River Cruise

A cruise down Singapore River...



We were doing some touristy thing 2 weeks ago. ;-)

Merlion from the front...

View of Merlion from the front, with the financial district behind it.



We usually see it from other angles. This angle is only possible if you are taking a boat on the water ;-)

F1 Singapore: Watching it on TV

The cars are circling the circuits now as I am posting this now in front of the TV.

The warm up round just before the race starts.



How do we get to watch this on TV?
Thanks to this guys.





Enjoy your show.

p/s Oops, one Ferrari car had the fuse hose on the car and the car zoomed off!

F1 Singapore: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

More photos that Momo took from the Formula One Paddock Club yesterday.

These cars are to race for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. I think they are doing the test rounds when this was taken.









Porsche Carrera Cup Asia is a supporting race in the Singapore Grand Prix.

F1 Practice Race, Singapore Grand Prix

Momo was fortunate to gain access to the Formula One Paddock Club earlier this afternoon.
Here's some photos that she took.









If you are going to the race, enjoy!

Was looking at my facebook updates, friends working at the national library could also hear the roar of the engines.

Kinda reminds me of the Melbourne Grand Prix. I would smell the rubber and deafening noise at home! You could just turn the TV on, turn off the sound, and listen to the roar of the engines and smells from the air LIVE! :-)

F1: Night view of the skies..

Not sure if you can see the difference in the photo below.
Some roads seems to be brighter than the rest. (No, it's not photoshopped)

That's the F1 circuit! Bright lights will lit up the roads where the track is.



The wonders of technology and modern lighting system.

The last few days, road closures have started. Many people are not able to drive to work. People are taking public transport and walking. Momo is one of them.

The various "No Car Day", "World Car Free Day" campaigns never worked here. Guess what? This week seems to be a forced "leave your car at home" week for many. Only F1 cars allowed. haha..

F1 Toilets and F1 Signage

A walk around the the race circuit you can see things are almost done. Signs are up.



Portable toilets are ready too.




Has anyone used this kind of portable toilets? I have always wondered how they look inside, but never really want to open the doors. haha..

Singapore Grand Prix - Pit Grandstand

The bird's eye view of the Grand Prix Pit and also the Pit Grandstand.



Oh, the seats here cost SGD1388.

You think only the rich can afford it? No, the rich will get it free, courtesy of their banks. That is if you are a preferred customer of Standard Chartered, ING, Credit Suisse, Citi, Societe Generale or RBS.

Credit Suisse clients will be at the BMW Sauber Paddock, with seats costing SGD7500, with free flow of champagne and gourmet banquet.

RBS clients will be at a cocktail event at the Old Supreme Court building, mingling with 3 time world champion Jackie Stewart.

Citi Singapore will be hosting a Stylo Fashion Grand Prix Gala.

SG Private customers will be cruising in a private yatch along the Southern Islands.

The Esplanade Roof and the Singapore F1 Grandstand Seats...

I thought these covered F1 grandstand chairs looks similar to the Esplanade Theatre's 'durian spikes'.



Maybe it's only my eyes...

The race is almost ready...

The grandstand chairs are up. These are the seats for those who booked the "Padang Grandstand" seats. ($498 if you are wondering how much it costs.)



Behind you see the newly painted St Andrew's Cathedral, it's beautiful isn't it?


For visitors to Singapore, if you are here for the weekend and need your spiritual feeding, here's a guide for you. Some churches of the major denominations in the city centre that you can visit:
Anglicans: St Andrew's Cathedral. www.livingstreams.org.sg
Assembly of God: Grace AOG www.graceaog.org
Baptist: International Baptist Church www.ibcs.org
Methodists: Wesley Methodist Church. www.wesleymc.org
Orthodox: Armenian Church. via Wikipedia
Presbyterians: Orchard Road Presbyterian Church. www.orpc.org.sg
Independent: New Creation Church www.newcreation.org.sg

Music by the Singapore River...

Was walking along the Singapore River today. You will definitely know that the Singapore River Festival is on with all the decorations.



During the night, you can listen to many music groups performing.
Here's one group who was rehearsing earlier today.



Have a great weekend!

holding the singapore flyer capsule with my finger...

Just a silly post.



But I did hold the Singapore Flyer with my fingers. LOL

Singapore River Festival

Have you heard of it? The Singapore River has a festival too!



It starts today and tt's the inaugural Singapore River Festival.

Visit http://www.visitsingapore.com/srf08/ for more information.

The Merrill Lynch Bull

Momo took a photo of this, saying that this bull sculpture might not be there for long.



So here it is, the bull in front of Merrill Lynch Singapore office until the shareholders of both Merrill Lynch and Bank Of America and the regulators agree to their sale.

The workers on the eleventh floor must be so anxious...

I happen to snap this photo just few weeks ago. You can see people working so hard.



This is the building that houses the Lehman Brothers Singapore branch. Am sure you all know the story by now.

