KTM Ride from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to Malaysia video

This is the video we took from the right window view of the train ride from Singapore's Tanjong Pagar Rail. It's a little blur and shaky because it's taken on a mobile phone, but it's pretty interesting to watch! See if you can identify any of the places - like Bukit Panjang, Railmall and so on! We already deleted most of the footage of the forested areas cos it's not so entertaining to watch that much foilage zooming past. Singapore really does have A LOT of untouched green spaces. Those footage of forests and greenery that you see is only like, 10%.

Left window view coming up soon!

The Last KTM Train Ride from Tanjong Pagar to Malaysia (Part 1) - Photos

Do you know how the station came to be in Tanjong Pagar and why it has to move?

Well, the station is one of the legacies left behind by the British empire when they granted independence to Malaya and Singapore. They partitioned this railway station and the entire railway line from Tanjong Pagar to Malaya as land belonging to Malaya.

After years of this arrangement, the Tanjong Pagar site and other KTMB land parcels in the island republic will be jointly developed by MS Pte Ltd, a company with a 60 per cent stake held by Khazanah Nasional Bhd and 40 per cent by Temasek Holdings Ltd, as agreed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Singapore counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong in 2010.

After queuing unsuccessfully for the 8am ride (because it was sold out!), we finally managed to get tickets for the 1pm KTM train ride from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to Malaysia. The atmosphere at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was exciting. Instead of the usual sleepy and quiet feel that we get every time we pass by it, the station was bustling with Singaporeans, Malaysians and other tourists eager to soak up the history, sights and sounds of the station and the train ride before it closes on 30 June 2011.

What better way to keep a slice of Singaporean history than to capture the memorable sights on camera?

The directory that greets you upon entering the station.

Check out the large murals on the wall. They depict village life in early Singapore and Malaysia.
Their fresh colours and detail make them a joy to admire from afar.

Love the natural light streaming in from the windows above.

The all-famous railway food station. Their amazingly fragrant teh-halia (ginger tea) is going to be missed.

Checking out the arrival area. Super old-school.

Police station.

The tracks. Some people actually climbed down to take pictures, totally oblivious to the fact that they could be hit by incoming trains if they couldn't run fast enough. But they came up after the station master came running after them while blowing his whistle non-stop.

Shutterbugs and eatingbugs.More photos of the food in Part 2

The stalls in the canteen.

Teh-halia!

A photo with the very obliging station master.

These used to be hotel rooms. They are not in use anymore though.

Looking up...

And moving off to the departure area.

Station master No.2 punching our tickets. Looking kinda bored though.

Inside the train carriage

Snapping a picture from outside the train.

The departure platform at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
Last chance to buy snacks!

Another look inside the carriage. It's air-conditioned and pretty comfy, with a little table in front of each seat.

Leaving the station at Tanjong Pagar. You won't believe the amount of lush greenery in Singapore. Check out the videos in Part 2. There's really, really, really a lot of it.

This is still in Singapore! One of the old stations in Bukit Timah. Blast to the past.

Arrival at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Check: 1.30pm. We took about half an hour to get here from Tanjong Pagar.

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 for more photos and videos of the journey from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to Malaysia on the RTM! 

Aramis Perfume

Bought an ARAMIS Perfume recently. Being quite a while since I bought one.

Love that manly strong smell but that doesnt give you a knockout .

And also its nostalgic. Every time I smell that Aramis smell. I would recall my old friends. When we first started work. the first men perfume we bought together was Aramis, to make us smell classy and manly caused we were young then and were working as professionals.

And Aramis have been my most regularly use perfume ever since. Even have a Aramis travel bag to show in my occasional short trips.

Got it at a good price from a perfume boutique.

singApraise

WE bought a APPLE Macbook Pro

Bought a Apple Macbook Pro from Harvey Norman stall in West Mall on 26th April, Tuesday.

Like to say a big "Thank you" to 2 of the Harvey Norman staff there for assuring me and my daughter's doubt regarding a promotion. 

At an earlier weekend we were checking around in IMM and saw a range of Apple Macbooks in  another departmental store there. The staff there told us that they were having an upgrading promotion for the Apple Macbook. We could upgrade the RAM for only $98.00.

But the Harvey Norman Staff, Terence Chan and a senior staff told us that the upgrading  of RAM promotion has nothing to do with Apple Computer and its warranty does not cover it.

I even asked for the Telephone Number of Apple's Computer Centre to confirm. I am happy that the Harvey Norman's senior staff searched for the phone number for me  and I was surprised that there was a staff attending the phone at Apple computer centre even at around 8 pm.

The lady staff confirmed what the Harvey Norman staff had told me - that the RAM promotion given at the other departmental store is not Apple's promotion and that their warranty doesn't cover it.

We bought the Macbook Pro from Harvey Norman and better service followed. There was another Staff from Apple Computer at a counter there. This Apple staff, Lester, attended to us and assisted my daughter on the operation of the Macbook Pro.

My daughter loves the Apple Macbook Pro desktop design, and said its startup is fast and the editing programs such as i-movie and final-cut pro are easy to use . I think she actually loves the Macbook Pro 's slim look.

