Mid Autumn Festival 2012

Chinese Mid Autumn Festival is also known as Lantern Festival to the kids and Mooncake Festival to  those mooncake lovers.. Whatever you may call it.. But there is always a beginning of how Mid Autumn Festival comes about. 

Long time ago in China, (ok i summary my story short, less loh soh) farmers worshiped the Earth God when they sowed the seeds in spring and thanks the Earth God for blessing them with good harvest during autumn.. The rice harvesting period always falls during the 15th day of 8th month, from then on the autumn offering ritual is known Mid Autumn Festival..

Of course there is a legend about "Chang Er" the Moon Fairy Lady.. There was once in China (too), there is this ruthless King that fall in love to this beautiful lady (Chang Er). Anyway this lady hate this King and burned incense and wax candle to offer the moon on every full moon (dunno why she do that, the moon can't get rid of the King too?) On one of the full moon night, the King gave her three "Forever Living" pills (hey not that present day Forever Living hor), fearing the King will have one pill to himself, she finished all the three pills and fly to the moon.. 

So that is how mooncake is created?? NO! Chang Er don't know how to make mooncake de...

During the Ming Revolution, massages were hide in the mooncakes by the Mings to overthrown the Mongolian rule.. Another method of hiding the message was printed in the surface of mooncakes as a simple puzzle or mosaic. To read the encrypted message, each of the four mooncakes packaged together must be cut into four parts each. The 16 pieces of mooncake, must then be pieced together in such a fashion that the secret messages can be read. The pieces of mooncake are then eaten to destroy the message.. (Hey i would love to be the one that eat the massages)..

 Lanterns at Chinatown MRT

 Modern electrical bulb lantern..

 Mooncakes on sales.. Lotus Paste, double yolk, Single yolk and so much choice..

 Mould to make mooncake..

 Traditional Lanterns.. i learn to make one from my primary sch teacher before.. :)

 Traditional Lanterns

 I used to have one of those during my kidz dayz...

 Lanterns on sales...

 Lanterns decorating Chinatown..

Eu Tong Seah Rd being blanket with colourful lanterns... What a sight...!!

Singapore F1 Grand Prix Race Day...

23Sep12 is the most exciting day for all Singapore F1 fans.. SINGAPORE CONFIRMED HOSTING F1 GRAND PRIX FOR ANOTHER 5 MORE YEARS !!! Its a celebration today!!!

There is no room for the slightest mistake on this enclosed Marina Bay street night circuit... This year race is very exciting.. the best out of the 5 years, so far.. Hamilton's Mclaren slow to a halt half way thru the race due to gear problem, Schumacher slam his Mercedes onto a Toro Rosso because of faulty breaks.. Then Senna and Messa had a heart stopping moment during a overtaking maneuver.. While Messa is overtaking Senna, Senna pushes Messa close to the wall.. Then there are plenty of overtaking from Mark Webber..

After the checkered flag, Katy Perry ignited the Padang with her "Hot & Cold" "Firework" concert.. Its awesome..!!

 F1 fans relaxing and enjoying the Drivers Parade on Big screen.

 Enjoying the Happy Hour with some snacks and drinks..

 Watching the Drivers Parade on the huge screen

 Picnic scene at the Padang.. Uniquely Singapore!! F1 Fans layz back and enjoy the atmosphere...

 Noel Gallaghers Concert at Padang.. I felt that he is missing the oommph from his Oasis days..

 The Proclaimers.. "I will walk 5 Thousand miles.." They did better than Noel Gallaghers.. The crowds are moving and dancing to the Irish folk-pop tunes..

 Williams in action.. in soft tyres..

 Caterham in action...

 Mclaren in action... in super soft tyres..

 That is Messa in action... "Click, Click" cameras clicking away..

 Toro Rosso in action..

Fireworks by the Marina Bay after the race..

 More fireworks.. So much to celebrate... Singapore confirmed hosting F1 for another 5 more years...

 Katy Perry condcert.. all the fans goes wild..

