• The US Presidential motorcade included 15 huge black vehicles, escorted by the police no less and always followed by a chopper overhead
• Only the first floor of the UCC was used, second and third levels were closed and only accessible to approximately 6 US snipers
• Some snipers were also stationed on the rooftops of the Engineering Block opposite, and the HDB blocks across the road
• The stage set up (really horrible I must exclaim) was done so that people knew that President Bush "was in Singapore"
• I am just thinking of how the world now thinks that everyone in Singapore lives in Peranakan houses cos (I am not sure if you can see this from the tv) he was standing in front of a facade of a Peranakan house. Why not do a facade of a HDB void deck? Thats definitely Singapore.
• The rostrum used is the President's rostrum, except that the familiar circular seal was covered with a Singapore flag. (See photo below)
• Around his rostrum, there were lots of plants, but what you didn't notice was how bullet proof metal plates formed the backing for these potted plants, so President Bush is quite safe from angular attacks (I think)
• The song you hear at the end of the speech (again, I am not sure you it was caught on tv), sounded like some Indonesian instrumental thing, which again, totally wasn't Singapore, but a source told me they wanted something distinctively "Asian".

The Proceedings:

• President Bush did not alight at the main front porch of the UCC, instead he swung round into the carpark which lead him directly to the backstage, just like what PM Lee does every National Day Rally.
• His main entourage, entered and exited only through the backstage, meaning they did not step foot into the main UCC foyer at all.
• 5 minutes before the speech, everyone fell silent as at least 30 members of his entourage, including First Lady Bush made their way from the backstage out to the front stalls and seated together with SM Goh. A loud applause was accorded to Laura when she emerged from backstage.
• His entourage of official press and photographers entered from the side door.
• The main boo-boo of the day: The students were seated in the first 10 rows or so and VIPs and guests sat the the next 10 rows. When President Bush walked out from backstage to the podium, all of the VIPs and guests stood (almost as if they were informed to do so, or maybe its the protocol), but the poor students in front unfortunately did not see that and didn't stand up for a good 10 seconds until they somehow realized so. I hope that didn't go into the tapes.
• President Bush ended his speech with "God Bless Singapore", which sounded weird, but nice to hear. He then proceeded downstage to shake hands and gladly obliged for phototaking. I was stationed right at the front so he was face to face with me when he walked past! (see photo below) Yes, the perks of the job.
• Within 5 minutes after President Bush left, a huge box was wheeled on stage, where the offcial rostrum was packed off to the next destination.

Trivia and all other nonsense:

• Everyone in the delegation wore a lanyard which has "POTUS - Singapore 2006" all around it, and we were all trying to figure what organization POTUS was.
• A lady from the White House told me that we have a "very nice university"
• The secret service agents all looked alike and they were surprizingly friendly, always smiling and unlike the stereotypical imaginings we have of a hostile and cold front.
• We took a photo with the Secret Service agent in-charge of the President's Asian tour! Gotta wait for my friend to send us the pics though.
• President Bush memorizes or perhaps improvises his speeches. He does not read off any prompters and only referred to the paper on the rostrum once in a while!
• This is the first time I've seen so many cameras and video cameras gathered in the UCC Hall.
• POTUS is the acronym for President of the United States.

Yes, that's all I can rattle off at the moment. It was cool just to see and immerse oneself within such security and hype, it was like The West Wing before my eyes. For one hour yesterday, the world was with the UCC, and for that single hour, UCC became the world.

New photo added:

Now see how ugly the stage set was. Photo courtesy of Yvonne hohoho.