Miss Singapore World 2006

On the lawn by lake Oswin in the brilliant morning sunshine we battled through the knockout stages to determine which four contestants from each continent will represent them in this afternoon’s finals.

The day started with a fabulous aerobic warm up session with all of us 80 girls on the boardwalk over the lake stretching, dancing and kicking in time with the music.

Next we were put through their paces with a series of tests to find the twenty-four finalists, these included in this order: steps, star jumps, burpees, sit-ups and press-ups.

Supporting our athletes, we from the Asia Pacific continent were the most colourful cheerleaders. I took charge as the lead cheer leader and decided on Pink and black as our cheer colours. We also stayed up making banners and pom poms in the same colours. We came up with chants as well.as having various body paints emblazoning Asia on our faces and chests.

Girls from Asia Pacific that made it to the final:
Indonesia - Japan - Korea – Mongolia

The winner of the Miss World Sportswomen and a fast track place to the finals went to Canada with Puerto Rico in second and Latvia in third.

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(Gdansk - 3779.jpg )Marauders landed in the northern Poland resort of Gizycko on Tuesday, as we looked on in an impressive re-enactment of similar assaults on regional Galindian communities.

The artistic display by enthusiasts from the Mazurian region, was the sunset finale to a three-day visit to the lakeland town on Gizycko. We sat through a play about life in a local village under attack from the sea, before several other girls rode a striking black stallion around the grassy banks of Gizycko.

We were also entertained by traditional dance and song, and ended the night by dancing to live music as the sun went down across the lake – and the failed marauders left in their ship.
This was also the close to a day of sporting prowess in the Miss World Sportswoman event. Tomorrow (Wednesday), we leave on a private train trip to Katowice.

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(3788.jpg )It shouldn’t hurt to be a child. Every week, there are 20,000 more pictures showing sexual abuse of children online.

19% of child pornography pictures online show children below the age of three.

Child Pornography is the fastest growing internet business with revenue that is seven times that of the online music industry.

The internet has helped spread this evil. We can use the internet to stop it.

Go to www.lightamillioncandles.com

Light a candle now to join in the fight against child abuse.

Help me to promote Project Innocence on the World Stage.

Vote for me at the Miss World Beauty Pageant before September 30th. My number is MW113. Check your local number here or vote at http://www.missworld.com Thanks a million.

Love,
Colleen Francisca

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Smiles and happiness were just the tonic for some sick children when Miss World 2005 Unnur Birna fronted a visit by contestants to Gdynia Hospital.

We visited the hospital to deliver gifts of toys, a music system and computer equipment, and enjoyed an hour meeting the young patients, their parents and staff.

Many of the patients were young babies, which presented us with an opportunity to hold the babies and pass on a little of our positive energy.

On Friday, we were brought shopping and snapped up jewellery and prints as mementoes of our visit to Poland when we strolled the famous Gdansk amber market.

It was a well-earned break from filming in the region, we enjoyed an hour shopping for gifts and trinkets in the quaint old street of the Hanseatic port of Gdansk.

I was really taken by some beautiful glass paintings and bought an apple tree painting for my new place back in Singapore.
After touring the streets of Gdansk, we returned to their hotel in Gdynia – after making an impromptu stop at a local shopping mall to pick up some essentials, like ice cream.

Later that day, Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Poland Lech Walesa welcomed the entire party of Miss World 2006 to a place of great personal and international importance: the Gdansk Shipyards, which saw so much strife and sacrifice in the 80s.

We laid flowers at the monument to those who gave their lives in the name of peace and unity under the banner of the Solidarity union movement, before receiving a personal audience with Mr Walesa inside one of the former dock buildings.

Mr Walesa addressed us and explained some of the historic importance of the Gdansk shipyards. He also asked them to carry our thoughts from the visit to our countrymen at home.

He drew our attention to one fact, that Gdansk is one of those places in this world that have experienced a lot. It was here that the Second World War started, after which Communism took over half of the world. It was here that it then waged long wars with Communism and put an end to this system.

He also mentioned that It was here that peace has started to be built, and this is a place where globalisation will be born. He is convinced that tomorrow this place will become a place of European and global identity. It was at this place that they showed the world which path to follow.

I was honoured to meet with Mr Walesa. We had each donated a stone, a piece of our homeland, to leave a memento of international unity in Poland. The stones have now been encased in glass at the museum to Solidarity. Mine was engraved with my name and country and really stood out from the rest.

Solidarity is an independent self-governing trade union founded in 1980 at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, originally led by Lech Walesa . The government attempted to close the union due to its broad anti-communist agenda and, after several years of repression, their activities led to talks and the eventual semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed and in December Walesa was elected President of Poland.

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Venezuela was the first contestant to achieve a Fast Track to the Miss World 2006 Final, when she won the beachwear competition.

Crowds gathered along Sopot beach to get a glimpse of us as we walked onto the catwalk one by one dressed in the new Miss World beachwear range, designed by former Miss World Wilnelia Forsyth.

 

As the sun warmed up the grounds of the Grand Hotel, the twenty short-listed girls from this week’s heats were joined by an additional five catwalk finalists - Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, Jamaica, Brazil, and Bolivia.

I was overwhelmed at the roaring applause and cheers of encouragement that came from my fellow contestants as I was called out to the end of the catwalk, when I made it to the top five in the competition. Here is the list of the top 5 in descending order:

5) Singapore
4) Angola
3) Czech Republic
2) India and
1) Venezuela.

Other countries that made it in to the final ten were Barbados, Romania, Scotland, Spain, and host country Poland.


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The medieval splendour of Malbork castle in the north west of Poland was the setting for some of the most stunning filming of the tour so far, when we visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site on Wednesday.

We walked the ramparts and admired the moat and towers of the castle built on the banks of the river Nogat by the Teutonic Knights in 1274. We also heard how the historic fortified castle became the seat of the Teutonic Order and was also Europe’s largest Gothic fortress.

A classic example of a medieval fortress, Malbork is the world’s largest brick castle and one of the most impressive of its kind in Europe.
Watch out for it in the background in my ‘Vote for Me’ special as this was where we filmed for the Asia Pacific continent.

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On Sunday, we were guests of honour at the televised Miss World Opening Gala, attended by Polish VIPs and dignitaries including the president of Warsaw, famous Polish actors and performers, and Mrs Julia Morley Chairman of the Miss World Organisation.

Broadcast live on Polish National Television , the two-hour TV special celebrated our arrival and included some fine Poland music and dances.


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