Monday, October 12, 2009

Oktoberfest

From: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Lifestyle/Story/STIStory_440893.html

PAULANER BRAUHAUS' 10TH ORIGINAL OKTOBERFEST


These two German bier girls will handle many glasses of beer during 10th Original Oktoberfest celebrations.
 PHOTO: SIXTH SENSE COMMUNICATIONS


German band Scharivari Sextet from Munich will entertain you with rousing performances of traditional Bavarian tunes at Paulaner Brauhaus's 10th Original Oktoberfest celebrations. Also, admire the prowess of two German bier girls as they handle many glasses of beer.



PHOTO: http://www.naccnt.ca/media/images/oktoberfest2.jpg

Where: Paulaner Brauhaus, Beer Garden, Level 1, Time2@Millenia Walk, 01-01, 9 Raffles Boulevard MRT: City Hall
When: Till Tue, noon - 2.30pm, 6.30 - 10.30pm
Prices: Starters start from $14, soups frm $10, main courses from $36 and Oktoberfest sausage platters from $33 and desserts from $11
Tel: 6883-2572


PHOTO (Cause a drunk girl doesn't care if you stick it in her pooper): http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/222268/ - Octoberfest



PHOTO: http://sattlers.org/mickey/site/archive/2004/09/index.html
A waitress carries one liter beer mugs during the opening day of Oktoberfest, in Munich.

The 176th Oktoberfest lasts from 19 September until 4 October. Some six million beer drinkers from around the globe are expected to visit the Bavarian capital for the world's biggest and most famous beer festival. ( http://sattlers.org/mickey/site/archive/2004/09/index.html )


PHOTO: http://famouswonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/oktoberfest.jpg

Enormous tents, each capable of holding up to 10,000 people at a time, some 5.5 million liters (1.453 million U.S. gallons) of beer will be consumed during the event. (REUTERS/Alexandra Winkler)



PHOTO: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2009/09/millions-visit-oktoberfest.html
Visitors crowd a beer tent at the "Theresienwiese" during the Oktoberfest beer festival on September 19, in Munich, southern Germany. AFP / Getty Images / Sascha Schuermann



PHOTO: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00996/oktoberfest-10_996395i.jpg


PHOTO (Oktoberfest at the mountain): http://www.ridehunter.com/jessica/oktoberfest_photo.jpg



PHOTO (lake-schliersee (Schliersee on Apr 2007): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689


The History of Oktoberfest
From http://www.ofest.com/history.html


Picture: http://www.ofest.com/history.html

Oktoberfest - In September?
Oktoberfest traditionally starts in the third weekend in September and ends the first sunday of October.


PHOTO (Neushwanstein Sept 2007): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689

What is Oktoberfest?
It began with the Royal Wedding on 12 October 1810.

Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event.



The fields were renamed Theresienwiese ("Theres'a Fields") to honor the Crown Princess, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to "Wiesn". Horse races in the presence of the royal family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria.


PHOTO (view-from-cable-car (Wonderful hotel! on Aug 2008): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689

The decision to repeat the horse races in subsequent years gave rise to the tradition of Oktoberfest.


PHOTO (Bavaria - Neuschwanstein): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689


The Oktoberfest continues in 1811


PHOTO (The GN's Oktoberfest Buddies!): http://nostrapybus.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/oktoberfest.jpg



PHOTO (Oktoberfest-Girls): http://www.wordsaboutthings.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/oktoberfest-girls-1a1.jpg

In 1811, an added feature to the horse races was the first Agricultural Show, designed to boost Bavarian agriculture. The horse races, which were the oldest - and at one time - the most popular event of the festival are no longer held today. But the Agricultural Show is still held every three years during the Oktoberfest on the southern part of the festival grounds.


PHOTO; Walk-in-oberstaufen (Beautiful Spot on Mar 2007): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689


More and more things to see and do

PHOTO (Oktoberfest Costume of Beer Lady Waitress): http://cracklecdn.zoovy.lg1.simplecdn.net/img/bamtar/W979-H1305-Bffffff/products/oktoberfest/dirndl_oktoberfest_costume_fraulein_beer_wench.jpg


In the first few decades, the choices of amusements were sparse. In 1818, the first carousel and two swings were set up.


PHOTO: http://travelopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/oktoberfest.jpg

Vistitors were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands, which grew rapidly in number. In 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents and halls set up by the enterprising landlords with the backing of the breweries.


PHOTO (oktoberfest-at-old-world-village): http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/oktoberfest-at-old-world-village.jpg

The remainder of the festival site was taken up by a fun-fair. The range of carousels offered was already increasing rapidly in the 1870's as the fairground trade continued to grow and developed in Germany.


PHOTO (Oktoberfest in Germany): http://www.oktoberfestpubcrawl.com/images/Oktoberfest-Germany-large.jpg



176th Oktoberfest in 2009 (19 September - 4 October 2009)


PHOTO (springtime-in-schwangau - Schwangau on May 2008): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689

Today, the Oktoberfest in Munich is the largest festival in the world, with an international flavor characteristic of the 20th century.


PHOTO (Muenchen): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689



PHOTO (up-the-hill): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689

At the foot of the Bavaria Statue, adjacent to the Huge Oktoberfest grounds there are also carousels, roller coasters and all the spectacular fun for the enjoyment and excitement of visitors of all ages.


PHOTO (Krystin Lakebrink, Miss Oktoberfest Picture 2008): http://www.soulardoktoberfest.com/dev/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=35

The festivities are accompanied by a program of events, including the Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries, the Costume and Riflemen's Procession, and a concert involving all the brass bands represented at the "Wiesn".


