the wacky wombat weblog

The 2008 F1 season has just concluded with Lewis Hamilton winning the championship title by the slimmest margin and what was possibly the most gripping 30 seconds of a race at the final leg at Brazil.

But the best part of this year’s GP season has got to be the first night race in Singapore. Thanks to a friend, we got free walkabout tickets for all 3 days, and I gotta say, the whole thing was pretty impressive!

Electrifying atmosphere

On Friday Practice, we went with the intention to recce the place to find out which are the best spots to catch the action. Being poor and without seats, we had to consider vantage points and look for slow corners so that we could at least have more than one second look at passing cars.

The first thing that struck me was the atmosphere. Thanks to me not getting off work at 6, the practice session was already under way when we got there. But the moment we got out of City Hall MRT, we could already hear the cars V8 engine roaring past. I knew the race is loud but having never attended one before, the first time you hear the cars roar past, it was quite an unexpected volume. Of course, many years back it would have sounded even better (less screechy) when the cars were running on V10 engines.

The whole place was lit up so much so it was practically daylight, and for that reason I could actually capture pictures outdoors at night with my tiny digital camera. And the sheer size of the circuit - needless to say, my feet ached from just walking around.

We also rented the Kangaroo TV - a portable TV that streams the live cast, scores, statistics and also team radio. That’s how we kept up with the race without being seated in front of the big screen. In fact, some others were freeloading off us from behind us but hey, it’s ok, because they were sorely disappointed when Massa drove down the pit lane with the fuel rig still stuck in his car. harharhar. nyehnyehnyeh.

The crowd was also huge, a full turnout from the sold out tickets I’d say. And surprisingly, it wasn’t too hard to get in or out of the venue despite the large crowd, which is commendable.

A tourism winner

But it’s really more than just selling all that tickets. The idea to bring F1 to Singapore is a very smart move by the government. It’s not really just about bringing in an expensive sport. The whole event is really another way to sell/promote the country.

Unlike normal circuits, street circuits, like Monaco and now Singapore, have a different feel. Situated in the very heart of cities, street circuits have a very celebratory and almost carnival-like feel. Roads are diverted so that a race could take place, and the whole city is geared up for it. And more than anything else, it always looks good.

It’s very smart that the Marina Bay circuit passes by some of the nicest landmarks and city views on the island. Heck, the entire race was practically a Singapore Tourism ad! It looked real good on TV, but on location, it’s even better. Everything’s up close, and there’s constant pulsing activity everywhere: Street performers before the races, food vendors hawking local fare, people at Suntec or Marina Square trying to catch a glimpse into the circuit, and as the race got under way, fans and crowds packed the place full. For some other normal race circuits, e.g. Sepang, you’re better off watching at home on the TV because on location, there’s nothing to see. But on a street circuit, it’s entirely different. Which is why we’re paying for seats next year (hopefully). And that is exactly what the organisers are hoping people will be thinking next year and returning for more.

Hopes for the F1 year ahead

Of course, we all heard that hotels, especially high end ones, lost out, possibly out of confidence that they would be overbooked so they hiked their price, and NOBODY wanted to pay for that. And I noticed that despite the crowds, many locals were not actually fans who follow the race but merely went to check it out for the experience. Many did not really understand the race, and the sporting feel just wasn’t really there yet. Which is why I think Mediacorp has to get the rights to telecast F1 races next year instead of featuring only the one Singapore one.

The whole island is mad about football, yet there isn’t any truly great football teams here. People just watch the English kick the ball on the pitch all year round and they are passionate about it. Now F1 is here, but nobody knows anything about the motorsport! So definitely the awareness is lacking, but it’s something that could have the potential to become a national ‘obsession’ if only people can get to watch it on free-to-air TV! Can also learn a thing or two from this little fan here:

So hey, Ch5 or something, please pick up the programme and air it. The broadcast will change hands next year from ITV to BBC, but at least it’ll be better than listening to the tormentingly stupid commentary on StarSports every race (and I still have to pay for it!!) That guy commentates every year and still gets the facts wrong. wtf.

