You know what this needs? More cheese.

7 cheeses: Because 6 was not sufficient. Click the picture for a larger image.

 I first saw this food product advertised on the MRT. I was shocked. 7 cheeses? How do they all fit on one pizza? How does the fat fit in one person's arteries? What are those freakish globes strewn across the topography?

I would love to know if this 7-cheese extravaganza is available in the USA, Britain, or wherever is your country? Click the link below left to leave a response in the comments.  I am curious about this because Singaporeans are not wildly enthusiastic about cheese.  I have a hard time getting quality fromage here at a good price. It's not part of the local diet, and it even keeps a low profile on the menus of restaurants with international cuisine.  I'm not sure why Pizza Hut thinks this product will sell.

Pizza Hut Singapore is certified halal. That's the little green logo underneath the Facebook tag. This is the reason that the one time I ate Pizza Hut pizza in Singapore I was very disappointed by the sausage, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, and any other toppings usually made from pork. A 7-cheese pizza would get around that problem, but I still don't think I would like it.

Creepy Medical Advice – Singapore Turf Club

The cover.

An addition to yesterday's post about a day at the races. The racing schedule Punters' Way gives out lots of details about the horses and jockeys competing in the day's meeting. I can learn about the pedigree and past performance of a particular horse; I can see what color silks the jockeys will wear for a given race.  I can even find details of how to place a variety of bets, which is especially helpful to racing neophytes like me.

Creepy advert on the inside.

What I did not expect was the above advertisement offering me the kind of personal medical promises usually found in the Junk Mail folder of my Hotmail account. Those who would like to read the hilariously detailed and optimistic text can click on the picture for a larger view; I warn you that it is frankly worded but PG-13.  You will definitely learn about the Thai herb kwao krua. The Sean Connery of Celebrity Jeopardy! (video link) would definitely be interested.

Depressingly, the advert copy claims the product is available from real Singaporean chemists who sell lots of real, useful, scientifically valid medical products: Unity, Watsons, Mustafa.

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.

Love Your Ride

Last year Singapore's Public Transport Council made a crazy music video encouraging a bit of courtesy from straphangers on buses and the MRT.  The new campaign stars the campy Dim Sum Dollies.

The "Love your ride!" catchphrase plays every time a train rolls into a station. That's a bit excessive.

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.

Elections 2010: Don't trust Prefident Thomas Jefferfon

The United States holds its general 2010 election on Tuesday.  Many Americans will be greatly relieved to see the end of the campaign season and the endless string of television advertisements involved. The cacophony makes viewers suspect that even though TV was a twentieth-century invention, attack ads are a permanent fixture of American politics.  ReasonTV suggests such theories are not far off the mark.

Judeo-Webber Tradition

Passenger J is at a house party in New York. Conversation has devolved
somewhat over Samuel Adams Octoberfest beers.


Shocked guest (to mouthy guest): Did you just put the Torah and Cats
in the same sentence?
Passenger J: Only because he was talking about Old Deuteronomy.

Real Estate Offers: Round 2

Oasis at Elias "Resort Homes" will be completed 31 December 2015.

A few weeks ago I posted photographs of urgent and unbelievable buying opportunities that have been added to the Passengers' mailbox.  Another batch arrived last week. Don't delay; act now on these once-in-a-lifetime deals.

The above flyer (front & back) details an enticing property on the northeast coast of Singapore, quite far from the city center.  That's okay because Oasis @ Elias will be like having your home in a resort community "with the beach and nature parks nearby."  The advertised asking prices start at S$640/sq ft for a 99-year leasehold from March 2008.  That means S$700,000 (about USD 530,000/GBP 334,000) for a two-bedroom flat surrounded by existing HDB towers.  The development will not be ready until 31 December 2015; only 91 years left to enjoy your purchase.

Far East Organization wanted us to come to brunch at The Greenwich Sales Gallery

The Greenwich is advertising phase two of their low-rise condominium project in Seletar in the northern interior of Singapore.  The development by local heavyweights Far East Organization includes a nearby retail space called Greenwich V, "planned to be a chic, modern and green 'village' that will capture the vibrancy of its namesake in New York."  Perhaps they should be reminded that homosexuality remains illegal in Singapore.  FEO claims phase one "was fully sold within a few days."  They also list three-bedroom units at S$1.35 million (USD 1.02m/GBP 664,500) or S$1,174/sq ft.  Hurry up because one-bedroom units for only S4825,000 should be ready by 31 December 2018 with 90 years remaining on the leasehold.

Come to the St Regis hotel this weekend for a "Singapore Exclusive Exhibition" of Battersea Reach.

