F1 Grand Prix: Something great is happening in Singapore

In the runup to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, events organizer Singapore GP announces that it will be releasing 70,000 tickets and official passes on Feb. 14 at 9 am (Singapore time GMT+8). The first batch of Singapore GP tickets will consist of 15,000 walkabout passes and 55,000 grandstand seats at strategic locations throughout the circuit.

Where to get tickets

Three-day passes to the Singapore GP are priced from S$168 (walkabout) to S$1,388 (Premier Pit Grandstand). They include a separate ticket for each race day and can be used by three different people over the three days. However, tickets cannot be interchangeable on the same day.

All prices include the relevant processing fee and Goods and Services Tax. Singapore GP patrons will receive a printed confirmation at the time of the booking, which they can then use in June to claim the plastic commemorative tickets and lanyard currently on hold for security reason.

Singapore GP bookings can be made through OmniTicket Network outlets located at Forum Shopping Centre, Marina Square Shopping Centre, and Singapore Visitors Centre at Orchard Road, or via Singapore GP sales counters at post offices across the island.

Online, F1 patrons can log on to the official Singapore Grand Prix website for tickets reservation, seating chart, grandstand descriptions, and details on the historic F1 races at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Where to sleep

Singapore GP is set to break cover on a street circuit around the Marina Bay area. With downtown Singapore as backdrop, spectators get a glimpse of the exotic garden city of Singapore with its quaint mix of historical landmarks and modern-day buildings.

Marina Bay is the district in Singapore that flanks the sheltered waters off the Raffles Boulevard, Beach Road, and Esplanade Drive. Across the district are Singapore hotels that range from budget to luxury.

The Singapore Beach Hotel on Beach Road offers room-per-night as well as long-term hotel accommodation at special rates, which can be luxuriously economical for the lengthy schedule of Singapore GP events.

Over at downtown Singapore, where Singapore GP fever is most likely to be evident on island residents, Singapore visitors can opt to stay at the upscale classic accommodations of Claremont Hotel in Singapore.

The hotel in Singapore of Claremont is in the vicinity of Farrer Park, near in the heart of Singapore while accessible from the rest of the island through the Farrer Park MRT Station.

Need a crib near enough to feel the rush of Singapore GP yet not isolating from other must-sees in Singapore? YWCA Singapore offers its Fort Canning Lodge to Singapore visitors looking for rooms within reach.

The YWCA Singapore Hotel is located on the outskirts of the Fort Canning Park, adjacent to Orchard Road that leads to downtown Singapore, and to Fort Canning Road that heads toward the get-go flag of Singapore SG at Raffles Boulevard.

What to expect

The 5-km street circuit of Singapore GP features wide tracks and sharp turns that can only make overtaking and cornering all the more electrifying. At 300 kph on average, F1 entries from Ferrari to Mercedes will rev up in the heart of Singapore’s garden city with the charming blend of old and new buildings in the background.

The 2008 F1 Singapore GP races are scheduled to run at nighttime, so expect the Marina Bay area in Singapore to be bathed in light at night and exude an impression of a city full of activities that it never sleeps. Clark Quay and the Esplanade are just around the corner, so expect as well a zoom-zooming nightlife well into sunup.

How great cuisine and fine wine can cook up a unique dining experience in Singapore at the 2008 World Gourmet Summit

Wine and food make every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, and every day more civilized. As in any attempt at sophistication, however, there is art in mixing and matching food and wine, which if followed ignorantly can leave a bad taste in the mouth.

It used to be that white wine is paired with fish and chicken, and red wine is partnered with meat and game. The rule, however, is no longer cast in stone and from April 7 to 28, gourmet luminaries across the world are scheduled to showcase new ideas on food and wine cultures as the 2008 World Gourmet Culture kicks off in the “island spice” of Singapore.

Host to the 2008 World Gourmet Summit, Singapore relives its glory days as the premier trading post on the Asian spice route as the celebrations of the gourmet summit gather the big names in the food industry and conduct workshops and luncheons for the benefit of food aficionados in Singapore.

Masterchefs and Good Life celebs Curtis Stone and Ian Wright, as well as renowned Singapore hoteliers are set to grace the 2008 World Gourmet Summit in Singapore with a one-night-only presentation on how to create a unique gastronomic experience from choice food and wine.