And of course, my not-so-secret wishes for next year’s F1 season are:

• FIA to stop being the running dog of Ferrari and jumping on every little thing the McLaren team does and siding with Ferrari all the freaking time.
• Kimi to kick Massa’s ass and show him who’s the real pro.
• Renault to improve their car so that Alonso can have a proper comeback, kick Massa to the back and we can watch the big players race
• More exciting performances from Lewis
• Kovy to do better next year in McLaren
• For us to save enough money to splash on seated grandstand tickets for the SG race. :p

Take a look at the sights around the SG F1 circuit: go to Gallery, and click on the album Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2008. There’re not many pictures of the cars since they’re all a blur, but there’re some interesting sights, and of course, hot babes.

If this picture doesn’t make you feel like wanting to click and view the album, then I don’t know what will. LOL!

I’ve lived on this wee bit island for close to 7 years now. I’ve not always loved it, especially in the beginning. But if there’s one thing I like about Singapore, it’s how ‘walkable’ it is.

It’s pedestrian friendly. Like the city streets of Tokyo and NYC, except without the pesky cyclists (Tokyo) and filthy sidewalks (NYC). It’s safe to walk around on your own, train stations are near everything, so you can just basically take the train somewhere and spend the entire afternoon walking around doing nothing — which is something that I can’t do when I’m back in KL unless I’m hoping to get mugged or leered at by weird sleazy people and pollute my lungs with exhaust fumes. yuck.

So yes, despite the stiffling weather, random walks around the city is something I enjoy doing on some weekends. Once in a while, I’ll bring my lil’ camera around and take random photos of things. Kinda like a tourist. Except I don’t do those stand-in-front-of-merlion-and-do-the-peace-sign shit. That’s for real tourists.

My favourite building is the Gateway, near Bugis. It’s just awesomely sharp. It’s like, you can cut yourself by just looking at it.

Sometimes the best views are just outside my window. Being on the 16th floor has its perks (besides being mosquito-free).

I think it’s the practice for national day or something.

For more snapshots of my random walks, just go to Photo Gallery, and look for the album “Look Up”.  Click and view!

Okay, this is something from like over 2 weeks ago: I was back in Malaysia and my mom was driving me and my sisters to 1 Utama. We were headed there for shopping and dinner. And while on the road we spotted a tow truck towing a very odd-looking car.

Not sure what kind of car (vehicle? can we call it a car?) that was. So since I had my camera with me, why not snap a shot. My mom happily obliged by following behind the tow truck so that I can get a decent shot of the strange car. She even pulled up right alongside it so that I can get this shot:

Those seats look like some kind of race-car seats? Check out the seat belts, and the old-school stick shift heh. But hey, it’s still a pretty cool car — or whatever it is. :p

As much as I enjoyed the shopping and sight-seeing, the majority of my Tokyo experience also revolves around food.

I pretty much love japanese food (ok, except for natto, which is fermented soy beans, and most things fermented taste/smell foul and should be ample warning for people to NOT eat them). But Japanese food in Japan tastes way better than japanese restaurants at home. It’s kinda like when you’re in US and chinese food taste nothing like the chinese food you have at home. (e.g. WTF is General Tso’s chicken?!)

A piece of Japanese food knowledge that I picked up in Japan was about wasabi. Behold - fresh wasabi!

Yes, this is the real deal, the root. To eat, you have to finely grate it first. The flavour is a little lighter and more fragrant than processed wasabi paste (which may not even contain wasabi at all according to this wiki article!), and the hotness does not rush up to your nose and threaten to destroy your nasal passage. It’s all very subtle and pleasant to eat.

Another big surprise about Japanese food (in Japan) is pork. Contrary to the popular belief that seafood and raw fish is all the Japanese people ever eat, pork actually does figure quite heavily in their cuisine. Not only do they eat pork quite often, but they can cook it darn well too! The kind where the pork literally melts in your mouth. It is that good.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of their yummilicious pork to show you, because well, pork + soupy ramen = instant respite against winter chills and palatte satisfaction, so we basically attacked the food right when it reaches the table. There is no time for nilly-willy things like posing and selecting shutter speed on cameras. This is my 3rd trip and I still don’t really have pork-y pictures for you.

