F1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix - Day 2

Whoops, sorry if the previous post got all confused. It didn't upload properly and if weren't for prompt notification from one of my most avid readers, I wouldn't have spotted it!

Also I have just recovered from spilling my Milo (malty hot chocolate) all over the table and my phone. But it's OK and it seems to have given the staff here at the hostel an excuse to mop the floor for what must be the 3rd time today!

So Saturday, Day 2 of the Grand Prix and the much-anticipated Maroon 5 performance, I went really early to the queue and ate my lunch there (from the omnipresent 7-ELEVEN). It was solar midday so pretty warm and my part of the queue wasn't shaded by trees. But I sat and I sweated and then I tried using my umbrella which works quite well to keep the sun off, but also raises the temperature and humidity around you, so isn't exactly win-win!



You see the western couple close to the camera? To everyone's pleasure they started being particularly militant about those people who were blatently moving past the queue to join others who have been saving their spaces. And so held back about 20 people over the course of about half an hour.

Then the floodgates opened and our bags were searched very ineffectively, since I managed to smuggle in a muffin and a banana despite the ban on your own food. And I participated in another very poor imitation of queueing as we lined up to get our wristbands, giving us preferential access to the Fanzone (the front of the arena) for Maroon 5's performance.

After joining in with the good ol' British queuing militancy, I got my wristband and then waited around to meet up with my contacts for the day. You see, I had already sewed some seeds for Saturday and Chay Him, my friend from Bath Uni I had met up with on Wednesday, had put me in touch with one of his colleagues (a French intern) called Florent and his friend Michel. Here we are:

Also spotted was what we jokingly called 'Singapore's Beach':



So I showed them to my favourite spot and we managed to watch GP2 qualifying:

  

 

Once again I am immensely glad of my earphones and the commentary over the FM radio. And the qualifying would have been much harder to follow if we didn't have that nice big TV just opposite!

We then grabbed some food and watched the F1 P3 from a couple of new angles, just for variety:

 

Then grabbed dinner (fish and chips for me) while watching Soul Mystique, a quick-change act also from Australia. Though sorry if the photo is misleading... They were very impressive, and incorporated some exquisite dance into their act, though I'd like to have seen more of the changing and less of the dancing!

We then shifted positions to watch the Porsche Cup go round for its qualifying race. Notice anything wrong with this car?!

Then we slunk over to watch Banarama do their thing. It's not something I've done before, watching two 50-something ladies strutting their stuff while singing 80s hits from over half a lifetime ago! But actually they were VERY GOOD and I recognised quite a few of their hits. Their voices were still in good shape and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Although they weren't moving much, especially the blonde one, their dancers, two young chaps in black, were really stealing the show even though the brown woman admitted that one of them was 'only 19'!

Then back to the stand to watch qualifying. Which was tremendously exciting, especially to watch it with the French guys, since Romain Grosjean was doing quite well until the Red Bulls got going. And Grosjean ruined his gearbox...

Meanwhile, Pastor Maldonado from Williams came from 'nowhere' to take 2nd place on the grid! Good chap!

Of course, while the cars were going round, most people couldn't hear the commentary (which was being broadcast over the PA). But I could, which certainly helped. And I saw some fantastic examples of poor earplug useage! This was one of the worst:

Then, back to watching the Ferraris go round their race:

And finding Maroon 5 watching from the same viewpoint as us!

Which meant that, very soon, we would find Maroon 5 performing on the Padang main stage. We went, we thought, early enough to get a good spot. But it was absolutely mobbed and we were a long way back in the Fan Zone, which was still orders of magnitude better than the general crowd area!

Anyway, Maroon 5 were INCREDIBLE. Such a good act, and the lead singer Adam Levine seemed to be channelling the spirit of Freddie Mercury. They played all their best tunes from the last decade with signficant moderation, modulation, mashing up and mixing. Amazing!

Get a taste for it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jZPBN28tlk

And then I had to say farewell to Florent and Michel, who had been excellent company for the day, and I walked back to the hostel while they took the (thankfully, late-service) MRT back across the island to their house. I on the other hand was given the chance to walk along the track with a load of other excited fans, since it was the most simple way out of the arena!

Here's the turn 10, Singapore Sling, and home of many crashes and dinks. Notably it's where the Ferrari got dinked during the rain on Friday.