A gala dinner on April 11 will feature the first growth of Spanish wines for the season—a must-see for every wine aficionado. On April 12, a special luncheon will be held to commemorate the best in the food and beverage industry. Billed as the “Oscars” of food and wine, the World Gourmet Summit aims to keep Singapore visitors in the loop of the latest industry trends.

The 2008 World Gourmet Summit spans across Singapore, hopping from one luxury hotel to another in order to provide an industry-wide conference on the gourmet culture. With a carefully selected hotel in Singapore, one can follow each event of the World Gourmet Summit easily.

HarbourVille Hotel, a chic and cheap hotel in Singapore that offers convenience and comfort to every Singapore visitor, is located at Harbourfront Singapore and can be an ideal jump-off point to follow the 2008 World Gourmet Summit in Singapore.

At Harbourfront, Singapore guests gain easy access to the MRT system and bus transport lines of Singapore. The Singapore hotel of HarbourVille leads not only to the gourmet summit, but to the two most civilized things in the world as well: food and wine.

Because food and wine need more than a tongue and a stomach for appreciation, there is no set formula in pairing a good food and a fine wine for a unique dining experience. And such element of ambiguity, as in the case of the arts, casts a light on the gourmet culture now shining in Singapore.

YWCA Singapore bids good luck with Lunar yusheng treats

Fancy eating a salad of raw fish? You might get lucky doing so according to Chinese legends. But, with a sumptuous mélange of spices and plum sauce, luck or no luck this Chinese New Year treat is a must-have for even the most philistine and discriminating of delicacy buffs.

Called yusheng in local parlance, the raw fish salad treat is introduced in Singapore by 19^th century Chinese settlers from the coastal towns of South China. These seafaring men and women depended on the sea for their fortunes, and gave thanks to the sea by offering the most elaborate seafood treat they had to a Chinese female deity known as Nuwo.

The Chinese dish consist of fish strips, most commonly salmon or ikan parang, and mixed with shredded vegetables and fermented sauce mixes to enchanting effect. Due to the labor-intensive requisite of preparing a Singapore yusheng, the dish has traditionally been served in Chinese-majority countries like Singapore only on special occasions and dates like the Chinese New Year.

Yusheng is a popular dish in Singapore hotels and restaurants. By tradition at the YWCA Fort Canning Lodge in Singapore, families would gather around the table of yusheng and on cue, would toss the shredded bits of the dish into the air while exclaiming auspicious wishes. This practice has given the name “Traditional Toss” to a dish of yusheng.

From January 28 to February 8, the hotel in Singapore of YWCA Fort Canning Lodge offers Chinese New Year yusheng packages at the hotel’s Coffee House restaurant. The traditional yusheng toss comes with salmon and ikan parang varieties. Each set is available for up to 10 persons and can be availed at the Singapore hotel from 12 pm to 8:30 pm.

In addition to the traditional yusheng toss, the Singapore YWCA Fort Canning Lodge likewise offers reunion and celebration packages during the Chinese New Year season. For details on the Chinese New Year Specials at YWCA Fort Canning Lodge, you can visit their Singapore hotel website. Located at Fort Canning Park, the YWCA Hotel in Singapore can get you tossed to prosperity this Chinese New Year.

Singapore welcomes spring with bang of Chinese New Year

Singapore in spring, a time of year when it warms significantly throughout the island, when Singaporeans live through longer days and shorter nights, and when even the flowers can’t help but bloom in anticipation of the forthcoming summer.

Spring, it’s no surprise that they write songs about it, and why the whole of Singapore is upbeat in welcoming the arrival of spring through the monthlong celebrations of the “Singapore Spring Festival,” or Chun Jie in Mandarin, the Chinese New Year.

Of course, it is a New Year’s celebration that is not without a touch of the local colors of Singapore. The 2008 Singapore Spring Festival is set to bring to Singapore streets the traditional Chinese New Year festivities of lion dances, gigantic floats of Chinese mythology characters, and daily lineups of cultural presentations.

Easiest way for Singapore visitors to follow the track of the Chinese New Year festivities is through the island-nation’s MRT system, where cultural centers like The Esplanade and Marina Bay are accessible, and where Singapore hotels and room providers sit most conveniently near.

The Bugis district in Singapore is one of the major tourist hubs in the island that is oft-visited due to its accessibility and convenience. The district has its own MRT station in Bugis, a string of cheap and chic hotels in Singapore, and a wide variety of island attractions.

