Singapore Grand Prix 2012: Friday Practice

The grandstand along the pit straight of the Marina Bay street circuit.

The Passengers were privileged to score tickets to the Formula One hullabaloo in Singapore last weekend. We only got the chance to see the Friday night practice sessions before Sebastian Vettel raced to victory on Sunday night. However, we did have a perch in the corporate hospitality Sky Suites along the pit straight.

Sebastian Vettel navigates the Marina Bay street circuit during Friday's first practice session.

Though not really relevant to Friday practice sessions our perch had a good look at the eventual finish line and podium. More interestingly, we sat directly opposite the garages for teams Red Bull, McLaren, and Scuderia Ferrari. We could watch the machinations of three of the best racing teams this year. We stayed late and did our best to soak up as much hospitality (read: alcohol) as we could.

Crew attend to Sebastian Vettel's car on Friday night.

Crew attend to Lewis Hamilton's car on Friday night.

 

 

Only the dedicated remain in the hospitality suite after the second Formula One practice session last Friday night in Singapore.

Healthy Signage

Here's a photo one of our mates snapped while walking by Freshness Burger on the ground floor of the Central mall at Clarke Quay here in Singapore. An establishment that promotes its "healthy meals" will sell you a "Butter & Sugar Burger" plus coffee for less than S$2 (1.63 USD/1.00 GBP).

This is the Singapore outlet of the Japanese burger chain that is currently promoting a vinegar drink. I will have to stop in and compare their wares with their Nipponese competitors Mos Burger. If I bring a ten-dollar note to Freshness, I might be able to sample breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Countdown to the Singapore Grand Prix 2012

The only nighttime race of the Formula 1 season returns to Singapore in less than two weeks. The SingTel Singapore Grand Prix will run on 23 September 2012. The circuit goes around the Marina Bay area, and the Passengers will undoubtedly be able to hear the scream of high-powered engines all weekend at our nearby gaffe in Club Street. For photos of the action in 2010 click here.

An Aptly Named Owl

The spectacled owl at the London Zoo is, of course, named Elton. More pictures of zookeepers checking up on their charges at the Guardian.

Japanese Cookies

Couque D'asses cookies on the shelf in Singapore.

Spotted this box of cookies at a Japanese food specialty store underneath MBFC a few months back. The double entendre is probably most quickly apparent to Americans, but I think everyone can join the fun, really. I have no ability to read Japanese so I couldn't possibly comment on the ingredients.

Missouri Float Trip

Canoes on the Current River in Shannon County, Missouri.

The Passengers went to Missouri in July because J's brother got married in Columbia. After the celebrations we headed south into the Ozarks for some outdoor recreation. Southern Missouri is a beautiful karst landscape dominated by forested bluffs, riddled with caves, and laced with spring-fed streams. It's a great place for gentle canoe trips, and there are few better streams than the Current River, part of the protected Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

The Current River in the morning.

For weeks temperatures have been unbearable in the Midwest with routine highs around 104 F/40 C during our visit. Fortunately, our river was fed by springs with water temperatures below 70 F. A quick dip in the water always kept us cool during a ten-mile float downstream. There are more details and pictures after the jump.

More Christmas Decor

Thidwick (YouTube link) the fiber-optic reindeer makes spirits bright along Marina Bay in Singapore.

As a complement to an earlier post about tropical Christmas decorations, check out the silver reindeer sculptures downtown in Singapore. These whimsical cervids are just outside the new Marina Bay Financial Centre (already colloquially MBFC), overlooking the same bay as the casino and the streets that host the Singapore Grand Prix.

I can see there is a silvery, tinsel-ly artistic attempt here, but on second glance the reindeer actually looks like a rabbit with an impossibly spindly neck and legs with an even more impossible silver lichen rinceaux spewing from his head.

Also it's been rainy in Singapore this month. Today it rained for more than twelve hours straight. Viewers might notice some damp, shiny streets.

Deck the Malls 2011: Sub-Zero

Welcome to another tropical Christmas.

Last year this blog showcased some of the festive decorations at our local mall, and the festooning this year is again baffling enough to warrant another post. I took some pictures on Saturday at Velocity in Novena, one of the numerous malls stationed atop an MRT (subway/underground/metro) station.

The mall starts Christmas season on 11 November. There is no Thanksgiving to hold back Xmas.

