141 more days to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games

Counting down!
It's 141 more days to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.



There will be 26 sports that will be competed at this event. List of it here.
Which is your favourite sport?

Read more about the YOG at http://www.singapore2010.sg

Let's Go to a Paradise of Glorious Tulips by Yayoi Kusama

Another art piece at Orchard Central. I saw this from the most upper floor.
It looked very captivating and colourful.



I got down a floor to have a closer look and realize children were attracted to it and were posing.
You would too ya?
 



It's the artwork by Yayoi Kusama.
You can find out more about Yayoi at: http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/

The Stair, The Clouds and The Sky @ Rooftop of Orchard Central

More art pieces are being displayed in open spaces in Singapore now.
The little city is getting a more vibrant art scene!


These photos were captured on the roof top of Orchard Central.
The sculpture is titled "The Stair, The Clouds and The Sky".
It's by Victor Tan Wee Tar. His works are characterized by the use of wires.

Enjoy.








Read what inspired the creation:



You can find out more about Victor at: http://www.victortanweetar.com

Rubik's Cube Singapore Open 2010

Last Saturday night, we happened to be at Orchard Central and saw this.
Do you know what it is?





It's a "Mosaic Art" made from 5000 Rubik's Cubes.





Just like most things in Singapore, since they are doing something, they would want to make a record out of it. So they made it the largest Rubik's cube mosaic wall world record.





We were not there on Sunday to witness the competition, but Teo Kai Xiang won the Rubik's Cube Singapore Open 2010.

1st: Teo Kai Xiang with an average of 12.36 seconds.
2nd: Mohamad Azraei with 12.48 seconds.
3rd: Nipat Charoenpholphant 13.44 seconds.  

(results from www.worldcubeassociation.org)


How fast can you solve the Rubik's cube?

Night Scene of Singapore's Chinatown from Pinnacle@Duxton

More images from the top of Pinnacle@Duxton.
This is the Chinatown area.



Just look at the lights! A city of lights! How beautiful.

I wonder how many of these buildings will turn off their lights next weekend?
Will you be turning off the lights for the WWF Earth Hour Singapore?


(I wonder if there will be a power surge if everyone turns on and off their lights etc?)

View from the 50th floor of Pinnacle@Duxton. Singapore's tallest public housing.

This is the first time I have seen the Singapore port from up high during the night.
They work 24 hours right?

But this might not be around in 20 years time? The government recently announce that in when the port lease is up in 2027, they will transform this into a new waterfront city.



It reminds me of the port at Malaga in Andalusia, Southern Spain though. I have no idea why, but it just flashed through my head! I just googled to look for a photo. Malaga has a port in the city centre too. ;-)

Pinnacle @ Duxton - Skybridge

If you want to view Singapore from up high, most people will think of the Singapore Flyer. But if you do not want to pay the Singapore Flyer ticket fee of around $30, you can visit the Skybridge at Pinnacle@Duxton.

It's not as high as the Singapore Flyer, but at only $5, it's not too bad a deal. You can spend as long as you want up there. They close at 10PM.

You see the two lines on the blocks in the photo below? The top strip of light is the 50th floor skybridge. The middle strip of light is the 26th floor skybridge.



Earlier tonight, my church Care Group thought we will go up there to have a view.

They only allow 200 people a day to go up there. All you need is an Ezlink card, pay for the entrance ticket at the 1st floor and take the lift up to the 50th floor. ;-)

The view is quite breathtaking. It's very windy up there too! Visit http://www.pinnacleduxton.com.sg/skybridge_public.php for more information.

Oh yes.... typical Singapore style, all the rules to obey is displayed just before you enter.

NUS Open Day

I visited the NUS Open Day last Saturday. The even is now over, but since I took a photo there, it's a 'waste' not to post this up. ;-)

NUS School of Computing is where I took my Masters degree.

The photo shows these helpers having a rest as everyone has gone next door to listen to the talk by the School at the Seminar Rooms.




There are two departments in the School. Computer Science and Information Systems.
If you have facebook, you might to be a 'fan' of the Department of Information Systems. ;-)

Vibration Monitor

Saw this on the block below uncle's apartment. I have never seen a vibration monitor!

There have been earthquakes around the world, but I doubt it is for monitoring that.



There's a lift upgrading on that block, so it's probably for monitoring the piling works going on.
But there's also the Downtown Line construction not too far away, but I doubt this can monitor vibrations so deep below.

They sure have lots of monitoring devices nowadays eh?

Sometimes I wonder if it's to be considerate to residents, or it is to prove it's not noisy when someone wants to sue the construction company. :-)

The 'fat' Adam and Eve at Resorts World Sentosa

It seems that Botero's works are quite popular in Singapore. You can see it at many places all over Singapore.

The lastest might be at Resorts World Sentosa. I took this a few week's ago. It's located at the lobby between Crockfords Tower Hotel and Hotel Michael.



A similar work by Botero, I think also named Adam and Eve is also in Time Warner Centre in NYC. Fellow Daily Photo blogger from NYC has also posted it here.

Irene Ang / Mrs Rosie Phua of PCK Pte Ltd.

If you are in Singapore, everyone's talking about productivity.  This morning I was at the presentation of some awards that my colleagues and I have won (merit award) on our Excellence Day.

I guess our company is one that is way ahead because we even have an annual event to recognise projects that increased productivity.  If I did not hear wrongly, our President in his speech said we saved about 3 million in operating cost through various projects! wow!

At the event today we had Irene Ang, more commonly known as Mrs Rosie Phua from PCK Pte Ltd, one of Singapore and Malaysia (PCK Sdn Bhd) favourite English Sitcom.



Last year, I think we had comedian Hossan Leong. This year it's a lady comedian.
We laughed till we had stomach cramps!

