Where should I park? These info sign boards introduced in April this year must be a hit with drivers looking for car park lots in the Marina area.These signboards all around shows the available parking lots in Suntec City, Marina Square, Millenia Singapore, Singapore Flyer, The Esplanade and Raffles City. These lights will turn night into day... The Singapore Grand Prix is a night race. So to turn darkness into light they have these light projectors all around the track. There are about 1500 of these lighting projectors. These projectors have luminosity of 3000 lux. But guess what? They are so bright not for the drivers to see clearly. It's this bright so that High Definition TV Cameras can record the race. LOLShould have brought my other camera with 12 times optical zoom to take these photos instead. LOL. Cages.... or you might call it fences.. Preparation for the Singapore Grand Prix is underway.All along the race track route, you can see these protective fences. Keep the road users safe from the cars and more importantly, 'encouraging' people to buy the tickets to watch it. (they will be totally covered up I read)A friend just showed me his hotel booking to watch it from high up. Friends working in the offices in this area will play to 'work late' to view it. LOL.. Theme Day for September 1: Sister Cities It's Theme Day for the Daily Photo community again. The theme for September is Sisters Cities.Singapore does not have any sisters city. But according to this press release by the San Franciso Mayor's Office, these cities once signed a pact for a Digital Sisters Cities initiative :San Franciso (USA), Toronto (Canada), Guadalajara (Mexico), Ireland, Dusseldorf (Germany), Skopje (Macedonia), Sofia (Bulgaria), Chennai (India), Singapore and Osaka (Japan).I wonder if there are fellow DPs living in these cities? Oh yes there is! 13 of us!San Francisco (CA), USA by PFranson * San Francisco (CA), USA by Burd Zel Krai * San Francisco (CA), USA by Ursel * San Francisco (CA), USA by Louis la Vache * San Francisco (CA), USA by meles meles * San Francisco (CA), USA by ManuelSingapore, Singapore by Keropokman * Singapore, Singapore by Zannnie, Ming & MadscientistToronto, Canada by Steve * Toronto, Canada by ElaineSofia, Bulgaria by AntoniaChennai, India by Shantaram * Chennai, India by Ram NBut how do I request them to take a photo for me? Well, use the City Daily Photo portal of course! The photos thumbnails are listed as they post photo daily.Want to know which are cities are sisters? Click here to view thumbnails for all participants on the Theme Day Renault F1 R28 showcar Spotted at the Marriott Hotel earlier tonight.The Renault F1 R28 showcar, it is identical to the ones used by Renault's F1 drivers. the making of the grandstand The Singapore Grand Prix starts in around 29 days.The Marina Bay district now looks like a giant cage. Friends who are working in the area are all wondering how they are getting to work. Every where's starting to be fenced up to prevent people who did not pay for the tickets no view of the race.The only way to view it is to buy a ticket. The best seats is at the grandstand. These are photos taken yesterday of the grandstand being built.A closer view of the grandstand. On the ceiling is the greatest invention ever. The air-conditioning units. ;-)You can read more about the Singapore Grand Prix at www.singaporegp.sg IT pilgrimage... A few times a year, people in Singapore will faithfully do the IT pilgrimage.Some things are cheap, some things are not. Some hate the crowds, others love the atmosphere. For the religious, this is one of the many shows in the year that you gotta go.Comex 2008 is now on till Sunday.At Suntec City Exhibition Centre, Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!12 noon to 9 pm. Mid Autumn Festival Seen on the riverside at Clarke Quay. Part of the mid-autumn festival displays.Momo was on the way to The Central to have dinner with a friend who got the iPhone. LOL... Jacob Ballas Children's Garden The entrance to the children's garden.Was told that adults are not allowed? :-(Jacob Ballas Children's Garden Website Dedicated to all the children of Singapore A children's garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.From their website at http://www.sbg.org.sg/bukittimahcore/ChildrenGarden.asp it says that Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is Asia's first children's garden. Dedicated to all children of Singapore, it is designed to provide unique discovery and learning experiences in a garden setting.Just happen to pass by, one of these days, I will go in and visit :-) Singapore Environment Council Just a simple looking building. But people working inside are greenies.The board in the middle says Singapore Environment Council.Want to be green, but do not know how? Surf over to http://www.sec.org.sg/ The Big Bubble Ride or Zorbing Other than bubbles in yesterday's event, there was 'zorbing' as well.It's suppose to be extreme sports, but this is a super kids friendly version. (someone rolls the ball gently by the side, while kids are inside) playing with bubbles.... Was at a 'Family Day' event. Kids, both young and young at heart enjoying playing with bubbles.Can you see the big bubble? There were bigger ones, but my camera did not capture them ;-) Wow, the road signs are actually cleaned! I never knew that road name signs were cleaned until today!I learn something new everyday. I now know why the road name signs always look so clean and new. ;-) No Park No park. We know that there's no park here. ;-)We also know it meant to say No Parking. ;-) LOL.. Reflection at Bukit Chandu Momo took this a while ago, while she and a group of friends were trekking at the Southern Ridges.It's a WWII site. You can read more about it at the National Archives website. Building of a gambling den They have a nice name for it. It's called an Integrated Resort.But it's essentially a big gambling den right?View of the Sentosa IR being built, from the Cable Car ride.It's suppose to keep the economy going. Do you think so? Sentosa Station Sentosa Station built in 1974 (older than me!) as seen when you ride a cable car into the resort island.Momo rode on this few weeks ago.Residents in Singapore: When was the last time you were there? :-)Visitors to Singapore: It's very popular tourist destination, you can find out what's on at http://www.sentosa.com.sg/ The Crowd Beside the Merlion Yesterday's photo had people who chose the picnic way