The theme at the mall this year is "Sub-Zero Christmas," an even chillier variation on 2010's "White is the Color of Christmas." I am continually bemused at the winter themes on display for customers in a tropical climate, and I am a still surprised by the pervasiveness of a Christian holiday within a country where the largest religion is Buddhism. Of course, Singapore has many, many Christians, and here we live next door to a church. Either credit the country for being inclusive or blame capitalism for cultivating a retail holiday in unlikely soil. I will opt for the latter given all the non-denominational  bedecking.

Shoppers on Level 2 are just about eye-level with a rather threatening penguin.

Alright, no more musing because once again the highlight of Velocity's decorations are the disturbing white animals. Several of them are perched on top of the main awning in the first photo above. Here are some more sculptures that dangle from the ceiling.

The tiny skating rink is back! In the ad copy this year it's called the Velocity Arctic Village. 

Click the link below left to behold a Photoshop disaster.

Daylesford Town

Along Raglan Street in Daylesford, Victoria. We saw wrought iron balconies like these all over town and in Melbourne.

As mentioned, part of our Australian trip was spent in Daylesford, a small town only about a ninety-minute drive northwest of Melbourne. It's a popular weekend destination in the hills of the Macedon Range for people in the city so it has plenty of hotels and bed & breakfasts. Mostly it reminds me of sleepy but touristed towns in the American West. With the area's gold-rush history and Daylesford's numerous mineral springs it particularly and pleasantly reminds me of Glenwood Springs in Colorado.

Perfect Drop is a good wine bar attached to a bohemian, living-room restaurant serving lots of locally produced food.

The Passengers sat outside on the patio of the local wine bar in the long shadows of a late spring sunset and watched the architecture turn colors. A very pleasant way to vacation. The scene went well with a Temptress Chocolate Porter from Holgate Brewhouse: highly recommended.

Raglan Street in Daylesford again. Further up the road from the first picture.

Good beer from northern Victoria, Australia

UPDATE (19 December 2011): David Sedaris wrote about a visit to Daylesford in a 2009 essay in the New Yorker.

Our destination that afternoon was a place called Daylesford, which looked, when we arrived, more like a movie set than like an actual working town. The buildings on the main street were two stories tall, and made of wood, like buildings in the Old West, but brightly painted. Here was the shop selling handmade soaps shaped like petit fours. Here was the fudgery, the jammery, your source for moisturizer. If Dodge City had been founded and maintained by homosexuals, this is what it might have looked like. “The spas are fantastic,” Pat said, and she parked the car in front of a puppet shop…

Kookaburras

Lake Daylesford in Daylesford, Victoria, Australia

The Passengers went to Australia last week – our very first trip Down Under. We had a fabulous time in and around Melbourne, about a seven hour flight from Singapore (Sydney is further. Perth is closer.).

Among the highlights of our trip was staying at a bed and breakfast in the spa town of Daylesford. Every morning, and on some evenings, we walked around the very scenic lake, seen above. At the beginning of one stroll we heard the cackling of kookaburras in the bush, and we were delighted when a pair of them alighted on a low branch just beside our path. Click on the pictures for larger images.

Kookaburras are carnivorous. They even eat poisonous snakes.

On our first morning in Daylesford we definitely heard kookaburras in the bush. This was the second pair we sighted on our trip.

UPDATE (19 December 2011): I found the essay David Sedaris wrote about feeding a kookaburra in Daylesford for the New Yorker in 2009. 

... I was already overstimulated, but how often in life do you get such an offer [to feed a kookaburra]? That’s how I found myself on the deck, holding a bowl of raw duck meat cut into slender strips. At the sight of it, the bird stood up and flew onto my arm, which buckled slightly beneath the weight. 

“Don’t be afraid,” the waiter said, and he talked to the kookaburra in a soothing, respectful voice, the way you might to a child with a switchblade in his hand. For that’s what this thing’s beak was—a serious weapon. I held a strip of raw duck, and after yanking it from my fingers the bird flew back to the railing. Then he took the meat and began slamming it against his wooden platform. Whap, whap, whap. Over and over, as if he were tenderizing it. 

“This is what he’d do in the wild with snakes and lizards and such,” the waiter said. “He thinks it’s still alive, see. He thinks he’s killing it.”

The kookaburra must have slammed the meat against the wooden platform a good ten times. Only then did he swallow it, and look up, expectantly, for more.

Penang Hotel

The facade of the Eastern and Oriental Hotel on Farquhar Street, Georgetown.

