Singapore's Icons

Singapore Icon

Esplanade theatre

Daylight


At night


Singapore Flyer

Merlion

Daylight


At night

Formula One Night Race... First Singapore Grand Prix

One of the F1 signboards

F1 night race... such a creative idea. Even I always watch the Formula One race on TV, I have never thought of watching the night race. This race will be the first F1 night race ever in Formula One history and the first Singapore Grand Prix. The event starts from September 26th, 2008 to September 28th, 2008. Around 80,000 tickets are on sale and the prices start from SGD168 to SGD 2,588.


Singapore GP circuit map ... the track is in blue colour (taken from www.singaporegp.com)

I walked along the road around Esplanade area and saw the preparation for the race. The race is not held on the purpose-built circuit, but on closed city streets. It is a similar concept to the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.


The road which is included in the race track. Look at the red circle area ... very bright like daylight, isn't it?


Orange team's race car on display (Orchard Rd)

I cannot wait to watch this race on TV...!!

Mooncake Festival Decorations in Singapore

Singapore really is a festival city. They celebrate many festivals within a year, such as Chinese New Year, Moon Cake, Deepavali, Aidil Fitri, Christmas & New Year. A part of the city is always adorned with beautiful decorations during the festival. I was very lucky for having the chances to visit Singapore in two consecutive Septembers, when the Mooncake festival or Lantern Festival is usually being celebrated. The Festival is usually held in the Chinatown.

I upload some pics of Singapore's mooncake festival decorations (Sept 2007 & Sept 2008) in this blog and will write a bit about what mooncake festival is. Hope you enjoy them ...

Chinatown main road

Decoration 2007


Decoration 2008

Mooncake or Moon or Lantern or Mid-autumn festival or known in Chinese as Zhongqiu Jie (中秋節), is a harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people. Mooncake festival is usually celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month Chinese calendar. Therefore, according to the Solar calendar, the festival is always celebrated around mid or late September. This year the festival was celebrated on September 14th, 2008 and next year will be on October 3rd, 2009. As its name, the traditional food of this festival is the mooncake and you can expect to see paper lantern decorations during the festival. On that day, all the family members usually gather to have dinner and eat moon cakes together.

Paper lanterns

2007


2008

Others...

2007


2008

There are many versions of the moon festival legend. This is my mom’s version. Once upon a time, the earth had 10 suns. One day, the suns appeared together and burnt the earth. Then, the King ordered Hou Yi, a famous archer, to shoot down nine of the suns. Because Hou Yi succeeded in his task, the King rewarded him an eternal life medicine. He hid the medicine under a rafter. His wife, Chang Er, found and swallowed the medicine. After that, she noticed that she could fly and flew into the moon. Hou Yi was not able to bring his wife back to the earth. Then, he visits his wife once a year, on the 15th day of the 8th month Chinese calendar during full moon. Therefore, on that night, the moon is full and beautiful...

I'm a sucker for bear costumes

It's a little sad, but I love them. That Coca-Cola bear... hilarious. Yogi, Boo-boo... I can't get enough. So I apologize in advance for laughing at this sad video of the devastating beachfront piers in Texas. But it's a friggin' bear!!! The best part is how the camera hesitates when he's asked to show the pier.

'Mango' ... Indonesia's must eat fruit

Mango or Mangga

Oh, I luv this month ‘September’, because I can eat my favourite fruit 'Mango'. We call it ‘Mangga’ in Indonesia. It is a seasonal fruit ... starts in September till November every year. I missed this fruit very much when I was working overseas two years ago. The supermarkets overseas sell this fruit but the price was too expensive for me. In my hometown, during the season, you can buy this fruit Rp.4,000 - Rp.5,000 (around USD 0.4-0.5) for 1 kg Mango. It is not even 1 dollar per Kg, can you imagine? Yes, it is very cheap ... Last year when I was in Singapore, the price was around SGD 2 for 1 piece ... expensive :).

There are wide varieties of mangoes in Indonesia, namely, mangga gadung, mangga podang, mangga harum manis, mangga manalagi, etc. I like mango gadung. It tastes sweet and delicious ...mmm... I really luv it.


Mango, anyone?!?

In addition, mango has superb nutritional contents. It contains high contents of prebiotic; fiber; antioxidants, such as vitamin C, A & E, polyphenols, and carotenoids. It also contains protein; essential nutrients such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron; vitamin B2 & B6; and folate.

So if you are now in Indonesia or if you have plans to come to Indonesia in the next two months, you have to try this ‘must eat fruit’.

Geysers at Whakarewarewa Valley

One of the Geyser's sign board

Whakarewarewa Valley ... quite a difficult word to say and write, I got it wrong everytime I write this word. I went to this place with a guided tour. We visited the geothermal area, which is located in Rotarua City, New Zealand. Geothermal area means that you can get the heat source from the earth within this area. Maori people lived in this valley since around 13th century and took the benefit of the heat source for cooking and heating.


Geyser eruption

There are at least 65 geysers in this area. However, only 7 geysers are still active now; namely, Kereru Geyser, Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser, Pohutu Geyser, Te Horu Geyser, Waikorohihi Geyser, Mahanga Geyser, and Pareia Geyser. There rest are the dormant geysers. The most famous one is Pohutu Geyser, which can erupt up to 30 metres high every hour. Unfortunately, I could not manage to see and take a photo of the Pohutu's eruption as we had limited time and to leave to continue the trip.

Second Video of Clementine. Twice as cute!

Each night after dinner, but before I leave to go to the radio station, my wife and I play a game in the backyard to wear the puppy out a bit.  Watching her run full speed at you is awesome; it's a look of pure joy on her face. It's times like this I wish puppy's could giggle.