5th Austrian- International Daemmerschoppen

Another Daemmerschoppen last Sunday can only mean one thing: Helmut is back in town!
Even welcome signs were put up to appreciate his return!!!

Welcome back Buddy, it's always good to see you.

Exorbitant Hotel Rates During F1 race !

It's a very thin ice Singapore hotels are walking at with their (way) overpriced hotel rates during the Formula One period. Of course they can argue using the demand and supply marketing rule, however hotel managers should make a quick research during the F1 races in Europe who are the majority of visitors.

And I beg to differ and not use Monaco as an example. Singapore is slowly becoming a world class city, no doubt, and to aim becoming like them is probably not bad as well, but Monte Carlo is still light years ahead in terms of being a fun city, night life and glamour.
Check it out how many celebrities do have second (3rd, 4th) homes in or around Monaco on this southern coastline of France! How many are visiting on a regular basis for summer holidays there that includes a visit -to be seen- during the race days. These guys are booking five and six star hotels and don't care about rates.

But think about it, do they come in thousands? Definitely not they are actually a minority.

So who is making the bulk of visitors, the tens of thousands needed? It's the 'ordinary' sports fan! But they do want or cannot afford these hotels, so they stay in Budget Hotels, B&B's, Pensions, etc. and in camper vans or tents around the Grand Prix cities.

This unfortunately is impossible in Singapore because there are no such facilities.

As a result many of that specific group of fans, may give Singapore a miss, maybe not in the first year since it's a new venue and the first F1 night race ever!

Therefore I fully understand the concern about soaring hotel rates by Senior Minister of State (Trade and Industry) S. Iswaran.

This F1 race is not a "One Night Stand" it should become a "long term relationship" for visitors, so the first impression counts most. Don't shy them away being 'Kiasu' and rip them off at their first visit.

Please them, give them more than they expect and receive from other F1 sites. Show Singapore from it's best side ever, on and off the race track, create a memorable impression of our wonderful city state and they will return the following years and spread the positive message among their friends.

Beijing Olympics: Lost in Translation (Part II)

I wouldn't dare...

One lump or two?

Thank you for open!

Translation: "no parking on bicyclists at any time"

How do you do?

Butt talks?

The pool man is gonna freak

Yeah, cheated out of breathing...

Stylist Ben Dover at your service...

Operators standing by....

Damn, these fireworks reek....

Press it because you want to....

I'll keep a look out....

New in this section: 'Bowling with Bilbo'

I give my life and my company, but they just keep demanding more...

Bejing Olympics: Lost in Translation (Part I)

No worries guys I'm not going into the troubles accompanying the world wide torch relay or the terrible air quality there. However I'm really tempted because a lot of happenings drive me crazy, especially when I read how China is trying to show the world that air quality is better then the evil Western media are constantly reporting.

They want to close most of the power plants, cement factories, construction work, etc. the most polluters obviously. Plus some car owners will also have to leave their vehicles at home ordered by the government! And all that should happen at least a month before the official opening to improve air quality. They are cheating again, as always, with fake goods, DVDs, poisoned toys, etc, etc, etc. TV cameras have to broadcast beautiful pictures to the viewers worldwide.............

Oh, see just got into the issues I wanted to stay out of. Sorry folks!

However some you guys might still want to go there. I just received a very funny email and I really want to share this with you. It's hilarious!
Check it out:

First rule: don't smile........... or at least not in public

......and if you're dead, please get to a hospital...

A difficult meal...

For children from other countries its OK...

I think it was that "screw you" comment...

Start with the big toe...

Well, it is free...

That would explain the beer cubs outside...

Flavor with heart...

Falling should be planned...

I told grandma to use protection...

Plenty of meat for everybody...



Got too many kids?



Ouch!



Oh really! Wouldn't have guessed that...


To be continued.............

5000 Visitors and Counting

Today we have a reason to celebrate we reached the 5000 mark! A visitor from Salzburg University was our fifth thousand's! Thank you very much to everyone who's checking out our Wuerstelstand site. I know there will be some bloggers out there laughing because what's 5000 compared to other blogsites getting this every day or even more and it took us almost one year

Never mind we are just a niche blog on the WWW and therefore never expected being so succesful, so it still makes us very proud!

Thank you very much again and keep visiting not only our blog but for the local visitors keep patronizing also erich's ventures, Wuerstelstand, Backstube and Imbiss.

