Every Singaporean family has someone who remembers the first National Day Parade. They'll tell you about it whether you ask or not.
For Singapore's 50th birthday, Airbnb asked us to build a home. We built 1966.
One family checked in on the stage of the Esplanade, Singapore's best-known theatre. Inside, it was the night before the very first parade.
They spent the evening the way families did back then. The furniture was old enough to be new again. In the morning, they watched the 1966 parade on TV, as if it were happening live. In a way, it was.
That night, they watched the SG50 parade. Same country, fifty years apart. By the time the fireworks went up, they were a little teary.
In a week when every brand in Singapore had something to say about SG50, this still earned $1.28 million in PR value. Plenty of people wanted to go back too.
You can belong anywhere. That weekend, anywhere included 1966.
P.S.The room looked a lot like my grandparents' place. My parents would have known where everything went.
