Passing of the 2010 Youth Olympic Flame

There are simply too many things going on here on the island!  Tomorrow is the 45th Anniversary of Singapore becoming a country so they are celebrating National Day in a big way.  Those pictures will be coming... but today, we were standing on that famous balcony wondering what all the commotion on the street below us was:

Obviously, we were too far away.  We had no idea what it was until I got out my binoculars.  It was the running of the 2010 Youth Olympic flame - one stinking block from our condo!  I could not get a good picture from as far away as were were - so we researched the path online and off we went.

We decided to try to go ahead of it a bit to be sure we got the run.  Boy did we get ahead - 2.5 hours ahead!  :-(  We sat out in the hot sun with little shade for the entire time - I was not going to miss it again.  

 Finally, we saw them coming.  First the street cleaners:

Yes, they came ahead of the runner!  With Singapore being very strict about litter, I am sure this is done to protect their public image.  I really don't know what they were cleaning though - maybe just the leaves as there certainly wasn't any litter.  Singapore is a very clean country.

A bit later was the bus (pay attention here if you live in Singapore) that we must give way to - we had seen those signs for months - now we finally know what to look for!

Then a few crowd warmers:

And finally:

He was excited, happy and he took his job very seriously:

I love that he looked at me dead-on.  Such a great shot!

It passed through several youth's hands.  I missed a couple between this one and the next two, as they happened behind me, but we raced down to the bottom of the hill to catch a couple more.  The kids were so darned excited - it even excited us!

This girl had the most beautiful smile:

And the excitement never left her face:

Isn't she great?  She had a permasmile.

Finally, she reluctantly gave it up - it is blurry, but you get the idea.  Yes, it annoys me, but I am stepping away... lol...

This young man was looking ahead:

And off he went on his bike - check out how he carried the flame:

Even with waiting a few hours - it was sooo worth it.  I just hope the grocery stores are open tomorrow - that is where I was supposed to go when I was busy shooting these shots.

It was a wonderful day - full of excitement and awe.  Singapore has so many activities going on right now - I don't see how their resources are not spread too thin.  I gotta tell you though - Singapore does it up right.  You would be impressed.  I know I am.

Do you need the route of the flame?  We still have 4 more days of travel.  HERE you can look at the route.  Don't miss it - it is so fun!

Happy National Day Singapore - here we come!   I really must go rest up for that excitement - oh and recharge my camera batteries.  :-)  I might take a few pictures...