Mad About Shanghai

Singapore Sights - F1

Yes, talk about Singapore. I finally got my 3 day pass to the Singapore Grand Prix on 26,27,28 September !

The package came in an inconspicuous white box.

I attended a F1 race in Sepang, Malaysia a few years ago. My ticket then was just a plain cinema ticket type piece of paper. This one looks a lot better.

To be honest, on race day, it is very difficult to catch much of the action as the race cars would be zooming by so fast all the time. You have them in your sight, perhaps for 5 to 7 seconds at most. Usually I prefer to watch F1 races on TV as I would have visibility of whats going on at other sections of the track and also in the comfort of my home. But the roar of the engines and the atmosphere is something you cant really feel on TV. Also, this is the first ever night race in F1's history. Who could give that a miss?

Singapore Food - Chicken Rice

No introduction is complete without talking about FOOD. At almost every corner and every turn, an eatery of some sort can be easily spotted.

Beside the chilli crab dish, the humble chicken rice can be deemed as a contender to be called the Singapore national dish.

Its simple, relatively inexpensive and available almost everywhere.

A good chicken rice meal can be found in many parts of Singapore. For first timers going to the island city,  I would recommend these for they are quite easy to locate and not too far away from the city:

Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice Restaurant
275 Thomson Road
#01-05 Novena Ville
Tel: 6255 6396

Chatterbox
Meritus Mandrain Hotel
333 Orchard Road
Singapore 238867
http://www.mandarin-singapore.com/dining/the_chatterbox.htm

Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice
401 Balestier Road
Singapore 329803
http://www.boontongkee.com.sg/

Singapore Sights - Sentosa & One15Marina

No trip to Singapore would be complete without a trip to the famed resort Island, Sentosa. For shopaholics, Singapore's biggest shopping mall, Vivocity, is just next to the island.

I attended Josephine's wedding at One15Marina, a yacht club on Sentosa. Just before dinner, together with Catherine, I took a short walk around the club. At the end of a footpath in the club, we came across an islet linked by a short bridge. We crossed over and was amazed to find a solitary spa on the islet.

That must have been quite an experience ! Having an islet all to yourself, indulging in a massage with a magnificent seaview.Sorry folks, no pics here cos it was getting dark and I couldnt get any decent shots from the compact camera I had that day.

I like the concept of the pool side restaurant (above). Very smart. You can have food from the nearby BBQ served to you while you are IN the pool. Dining partly submerged with a romantic view of the sunset..hmmm..I would like to try that some day..

Oh, the Italian-themed dinner was splendid ! Congratulations Jo!

Singapore Sights - The Singapore Flyer (Part 2)

Feels like on top of the world - the scene from top of the Singapore Flyer.

Final view of the Flyer:

Catch the photo series here.

Singapore Sights - The Singapore Flyer (Part 1)

Since we are at the topic of Singapore, lets take a short break from our usual China/Shanghai related topics. Let me show some of Singapore sights.

Wondering what the capsule above is?

It is a view from the Singapore Flyer, just at the top of the wheel. It currently carries the accolade of being the tallest observatory wheel in the world, eclipsing the The Star of Nanchang by 5 m and the London Eye by 30 m.

The Singapore flyer wont hold the honour for long though. Come late this year, the Great Dubai Wheel, once constructed, would be taller than this one. In 2009, the Beijing Great Wheel would be the world's tallest.

Located on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre reclaimed land, it offers broad views of the city centre and beyond to about 45 km, including the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, as well as Johor, Malaysia.

Each ride takes about 30 mins. I liken the whole sequence of boarding the capsule to taking a flight. Boarding sequence and security checks are in place, airport style too.

At the lobby, there is a host of entertainment outlets, restaurants and even a park for you to relax in either before or after the ride.

Communic Asia 2008

I was at Communic Asia 2008 a couple of weeks ago. Held in Singapore from 16 to 20 June, the event is one of the biggest in Asia showcasing the latest and coolest from the telecommunication industries. I saw HuaWei and a few other big Chinese telco names too.

There are too many cool stuff to write about. I guess I would focus on something more every day - the mobile phone. Can you spend a day without a mobile ? I know some people that absolutlely cant ;)

Heres a preview of whats the consumer market can expect to see in the coming months:

LG Viewty with 5 Mega Pixel Camera (above)

Hummer Phone (above) (Not sure if this one would hit the market)

iPOD killer,Samsung Omnia (above) 

Garmin Sat Nav Phone (above)

Of all the booths there, I would say Samsung and LG have the most innovative products.I didnt take too many pics as the Samsung booth didnt allow me to take pictures of upcoming mobile phones. Well, you heard of the Prada Phone by LG, Samsung did a similar co brand by (would be) introducing a Giorgio Armani phone. No expected date of released yet. There is also another phone, one with Bose speakers.

I know this is already quite common in Japan but this is the first time I am seeing the real thing. Very COOL! 

The Docomo guy at the booth was very patient and explained to me nearly every function the phone had.

You can dock the mobile phone onto a speaker and it becomes like small TV or stereo set at your work desk. When you need to go just detach:

This one is as if its coming from a spy flick. A mobile phone watch from Samsung:

Oh, theres an F1 simulator as well:

Stat of the Day

400 million Chinese play or watch basketball. More than the entire population of USA.

- Time magazine

Pic of the Day

Who needs a truck in Shanghai ?

A Wedding to Remember

Their wedding shoot at the famous 100-year-old Church of the Annunciation in Pengzhou , China .

Very early morning May 12, photographer Wang went about preparing to shoot wedding pictures for a young couple, this was the test shot before the shoot.

Pengzhou is located in the Sichuan province. It was morning May 12, 2008.

And then it happened.... the earth quake! 7.8 on the Richter scale.

Bricks fall from the building during the earthquake, which turned Wang from a wedding photographer into a journalist.

'Thank God we were only shooting from outside the church!' remarked a helper.

The stunned couple huddles together at the church ground during initial tremors.

'I shouted to people, 'Run! Run!'' said photographer Wang Qiang.
'The ground shook and we couldn't see anything in the dust.'

As the dust began to clear, the true extent of damage was only beginning to appear.

A cracked facade was all that remained of the 100-year-old Church of the Annunciation after the quake. Most of the church 'collapsed in 10 seconds,' said Wang, who lives in Chengdu , capital of hard-hit Sichuan province.

Soon after the quake, the people at the seminary set out for a nearby village, but residents warned them the route was blocked. 'We could still hear landslides,' Wang wrote in an online account of the disaster. So they stayed overnight in a tent and made it to the village the next day, thanks to help from a truck driver.

A scarf from a wedding dress lies forgotten in front of the seminary.
Wang said he thought the catastrophe would strengthen the bonds of  the couples who were there that day: 'Having gone through a life-and-death test, they surely will clasp hands and grow old together.'

No one was harmed at the above location.

They'll sure have a wild story to tell their children!

Pics of the flood in Southern China

It was emergency flood alert last week in GuangDong. Almost 18 million people were affected with more than 140,000 homes wrecked or damaged.

My colleague sent me these pics which are taken in Dong Guan.

People are literally fishing in the streets!