The Truly Posh Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands: SkyPark Panorama, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

The Truly Posh Marina Bay Sands

Singapore

March 2012

We muscled through our schedule (things to do, people to meet, etc) and made sure that we took some time to visit the much talked about Marina Bay. We arrived quite late at around 8pm but better late than later, I always say. :P

We first entered the very posh hotel and the architecture and art inside the hotel was really top notch. I’m no art guy but I can say that the hotel was not only posh because of the luxurious look but because of the beautiful architecture and art as well. 

After asking around, we were able to navigate ourselves to the top of the three towers of the hotel. The top was designed to look like a big ship/boat seemingly balanced on top of the three towers. The pool side was restricted to guests only but the SkyPark observation deck and the resto bar on the other side was accessible for a fee (SGD 20/head).

The view from the top was beautiful! Marina Bay Sands Hotel is the tallest building in Singapore at this time and the view from the top is just spectacular. Unlike in Hong Kong where I also went to the Sky100’s observation deck, the Singapore skyline was very clear with no smog or fog blocking your view. 

We then went down to the mall/casino side (in front of the Hotel, nearer the bay). We weren’t able to enter the Casino (we had a baby with us) but the mall was truly luxurious and quite extravagant. I have been to plenty of malls selling only very expensive designer items but this one adds a man-made river in the middle of the mall! Aside from this, there is a truly spectacular light and fog show at certain times of the night for free at the bay! I have never seen anything like it; the fog was in place so that the audience could see the various lasers and projections that are seemingly all dancing around on top of the water!

river inside mall

watch in vimeo click here for HD

We then looked for the very popular (at least in photographs) Helix Bridge. The bridge is truly a sight to behold and an engineering masterpiece (for me at least). The Helix Bridge creates a pedestrian route between the Marina Centre and the Marina South. 

Singapore really knows how to make a city look beautiful. Their bridges, malls, hotels, etc are all designed not only for use but also to add beauty to the country. Kudos to Singapore for a making a beautiful and well managed country that other Southeast Asian countries should try to emulate. Singapore is a place that Southeast Asians can truly be proud of!

for more photos of marina bay sands on my flickr click here

Singaporean Food!

Jumbo Seafood Gallery: Chili Crab, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

Singaporean Food!
March 2012

The high standard of life in Singapore has produced the demand for high quality food as well. The food in Singapore was very good and surprisingly not only the Chinese or Singaporean food but even their Italian, Thai, Japanese and other types of food are top notch. Even the street food was clean and had good quality. The food was generally more expensive than Hong Kong's but the quality and cleanliness was definitely better. Singapore is truly a place where you can do food trips and enjoy the best of the various cuisines of the world.

On a side note, I personally prefer the dirtier and cheaper Filipino street food :) seems more exciting how you could get your stomach sick and all from eating. Makes me feel more "adventurous" :P 

Jumbo Seafood Gallery
Boat Quay, Singapore

The Chili Crab was awesome! The crabs in the Philippines are also top notch but the cooking is the difference. I hope next time we could try the black pepper crab as well.

Hawker Centers & Chinatown Street Food
Various Locations across Singapore

Hawker Centers are like their fastfood areas serving various types of dishes. Normally a Hawker center would have a store for the drinks (usually the owner of the center), congee/porridge, soup, noodles, Indian food, Malay food and chicken/roast rice meals. The hawker centers in more classy areas would have some Japanese food and other cuisines as well. The prices of the food vary on the location as well. For example, the hawker center nearby our hotel in the Bugis area charged only SGD 3.00 for a bowl of porridge while in porridge in Takashimaya on Orchard Road would cost you SGD 5.00 per bowl.

A favorite of our friend Kiki when she was living in Singapore, this one is like fish balls but wrapped in leaves. The consistency is less starchy than the fish balls as this one has leaves to help keep the fish processed meat together. (I need to work on my food descriptions. I used really bad adjectives and nouns to describe this one :P)

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Rice Porridge? I thought I was ordering congee for Josh (baby) but got something else. It was pretty good though with the freshly cooked soup with fresh fish. Josh liked it as well.

Ginza Bairin since 1927

They sell only fried stuff! Fried breaded chicken, fried breaded pork, fried breaded shrimp, mixed with egg sauce, curry, etc; everything fried! Amazing how they are still operating (with 6 branches worldwide) since 1927 (started in tokyo) just by frying stuff. They did fry the food pretty well though, the crunchiness was just right!