And these must be the mortal remains of said Ferrari... :-(

F1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix - Day 1

Friday was, of course, the first day of the Formula One Singtel Singapore Grand Prix. This was one of the main 'pins in the schedule' for my trip to Singapore and I'd booked tickets many months ago, paying about £90 for a 3-day walkabout in Zone 4. This zone is the biggest and contains turns 7 through 17, plus the Padang stage zone where most of the big acts were playing.

Even though I was there for the whole 3 days, I still didn't get to explore all of Zone 4 and therefore I think it's great value and you really don't need any more of a ticket! It also gave me the chance to explore viewing the race from viewing areas all over that end of the circuit. Bleachers (raised, stepped standing areas) were provided in a number of locations, the only advantage being that you had to stand and there weren't many TVs provided for these locations.

When I arrived in Singapore, I had no-one to go and watch it with so I put a note in the reception of the Hostel and this landed me Rob, an Irish civil engineer working out in Australia at a mine, to accompany me on the Friday. We went early to get through the gate as soon as it opened at 14:30, having had lunch at the Mayanmar canteen again and an interesting conversation about both UAVs and mining.

Upon entering, the first thing we encountered was an F1 simulator which had just opened; we were 4th and 5th in the queue. The simulators and computers kept breaking down so it took about 15 minutes per person, and the queue outside was at least 30 people long before much time had elapsed! Thankfully we got in early!

 

I was absolutely useless in the simulator. The graphics weren't good enough, and the viewpoint was way too low, to see any of the turns before it was too late to react. Craig would have done much, much better than me!

So we wandered round after this and came across the classic car display, later to be used for the drivers' parade lap (though I didn't know this at the time and wondered for some time why some of the cars had large stickers on with a driver's name. Were they who the cars belonged to? If so, why had they shipped them all the way to Singapore?!



Then, looking across the bay towards the boat atop Marina Bay Sands, it became obvious that a rain shower was very, very imminent...  

...so we sheltered under one of the Durian theatres in the Esplanade while Ferraris (part of the Ferrari cup) crashed into the barriers and their practice session was well and truly suspended!

With the air quite humid (about 70%) at about 32 degrees, the rain and accompanying cold breeze was very welcome!

On my request, we then journeyed over to Turn 16 and 17, where there was a small bleacher for Walkabout ticket holders, very close to the track, and best of all with a TV on the other side of the track which was actually for those in the grandstand next to us. Looking at the map, I suspected that this would be a good niche from which to watch the race, and was happy with my choice!

Before long, the GP2 cars came out (though an inexperienced eye like mine would really struggle to tell the difference between them and F1 cars) and proceeded with their first practice. The sound was quite incredible and I am very glad that, as well as earplugs, I had brought my MP3/radio player and in-ear earphones, which enabled me to hear the commentary very clearly while blocking out a good deal of the roar of the 4L V8s. Learn more about the series here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP2_Series 

 

Rob left me at this point to continue his exploration of the circuit, since he was a Premier Walkabout ticket holder and could visit Zones 1-3 as well as Zone 4. I also wandered elsewhere to watch Practice Session 1 but it wasn't quite as good. Much more quantity than quality and you could only see the cars accelerating down the DRS straight, rather than the braking, turns and acceleration of Turns 16 and 17.

So I got a bite to eat (Satay - very tasty!) and went back to watch P1 from my now-favourite spot:

 

 

First view of the Williams team which I will be supporting!

Once this was over, I started to immerse myself in the musical acts for which the Singapore Grand Prix is famous. First up was a British violin duet (doesn't sound very exciting) who, playing crystal violins and covering awesome songs such as The Chain, Beat It and Glorious, were an awesome show indeed!  http://www.youtube.com/user/fusemusicuk

Then I briefly caught the daily light show (the one I'd seen from the top of the boat the previous day) from a new viewpoint: 

Before going to the next stage and waiting for another act to come on. Here there was another big screen and we saw our first crash of a GP2 car at Turn 18...

And then Tom Thum came on all the way from Australia. This beatboxer-come-livelooper was very good fun and knew how to work a crowd. I won't try and explain his music myself, but direct you to his channel and just explain that he is clearly heavily inspired by Beardyman, another chap who I am a big fan of...
http://www.youtube.com/user/tomthummer

By now the creepy marionette had started twitching inexplicably...

...so I walked briskly past and found a new place to watch the P2 from.