Besides the fine art of roast pork, there is also the very cute fast food pork: McPork burger (100yen only!). McDonald’s in Japan is Makudonaludo, and McPork is makupoku. And when Mario wins a challenge in Super Mario Galaxy (Japanese version), it is “star get”. English is a whole new language to me in Japan.

Anyway, I’ve posted some photos of my makan adventure in Tokyo. These are the few moments when we actually stopped ourselves from devouring the food just as it’s served and behaved all civilised and snapped away with our camera. Just go to our Photo Gallery and check out the album titled Eating Marathon.

Other food-related thoughts:

• Japanese people eat a lot of radish. I seem to get radish everywhere. I like it in oden (an assortment of boiled stuff in light broth soup), but not so much as a condiment. While shopping in the supermarket on new year’s eve, I see at least 1 big radish in almost everyone’s shopping basket.
• They also eat a lot of rice. I cannot understand how, in between slurping down a whole big bowl of noodles, typical salarymen can wolf down mouthfuls of plain white rice as well. Lunch sets with noodles + rice + condiment are pretty common.
• They eat horse meat too. I’ve seen places sell horse sashimi, but I cannot bring myself to eat horse meat. However it’s not really a common thing, unlike fish.
• I love how restaurants always serve water for free. Some even leave you with a whole big pitcher. Some restaurants in Malaysia should learn: We should not need to pay for plain water, especially when your food is salty.
• They eat innards too! Yay! I’ve eaten chicken heart, chicken gizzard, chicken butt, pork belly, bbq-ed (yakitori) and deep fried, and they taste great! I believe bak kut teh will do extremely well if sold in Japan.

Now that I’ve procrastinated for 2 weeks after my return from Tokyo, the time is ripe for me to upload some pictures and write about the trip.

One of the common thing I hear people say about Tokyo is that everything is expensive and you can’t holiday there without a ton of cash.

That’s only true to some extent. Yes — hotels are expensive, public transport isn’t cheap like in Singapore, and forget taxis if you value your money.

When it comes to shopping during sale time, it is fantastic. I’m talking about 10 bucks a piece and up to 70% for clothes, and for brands that are normally considered a little pricey back home, like GAP, Zara, Benetton, etc. And finding an XS isn’t like searching a needle in a haystack of XLs like the sales back home either.

This largely explains why I went there with one luggage and came back with two. LOL.

Also, it isn’t too costly to dine at a nice restaurant, where service is always top-notch. Ok, even the neighbourhood aunty shops have good service. And beer is cheap, and good. I will have a follow-up post solely dedicated to all that is fooood.

This post is all about my favourite place to shop: Harajuku, and adjacent to it, Shibuya. Trendy, with wide array of shops from quirky to classic, streetwear to couture, and cheap to expensive, it’s a nice place to just walk around even if you’re not out for shopping.

It is an interesting place to people-watch. But turns out it’s also a nice hang out for fashionable doggies out for a little sun-tanning on a warm winter day.

And beyond the glitzy main street of Omotesando are the little back lanes and quirky shops, which houses possibly the thinnest (yes, thinnest) building I’ve ever seen.

This is not an optical illusion. And I’m not sure if I can fit into the corner of that shop.

As you walk deeper into the network of criss-crossing alleys, you’ll find a few little houses squashed in between boutiques and designer shops. And that’s where we also found our favourite burger joint - Freshness Burger.

I like the concept of this particular outlet. It’s like going into someone’s little house and dining in their kitchen or in their courtyard (depending which table you get). But the whole look and feel is of a very homey and comfortable setting.

The front of the house is non-descript: small signage, a low black grill gate, and a cobble-stone walkway. Inside it’s warmly lit, with wooden furniture and kitchen utensils. And burgers grilled to order. We’ve eaten at other outlets of theirs, but this one’s the cutest.

For more pictures of Harajuku / Shibuya, just head on to our photo gallery. Check out the album titled: A day around Harajuku & Shibuya on page 2. Mouse over photos to read the captions.

