X'mas in the tropics

...
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
O what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh ...

Familiar with that song?? Yes... Christmas is coming ... Christmas is coming. I luv December as I can enjoy the Christmas songs and Christmas decorations, be with my family and I just like everything related to the Season. Fortunately, when I visited Singapore last week, even though it was only a short visit; I had a chance to capture the Christmas beauty in this small island. I know that this country always turns to be a beautiful country every Christmas. They usually start to decorate at the end of November to welcome the Season.

Here are some Christmas decorations in Singapore...


You can see a X'mas tree from a ferry approaching Harbour Front...

Orchard Rd welcomes Christmas



Decoration in front of Lucky Plaza


Orchard Road...


The Sweet Family - Mr. & Mrs. Sweet, Nicky, Holly & Chris


Inside HMV

Ohhh, do not forget the Christmas trees...


A big tree at Takashimaya


Another tree...


Coca cola X'mas tree


Trees at the Changi airport

A bit OOT, I saw the 'below' Chocolate tower, which was displayed in one of the malls in Singapore (I forget the name of the mall :)).

Wow, what a great work and two thumbs up for the Chef.


Last but not least, Merry Christmas 2008 & Happy New Year 2009 everybody. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

May your Christmas be joyful, peaceful, bright and filled with the love; and may God above will bless your Christmas day and everyday with peace and happiness.

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...

'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.

Sydney Opera House

I believe when you see the picture above you immediately know what I am going to write about today. Everyone know Sydney Opera House. Yes ...it is a very well-known landmark in Australia. So ... if you hear about Sydney Opera House, then you will immediately think about Australia. This is one of the ‘must see’ sites in Sydney like Eiffel Tower in Paris or Statue of Liberty in New York.

It is located in Sydney, close to Sydney harbour bridge and the Royal Botanic Garden, New South Wales, Australia. So, after you visited Sydney Opera House, you can continue to walk to the Botanic Garden ... it is a huge, big garden. Sydney Opera House was designed in 1957 by Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect. The construction work started in 1959 and was estimated to be completed in 4 years. However, the building was just completed and officially opened in 1973.
It is included as one of a UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2007.


Brief explanation about the shell roof
It is an amazing unique building. For me, the unique thing about this building is the ‘shell-structure’ roof. The roof is just such a creative idea.


And ... the Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House is the home of many famous performances (theatre, ballet, orchestra, concert, opera etc)and arts exhibitions. When I visited this place, I did not have the chance to see any performances there as the ticket was quite expensive for me. I think I need to work harder so I would be able to experience and see one of the opera performances at Sydney Opera House one day :)

New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute

New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute

If you have interest in indigenous cultures, New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute (NZMACI) is a place worth to be visited. NZMACI was established in 1963 by the New Zealand government. The institute aims to protect and teach the authentic Maori arts and crafts and Maori culture to the younger generation. The Maori Arts and Crafts Institute is located in Rotarua, the north island of New Zealand, around 3 hours drive from Auckland.

In this place, you will see the unique carving and weaving style of Maori. There are carving and weaving schools in the institute. The students exhibit their carvings and weaving works; and also share story about Maori history and their ancestors. You also can see Maori traditional house.


Maori traditional house

I am not an expert in the area of cultures or arts, especially Maori cultures or arts, but visiting this place gave me different experiences. I believe after your visit you will appreciate the Maori people’s spirit and efforts to protect their identity by passing down to and teaching the younger generations about their cultures ... because I really do!!

Bali beaches

After 'the caves' yesterday, today I post an article about beaches. Beaches in Bali ... great places to relieve you stress or energize yourself during your holiday. There are many beaches in Bali, around 8 beaches if I am not mistaken. I have gone to some of them, Nusa Dua, Sanur, Kuta and Jimbaran beaches.


Sanur beach

Sanur beach is a white-sand quiet beach that is located on the southeastern part of Bali, about 5-10 minutes drive from Denpasar. You can have a beautiful sunrise view here. Other things that you can do here are sunbath, watersports or snorkeling. Nightlife here is not as lively as in Kuta. If you have spare time, spend half day to come here just to walk along the beach or to enjoy the tranquility.