But I couldn't configure my camera to take particularly good photos in the comparatively low light, especially given the high speed of the cars. Luckily I found an innovative solution!

But I didn't stay here for long and, not being a fan of Jay Chou, I headed back to the Hostel at about 11pm to preserve my energy for the following two days. But first, here's the view of the Padang area and main stage:

  

Living in Sin

No, not like that you dummy!

Event compared to the 12-hour flight in the dirty Delta, from Seattle to Beijing, I was more happy to step off the incredibly cramped Tiger Airways flight in Singapore and stretch my legs a little. Thankfully I'd used the time somewhat productively, writing blog posts etc and doing my best to sleep...

(not actually my photo but I have one incredibly similar...)

We arrived at the inspiringly-named Budget Terminal and walked some distance (it was clearly quite humid here already) to a very efficient passport control and, again, a slightly concerning wait for my bag which I hadn't seen since dropping it off in the town centre of Hong Kong. But of course it trundled out to meet me eventually!

We had to take a bus over to Terminal 2 in order to catch the SMRT (Singapore Mass Rapid Transit) system into town. I withdrew about $100 (£50) to get me established, then arrived at the platform 5 minutes before a train departed. But then it was announced that this was the last train! And the ticket office was closed! And it's rejecting my $50 note, not enough change! And it is ignoring the card I have inserted!!!!!!!

But then a very kind Western couple helped me out and donated the $3.50 fare to get into the city. I am so grateful for their help, I had just enough time to thank them before running to the train before the doors closed. Panic over - thanks random strangers :-)

So my first lesson learnt was how early the MRT system in Singapore closes. Around midnight every day, apparently, even at the weekend! Although it was clean and efficient, I would much prefer that it ran a little longer...

I texted my Bath Uni friend Chay Him to enquire when the NE line (which I needed to transfer to to get to my hostel) and just when the train doors were closing on the final station where I could have otherwise walked to the hostel, he got back to me to tell me that the final train had already left! Luckily though, at the next station I changed to go back in the other direction and caught the final train back towards the hostel and walked the rest of the way - helped again with directions from the GPS on my phone and also a friendly local businessman on his way to work!

I arrived at the hostel around midnight and, following the instructions they had given me, collected my key from the drop-box, showered and took to my bed (the first top bunk on the trip!). zzzz.

The next day, I had arranged to meet up with Chay Him but beforehand had the opportunity to explore my Hostel:

The Hostel (Five Stones Hostel) is NOT a YHA / Hostelling International establishment but has its own very unique feel. It's really homely, with a nice living area with a big TV and way too many DVDs etc just calling for you to slob out and enjoy relaxing for a bit.

Breakfast was good, cereal and toast and boiled eggs, for the first time since leaving the USA! The hostel is quite compact, it has 7 rooms (I think) spread out on 2 levels, ranging from 6 to 14 beds in each. Very homely. And normally there are many more people around than these photos insinuate but I took them a couple of days later in the middle of the day!

 

So Chay Him met me in a taxi outside the hostel and we were driven a couple of blocks to the Maxwell Food Centre, a very well-known canteen with over 100 stalls selling things like chicken rice, fish noodles, pork bones in tea and other interesting dishes which I have long since ceased being surprised with! We had caught it in the middle of the businesses lunch hour and it was thus pretty busy!

Chay queued up and ordered for us while I chatted to an aunt and her niece, sat at our table. I was surprised with just how much English is spoken around Singapore, but after all it is one of the official languages. Chay then turned up with fried fish in a noodle soup for me, it was delicious and warm but I made the mistake of trying to eat a whole sliver of ginger!

We then started walking back to the Hostel, giving Chay an opportunity to show me some of the sights of Singapore. Firstly, the heat - it's generally 30-33 degrees all year round but (as everyone will tell you) it is the humidity, around 70%, which makes you uncomfortable. You just feel sweaty everywhere you go! It was worse than Beijing and Hong Kong but certainly bearable, even when walking round for the entire day as I found out later.

The stranger thing for me was that, being only 140km from the equator around the time of the Equinox, the sun was genuinely overhead (straight up!) and thus our shadows were tiny and directly underneath. This messed with my navigation a little bit (I'm used to being able to identify which direction I'm pointing using my shadow and knowing what the time is) but also made it easy to seek shade, since all the pavements have covers. The tops of your feet are the first things to be burnt and some people walk around here with umbrellas as shade devices. Chay said he was really looking forward to returning to the UK (the following day) primarily for the weather, which was quite flattering, considering how often I have heard people (mostly Americans) moaning about the British weather!