PHOTO (Holly Marquitz, Miss Oktoberfest Picture 2007): http://www.soulardoktoberfest.com/dev/miss%20oktoberfest%20picture.jpg

The Oktoberfest celebrated its 197th Anniversery in 2007, only Wars and cholera epidemics have briefely interrupted the yearly beer celebration.


PHOTO (Springtime-in-Schwangau - Schwangau on May 2008)): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689



PHOTO (Bavaria - Neuschwanstein): http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g187293-w2-Bavaria.html#18328689


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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Canal in Bishan to become river

MY PAPER FRIDAY OCTOBER 2, 2009, A2, MY NEWS, HOME
http://myepaper.mypaper.sg/ebook/web_php/fvbrowserjs.php?urljs=http://myepaper.mypaper.sg/ecreator/sphopf/ep021009cnd_opf_files/ep021009cnd.js&ver=Gen

by JOY FANG - joyfang@sph.com.sg



PARK LIFE: In two years’ time, visitors to Bishan Park will be able to sit by the gently sloping banks of the Kallang River. Bridges, a water playground and a river promenade will be built as well. (GRAPHIC: PUB)


Canal in Bishan to become river
by JOY FANG - joyfang@sph.com.sg

COME 2011, the stretch of Kallang River that flows beside Bishan Park through a concrete canal will be transformed into a meandering river, with trees and shrubs on its banks.



Using a special soil bioengineering technique, the concrete will be ripped up and the banks covered with a mixture of big rocks, broken concrete and soil, where greenery will be planted.

Parkgoers will be able to sit by the shallow banks and dip their toes into the river.

It is the first time here that a canal will be naturalised and integrated into a park. Five bridges will also be built over the completed 3km-long stretch of the river, to allow residents in the area to cross it and reach the park. Currently, they need to skirt around it to get there.


The National Parks Board’s (NParks) director of parks development, Mr Yeo Meng Tong, said that it was time to redevelop the park as it was more than 20 years old. The canal also needed a revamp,as it was “a concrete drain, which is not accessible to anybody except drainage personnel”, he said.



Construction will begin after a ground-breaking ceremony officiated by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong tomorrow. Under the $76-million project – a collaboration between national water agency PUB and NParks – a river promenade, a water playground, cafes and a lookout point overlooking the river and the park will be built.

Picture is obtained from http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=8&Itemid=73

Drainage-improvement works will also be done.

This is the latest project under the PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Programme, which aims to beautify drains, canals and reservoirs, and bring people closer to them.

Picture is obtained from http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=8&Itemid=73

From 2007 to 2011, 28 projects will be completed. Of these, four, including Bedok Reservoir and Marina Barrage projects, have already been done.

Work on eight other projects, including those involving the Sungei Kallang/Whampoa river and Pandan Reservoir, is ongoing.

Another eight, involving Rochor Canal, Geylang River and Siglap Canal among other waterways, will start next year.

Picture is obtained from http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=8&Itemid=73

More than 100 other locations have been identified for improvement works in the next 10 to 15 years under the programme.

Bishan resident and undergraduate Ryan How, 24, said that he does not run much in Bishan Park, as he finds it boring and the canal, ugly. “With the new changes, I’ll go there more often to run becauseit’ll have more pleasant scenery,” he said.


Picture is obtained from http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=8&Itemid=73

WATERWAYS BY 2010

  • Sengkang man-made floating island: To be reached via two bridges.
  • Rower’s Bay at Lower Seletar Reservoir: To offer water sports, a water stage and a viewing deck.
  • Jurong Lake: To have a geyser, water playground and boardwalks.
  • Pandan Reservoir: To have a fishing platform and offer boating activities.
  • Lorong Halus Wetland: To become a wildlife habitat.


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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

EZ-Link Giro top-up - Part 11 (switching EZ-Link Cards, Where's the benefit?)

The Straits Times, October 5, 2009, Page A22
By Kwong Hui Hen


Picture is obtained from http://photo.blog.sina.com.cn/blogpic/4a1e52010100eszr/4a1e5201g70a34a376741
Switching EZ-Link Cards, Where's the benefit?

EZ-LINK has spared no effort to promote its new Cepas ez-link card, But I am not sure if convenience and lower cost to the consumer were what it had in mind.

Consider these:
Under the Contactless e-Purse Application Standard (Cepas) card - Which EZ-Link dubs EZ-Reload - the cardholder must send a written application, pay a one-off application fee (with a waiver thrown in until February) and wait 21 days for the application to be approved.



Worse, the Cepas cardholder incurs a fee each time the card is topped up (ironically dubbed as ("convenience fee'' by EZ-Link).

Compare these with the previous arrangement where the ez-link cardholder could apply for Giro at a general ticketing machine and get instant approval.



I cannot help but wonder why we are switching to something that seems technologically more primitive.

I am not sure the new features are worthwhile either. According to the EZ-Link website:
A Cepas card can be used for Electronic Road Pricing payment with the next-generation in-vehicle unit (IU). Does one expect a motorist to fish out the Cepas card from his IU so he can use it on the MRT?



It allows a maximum stored value of $500. Who would want to put in that much?

It can be used for non-transit payments. With most shops accepting credit cards and Nets, the benefit of an additional payment option is marginal.



It retains full value with no need to pay a deposit. My understanding is that one cannot take a ride if the stored value falls below $3, so what difference does it make?

Looking at all these features, I cannot help but conclude that the switch to the Cepas card is solely commercially driven.


Picture is obtained from http://members.optusnet.com.au/wing813/mashimaro_wp05.jpg

It is disappointing that EZ-Link charges a fee to reload. I understand EZ-Link incurs a bank charge in the process, but which business does not incur a charge for customers paying by Nets or credit card? Employers incur Giro fees to pay salaries into employees' accounts by direct debit, but does any firm recover the cost from its employees?

The new Cepas card seems to be a step backwards rather than forwards.

Kwong Hui Hen





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