Finally, a seemingly much more affordable London property in a new south-of-the-Thames developmen called Battersea Reach on the front and Spinnaker House on the back.  None of those details matter because units start at only GBP 299,995 (SGD 628,000/USD 476,000) for a 999-year lease.  Jone Lang LaSalle do not give a completion date, but I'm sure all that information will be available to buyer who come to the St Regis hotel this weekend to buy sight unseen a pied a terre in London.

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.

Singapore Grand Prix

The Singapore Flyer stands above the race course Sunday night beside the newly completed Marina Bay Sands Casino

 The Passengers watched last night's 2010 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix from an apartment office perched high above Marina Bay.  From our hosts' festive eyrie we had a commanding view of about half of the street circuit.  In the photo above the Formula One cars start underneath the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel, which hosted the pit lane, and return there after zooming past the stands of the National Stadium overlooking the water.  The photo below shows the circuit at left running between the government buildings and the dark, grassy padang.  The drivers then reemerge into view at the lowest part of the illumined track, where they make a sharp turn beside the Fullerton Hotel before racing across the straight along the bridge and past the Esplanade theatres (those shiny Durian-shaped buildings).  I tried to post photos of good quality.  Click them for a larger view.

The Marina Bay Circuit illuminated for the 2010 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix

The action was loud even from our vantage sixty-eight floors above the water.  The rain held off all day, despite a few dark, overcast moments, and racing fans were rewarded with exciting competition.  Ferrari driver and pole sitter Fernando Alonso carried the day with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber right behind.  This was the third running of the Singapore Grand Prix, and the event is expected to become a fixture of the Formula One calendar for some time, though an extension has not been announced.

Japanese Baseball

Hiroshima Carp batting against Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyodome.

Now an overdue entry on Japan.  During our time in Tokyo the Passengers took the opportunity to see a baseball game at the Tokyodome: Hiroshima Carp vs. Yomiuri Giants.  The Giants are Japan's equivalent to the New York Yankees, the nation's most storied and successful team, and they turned in a very good performance during our Sunday afternoon visit.  Starting pitcher Asai pitched 7+ innings of shutout ball, and the offense put in two home runs.  The quality of play was every bit as good as MLB in the US and Canada. The tickets I bought online cost about as much, or even a little less, than an MLB game in a major American city, too.

The right-field stands lead the cheers for the home team.  They rolled out this banner in the middle of the seventh inning.

None of that was too surprising.  What I really wanted to experience was the atmosphere of professional baseball in another country.  I was not disappointed.  The fans of both teams proved incredibly dedicated with organized cheers for their batters.  The Carp brought in a host of supporters wearing red in the left-field stands.  The Giants had the whole stadium on their side, all the fans chanted while waving around bright orange towels over their heads after scoring runs, but the right-field seats hosted the die hard supporters that led the cheers.  They even had two large flags waving in tandem.

In the foreground ladies sell beer and snack food.  Cheerleaders dance on the field.

Additional entertainment came from the ladies.  Beer and snacks were sold throughout the game by young women wearing brightly colored kit.  Beer was dispensed from pony kegs in insulated bags hauled up and down the stands.  All the usual staples could be found in the Tokyo Dome: beer, peanuts, soft drinks, cotton candy.  However, the concession windows offered bento boxes and outrageous ice creams.

The team also had cheerleaders dancing between innings, sometimes with the Giants' family of orange furry mascots.  After a Giants home run the dancers stream onto the field for a celebratory routine while one of the troop jumps up and down behind home plate waving a souvenir stuffed animal.  The Giants players all come out of the dugout and form a line to politely congratulate the batter after he circles the bases.  Once the last runner crosses home plate he is given the stuffed animal, shakes hands with everyone in the receiving line, and then tosses the orange plush toy into the crowd.  The whole affair seems designed to spread the success around to everyone.

Reporters and onlookers stream onto the field for the post-game awards.

The post-game press conference was another unusual moment because it takes place on the field with a horde of press reporters and photographers.  As seen in the pictures, the cheerleaders and mascots flank the stage as the day's outstanding player is awarded the game ball, which deservedly went to pitcher Asai.  He makes a few comments into the microphone for the benefit of the crowd and the media.  For some reason the onlookers included a giant Pikachu Pokemon.

There are a couple more pictures after the jump.  Click the link below left to view them.

Singapore Grand Prix Sunday

The skyline is not quite right, but it's a good overall impression.