=.=”

I’m neither religious nor an atheist, but Christmas is always fun.

It’s a public holiday (auyongtc: not for me, Jesus is not that popular here ), and everything’s sparkly everywhere. That’s what I like most about Christmas. Not Santa Claus, Jesus in the manger, or turkey, but the trees and the lights. I guess I’m like a magpie that cannot resist anything that’s tinsly and shinny, especially the baubles.

Everything is prettier, and the atmosphere’s a little lighter than normal. Maybe because everyone’s looking forward to the drinking and partying, or maybe the end of the year is in sight, but it always feels a little more carefree.

Well, for whatever reason you celebrate this festive season, here’s a little wish from us:

And lets hope it’s going to be a better year ahead.

postscript: yay, will be in Tokyo on New Year’s day. But will definitely avoid the crowd going to the shrines. I prefer my shrines quiet and serene, not packed like a shopping mall.

It’s been months since my last haircut here in Tokyo. I’ve only been getting my haircut every 3-4 months while living here. And it’s always been at the QB House, those vending machine-based express haircut outlets that takes payment in one and only one denomination (a single 1,000 yen note in this case), spits out a ticket with a number, and makes you sit alongside other patrons patiently waiting for their haircut.

There isn’t much sense with the ticket number as I’ve noticed. There’s no wall display of next number to be called to the seat, there’s no announcing of the next number by the barber, there’s no indication that the number is of any use except to serve as a figure of interest while you stone at the bench waiting for your turn with nothing better to look at. People would sit down on the bench according to their turn, and when one leaves the bench for the seat at their turn, the rest of the people will shuffle around to fill up that gap in the same order. Why do they make me sit down at all the different bench seats just to get to my turn for my haircut?

The process is fast though, 10 mins per head with another 1 min overhead (pun not intended) to brush and sweep away the hair from the seat and scissors. There’s even a traffic light-like device out there with blinking lights to indicate how long you’re gonna be stuck there waiting for your turn, should you decide to part with your 1,000 yen note. At the end of the haircut, the barber will even offer to give you the disposable comb he just used on your head as a token of appreciation. That’s not a bad deal after all. After 2 times, I started to politely decline the offer as I’ve got no use for the extra combs at home.

My haircut there tends to be simple, just inform the barber (in whatever limited command of Japanese language I have) how short I want my haircut, in the same style. I’m not about to experiment, or let the barber experiment his skills. Not at 1,000 yen anyway. Keep it short and simple. And my hair seems to grow at a slower pace here, dunno for what reason. So that’s stretching my 1,000 yen a long long way.

In comparison, I often have my haircut every 1-1.5 months back home. At the neighbourhood salon, I get charged like RM 16 per visit, and that’s cheap. Dollar-to-dollar, my haircut here at the QB House is slightly cheaper. But of course, back home it’s a decent salon, and the stylist-cum-owner would talk to me about football betting and how the matches are fixed, so the skill is to bet on how you would think they fix the matches. When it comes to yen-to-ringgit, it’s like RM 120 (4,000 yen at 4 times) per year compared to RM 160 (RM 16 at 10 times) per year. Seems like I’ve been shaving off my haircut expenses while living here at a great extend. LOL!

Guess I’ll be going for my haircut this weekend, but not before a hearty lunch at Maru-kin for its excellent ramen!

I like parks. It’s one of the few public spaces that aren’t crowded, unlike shopping malls.

Parks are also a nice place to just go for walk, clear out your mind. Or you could do plenty other things: jog, read a book, picnic, take photos, people-watch and secretly laugh at the weird people.

Ueno Park is one of the bigger parks in Tokyo. It isn’t very beautiful — maybe it was the wrong season when I was there. Although it is the place to avoid/go to (depending on how you look at it) during the crowded cherry blossom season, it is pretty tranquil on a summer weekday.

I finally sorted through my stash of photos, and uploaded an assortment from Ueno Park. Go to the navigation bar on top, hit <photo gallery>, or click here.

The thing I remember most about Ueno Park is the stray cats. They’re huge and fat, totally unlike the scrawny ones back home.