Let's hope the staff in the Singapore branch finds a new job soon.

Train tracks...

A view of the Malayan Railway tracks in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore.



These tracks will one day connect Singapore all the way to Kunming in China, passing through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

Wishing all from cultures that celebrates the Mid Autumn Festival, a very Blessed Mid Autumn Festival.



Photo taken at Singapore's Chinatown.

Mid Autumn Festival Deco in the day..

A day time view of some of the deco at Chinatown.





I think the night view is much better. Bright lights in the night gives a better effect ;-)

Singapore Biennale - Fantasmas

Singapore Biennale started yesterday and artworks are everywhere.
This is Fantasmas, by Isaac Montoya. His work is at Raffles City Shopping Centre.

Wondering what is everyone looking at?
This portrait looks different when you look through the blue and red filters. The organisers provided two big filters in the form of a big blocks as in the photo below. (where the people are)



View through the blue filter.



View through the red filter.



Go take a look at the real thing to experience it yourself.
I saw them earlier tonight and it's a bit dark for photographs.



Visit www.singaporebiennale.org for more info.

Singapore Biennale starts

Was reminded from this banner that the Singapore Biennale 2008 starts today!



Sis was saying that she wanted to go for an event next week.

You want to find out more? Log on to: http://www.singaporebiennale.org/

Beautiful hoardings.

Gone are the days where hoardings are ugly. Over the last few years, we see hoardings that are very attractive. Yet another building on Orchard Road that's refurbishing.

Fixing up the eye catching graphics. It looks as if they are real windows display!



The rest of it, still waiting for the workers to put up the advertisements.

Mooncakes

A photo of a traditional looking mooncake tin / box.



It's Mid-Autumn Festival soon, and there are thousands of different shops selling mooncakes.

Crave it?

Crave it?



Not today though. Some days I do.

Hundreds of people tasting and buying mooncakes.

It's an annual affair. Hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people will visit the Takashimaya Square to taste hundreds of different flavour of mooncakes on sale.



After finding the one they like, they will purchase a box or two to bring home.

From now till 14 September.

Weekend Paper

The weekend Business Times in Singapore has been on broadsheet for 32 years.



Today it became tabloid like. A 'compact format' as they call it.
Do you prefer tabloid size papers or broadsheets? I prefer the tabloid sizes ;-)

Humanised Cat..

My colleagues and I were walking back to the office after lunch and we saw this.



Cats usually sleep curled or flat on the ground? This cat seems to have learned the human style of sleeping. Looking really really comfortable.

Where should I park?

These info sign boards introduced in April this year must be a hit with drivers looking for car park lots in the Marina area.



These signboards all around shows the available parking lots in Suntec City, Marina Square, Millenia Singapore, Singapore Flyer, The Esplanade and Raffles City.

These lights will turn night into day...

The Singapore Grand Prix is a night race. So to turn darkness into light they have these light projectors all around the track. There are about 1500 of these lighting projectors. 

These projectors have luminosity of 3000 lux. But guess what? They are so bright not for the drivers to see clearly. It's this bright so that High Definition TV Cameras can record the race. LOL

Should have brought my other camera with 12 times optical zoom to take these photos instead. LOL.

Cages.... or you might call it fences..

Preparation for the Singapore Grand Prix is underway.



All along the race track route, you can see these protective fences. Keep the road users safe from the cars and more importantly, 'encouraging' people to buy the tickets to watch it. (they will be totally covered up I read)

A friend just showed me his hotel booking to watch it from high up. Friends working in the offices in this area will play to 'work late' to view it. LOL..

Theme Day for September 1: Sister Cities

It's Theme Day for the Daily Photo community again. The theme for September is Sisters Cities.

Singapore does not have any sisters city. But according to this press release by the San Franciso Mayor's Office, these cities once signed a pact for a Digital Sisters Cities initiative :
San Franciso (USA), Toronto (Canada), Guadalajara (Mexico), Ireland, Dusseldorf (Germany), Skopje (Macedonia), Sofia (Bulgaria), Chennai (India), Singapore and Osaka (Japan).

I wonder if there are fellow DPs living in these cities? Oh yes there is! 13 of us!

San Francisco (CA), USA by PFranson * San Francisco (CA), USA by Burd Zel Krai * San Francisco (CA), USA by Ursel * San Francisco (CA), USA by Louis la Vache * San Francisco (CA), USA by meles meles * San Francisco (CA), USA by Manuel

Singapore, Singapore by Keropokman * Singapore, Singapore by Zannnie, Ming & Madscientist

Toronto, Canada by Steve * Toronto, Canada by Elaine

Sofia, Bulgaria by Antonia

Chennai, India by Shantaram * Chennai, India by Ram N

But how do I request them to take a photo for me? Well, use the City Daily Photo portal of course! The photos thumbnails are listed as they post photo daily.




Want to know which are cities are sisters?
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants on the Theme Day