glimpse of hope! a cabbie changing shift, heading for tampines. i flagged him down and he asked me where i was going. i told him, "upper paya lebar road. but i just need to get out of this place!" and all praises to God, he said, "hop on!"

haha.... and here i am! 3 hours later, reflecting on the day michelle was stranded on the nicoll highway.

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gotta pray for all those who are trapped in the collapse... and those who are working there to help them. for the ZGMites out there, roy is there, trying to rescue people. may God's protection be upon him.