For a Singapore hotel in Bugis, there is the Singapore Tourism Board-decorated hotel of the Singapore Beach Road at the junction of Liang Seah St. and Beach Road. Designed to give Singapore visitors a modern, cosy hotel room accommodation right in the heart of the Singapore CBD, the Beach Road hotel in Singapore provides a warm safe haven and at the same time hooks up hotel guests with the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Center of the celebrations is at the Singapore Chinatown, turned festive and elaborate this spring with colorful lanterns and fireworks displays. Here, the usual Chinese goodies and more are in stock to give Singapore visitors a New Year splurge for some retail therapy.

Simultaneous Spring Festival events are likewise scheduled from Feb. 5 to 16 at the “River Hongbao” float in The Esplanade Park in Singapore, where the highly wrought Chinese myths and legends are set to come alive through the arts.

Highlight of the Chinese New Year exposition will be the Performing Arts Group of Tibet, which have been invited to Singapore in an attempt to make the 2008 Singapore Spring Festival truly unique.

Capping off the celebrations is the Chingay Parade of DreamS on Feb. 16, expected to flood the Marina Bay area in Singapore with a sea of vibrant floats, sequined customes, and psychedelic sights and sounds to put Singapore in a party mode.

For inquiries and hotel reservation requests, Singapore visitors can go to the following websites:

http://www.beachhotel.com.sg/
Singapore Beach Hotel
Beach Road cor. Liang Seah St.,
Bugis, Singapore

http://www.visitsingapore.com/cny/index.html
Chinese New Year 2008
Tourist line: 1-800-736-2000

Switchfoot dares you to move, Singapore!

For one night only US alt-rock band Switchfoot performs in Singapore as part of their Oh Gravity world tour. The concert, scheduled on Jan. 31 at the Max Pavilion of the Singapore Expo, marks the first time Switchfoot brings its Gospel music and highly energetic performances to Singapore.

“Given the band’s immense popularity and diverse range of fans, Switchfoot fans here [in Singapore] have waited far too long for the band to come perform [live],” said Wake Me Up Music productions manager Jon Hemsley.

The Switchfoot concert will likewise mark the first performance of an international act at the Singapore Expo. Equipped with top-end audio-video systems and state-of-the-art lighting, the Max Pavilion of the Singapore Expo is considered the future of concert halls.

Located at corner Changi Road and Xilin Avenue, the Singapore Expo is a landmark in Singapore for its impressive structural design and modern architecture. The site, however, proved inaccessible to most Singaporeans and only with the opening of the Expo MRT Station did the Singapore Expo gained prominence as the premier events destination in Singapore.

The Expo MRT Station connects the Singapore Expo to key commercial districts in Singapore where visitors can find a hotel room. One such district is the Bugis locale in central Singapore, which features a budget boutique hotel called the Singapore Beach Hotel.

The Singapore Beach Hotel is blocks away from the Bugis MRT, which links its part of Singapore to the Max Pavilion in Changi Road. As an alternative to the MRT, buses likewise ply the route of the Bugis district, with bus numbers 12, 24, 38, 35, and NR7 to take every Singapore visitor to the expansive complex of the Singapore Expo. The Singapore concert of Switchfoot is priced from S$70, S$80, to S$90, and features front acts that include the Fire Fight and West Grand Boulevard. For tickets and reservation inquiries contact:

Beach Hotel Singapore
http://www.beachhotel.com.sg/

Singapore SISTIC
www.sistic.com.sg

Wake Me Up Music Singapore
http://www.wakemeupmusic.com/switchfoot/

Sound-and-sight New Year’s delight at Sentosa, Singapore

New Year’s Eve is like any other night. There is no pause in the march of the universe. And not even the promise of a fresh new year can get in its way. Yet nobody has quite the same thoughts on New Year’s Eve as on other nights. It is, after all, the fittest time for festal cheer.

So ring out the old and ring in the new. Wherever you are this New Year’s Eve let us give a warm welcome to the coming year and see the first sunrise of 2008. It is an event not to be missed and best shared with other people. And there is no better place in Singapore to do just that than in the southern island of Sentosa.

Located at the southern tip of Singapore, Sentosa Island is surrounded by the skies and cannot be in a lovelier position to have a grand view of 2008’s first light. What’s more, the strip of Siloso Beach on Sentosa Island in Singapore is throwing a sundown-to-sunup bash for the New Year.