While visiting Penang the Passengers stayed at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, a plush colonial pile dating back to 1885. In its heyday the E&O hosted luminaries like Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, Charlie Chaplin, and Rita Hayworth. Eventually the place fell on hard times, but it has been restored to former splendor in recent years.

Overlooking a tropical paradise at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel.

We found our digs thoroughly enjoyable with a suite that had a balcony overlooking the pool and the sea.We had our own sitting room plus a deluxe bathroom entered through French doors with stained glass. Did I mention the outstanding breakfast, too? The hotel has an additional 17-story tower planned to augment the original historic building.

The view from our balcony at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel.

This hotel was one of the main reasons we chose to spend a weekend in Penang. The E&O in Malaysia peddles the colonial experience that is meticulously marketed by Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and was established by the same enterprising Sarkies brothers, but at less than half the price. High tea at Raffles: S$55 per person plus tax and tip. High tea at E&O's restaurant 1885: S$20 per person plus tax and tip. How do you know you've entered a colonial time warp? High tea.

Peterhouse College, Cambridge

Facing the Peterhouse chapel. The formal hall is on the right.

I just finished attending a symposium at Cambridge University. I had a great time meeting fellow postgraduates in the history of art, and my paper was well received by Tuesday's audience. Of course, one of the highlights of being in Cambridge is the architectural scenery. The conference organizers put me up in a room in Peterhouse Collge, the university's oldest college.

The other side of the courtyard. The underpass in the center is known as "Noah's Ark."

The event included a formal hall dinner at Peterhouse, a day trip to nearby Ely Cathedral, and a good helping of many aspects of Cambridge life. One of my evenings included drinking sherry in the Pembroke College bar at £7.90 per bottle. It's an easy life here with stunning surroundings. More pictures of Peterhouse are after the jump; click on the link below left to see them. Soon I will be flying back to Singapore for more tropical adventures.

Indonesian Adventures

Sunset in Lombok

I told you The Passengers took a long weekend in Indonesia over the Chinese New Year holiday. We went to Lombok, the next island east of Bali, and one that still has some of Bali's Hindu traditions. We traveled with another couple and stayed at a fabulous resort called Qunci Villas. Here are a few glimpses of the place.

The beach.

The hotel grounds, as seen from our balcony.

Hindu shrine at the edge of the compound.

The cow and football match next door.

A Curious Demise

Southwell, Notts, England

 I have been editing research photos in the university's media center today. I had forgotten that I took this picture in the churchyard of Southwell Minster in 2009. Apparently the lamented soul buried here suffered an inexplicable, unexpected end.

Singapore Turf Club, Gold Cup

The action along the final quarter of the Singapore Turf Club. 

A few weeks ago Passenger J went to the Singapore Turf Club to watch the ponies run for the Longines Singapore Gold Cup.  The venue is way up on the north end of the island but very accessible on the MRT.  As with so many places in Singapore, the venue is shiny and new and filled with all the latest amenities.

Tiers of tables in @Hibiscus overlooking the course.

We had a group of nearly a dozen gathered around a front row table at @Hibiscus, the mezzanine-level dining club.  We sat in the air-conditioning and watched the horses run in the warm mud on a rainy day.  The place offered adult beverages, but soft drinks and coffee were included in the ticket price, along with a big buffet of tasty Chinese and local dishes.  I plumped up on fried carrot cake, an honest-to-goodness savory dish here in Singapore.  Then, I had the apple crumble with vanilla sauce.

The starting barriers are wheeled into position for the 2200m Longines Singapore Gold Cup.

Oh, for the record, I am no good at backing a winner.  One win-place bet came good at 4-1, but I had to use that cash to repay the gracious organizer who purchased our tickets en masse.  The Turf Club is pretty good value provided one stays away from any high rolling antics. Admission, buffet, racing schedule, a S$5 betting voucher, and a tacky souvenir could all be had for one S$60 ticket (GBP 29/USD 46).  Not bad to watch a race meet with a S$1,350,000 (GBP 657,000/USD 1,037,000) stake. Actually for just S$3, payable with the same ez-link card that works for the MRT, one can watch on the non-air-conditioned lower level. Spend S$7 and one can sit in the air-con cool of the upper grandstand. Risky Business came on late and ran away from the Gold Cup field. 

More photos after the jump; click below left to see the parade ring.

Deck the Malls

Happy Birthday, baby Jesus, from your favorite brand names at United Square.