Practice runs have already begun on the Marina Bay circuit ahead of this week's Formula One race in Singapore.  The contest is a true grand-prix style race on the downtown streets of the city,  called the Marina Bay circuit: around the new casino, under the giant Singapore Flyer ferris wheel, along the Padang parade grounds and its government buildings, and beside the high rise office towers of the Central Business District.  The twist?  The race begins at night, 8:00 PM local time, which puts it in the traditional  Sunday afternoon motorsport timeslot in Europe: 1:00 PM in Britain, 2:00 PM on most of the Continent.  The BBC has a slideshow of the preparations here.  

The Singapore race is happening amid a big-time title chase featuring some of Formula One's most recognizable drivers. Unfortunately, we have had afternoon rain showers every day this week, including now as I write.  Though the evenings have been dry, the tropical humidity lets all that moisture linger and is creating tough conditions on the racetrack.

The Passengers plan to watch the event tomorrow from a friend's downtown apartment that happens to overlook part of the racing circuit.  At the very least it will be loud.

City Hotels - Tokyo & Hong Kong

Our room in Tokyo at Sakura Ryokan.

I have been writing furiously (on academic subjects) for the past couple of weeks so I have not had a chance to post here for awhile.  I owe pictures from Japan, but the Passengers just spent a fabulous weekend in Hong Kong, and I am still jazzed about that. Allow me to somehow combine the two.

Above is a picture of room in Tokyo at the Sakura ryokan.  We had a lovely stay in this traditional Japanese B&B.  The futons are pretty good for sleeping and we stayed in the old-style Asakusa neighborhood.  Our room did not have an en-suite bathroom and breakfasts were served downstairs at communal tables.  It definitely took me back to days of student hostels, but in a good way.

Our bedroom at JIA in Hong Kong.

 Last weekend the Passengers decided to go to Hong Kong in celebration of wedding anniversary number two. Since it was a commemorative event we decided to splurge for a couple of nights at JIA (sound alert). It's a boutique affair, opened by a Singaporean I think, designed by the ever chic Philippe Starck.  There is, of course, lots of white-on-white decor, and the only untinted mirror stands above the bathroom sink. But one doesn't spend a weekend in a design hotel in Hong Kong for practical living.  Quite the opposite, really.

Main room of our suite at JIA.

 The staff were very kind to upgrade us to a suite so we had plenty of space to spread ourselves.  I didn't include pictures of the kitchen or bathroom, but all the facilities are excellent.  The hotel even gave us a discount card to use at some of the shops near the hotel in the Causeway Bay neighborhood.  They also booked us into one of Hong Kong's private members clubs Halo on Friday night.  We were exceptionally well treated.  I have heard of people being placed at JIA for a number of weeks while working on business assignments.  Can someone get me one of those deals?

Dining table in the main room of our JIA suite.

Reading nook behind the television and stereo.  Love the gnome seats.

More on Japan soon, I hope.

Excellent mascots

The Passengers are enjoying a weekend in fabulous Hong Kong. Last night we propped up the bar at a basement members club. Here is an extract from the best conversation of the night:

Passenger H & Passenger J are introduced to another patron of the establishment.
Pleasant Stranger (to Passenger J): So what do you do?
Passenger J: I'm an Art Historian.
Pleasant Stranger: That's great! I went to Art School!
Passenger J (interested): Oh really! Where?
Pleasant Stranger: Rhode Island School of Design.
Passenger H (excitedly, over J's shoulder): Go Nads!

For those of you who are not well versed in the mascots of university ice hockey teams, the RISD team is called the Nads.  Passenger H has been waiting for the opportunity to work that one into  a conversation for a very long time and was ready when the moment came.

Cafe Culture in Vietnam

The terrace and outdoor tables of L'Usine.

During our weekend in Ho Chi Minh City the Passengers discovered a great little upstairs cafe/shop.  L'Usine occupies an historic shophouse overlooking Dong Khoi street, but access is through a small lane lined with parked motorbikes.  Inside the cafe features a full espresso service and impeccably chosen teas from Mariage Freres of Paris.

The alleyway seen from the stairway leading up to l'Usine.

The interior has been fitted out with old hardwood sewing tables decorated with tall vases of cut flowers. The cafe does great salads and sandwiches, the latter using delicious French-style bread.  That baking tradition and the affection for bouquets counts as positive colonial legacies.  A stylish shop adjoins the eatery with a fabulously curated selections of boutique European and Asian designers, a real find.

The counter at l'Usine stands in front of a large window at the top of the shophouse staircase.

Generational Resignations

 It wasn't a pretty line across the scoreboard of Kaufman Stadium. Image from the Kansas City Star.

My dad and I had to pass each other condolences after the Kansas City Royals lost 19-1 to the Minnesota Twins on Monday.  My parents had the misfortune of choosing that evening to go to the ballpark.  This is what bonds fathers and sons in America: the shared joys and sufferings of baseball.  Somewhere a man and a boy marveled at Joe Mauer's 5-hit, 7-RBI performance.  We shrugged our shoulders and remembered that the Royals haven't enjoyed a winning season since 2003.