Day 2 for Singapore F1 GP.. Its a Party Out There!!

Day 2 of Singapore F1 GP.. The qualifying session.. This is the MOST important day for all F1 teams, especially the drivers.. As you know the Marina Bay Circuit is a very tough circuit and very little chance in over taking.. and in order to win this race, drivers must clock a good timing to secure the front pole position..

The most enjoyable part of the night is when Maroon5 ROCKZ the padang!!... They are really awesome..!! belting out hits after hits, non stop. Everyone dance and sings to the tune.. Its a wild party out there.. Hey i'm a fan of Maroon 5, ok....

 Turn no. 11 is my favorite viewing area.. but hor, this year i try to explore other viewing areas...

 Mclaren going to clock for pole position...

 Hey that is Uncle Schumacher... trying to clock a good timing..

 F1 car.. i think is Uncle Schumi again leh...

 Jaguar E type.. The World's most beautiful car.. Yes till date i still think it's a real beauty...

 Survival Kit going for just S$2.. Inside the pack are a set of ear plug and a poncho (raincoat).. If there is no rain, then the poncho will become picnic mat... Yah i saw a lot using it as picnic mat..

 Street performance...

 Erm, if you need to pee... plenty of WC cubicle... No need to queue leh...

 Bananarama... "I heard a rumors... They say you got a broken heart...." and more....

  Bananarama, very Retro.. There songs brings me back to my sec sch days.. OOh now you all know which generation i am from...

 Maroon 5 belting out their TOP Hits... "Makes me Wonder"....

Maroon 5 Singer, Adam Levine... more hits.. "This Love".. "She will be Loved"... .

The crowd going wild... "Move like Jagger"....

Singapore F1 Grand Prix Day 1 - 21Sep12 (Fri)

This is the 5th Singapore SingTel F1 Grand Prix... Time pass.. I still remember all the hypes and excitements in 2008 when Singapore stage the first F1 Grand Prix...

This year supporting races includes GP2, Porsche Carrera Asia Cup & Ferrari Challenge.. When i arrived at  gate 3, the queue was so long.. so i walk over to gate 4, shorter queue and faster. Half way through the Ferrari practice session it started to rain.. luckily i mange to take break in the Esplanade.. The rain manage to stop before the F1 practice session..
In the evening, Jay Chou stage a fantastic concert at the Padang Stage.. The whole circuit has been converted into a concert.. :) 

Here are some of the pics..

 The long queue at Gate 3.

 Shorter queue at Gate 4, gate 4 will be closed at 9.30pm..

 Jay Chou's Fans queuing up for their fan pass.. Fans pass allows the fans to be nearer to the stage.. I wonder these fan are her for F1 or Jay Chou.. 2-in-1 mah? What a great deal...!!

 Some of the F1 Teams Official Merchandise on sale.. See an Australian F1 fan, supporting Mark Webber is suppose..

Team Mercedes Merchandise Stall.. See Michael Schumacher is here too..

 Porsche Carrera Asia Cup Practice Session.. retrun for the 5th time, featuring the new Porsche 911.. I love the sound of the Porsche 911, the true German engineering.

 Here comes the prancing horses.. The aggressive roar from the Ferrari 458 racecars, 4.5 litre V8 engine, creating a 570 horsepower.

GH MUMM the Official F1 Chanpagne... This is what i will be wearing the next three days.. Thank to my friend Edwin for the great F1 souvenir... The program list cum circuit map in pocket size..

 That me in the GH MUMM cap.. This is Turn 11 walk-about viewing area.. This year they shift the platform  more to the left.. so hardly able to see Turn 10's Singapore Sling (Accident Prone Area)

 The classic Mercedes SL..

 At the Esplande Bridge.. The crowd starts pouring in..

 Red Bull in action during the practice session.

 Another Red Bull..

 Hey! that is Michael Schumacher practicing his round.. Go Schumi...!!!

 Schumacher going into Turn 14..

 Marussia F1 Team in action..

GP2 Cars in action.. during practice session..