Everything fried! Has been earning money since 1927 from just frying!

Baja Fresh Mexican Food

We couldn't resist trying it. I think the marketing for this restaurant is similar to the recent burrito shops popping up here in manila. High price but fresh ingredients compared to the more fastfood type mexican restos.

Thai Express

We stumbled on a Thai Restaurant near the Bugis area and the food was very good and well prepared. Just goes to show how the food in Singapore is just really top notch. You go in a random restaurant and chances are you will be happy with the food.

Massaman Chicken Curry

click here for more SG food photos on my flickr

Pasinaya 2012

Pasinaya 2012: Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

Pasinaya 2012
Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila
February 26, 2012

I was finally able to shoot the Pasinaya Festival after 3 years of trying. I always found an excuse not to go despite it being held just in Manila, 15km away from my house! Aside from the very accessible location, the event is always held on a Sunday; something I appreciate very much as I have work on Saturdays.

Dinagyang Tribu Lunok

Dinagyang Tribu Lunok

The Pasinaya is a day long event (8AM to 8PM) featuring 5,000 artists and 300 shows in a single day! This event is led by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and their resident companies. Tickets were priced at a very low Php 20.00 (USD 0.50/person). Fast Passes, which we availed of, were available as well for Php 200.00 (USD 5.00/person). This Fast Pass gave us a chance to shoot more by being able to get in front of the long lines especially in the CCP Main Theater.

2012 seemed like a good time to shoot the Pasinaya. Firstly, the event has grown bigger than previous years and in fact the very famous Dinagyang Festival and Higantes Festival of Angono participated this year. Secondly, there were not many photographers covering the event, thus the policy on photographers was more lax and we had more space to shoot. The recent release of low-priced camera gear has prompted many to try to go into photography. This has caused many festivals, events and such (especially the popular ones) to become more strict with photographers as our numbers are rising fast and have at times disrupted the events. 

Namcya Winner Jasmine Pia Dames

The performances happened inside the CCP (main theater & small theaters in the CCP) and in the nearby areas and streets around it (Pedro Bukaneg St, Harbor Square, etc). The area especially the lobby of the main theater was pretty crowded and the crowd was mainly students. The Pasinaya seems to be marketed to the students; a lot of high school students watched the various performances, possibly required to write a report or two for their class. A bigger marketing effort (to the general public) could make the Pasinaya more successful but they would definitely need more space. I would suggest that they use the other big theaters in the CCP Complex as well such as the ALIW theater, etc. It is a CCP led event and the CCP is not just one building but a whole complex. 

Camalig Strings (Albay) at the Harbor Square

Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group: Pasundayag Sang Panay

Ballet Philippines: Pusong Wagas

The performances inside the CCP Main Theater were the most important to watch and we were lucky to be able to get seats in front. It is truly very rare that anybody could get his camera into the CCP Main Theater and we definitely made the most out of it.

The Pasinaya definitely has a big future ahead of it; I see it going bigger and bigger every year! I hope that I could make the time to visit every year, even for just a show or two. Good Job CCP and more power to the Pasinaya!

for more photos of Pasinaya 2012 on my flickr click here

Juris @ Whitehouse on the 84th

Juris @ Whitehouse on the 84th, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

Juris @ Whitehouse on the 84th
Whitehouse on the 84th, Quezon City, Philippines
February 27, 2012

Me and my wife Julie will unfortunately be missing Juris’ yearly birthday concert this coming March 10, 2012 and so we decided to watch one of Juris’ gigs before the said concert. A new place Juris sings at sometimes on Mondays is at Whitehouse on the 84th in Quezon City and since we have never been to this particular restobar, we decided to watch there.

Whitehouse on the 84th is an old house turned into a restobar. The setup of the house makes the place really cozy but tough to shoot in because of the walls and the posts. Juris that night moved closer to the crowd so that everyone could see her better (the posts were blocking most of the patrons’ view of the stage) but doing this also made her move away from the lights, making it very difficult to shoot :(. Nevertheless, I made do with ISO 6400 and wide apertures to try to get some decent images.

It was a nice experience and we found out that Juris’ gigs now start on time and earlier. We were actually home by 11:30pm! This would definitely entice us to watch Juris’ gigs more often, even on weekdays.

Long time no see Ju! See you again soon!