For friends or tourists who unfortunately had to leave Singapore check out the blog and stay informed what's going at the Wuerstelstand, Chinatown Nightmarket, Singapore and the region.

Drinking Kills Driving Skills

We are a 1000% percent supporter of Mika Häkkinen's and Johnny Walker's campain: Don't drink and drive. See here some statistics why it makes sense:

48% of all accidents are alcohol related. 52% of all accidents are caused by sober drivers.
Alcohol is responsible almost a quarter of the people killed on our roads. With a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05 the risk of being involved in a crash doubles, with a BAC of 0.08, you are seven times more likely to crash and 25 times more likely with a BAC of 0.15.
Alcohol-related fatal crashes cost the world community billions of dollars a year.
The hospital and rehabilitation costs of alcohol-related crashes where people are seriously injured are even higher.
Alcohol is a major factor in 26 per cent of road deaths.
It doesn't take much to put drivers over the legal alcohol limit of 0.05 and it is well known that drinking before driving increases your chances of crashing.
Intoxicated drivers involved in fatal crashes are three times more likely to have been speeding than sober drivers.
Alcohol affects decision-making, reaction times, speed and distance judgments, concentration and perception, balance and alertness.
It can also give a driver a false sense of confidence which may encourage him or her to take more risks.
Becoming a more global city Singapore is also seeing a growing drinking culture – market intelligence surveys indicate that alcohol consumption in Singapore is on the rise. There is nothing against moderate (!!) drinking per se - it is the irresponsible patrons who choose to take the risk of driving after drinking that calls for tougher action on the part of Traffic Police.
The significant rise in drink-driving arrests is a worrying trend – recording a 7% rise from 3,733 cases in 2006, to 4,009 cases in 2007. The total number of drink-driving cases in 2007 has also been the highest for the last 10 years. This is largely contributed by a 9% increase in the number of drivers who were detected for drink-driving in non-accident cases.
The message is simple - if you are going to drink, plan not to drive. Designate a non-drinking driver, ask someone to collect you, call a cab, take public transport or stay overnight.

First taste of F1 in Singapore

We finally got the first real peek what to expect from the F1 race in September and it turned out to be a real magnet to the Singaporeans. Over 10,000 showed up Sunday afternoon to get their guaranteed adrenaline rush when two-time Formula One Champion Mika Häkkinen took to the streets in a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 car to launch Johnnie Walker’s latest responsible drinking campaign.
Hosted by celebrity sports presenter Jaime Yeo, Mika Häkkinen, the Global Responsible Drinking Ambassador, officially launched ‘Join the Pact’ an initiative by Johnnie Walker to remind members of the public to

‘Never Drink and Drive’.
The Finn thrilled the crowds with a series of stunts at the Padang, along St. Andrew Road, demonstrating the clear need to be in complete control when competing in world’s most-watched automotive race. Some of the audience might have already been in Malaysia for the Grand Prix but I’m sure the soon found out that there will be no comparison to the Singapore Grand Prix, since the F1 cars have to negotiate their way between high rise buildings, sharp bends and a very narrow Anderson Bridge which will extremely challenge the drivers.
Reporters and TV teams following every step Mika made.
After some sprints and turns in an AMG tuned Mercedes the McLaren pit crew finally pushed out the F1 car
Waiting for the "GO"
and off he zoomedEveryone had his camera or mobile ready to shoot.......
but sorry....... just missed it, maybe a little tooo fast. He already passed!
Coming back to the pit pushed in by the crew they finally got their shots
Another big difference to race track races will be the noise level when the roaring sound of the engines is reflected echo like by the buildings. This time it was only one car racing a short distance; imagine 20 of them for at least 90 minutes. At full throttle, each car's noise level could go up to 130 decibels (dB) - just shy of the 150 dB produced by a jumbo jet.

But back to the main purpose of this event: Häkkinen and Sponsor Johnny Walker tried to show consumers the importance of staying in control when you’re behind the wheel and to highlight the most important thing not only for yourself but also your family and all the other road users to NOT DRINK AND DRIVE. So be responsible leave your car behind and take public transport.

The aftermath of this spectacular event was another problem we all and especially the responsible government agencies have to be aware of is to fence off everything which should not be touched by the public. Some “ugly” Singaporean displayed the other side of such mass events: No explanation needed I assume...........
When we asked to use the walkways the reply was: “No lah cannot, so jammed, don’t want to wait!! None of your business!
But there were only some thousand and for the race in September about 90,000 are expected!