to enjoy the fireworks.These people here enjoy crowding with the Merlion :-)Just look at how packed it is! National Day Picnic Taken exactly one week ago. Many people were seated at a grass patch beside Marina Square, waiting to admire the fireworks display later in the night.But everyone evacuated half an hour later when rain started to pour. Despite that, the show went on ;-) Sun light. What I saw this morning when I walked out of the house to work.The clouds can't hide the sun ray's. Heli-Evac Exercise Earlier today we heard a loud noise from the helicopter. This time we knew what's happening.It was helicopter evacuation exercise. The participating agencies include: Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force (SPF), National University of Singapore (NUS) and National University Hospital (NUH).It was fun watching. The Superpuma landed, they are getting the patient out.But wait, the cameraman has to take a nice shot of it first.The cameraman now stood still to see the 'patient' being wheeled away.Another personnel gets out and joins the rest.After a few minutes, time to go back. Cameraman and another person runs back to the Superpuma.The door shuts and it's ready for take off.A lift off!A turning...There it goes... Bye!More photos that usual today :-) Take an allergy test and get paid for it as well? Saw this poster at one of the bus stops at NUS.What I saw was "no pain or blood involved". HmmmmmThink its some research group collecting samples.Click http://freeallergytest.blogspot.com/ to find out more. It seems anyone can participate. You do not need to be from the NUS Community. Fire Escape Stairs... I saw this stairways in one of the buildings in the CBD and thought it's rare to see this nowadays. Most fire escape stairs are hidden inside the building but this one's outside and it looks nice. ;-)Have a wonderful week ahead! Arts & Heritage District I did not know that Singapore had an "Arts & Heritage District", until I saw this banner.Anyone interested in Henri Matisse should visit the Tyler Print Institute soon.If you are like me and wonder what constitute the Arts & Heritage District, here it is:The Arts & Heritage District is demarcated by the following roads: *1. Armenian Street (Two sides of the road)2. Hill Street (Two sides of road)3. Part of Bencoolen Street (between Bras Basah Road and Middle Road, two sides of road)4. Part of Middle Road (between Selegie Road and North Bridge Road, two sides of road)5. Part of North Bridge Road (between Bras Basah Road and Middle Road, two sides of road)6. Part of Prinsep Street (between Bras Basah Road and Middle Road, two sides of road)7. Part of Queen Street (between Middle Road and Armenian Street, two sides of road)8. Part of Selegie Road (between Bras Basah Road and Middle Road, two sides of road)9. Part of Victoria Street (between Middle Road and Stamford Road, two sides of road)10. Part of Waterloo Street (between Bras Basah Road and Middle Road, two sides of road)11. Stamford Road(* http://www.nac.gov.sg/eve/eve07Outdoor.asp)Or download their brochure (Page 2) that's easier to understand. Note the brochure is outdated though. View of NDP from our hotel room This was yesterday's view from the hotel room of the NDP.We could see the stage, but humans are a bit too small. LOL... The sound was clear though.Unzoom and this is what we saw. Plus the bay and the merlion. (not seen in this photo)But we did see lots of fireworks live.I can't really take fireworks photo.Our other friend took nicer ones. I video the rest instead on my little point and click.For scenes we could not really see, there's always the TV broadcast that provided the zoom ;-) Singapore's National Day Parade Entry.... Today's Singapore National Day. Those who are been fortunate enough to get an entry ticket gets to watch the National Day Parade 2008 live.Here's the entry point to the venue. It's all in the Singapore colours. It's a sea of red!No, I do not have an entry ticket. A friend booked a room with a view of the National Day Parade stage and we all chipped in to watch it in the comfort of an air-con room. Can't wait for the fireworks to start later..Happy National Day to Singapore. NUSSU Rag & Flag Day 2008 Today is the NUSSU Rag & Flag Day 2008.An annual event by the Student Union of Singapore's largest and most prestigious university. (National University of Singapore Student Union)An event considered to be frivolous by some, but it did manage to raise $441,839.07 for 19 selected social service programmes supported by Community Chest last year. They deserve a big thumbs up.(http://www.comchest.org.sg/comchest/NewsEvents/FundRaisingGallery/NUSSURagFlagDay2008/tabid/254/Default.aspx)The floats I heard are all made from recycled materials. The Starhub HD Set-Top Box One more day to go, and preparation started last week. What preparation did I hear you asked? Watching the Olympics on High Definition on TV.Many household, including ours, got the High Definition Set-Top Box from our cable TV company so that we could watch High Definition broadcast of the Beijing Olympics on the Free-to-air channel HD5. Plus we get 6 dedicated Olympic channels on cable TV too. Hmmm TV addicts rejoice!(Sounds weird? Oxymoron? Cable TV Set-top box for free-to-air TV? Yes! It's the cheapest way too. )We are ready. HD Ready. 8 PM tomorrow!Yes, Singapore and Malaysia have the same timezone as Beijing, China ;-)For those in Singapore, the HD5 schedule's here. Love Confectionery @ Bukit Merah Today after lunch with colleagues at Bukit Merah, we walked past this shop that had so many people! We wondered what is so special and when one colleague saw some pandan cakes she likes and people are all queing up for them, she quickly joined the queue. :-)What a lovely name isn't it? There are more people inside the shop!What we saw on display is only 2 kinds of cakes. Cupcakes and pandan cakes slices. Everything else has been wiped out. Oh, there was also a few loaves of cakes on another table.The place must be around for a long time. Everything has stayed as it is I think. The postcode on the box still has the 4 digit postcodes that has been phased out long ago.This is colleague's breakfast for tomorrow. We shall find out from her if it's good tomorrow.It did smell very good to us! 70 cents each.Anyone there knows more about this shop?Maybe we should go back again and try the other cakes. Everything seems to be sold out this time.Blk 122 Bukit Merah Lane 1#01-60Singapore 150122