Dubbed Asia’s Grooviest, the Siloso Beach Party on Sentosa Island promises to be a fitting start for the New Year. Aside from the usual Singapore staples of outdoor carnivals and theme parks, the Siloso Beach Party is likewise set to gather the big names in the Singapore club circuit to spread the cheer and liven up the Sentosa party scene.

Sentosa Island is a bus ride away from the city center of Singapore, or a spectacularly cable car ride away from Harbour Front, Singapore. Sentosa visitors can look up for a budget hotel in Singapore at Harbour Front for ease of access to the island, or a chic Singapore hotel right in the heart of Sentosa.

Located at 512 Kampong Bahru Road in Singapore, the Harbour Ville Hotel puts guests to the city center of Singapore, while keeping the holiday island of Sentosa within arm’s length through the shuttle bus, MRT, and cable car stations available near the hotel.

In Sentosa Island, on the other hand, guest can opt to stay near the famous landmark of Singapore: The Merlion. Sitting on the gentle slope beneath the famous Singapore statue is the Treasure Resort in Sentosa.

The Treasure Resort in Sentosa is more than a place to stay in Singapore. With a hotel view that looks out to the Siloso Beach, well-appointed rooms, and a prime entertainment location, the resort in Sentosa of Swiss-run Treasure Singapore has all the works for a grand New Year bash.

Wherever you are coming from in Singapore, Sentosa Island can get you ready for the New Year with DJ Shy and DJ Rough at the controls, and their distinct Commercial and Funk beats as prelude to the grand midnight bash. At 12 it’s time for another thrill: The grand Sentosa Beach Party fireworks.

But the party doesn’t stop there. Right after the fireworks display are the feature performances of Incognito, DJ Jensen, and DJ Kavan. Scheduled until 6 a.m. of Jan 1, the Siloso Beach Party is rightfully the event in Singapore that can give you a look at the first light of 2008.

“Chaos in Motion” in Singapore on Jan 17

Knowing where to go, progressive rock band Dream Theater used to have the luxury of walking though experimentation, even if that meant producing an album that was a considerable deviation both in sound and style from what many critics considered their seminal work in 1994’s Awake.

Now the rock impresarios from New York are back, with a brand-new record that sounds more like Dream Theater than their past two albums combined. Theirs was not a case of making up for lost time. Dream Theater fathered the genre and they could move it anywhere they choose. Only now, both Dream Theater and the progressive-rock scene are moving to the same direction.

Nobody might be willing to call the new Dream Theater album a masterpiece. But with traces of Awake and a refined sound of Scenes from a Memory, the new Dream Theater album Systematic Chaos might be the incendiary to bring the genre back to the forefront of the music world again.

Starting in June 2007, Dream Theater has hit the road to promote Systematic Chaos, via the portentously titled Gods of Metal gig in Milan, Italy. Toward the early fall of 2007, Systematic Chaos made it to the US Billboard 200 at 19, the highest Dream Theater album charts entry ever, even surpassing Awake’s debut at 32, and Images and Words at 61.

Early next year it is Singapore’s chance to listen live to the new offering of the Dream Theater. Produced by the LAMC Productions, “Chaos in Motion: The Dream Theater World Tour” will be staged at the Fort Canning district in Singapore on January 17, 2008.

The date is January and the place is Fort Canning, Singapore. It would be very well for Dream Theater fans to be clear about that. It is, after all, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear live a mature and crucial gig of Dream Theater.

Tickets for the Dream Theater Singapore Tour in Fort Canning are available online at the Sistic website, or through acknowledged agents accredited by the Singapore ticketing company. Hotel rooms in Singapore are likewise available online.

Inside Fort Canning is the budget accommodation of the YWCA Lodge. By providing guests with a twin sharing option, the Fort Canning hotel in Singapore of international foundation YWCA is perfect for Singapore visitors traveling in groups.

Outside Fort Canning are the fashionably low-priced hotels of Tekka Hotel in Singapore and the ParkView. Both hotels fringe the Fort Canning Park, and are near the city center of Singapore for your convenience.

The Singapore gig at the Fort Canning will be the third of five stops of the Dream Theater Asia Tour, after the band revisits the Budokan Theater in Japan and the parental hometown of Dream Theater bassist John Myung in South Korea.

“If you’re a musician or ever aspired to be one, this is a show not to be missed,” said the LAMC Productions. But it isn’t necessary to remind anyone that. Progressive rock fans around and outside Singapore know very well not to miss a gig that features a promising turn at the Dream Theater career.