Nusa Dua beach

Nusa Dua is an exclusive and quiet beach. It is located in the most prestigious and luxurious area in the southern part of Bali. There are many expensive International five-stars hotels in this area such as Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton, Westin etc, and the beach is located at the back of those hotels. It is a nice beach, but I do not really like it as the beach is really really quiet. It is suitable for you if you want to enjoy the peace and relax with your family.

The last one is Jimbaran beach. Jimbaran beach is located close to the airport. If you come to Bali, I suggest you to come to Jimbaran beach in the evening and have candle light dinner with your loved ones at the edge of the beach. There are many seafood restaurants lining up near the beach. The food itself is not so special, but still you can enjoy the romantic dinner and the sea breeze.

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Glowworm Cave

Glowworm Cave

I just realized, when I write this piece of writing, that I had quite a number of caves tours. I have written about my visit to a cave in Lamongan (Indonesia) and Jenolan Caves (Australia) in this blog previously ... and this is my third article about 'cave'.

I went to Waitomo Glowworm Cave couple of years ago. It is one of the unique places that you should visit if you visit New Zealand. The cave is on the North Island of New Zealand. It is 3 hours driving from Auckland. The cave is just like other limestone caves with its unique formation of stalactites and stalagmites. But, once you are inside the cave, you will be amazed by the tiny little luminescent creatures that hang on the ceiling of the cave.

As it is named ‘Glowworm Cave’, then you will see the population of glowworms in the cave. The lifecycle of a glowworm is eggs – larvae – pupa – adult glowworms. The total lifetime of a glowworm is around 11 months. The light is produced during the larvae stage. Glowworms use its glow to attract, trap and then devour other insects. The adult glowworms is around the size of a mosquito and they have a very short lifespan.
The cave was extensively explored for the first time by Tane Tinorau (Maori Chief) and Fred Mace (an English surveyor) in 1887. However, the cave had been already discovered by Maori quite sometime before the first exploration. Then, in 1889, the cave was opened to the public for the very first time.

I have no pictures of the creatures as photography and video are not allowed during the visit. You also should keep quiet at all times when you are inside the cave. But, this place is highly recommended. You have to place the Glowworm cave in your itinerary if you visit NZ ... the cave with its glowworms are just unique and cool!!

The Greenwich Meridian

Have you heard of GMT? Greenwich Mean Time!? I believe this term is very familiar to you at least if you have learned about geography in your school or if you search for a place’s current time, you will find ‘Standard Time + (number) GMT'. Although the term Universal Time (UT) is used to replace GMT, the term GMT has been and is still in use since over 300 years until now.

Because of the infamous GMT, then, I spent one day to visit Greenwich when I was in London. Greenwich is in South-East London and very famous with its Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude). I went there by boat from Thames Barrier Pier and arrived at Greenwich Pier. I visited the Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory. The park is huge and I love it! It is beautiful ... and the Royal Observatory is in the centre of the park.


The Greenwich Pier

The Royal Observatory is a historical place. It was established by King Charles II in 1675. It was built to calculate the longitude of places for navigation purposes. The longitude was calculated from the Greenwich meridian, which was regarded as zero degrees longitude. Greenwich meridian is claimed as the standard for world time. I managed to see and take pictures of the famous Prime Meridian ‘line’ in the Royal Observatory. The Prime Meridian line represents the zero degrees longitude and divides the western and eastern hemispheres of the earth.


Indonesia (Jakarta) Longitude: 106 degrees, 45 seconds East

If you come to London, spend one day to go and take picture of the line. You can stand with one foot on the eastern hemisphere and the other on the western. The line lies on the ground and walls of the Observatory yard.


The Shepherd Gate Clock


The Greenwich Meridian Line

So, what time is it now? Mine is +7 GMT ...

Rupiah ... How much is it?

