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Showing posts from May, 2010

Giving Shanghai a second chance

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[Image from Wikipedia] I've been extremely slow in finishing my travelogues for my Japan trip in April! Between work and play, I haven't had much time to write, and for that I apologise! But happy to say that I'll be leaving for Shanghai (上海) in 2 days! While the trip is going to be a relatively short one as I'll be there for 5 days only, I am hoping that it would be a much better experience than my previous trip in March 2007. If you have noticed based on all my past holidays and my writings, I am one who enjoy culture and nature. And so, a city with almost 20 million people may not really be my cup of tea. I felt overwhelmed by the people and drained by the energy of the city on my last trip, but I am determined to try, find and enjoy the culture and the uniqueness of Shanghai. Of course, I'll be visiting the World Expo as well, so hopefully, I'll be enjoying the culture and the uniqueness of a whole lot of other countries too! So, wish me luck, and I&

Walk around Yokohama

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{ Japan April 2010 - Day 5 - Yokohama } After spending the last few days all around Tokyo - Shinjuku , Roppongi Hills , Shibuya , Central Tokyo and Odaiba - we decided that it was time to visit the Japan's second largest city, Yokohama. We spent some time walking around Minato Mirai before going to Chinatown for dinner. Walk around Minato Mirai Minato Mirai 's full name is Minato Mirai 21 ( みなとみらい21 ) which means Future Harbour 21. The 21 in the name indicates the 21st century. It was built on reclaimed land and housed Japan's tallest building, Landmark Tower. We took a walk around the area, starting from Minato Mirai Station. Right outside the station was Cosmo World with a large ferris wheel. The ferris wheel which doubled as a clock is the tallest in Japan with 112.5 metres in height. Personally, I prefer this type of ferris wheel compared to the Singapore Flyer in Singapore ( click here for the photos ). The amusement park looked pretty big with lots of rides

Improving your vocabulary while fighting hunger

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Who would have thought that by playing a word game you would be able to donate grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme ? All you have to do is go to Free Rice website and play a game testing your vocabulary. For each answer you get right, Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme. Apart from the vocabulary game, there are other subjects to choose from - Famous Paintings, Chemical Symbols, Countries on the Map, World Capitals, Mathematics and even foreign languages like French, German, Italian and Spanish. The way the website work is that each time the game is played, sponsor banners appear on the bottom of the screen. The money generated by these banner is then used to buy the rice. Since it started in October 2007, it has generated 79 billions grains of rice and provided meals for 4 million people. 1 in 6 people do not get enough food to be healthy With 1 billion undernourished people in the world, isn't it time that each

Walk around Marina Bay

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The Helix Bridge was opened officially on Saturday, 24 April 2010 as I wrote in my previous post . We were there on the Sunday after the official opening and went for a walk on the bridge and towards the Esplanade . We took the train to the new Circle Line's Promenade Station. From there, it was a short walk to the Helix Bridge and the Singapore Flyer . The Singapore Flyer is currently the world's largest observation wheel. There are 28 capsules on the flyer, and you can even dine in one of the capsules! My comment when I first saw the Helix Bridge was how steely the bridge looked! The design was definitely interesting and not something that one would expect on a bridge. However, after awhile, the practical side of me started questioning - what would happen when it rained? There were some glasses on the roof, but it was just on part of the bridge. With the tropical weather that Singapore has, it would definitely be more practical to have a bridge that would shelter the pe

A rainy, wet and cold day in Tokyo

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{ Japan April 2010 - Day 4 - Central Tokyo and Odaiba } Our initial plan was to spend our day in Hakone - a national park about 100 km from Tokyo famous for its hot springs, lake with views of Mount Fuji and natural beauty, with interesting ways to travel around via ropeway, cable car, trains, boats and buses. I had the whole day trip planned. However, the weather forecast said that it was going to rain that day. It would be wet and cold in Hakone, and there would definitely be no views of Mount Fuji. And so, we had to cancel the plan. We decided to bring forward some of our Tokyo plans, and spent the day around Central Tokyo. It was a wet, rainy and cold day in Tokyo.  Tsujiki Fish Market Our first stop in the morning is the Tsuj iki Fish Market ( 築地市場 , Tsukiji shijō ). We did not leave early before dawn to attend the tuna auction which usually start at around 5am. We heard that there had been complaints from the traders about irritating tourists snapping photos and d