A love for baseball must be instilled in a child early.  The video below salutes fathers committed to raising their kids right. 

The Show Goes on in HCMC

The historic and the modern live together in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. The Continental Hotel and municipal theater in front of a new glass tower.

As mentioned in an earlier post the Passengers loved staying at the Hotel Continental Saigon, not least because of its great location overlooking the old opera house. The grand edifice for the performing arts still operates as the municipal theater, but we did not know about their morning concert series. At about 7:00 am last Saturday we woke up to the sounds of a team setting up and testing microphones and speakers. This is nothing extraordinary in a southeast Asian city. In Singapore most companies believe they must erect a 200-watt sound system blasting techno-pop to simply pass out flyers.

Motorbikes zip past the facade of the municipal theater on a Saturday morning.

A little after 8:00 we decided to make our way downstairs to the hotel courtyard for breakfast, but we decided first to go outside and see in the daylight a bit of what we missed after arriving late the previous night. The constant motor-scooter traffic had already begun, but at the center of the bustle atop the theater steps sat a row of musicians dressed in bright silks and playing traditional instruments. Most amusingly, the setup of the performance had turned the chaos of the city to its advantage. Everyone was welcome to attend, and the surest way to find a seat -- park up your motorbike.  An improvised array of spectators had brought their own transport and furniture.  After this demonstration of city dwellers taking time for a bit of art and enjoying themselves in do-it-yourself fashion, we knew we would enjoy Ho Chi Minh City. 

A crowd gathers to watch an outdoor concert on a Saturday morning at the municipal theater in Ho Chi Minh City.

Musicians play under the caryatid columns of the municipal theater in HCMC.

The Building Scene in Ho Chi Minh City

A man watches the street below from the center balcony of this colonial development.  Electrical wiring remains an ad hoc affair in HCMC.

The history of Vietnam has indelibly marked the city of Ho Chi Minh/Saigon both in its name and its architecture.  The country's long coastline provided plenty of opportunity for Chinese and other merchants to visit and settle.  Unfortunately, the Passengers did not get to visit the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda on this trip.  The French operated Vietnam as a colony for about one hundred years and transformed the city with Parisian boulevards and art deco tastes.  

The city's cathedral, built in 1880 and dedicated to Notre Dame with the new Diamond plaza tower in the background.

This art deco building along Nguyen Hue lives on as a deli restaurant called Kita Coffee.

What Vietnamese call the "American War" (what else should they call it?) destroyed plenty but left its own  cultural artifacts.  Latterly, the socialist state that emerged after 1975 had its own architectural preferences and uses for existing buildings, but it has not shunned development in recent decades.  The city changes; the city remains.  It all makes for great sights just walking around downtown District 1.  

I will save the pictures of the old opera for another post, but there are plenty of pictures to see after the jump.  Click the link below left.

Time Capsule Hotel

The Continental Hotel Saigon in central Ho Chi Minh City opened in 1880.

The Passengers just returned from a weekend in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  We had a great time discovering a vibrant and changing city, and we will be sure to write future posts about our trip.  First, I wanted to provide a few images of our hotel, a relic of both French colonialism and the wars of the 1960's and 1970's.

The saucers and place settings at breakfast are like a breezy French cafe, but the coffee mugs are very American.  

The Hotel Continental Saigon was opened in 1880 by Pierre Cazeau on what was then called Rue Catinat, now Dong Khoi Street. The operation was later run by the mobster Mathier Francini until Saigon became part of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975.  It looks like a huge colonial pile, and it featured as a central location for conspiratorial politicking during the country's troubles in the twentieth century.  Journalists and media reporters often stayed here.  Undoubtedly many swapped stories that never made the record.  Look for the hotel in Graham Greene's The Quiet American (both book and movie) or the film Indochine.

The courtyard cafe during breakfast.

The hotel stands beside the central plaza next to the old opera house.  Our balcony faced onto the plaza.  The whole affair was built with open-air corridors and double-height ceilings to help guests manage the tropical climate.  However, the anachronism that struck me most was the application of the hotel's mid-century logo everywhere.  The hotel's arms appear on the coffee cups, the ash trays, the towels, and even the tags of the bedding.  It's a piece of branding from a bygone era.

A corridor in the Continental Hotel Saigon.

Overall, we had a fantastic stay at the Continental and found all the amenities and services up to a very high standard.  The remnants from previous eras of traveling made our experience in 2010 an adventure in time as well as place.  For more images of the hotel, click the link below left.