To watch this video in HD, click here

For more photos of this gig on my flickr click here

2012 Chinese New Year at Manila Chinatown

Chinese New Year 2012: Binondo Church, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

2012 Chinese New Year at Manila Chinatown
RedDot & GE Camera’s Chinese New Year Photowalk and Contest
January 23, 2012

We were not quite sure whether the festivities will be the day before or the day after Chinese New Year's Eve. We chose the day after and I think we chose wrong. Past photo ops were made on the day itself of the New Year but it seems the crowd moved to the day before because of activities organized by the local government (including the pedestrianized Ongpin St.). At least we were able to join RedDot's GE Chinese Photowalk and got a good breakfast and pointers on the What and the Where of Chinese New Year in Binondo. Thanks to RedDot and GE for the well managed photowalk and contest!

I am actually disappointed with the whole atmosphere of Chinatown in Manila (whether or not it's Chinese New Year or not). There is just too many people, traffic, things, clutter and everything that it really doesn't feel like Chinatown. I compare to Chinatown in Singapore for example... even if it's not Chinese New Year, they have much more lanterns hanging and other Chinese decorations around the area compared to Chinese New Year in Manila's Chinatown! Despite our general disappointment, I made do with the photos I took as I shoot rarely and I don't want a photo trip to go to waste.

The morning was not a complete waste though; my wife was able to buy some good food and fruits at cheap prices around the area and we were able to eat a good Chinese meal as well. Thanks again to RedDot for their strong support to various activities of photographers in the Philippines!

for more photos on my flickr click here

Sky100 Observation Deck

Sky100: ICC Building, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

Sky 100 Observation Deck
December 2011
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Baby + Stroller around Hong Kong is real tough but one place that we would surely recommend for people traveling like us is the Sky100 Observation Deck! The Sky100 Observation Deck is located on the top (100th) floor of the ICC (International Commerce Centre) Building. It is the tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong and offers a 360 degree view of the city below!

View from the Observation Deck

I was pondering whether to go to Victoria’s Peak with my family and thought that it would be a bit difficult traveling so far with a baby and stroller in tow. My wife also visited the Peak not long ago and was not eager to re-visit so soon. I read about Sky100 on the internet and saw some flyers at the airport. It was inside a building and beside a mall; these two reasons were actually enough for us to decide to try to go as indoor malls are the best place to roam around with a baby in Hong Kong.

We road the MTR and exited at Kowloon Station. After exiting the station and entering the connecting infrastructure, we immediately noticed less people and a very luxurious feel. This was actually the Elements Mall which had luxury shops and high priced restaurants left and right. The mall was definitely high end; even the benches around the mall where covered in expensive looking cushions and you can also see different displays of artwork at various parts of the mall. Definitely not the place to shop when on a budget but a good place to roam around as there was definitely less people and there were places where you can rest comfortably.

Elements Mall: that huge thing is basically just a place to sit and loft around inside it.

We then walked through the mall towards the ICC Building where well dressed and mannered staff guided us from buying the ticket and riding the very fast elevator up towards the 100th floor. The elevators were quite fancy with digital displays, futuristic lights and even the ceiling had an LCD monitor displaying clouds as well.

Futuristic Elevator: LCD Screen on the Ceiling!

The Observation Deck was also very luxurious and spacious. The decorations were top notch and there were various photo locations of interest for tourists. We visited late afternoon to be able to see both the day and night skyline of Hong Kong from above. There were some snacks and drinks for sale at the top; overpriced of course but nothing too horrible.

Mirrors!

Close-up of a throne made of candy! (Candy Wonderland Theme)

Some say that Sky100 is even better than Victoria’s Peak especially if you take into account travel time, weather, etc. I haven’t been to Victoria’s Peak (or haven’t been since I was 9?) so I can’t say myself but Sky100 is definitely worth your time and I have to say we (me, my wife and baby) had the most fun there during our time in Hong Kong (not including our stay in Disney of course :P).

www.sky100.com.hk/index.php

for more photos of Sky100 on my flickr click here

Dino & Antonette Wedding

Dino & Antonette Wedding: Kiss!, a photo by jovijovijovi on Flickr.

Ceremony: Manila Cathedral, Manila
Reception: Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Manila
Date: December 18, 2011
Couple: Dino & Antonette

A beautiful wedding filled with beautiful people from both sides of the wedding. Congratulations Dino & Antonette!

Nyoy Volante performed for the couple and the guests

for more pictures of this couple on my flickr click here
for more pictures of other weddings and celebrations on my flickr click here