One of the most important things that you should bring on your trip is money ... agreed? Eventhough you have credit cards, but bring small amount of cash may be a good idea as not in every place here has the card machines. Well, this time I will write about Rupiah and hopefully can give you description about it. Rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. The currency code is IDR.

Rupiah consists of bank notes and coins. The symbol for this currency is Rp. There are many forms of coins: Rp. 25, Rp. 50, Rp. 100, Rp. 200, Rp. 500, and banknotes: Rp. 1,000; Rp. 5,000; Rp. 10,000; Rp. 50,000; Rp. 100,000. The coins of Rp. 25, Rp. 50, and Rp. 100 are rarely used now.


The Coins




The Bank Notes

Some of my overseas friends always get confused about how we do transactions with our money. For example, you have to pay about Rp. 2,000 (two thousands rupiahs) for public transport fares. For my friends, it is a lot ... as they think Rp. 2,000 like USD 2,000 or RM 2,000 or AUD 2,000. Well, it is different. In fact, Rp. 2,000 is only USD 0.22. The exchange rate for USD 1 is around Rp. 9,000-9,500 (year 2008). So, you will find yourself spending thousands of rupiahs for bread or a meal, or a drink or a small souvenir or hundred of thousands for a hotel room ... or millions for rupiahs for an overseas flight ticket ... Yes, we have lots of zeros in every transaction.

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Jenolan Caves

Welcome to Jenolan Caves

Jenolan caves are natural limestone caves in Blue Mountain, New South Wales, Australia. It was named after a mountain, Mt. Jenolan, that is located near to the caves. In Aboriginal language, Jenolan means ‘high mountain’. The caves system is about 340 million years old and located in a 24.16 km2 area. It is, then, claimed as the oldest and the largest open caves system in the world. The exact number of the caves, that are included in the system, remains unknown until now ... further explorations are still going on. However, there are 10 caves which are publicly accessible: Cerberus cave, Chifley Cave, Imperial Cave, Jubilee Cave, Lucas Cave, Nettle Cave, Orient Cave, Ribbon Cave, River cave and Temple of Baal Cave.

The caves were already discovered by the Aboriginies thousands of years ago. They named it ‘Binoomea’ meaning ‘Dark Places’. Then, in 1838, the caves were first discovered by a foreigner, James McKeown. He was a lawbreaker and hiding in the caves. The Whalan brothers run after and arrested James. It was, then, Charles Whalan and his sons who ‘really’ discovered the caves system and became the first ‘cavekeeper’.


The Stalactites in the Lucas Cave

If you have limited time on your visit, do the Lucas, Imperial, Chiefly or Orient caves tour. Actually, I can not fully enjoy the cave tour as I do not like to be in the dark and cold places for a long time ... I just do not feel good about it. But, as I was there (... I had come far away from my home country), then I should take at least one cave tour. I only took the Lucas cave tour. The cave was named after the local parliament member to honour his effort for preserving the caves. The main feature of Lucas Cave is the Cathedral chamber and the broken column formation. The Cathedral was used for religious services and wedding ceremonies. It was good though. The thing that always amazes me when I visit a cave is the formation of the stalactite and stalagmite. I always think and imagine how long it takes to form and grow one stalactite or stalagmite with the average of growth rate of 1 mm/year ... Yes, it is very very very long!

The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters is another famous rock formation in Australia. It is located near to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. The rocks formation is unique. The rocks stand side by side over the Jamison Valley. They sculpted by wind and rain constant erosion. Each rock has its own name, Meehni (922 m), Wimlah (918 m), and Gunnedoo (906 m). I think the three rocks may totally detach one day in the future because of the wind and water erosion over time.


Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo?? Which is which?


Waterfall with a rainbow ...

A folk tale says that the rocks represent three sisters, namely Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo. The three sisters fell in love and wished to married three men from other tribe. However, the three couples were not allowed to get married by the tribal law. Then, a war between the two tribes erupted. To protect the three sisters from any harm, they were, then, turned to stones by a medicine man. The war killed the medicine man, as a result the three ladies were kept forever in the stones.