Ferrari-Boss Luca di Montezemolo does'nt like Singapur F1 track

Luca di Montezemolo the big Ferrari Boss mentioned in an interview during test runs in Monza that he doesn't like the new race courses because it's difficult to overtake! "Dear Mr. Montezemolo, you haven't even been in Singapore to see our new Marina Bay race track nor has anyone raced there, yet from a distance of more than 8,000 miles you are able to judge which courses you like or you don't? What are you afraid off? That McLaren/Mercedes has better cars than your team and you're looking for excuses? Why don't you get your engineers to build cars that can also win on tracks that are narrower and more difficult to overtake."
I'm very disappointed and so will many Singapore-F1 enthusiasts and many of the Ferrai owners be. We probably should cheers for 0ther teams?
Maybe we should use another brand in the header of our blog besides Red Bull.

Ullambana or Hanging the "Lantern of Life" Festival

Buddhists are celebrating this Ullambana festival hanging the “Ksitigarbha Life-Prolonging” Lantern to brighten up the world of all sentient beings.
In many Buddhist scriptures, lanterns and lamps represent the Wisdoms of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As the “Lamp of Continual Light” symbolizes the mind of Enlightenment, therefore, every practitioner in search of liberation contemplates their bodies as the lamp stand, their minds as lamp bow and their faith as lamp wick. The significance of hanging the “Ksitigarbha Life-Prolonging” Lantern during Ullambana Festival is to transmit to all beings the light of powerful vows made by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

Life-Prolonging Ksitigarbha is one of the manifestations of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Having taken a vow to help all beings to prolong their life, he blesses one with longer lifespan and avoid premature death. May the supreme virtues and merits of lamp offering bless all beings to obtain happiness, free from suffering, illness, calamities and epidemics, enjoy longevity and may all wishes of sentient beings be fulfilled.

Mid Autumn Festival also known as Chinese Moon Festival

The Mid-autumn Festival also known as Chinese Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th moon day of 8th Chinese lunar month which is the 14 September in 2008.
The first day of 8th lunar month this year is 31st August.
Moon cakes have played a central role in Moon Festival traditions. Once, according to Chinese legend (not necessarily supported by historical records), moon cakes helped bring about a revolution. I was during the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), when the Mongolians invaded from the north and subjugated the Han Chinese. The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang (left) who plotted to overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Yuan dynasty sought permission from Mongolian leaders to give gifts to friends as a symbolic gesture to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor.

These gifts were round moon cakes. Inside, Zhu had his followers place pieces of paper with the date the Han Chinese were to strike out in rebellion to overthrow the Mongols, thus ending the Yuan dynasty -- on the fifteenth night of the eighth month. These days lanterns were used at night as signals from higher grounds and hilltop.
Hence today, far from the exotic and heroic legends, Chinese communities all over the world make, consume and exchange as gifts these moon-shaped pastries with sweet fillings of red bean and lotus seed paste, during the traditional autumn Moon Festival.
This is a day to worship the moon god an according to folk legend it is also the birthday of the earth god (T'u-ti Kung). The Chinese believe in praying to the moon god for protection, family unity, and good fortune.
The moon festival signals that the year's hard work in the fields will soon come to an end, with only the harvest left to attend to. People use this opportunity to express their gratitude to heaven (represented by the moon) and earth (symbolized by the earth god) for the blessings they have enjoyed over the past year. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos together. The round "moon cakes" are symbolic of family unity and closeness.

Pomelos are also eaten on this day. The Chinese word for "pomelo" or "grapefruit" is yu, which is homophonous with the word for "protection," yu, expressing the hope that the moon god give them protection. Moon gazing is another essential part of this festival. On this day, the moon is at its roundest and brightest. This is also a time for lovers to tryst and pray for togetherness, symbolized by the roundness of the moon. Lanterns were used at night as signals from higher grounds and hilltop.

Today, this festival is celebrated with moon cakes and lantern hanging on the house. The lantern and the moon cakes have attracted many children and adults attention. In certain area, lantern procession and competition are held.

In Singapore the Chinese Garden is the special venue for this most beautiful of all the Chinese festivals. Many traditional festivals all over the world have been transformed into highly commercial ones and lots of kitsch is displayed for sale.

I definitely can't find any link between Chinese tradition, moon cakes or lanterns and David Beckham, can you?

Even this "white" guy has no resemblance with any ancient customs, however he is probably the most renown and popular "ang moh" in the Chinatown Night Market.

Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival Official Light-Up and Opening Ceremony

Don't miss the official light up and opening ceremony for the mid autumn festival on August 31 6:45 to 10pm. The colourful and exciting event will include a lantern parade, the largest dragon dance street performance, lion dances, other invigorating performances as well as a spectacular fireworks display.

The festivities will culminate with the widely acclaimed performances by renowned Japanese troupe, Akita Kanto.

The Beijing extravaganza is finally over

With almost the same bang as the opening ceremony the Beijing Olympics were closed by IOC President Jacques Rogge last evening.

First at all it has been 17 days of exceptional achievements and records by all of the participating athletes who should be honored and congratulated.
But these Olympics were also about showing face! The Chinese organizers had to cater for 2 different audiences. The world, China had to show its rise as a superpower not caring about costs at all.
And for the citizens they had to justify the “official” $40 billion (insider say over 60 billion) inbuilding gigantic stadiums and other fabulous sports facilities (some of them may be hardly used afterwards), the closing down of factories, limiting travel within Beijing, putting thousands of people out of jobs for 4 months for reaching better air quality and using 1, 4 million citizens as “volunteers”. These volunteers also deserve a big round of applause for their efforts.
The closing ceremony was really spectacular and went again to extremes to satisfy every detail which will be hard measuring up to this level for future host cities.
The London Mayor and his Olympic committee were handed over the Olympic flag and an even bigger burden. Everything they do might or will be compared to Beijing. Can London compete with Beijing? Can any new host city compete? Does it matter?Definitely not and I think they even don’t want to. They will be different and great in their own way.They also know that the perception of these Games has become one of soul-less efficiency and robotic lockstep.

