Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

With shops in malls predominantly closed and with no hinterland to enthuse day trippers, people in Singapore made do by heading to East Coast Park and other public parks and beaches on the first day of Chinese New Year on Feb. 1, 2022.

Scenes of people out and about enjoying a day of sunshine and fresh air along the southeastern shores of Singapore on a weekday were ubiquitous.

Those there had the same idea

With the skies clear and weather for the most part hot, fair, and humid -- but bearable due to a sustained sea breeze along the coasts -- the first day of the two-day public holiday saw beach goers having the same idea.

Many showed up with foldable chairs, mats, and food, as they appeared mindful to keep to themselves in disparate groups with social distancing between them.

All over East Coast Park, people were seen picnicking, cycling, skating, kite-flying, dog-walking, and dining, amongst other activities, that brought back a familiar sense of normalcy, albeit with mask-wearing.

The packed beach also led to one person to come forward to laugh about it and himself on TikTok.

@raimirusydi Happy CNY from East Coast Beach 🤪 #sg #cny2022 #eastcoastbeach ♬ The Time is Coming - Aery Yormany

Checks by Mothership.sg found that other public areas, such as the park connector network beside Waterway Point and the Northshore estate in Punggol, had visibly greater number of visitors just before dusk.

And despite the closure of a majority of F&B establishments islandwide due to the Chinese New Year rest period, malls such as Nex in Serangoon still saw relatively healthy footfall.

Number of guests limited to 5 per day per household

The presence of Singaporeans in the great outdoors instead of indoors this Chinese New Year, is understandable.

The current advisory is for people to only entertain up to five unique guests a day at home for festive visitations.

The permissible group size for social gatherings has also been pegged at five persons.

Moreover, with overseas travel curtailed, as it is still an insurmountable hassle to travel in the face of the Omicron wave, many in Singapore have remained on domestic soil and sought to make the best of the two-day break.

East Coast Park a popular choice

Areas in East Coast Park that had crowds past 6:30pm included the East Coast Lagoon Food Village, Singapore Wake Park, and the row of restaurants in the vicinity, as beach goers clearly found reasons not to be cooped up at home.

Island-wide, fast food establishments, such as McDonald's, that have chosen to remain open throughout Chinese New Year are seeing round-the-clock business.

All photos by Andrew Koay

Follow and listen to our podcast here