And they are unfriendly. They hardly mew at anyone, and they all have a haughty look on their face that says “I don’t give a shit about you” when you mew at them.

I also saw a few cats balanced at the edge of a pond with plenty of fish that were as big as the cats. But they weren’t going after the fish. They were stealing fish food.

The homeless folks would feed the fish little bread pieces, and the cats would slip their paws into the pond and grab the ones that fall at the edge of the pond. Maybe that’s why they’re so fat.

***

Sometimes we also went to Yoyogi Park. On weekends, it’s filled with people. People enjoying picnics, playing frisbee. There were also jugglers, unicyclists, tap dancers and girls practicing some cheerleading/dance routine.

And musicians. OK, some of them are good, can’t deny that. But with freedom of expression, comes freedom of sohai*-ness. (*slang word in KL for “total idiot”.) There are some disillusioned people who’d go to the park, display their non-talent, and annoy the hell out of everyone.

There was one guy, braying at the top of his voice, something out of tune and horribly painful to the ears.

Another group of washed-out wannabe rockers were “dancing” to some music. Except it’s not really dancing. It’s stoned expression with arms flailing in every direction.

What they’re experiencing in their extreme disillusioned condition, can only be best described in yet another KL slang word: “shiok sendiri” (i.e.: reveling in pointless stupid fun that only they themselves can appreciate and are oblivious to the real world).

And because it was Japan, everyone is too polite. I almost wanted to look up the word “shut up” in my Japanese phrase book but I can’t be bothered. We simply moved to a quieter and less annoying section of the park.

It’s been an eventful 14 days. Let’s have a rundown on what went on…

1. FYP short film selected in an Australian film festival. Supervisor tells us to try and attend if we can (with the school’s money!)
2. Last minute National Day Sale shopping spree - bought some lovely sheets and towels from Aussino for Mei and her travels
3. Had an interview marathon, made some decisions, and got myself a job (I’m starting next Monday)
4. Bought a 4-piece pots and pan set from IKEA for only $69.90! Plus a 3-piece utensil set for 90cents!! I’ve not bought anything under a dollar for a long time.
5. Cooked my favourite spaghetti aglio olio with the above-mentioned pots and pans.
6. Went back to PJ to visit my family, and provide Mei with guidance in my capacity as Expert Luggage Packer.
7. Developed stomach indigestion as I ate too much pork over the weekend - bak kut teh, fried pork knuckles, mom’s specialty minced pork patties. *burp* It didn’t help when I came back to Singapore and overloaded myself with Ikea dinner with my friends.
8. Completely whitewashed everyone in Scrabble but got my ass kicked in Monopoly. My sisters bullied me into bad property deals. Remind me not to do *real* business with them ever.
9. Discovered that there’s a new mall opened back home in Section 14. It’s the New Jaya, opposite the old Jaya (they could have been a *little* more creative with the name, no?) Nothing there except Coffee Bean and a whole lot of empty space.
10. Signed my employment contract, and submitted my Permanent Residence application yesterday. Level of service at the immigration department here is much more efficient than Malaysia’s.

And I just called home, and found my family having the earliest dinner ever in the history of my household. 6.30pm! These days nobody ever eats till it’s 8 and I’m bugging everyone to start dinner.

They’ll be sending sis Mei off to the airport later. She’s going off to State Uni of New York in Oswego (near Syracuse) to finish up her mass comm degree. Of course later I’ll have to stay up late tonight because she has nothing to do during her 5-hour transit at Changi and phone calls to all Singapore numbers from the airport payphones are free.

Okay, back to my list earlier — the thing I’m most glad about is that I managed to find a job within a month that I got back from Tokyo. At least soon I will be able to pay for my own living expenses here and hopefully have some extra to bring my parents out for a good meal and buy stuff for my sisters. Feel a bit bad that I’ve been living off my dad (and Au Yong - he keeps complaining about my Tokyo electricity usage) for the past few months, so yeah, a job is a good thing. And best of all, I won’t feel restless anymore ‘coz I’ll have lots of things to do and to look forward to! :p

Here’s to hoping all the best for me, and Mei in New York!