Being nearly mid-autumn festival (September 30th), the Chinese quarter of the city had many decorations out, which we enjoyed.

Then we caught the MRT back towards the hostel. People say that Singapore is a very strict, clean city, and this is why:

Hopefully I can tell you more about the weird, smelly fruit that is the Durian later!

So we said farewell and I headed back to the hostel and spent some time updating the blog and generally chilling out. I went out a little bit later, around dusk, to try and collect my Grand Prix tickets, purchase a SIM card, nd see a bit more of the city, including the impressive Marina Bay harbour.

 

At the base of the Swissotel, where I was due to collect my Zone 4 Walkabout tickets (having pre-ordered many months ago), a Costa Coffee had just opened and outside were all the bouquets from neighbouring shops, congratulating it for opening and wishing it the best for its future commerce!

I also caught my first glimpse of the F1 circuit! It is truly integrated into the city, and you can see here that this straight was a normal road about a week ago. I took the advice of one of the hostel staff here and visited an underground canteen for dinner, had a nice cheap Mayanmar supper then came back to the hostel for more chilling out and blogging (and chatting with some of my other hostellers).


The next morning I continued with the above. You may be surprised to hear that I wasn't dashing around town, trying to explore as much as possible, and there's a good reason. Mainly, having been on the go (and seriously hectic!) for the past 5 weeks, I am in real need of just chilling out a little bit, catching up on the blog and also my reports for the Royal Academy of Engineering, getting some sleep, and just enjoying myself. As can be seen by the photos of the chillout area of the lounge, I am in the perfect place to do this and of course it will be good to emerge refreshed for India and Nepal. Plus, I'm here for 2.5 weeks and have plenty of time to explore the city once it quietens down after the Grand Prix! I just have to convince myself not to be guilty about this!

Around lunchtime, I journeyed across town to the Singapore branch of my Dad's workplace where a kind lady had received on my behalf a package sent from home containing toys, clothes and shoes for my working placement in Nepal. It was lovely to receive such items from home, of course there was no note though because it would have been out of date by the time it arrived and I'd been keeping in touch by email and Skype anyway! But I was looked after when I went to collect it and we had a go on the recorders that had been included and played a little duet together...

Later in the afternoon, I went out for a meal at the Maxwell Centre with Liz, an Australian visitor who was taking a little holiday to Europe and was stopping off here on here way home to Darwin, where she is a midwife. It was nice to have some good company, and Liz was great fun to speak to, although I was generally unconcerned at how quickly the conversation turned to cervixes... But she was flying out that evening so, after our duck and dumplings and a wander round town, we headed back to the hostel for her to take a taxi (the bus hadn't turned up) to the airport.

Once dusk had fallen, I headed over to the Marina Bay Sands hotel where I knew there was a rooftop bar with excellent views of Singapore and the F1 circuit. I was not disappointed...

  

 

Singapore also has its own daily light show, and I was able to catch the 9:30pm performance. I think this one was a bit more classy than that in Hong Kong and featured some very clever projection onto plumes of water in the bay, as well as lasers and lights and strobes and even some fireballs!

Once I came down from the hotel, I wandered over along a closed road towards the F1 track to see if there was anything worth seeing there. But probably the most impressive site was looking back at the crazy Marina Bay Sands hotel:

It's actually in the shape of a ship, suspended 60 storeys high on top of 3 towers! It's the weirdest building in the Bay so you will see many more photos of it from me soon...

I could also see the grandstand for both Singapore's premier football pitch (on the surface of the water) and doubled as a big F1 viewing area. The circuit actually goes in front of and then underneath this grandstand.

Looking back at the Hotel, the Helix Bridge, the Art and Science Museum across the water.

The Singapore Flyer over the F1 circuit. Any resemblance to the London Eye?!

I then went back to the Sands hotel and explored the mall underneath. It's a huge structure, lots of very classy shops but not in the least bit Oriental! There was another ice skating rink here (closest one to the Equator maybe?) and I bought an expensive icecream to consume (and drop on the marble floor) as I wandered round.

More Caxton Card frustration, this time I had hit the 5-day withdrawal limit (I didn't know there was one!) and had to get cash out using my Debit card in order to top up my MRT card. But of course I got back to the Hostel fine!