The Olympic Flame is extinguished. Beijing games are history. Good Luck London!

34 more days to our F1 night race

Time is flying, by only 34 days and 2 more races (Belgium and Monza) then Singapore's big day is coming.
I watched last nights grand prix in Valencia also a first. The race track is interesting but the views were not that great. Whenever the cameras caught the scenery outside the track you saw containers and warehouses. Two eye catchers on the course were the modern bridge and some yachts lined up next to the track. But that's about it.
Some of the media tried to compare it to Monaco, because of the yachts I guess, but there is no way that Valencia comes even close to the real beauty of Monaco, it is way to industrial, at least around the F1 track. And there was some comparison with Singapore which I do not understand, others that the Spanish track is also new and a city loop.
Singapore will be so much more spectacular with the backdrop of our magnificent skyline, the Esplanade, the business district, City Hall, Suntec City and then the Flyer and the floating platform and last not least the pit building. I'm not even talking about the excitement of having the first F1 night race ever.
Let's hope out Media Corp guys will do a great job of including the gorgeous scenery into the race. You can't get a better promotion for our city state reaching an audience of millions on their TV sets at home.

No doubt it will be a spectacular race!.............and being bios is certainly allowed, isn't it?

It's never boring at Erich's

It was just another ordinary Friday evening at Erich's, a few friends, some familiar faces, some newcomers and as always passers-by. Quite busy at the Wuerstelstand despite the hungry ghost month.However at the food court upstairs many of the stalls were already closed.
So we expected it to be a fun night with fabulous sausages, bread and Erdinger and chatting.
But suddenly things changed, busy guys with trolleys and others carrying cables and lanterns caught our attention. Soon we found out what it was all about: A film crew was preparing to shoot a new advertisement video about Singapore for Singapore Tourism Board (STB).Starring the shoot was Singapore's ambassador, the famous, talented and sexy singer/songwriter Tanya Chua and asked to co-star were some of Erich's frequent customers and photogenic friends ("The Golden Girls"). Even Stanley, the fruit juice dude next door was featured in the shoot.
Man, he knows how to pose already......!!

It took a while and several "cuts" until the director was satisfied with the outcome.
And again "famous" ang moh (Erich)'s Wuerstelstand was the location for another video production!

As I mentioned earlier ....... just another ordinary Friday evening at Erich's.

By the way, talking about Stanley, he has got a blog now as well, featuring his Natural & Healthy Juice Bar with all his fruit juices and soon I guess with some of his recepies

Chinatown Mid-Autumn, Mooncake and Lantern Festival, 29 Aug - 14 Sep

Get ready for another big event in Chinatown coming up soon. The Mid-Autumn festival is just around the corner.

Check out more than 250 festive stalls selling traditional goodies like moon cakes, pomelos, lanterns and more that will be lining the streets of Chinatown to cater for every festive need.

Stop by at Erich's Wuerstelstand or Backstube to boost your energy with his delicious sausages, meatloaf and bread for more walking around Chinatown's Festive Street Bazaar 29 Aug - 14 Sep:

Stalls are open:
11am – 11pm Sun – Thu
11am – 1am Fri, Sat and PH
in Pagoda Street, Trengganu Street and Sago Street.
Expecting a huge crowd of visitors after a month long hiatus, during the hungry ghost festival, the best bet getting there will be taking public transport.

Take MRT to Chinatown (NE4) or Outram Park (EW16) stations or bus services.

The Race Begins September 26

Only 45 more days and these lights will be switched on to brighten the Singapore night.....
for the first training on our new Marina Bay Race Circuit!
Major construction is more or less completed but there is still a lot of work to do.

Let me show you some impressions from the busy course:

The Pit building construction is done, inside work yet to be finished. Pit Grandstand works:

Turn 2 and 3 with grand stand:
The race track is snaking around the Singapore Flyer

The nearly 1km almost straight Raffles Boulevard underpasses 2 overhead bridges at Milenia Walk and Pan Pacific Hotel and will allow top speeds
A sharp right turn at the War Memorial Park
followed by a 200m straight and a 90 deg left turn into high speed St. Andrews Rd. stretch (ca. 500m) with a gorgeous backdrop of business district buildings
At the end of it after the Cricket Club drivers need to engage their brakes to slow down from over 300 km/h to meager 80 km/h for the narrowest and probably most dangerous part of our race track: The Anderson Bridge (built 1909)
then follows a sharp left to another high speed straight "The Esplanade Drive".......
at "The Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay" a 90 deg right turn leads to a short straight and to another critical part of the course. A combination of right-left (passing the Bay Grandstand and the Floating Platform) - and left again cutting underneath the Grandstand and exit with a right..
At this point the racers have almost completed one lap. There is 1 more right and 3 easy left turns until either the pit lane or the start/finish line
After estimated 61 laps the first winner of the 1st Singtel Singapore Grand Prix will be crowned. He will have passed 23 turns and 5.067km per lap, with speed in excess of 300 km/h along Raffles Boulevard and between 250 and 300 km/h on Pit Straight, St. Andrew’s Road and Esplanade Drive. The slowest speed will be measured at about 80-100 km/h.
Furthermore all the drivers will have completed the first ever F1 night race on the second most scenic race course besides Monaco.

There are still some great tickets left although 92% are already sold!
Hope we see you all there or you can also watch live on TV.