Siloso

This multi techni colour words "Siloso" must have been around for the longest time.

I think it's created to beg people to take photos of it!



One of the 3 beaches at Sentosa Island. It's where they have the Annual Countdown Party on the last day (31 Dec) of every year.

This is the beach is where people usually play beach volleyball and roller blading. Personally I don't think people should swim here! Look at the ships that's so near the beach.

Are you a beach person? Or are you an indoor person like me?

The Sentosa Merlion

There are 5 'recognised' by the 'authorities' Merlion in Singapore. This is one of them. It's located at Sentosa and is probably the tallest of them all at 37 metres high.

Do you know you can get inside this Merlion at Sentosa? With a $8 entrance fee, you get to go to the Mouth and the Head (top) of the Merlion.

Momo and I thought it would be silly to pay $8 to go in. But we wondered if we could see Universal Studios from the top! We went to ask the ticket counter folks. They said, you can see part of it! It's only $8 to find out. So we parted with our $16 to find out.

(We thought a fair price would be $5 per person!)




There's a video show in the mini theatre inside the Merlion. It's most probably the most ridiculous story of how Singapore is founded!

Even the Australian tourist from Brisbane that were with us was laughing at it! Half the facts were true, the other half, we would say the story teller had really good imagination!

We got to the top of the Merlion after that. We got to see what we wanted to see! Partially only though.



(if you want to see a larger photo of the photo above, click here. I loaded the original size photo at Flickr. You can zoom in to see the details!)

USS is opening soon, we should just wait till it's open to get in. :-)

Cam Am Spyder in Singapore

Saw this 3 wheel bike yesterday stopping beside the car I was in. Quickly took a photo of it with my iPhone.

It's the Cam Am Spyder! I did an online search and realise it has been in Singapore since mid 2009!
Retailing around $36K, and classified as a motorcycle by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).



Blanked the bike's number which happens to be a very very nice number too!

I am sure my dad would love it. Right dad?

Traditional Games : Five Stones

This is a traditional game called "Five Stones" that kids in Singapore used to play long long time ago. (OK, I know readers from South East Asia would say it's not only Singapore. So let me add Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and other South East Asian countries too)

Stones are seldom used now. The 'stones' that are used now are made of leftover cloth and sewn into pyramids. They are filled with sand or beans.




Guess what I just found out today? People in South East Asia would have thought that this game originated here. But with a bit of searching over the Internet, I found out that this game is also played in India! They are known as Kallangal, Anchangal in the villages of Tamilnadu. (See info here)

Even more surprising is that the Koreans play this game too! They call it Gonggi. (Info from Wiki here, Youtube of it here.) Their rules are the same too!


I got even more surprised to find out that the French plays a similar game too! They call it Osselets. (Wiki in French here / translated to English here) Now are you as surprised as I am?  You can watch a YouTube of it here. I guess the only difference is that the French has a points system. Also when they throw the stones (they used bones), they leave it on the floor, the South East Asian and Korean version keep the stones in the hands. 

Surprised???



Here's a part of the poster that shows what it is all about. I think it was by the Singapore Sports Council. I would think they will introduce these traditional games at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.



Hmm... It would be so interesting when the young athletes from the different country arrived in Singapore and when it's introduced to them, they would be saying: hey, that's the same game we have in our countries too!

Friends from all over the world, do you all have a same game too? What do you call it?

I want to be taller?

I was at Sentosa and I saw this. Not very sure what it is all about. Birds with egg and baby birds somewhere in the island.

But what caught my eyes were things hanging on it.



I saw this hanging on the lower branches of the dried up palm leaves.
"I want to be taller."




How tall are you? Do you wish to be taller? Most people can be taller if they have a better posture! Many of us tend to slouch a lot.

Adventure in Sentosa: 4D Magix, Extreme Log Ride, Desperados

On Sunday,  Momo and I joined a group of bloggers to an outing to Sentosa organised by 24Seven.

What was it all about? We were there to experience Southeast Asia's 1st 4-Dimensional Theatre and also enjoy Singapore's only Cinema Ride.




We tried the Cinema Rides first. You watch a show and you can interact with it.




In the mini theatre, there's rows of around 20 saddles and they move. (just like Osim iGallop, only gentler). As the horse gallops, you shoot at the bandits on the big screen. It's quite fun!




Look how happy Momo is!




After Desperados, we took the Extreme Log Ride.




We are all seated in cabins like this. 6 persons can fit into a cabin.
If you have motion sickness, you will definitely want to avoid this ride. It's exhilarating!




For the 4D Theatre, I must have been too excited, I realise I did not take any photos inside.

3D movies are getting popular now. I watched Avatar at iWerks at the Singapore Discovery Centre last week. The difference between 3D and 4D is that for 4D, you get to experience environmental effects (water spray, wind blowing, etc) on individually motion controlled seats.




So if you are wondering what to do on weekends, head down to Sentosa.




p/s You can visit RWS too.

Daze

I saw this on the TV the other day. The graffiti artist was shown spraying this on the news.

He's a New Yorker with a nickname called Daze aka Chris Ellis.



Err. I think I can't appreciate graffiti. ;-)



But if you want to view his work, I zoomed in to the poster, so you can see where the graffiti artists are displaying their works.

It's at the Tanjong Pagar Distripark. 

March DP Theme : Passageway - The Universal Studios Arch

It's the 1st of the month again. We are going to be very tired by the end of March! We will be marching for 31 days ahead! LOL

The Theme for the CityPhoto Bloggers for March 2010 is Passageway.

This is the passageway to the soon to be opened Universal Studios Singapore.



Wonder how other Cities are interpreting the theme, click here to view thumbnails for all participants.