It's Christmastime, even here in Singapore.  It's 31 C (87 F) outside, but the festive spirit is in the air. OK, even if the holiday spirit isn't outside, it's definitely thriving inside the malls.  Singapore is the the land of malls, and right now they are all filled with outrageous Christmas décor and canned holiday music.  Here's a selection from our local bulwarks of commerce United Square and Velocity.

Inside United Square.

The kid-oriented mall United Square has a very large high voltage Christmas tree outside, and every day last week they hosted a show of carols sung by no one's favorite purple dinosaur.  I happened to walk through one afternoon while the performance was in progress.  The big, purple protagonist was accompanied by spritely adults wearing headset mics and bright, bright clothing.  Additional, smaller dinosaurs also participated, and I suspect the overly cushioned costumes were staffed by midgets.  the whole thing ended with a confetti cannon.  Go Diego Go! The Iguana Sing-along will be next.

Outside Velocity.  The parcel on the right simply reads "Glitz."

Across the street we have the sports-themed mall Velocity, home to our local gym California Fitness Jackie Chan Sport.  Seriously, Jackie Chan Sport. The venue has gone with a "white Christmas" sort of theme, mostly using purple.  More on their festivities after the jump; click the link below left.

Tokyo Food

A snack package of what appears to be hazelnuts in a Tokyo mini-mart.

The Passengers ate all sorts of goodness in Tokyo.  The Japanese take their food seriously in the same manner as do the French with serious refinement of standardized age-old recipes.  We didn't suffer a bad meal once during our travels. Here are some highlights, though they exclude our early morning sushi adventure.  That will be a separate post.

Ramen noodles with all the fixings.

We had ramen one evening at a small restaurant not far from our ryokan.  Diners are supposed to choose their dishes from a vending machine outside the front door.  After the customer pays money in, the machine spits out a ticket for his order, and he brings it inside the restaurant.  We tried our very best to match the Japanese labels on the selection buttons with the pictures in the window.  Finally we gave up, and we were kindly greeted inside with an English menu.  This bowl of ramen was as big as my head.  I could barely get through half of it.  Passenger H unwisely had her own bowl, too, which by the time she quit looked like she only managed to pick out the seaweed, the half-boild egg, and two pieces of scrumptious fatty pork.  The yummy noodles are underneath a big pile of extras that also includes corn, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts.  I think we paid JPY 950 per bowl (USD 11.25/GBP 7.10).  More dishes after the jump.  Click below left to keep reading.

Beware the Trains

Sign in the stairwell at Iriya Station in Tokyo.

Tee hee.  The Tokyo Metro trains have wind.

Sushi-Dai, Tokyo

Early morning bustle around the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo.

Against our preferences for a leisurely holiday, the Passengers awoke early one morning in Tokyo to make the trip down the Hibiya line on almost the first train of the day to visit the huge Tsukiji Market, the wholesale outlet for fresh fish in Tokyo.  We wanted to see the market in action, but our prime motivation was to find ourselves the freshest sushi breakfast imaginable.

Patrons lining up for a seat at Sushi-Dai along a row of restaurants at Tsukiji Market.

Activity at the market begins in the wee hours of the morning so by the time we arrived in Ginza at 6:00 AM, a number of labors were already searching out lunch.  The rest of the city comes to Tsukiji for breakfast. Based on a friend's recommendation we headed straight for Sushi-Dai a fourteen-seat sushi counter with reportedly the best fish at the complex.  The place opens at 5:00 AM, and its reputation meant we found ourselves in a two-hour queue.

Come early; bring cash.

Once we got inside Passenger J opted for the full Omakase selection at JPY 3,900 (USD 46.25/GBP 29.25) for 11 pieces of sushi, miso soup, maki rolls, and a bit of omelet.  Passenger H decided that as the smaller member in the pair she needed the smaller option at JPY 2,500 (USD 29.65/GBP 18.75).  We did not go away hungry.

Marinated tuna with a dollop of wasabi.  Pickled ginger sits on the right.

We took our seats at the counter on a rainy August morning with the air-conditioner steaming up the view of the hopeful customers waiting outside.  After our early start to the day we were ready to eat.  All the sushi pieces were impeccably chosen and brilliantly crafted.  The three sushi chefs placed their offerings directly on the top-shelf counter.  Patrons ate using both their fingers and chopsticks.

Passenger H's set included mackerel braided over rice.  The omelet and the fish-based miso soup appear in the background. 

More pictures of sushi after the jump.  Click the link below left to keep reading.