SingAPraise

The Lion King Musical CD

Bought from: That CD Shop at Marina Bay Sands Shoppes
Offer: 3 cds for $50
What's in it : 1 cd  containing the soundtrack and 1dvd containing the 'Behind the Scenes', Booklet

I happened to chance upon this amazing offer just after watching The Lion King Musical at Marina Bay Sands' Theatre. That CD Shop is just one level below the theatre and just beside The Lion King exhibition.

3 CDs for $50! I think it's worth it if you have 3 cds you want to buy. I got 2 Lion King cds and 1 Taylor Swift cd. There is a great variety of cds available, but I'm not sure if other That CD Shops have this same offer with the same cd offerings.

Anyway about the CD, here's the soundtrack list:
1. Circle of Life with Nants' Ingonyama
2. Grasslands Chant
3. The Morning Report *
4. The Lioness Hunt
5. I Just Can't Wait to Be King
6. Chow Down
7. They Live In You
8. Be Prepared
9. The Stampede
10. Rafiki Mourns
11. Hakuna Matata
12. One by One
13. The Madness of King Scar **
14. Shadowland
15. The Lion Sleeps Tonight
16. Endless Night
17. Can You Feel the Love Tonight
18. He Lives in You (Reprise)
19. Simba Confronts Scar
20. King of Pride Rock/ Circle of Life (Reprise)

* "The Morning Report", for some reason, isn't in musical that is being shown in Singapore.
** There is some variance from the version of "The Madness of King Scar" that is shown in Singapore. Not the whole song is performed in Singapore.

Which brings us to the next point - This is the original Broadway cast recording, so if you're looking to listen to Jonathan Andrew Hume, Puleng March and the likes who are performing in Singapore, then... haha, you don't have an option actually. I doubt there will be a Singaporean version cd. The DVD shows the behind the scenes of the London production, so you can't do catch up if you missed the Making of Lion King that is exclusively about the Singaporean production on Channel 5. And you can't catch it on xinmsn.

This cd is great. Listening to it brings me back to the moment where I am sitting below the stage watching the musical. Great for anyone like me having withdrawal symptoms after watching the musical at MBS. Great for people who love the original Lion King movie since most of the songs are found in the movie, and a few from the sequel. New ones like "Shadowland" written specially for the musical have a beautiful African flavour and incorporate some of the rhythms of the original movie music in them.

The booklet inside contain full lyrics of all the songs, the artists performing the songs, details of the orchestra, forewords from the directors and producer - Mark Macina, Julie Taymor and Lebo M.

I'm listening to this on replay now. HAPPY.

WEITING :)
SingAPraise

LIGHTS OUT FOR EARTH & Moral support for the Japanese too

Here's some news that is worth sharing. it's LIGHT OUT FOR EARTH organized by Earth Hour on 26th March, 2011

This wonderful idea to save our EARTH was started by a group known as the Earth Hour in Sydney in 2007.

How to "prolong Earth's Life?' Earth Hour movement will drench the whole world in darkness for 60 mins - a small inconvenience for us, but our world will breath fresher

One great way of participating is to leave our cars at home, and take a walk around our areas. Television stations too can take part by staying off the air for 30 minutes for a start. As without the TV, most of us would take a walk, an useful alternative of family gathering.

Last year's Earth Hour reached one billion people in 128 countries, so just multiply ALL the number of citizens and businesses of the world with this switch-off, not only from electricity but also mobile phones and its domino clean effect will be felt.

Lets All singApraise for the founder and organizer and everyone all over the world that would be taking part in bringing Earth Hour to its earth day. See its web-site at (earthhour.com.sg)

I believe this years Earth Hour would be more meaningful. By switching off our electricity, we will also be remembering the hardships that the Japanese people are enduring now, some of  their cities are without electricity for the past weeks since the earthquake started.
Lets give them some moral support in our LIGHT OUT on 26th March, showing them that everyone in the world is with them although ours is only a small part as compared with their sufferings.

singApraise.blogspot.com

Disney's The Lion King on Broadway, SINGAPORE review

Disney's The Lion King on Broadway, SINGAPORE review

Last night, 5 of us headed down to Marina Bay Sands (MBS)  for our first ever Broadway - The Lion King .The moment we stepped into Marina Bay Sands- MBS, we could feel the very excitement that surrounded us- because MBS was welcoming as it was so nicely decorated with banners and advertisements of The Lion King everywhere.

Upon reaching the Theater, we were greeted by warm and courteous smiling ushers who helped us get around and find our seats. The moment we stepped into the magnificent hall, our breaths were taken away by the most amazing design and facade of the Marina Bay Sands Theater. It truly deserved to host and  be home this world phenomena Broadway for its stay here.

What you see as you walk towards the Sands Theatre!

We settled down fast and though we got the Cat B seats, we were relatively close to the stage. Before we knew it, Gugwana Dlamini's voice thundered through the whole theater with the famous "Mazibenya..". Everyone hushed their friends as the show started yet the excitement in everyone was just uncontainable. People were bouncing about their seats and gasped as the large red velvet curtains were lifted to reveal a stage with sets that were beyond imagination! Immediately before us was Pride Rock! As the audience marveled at the incredible set, as the dancers and singers, or the 'animals' to be exact, started streaming down the aisle onto the stage! That was truly interactive.

And that was just the start to such a spectacular show! We were given surprises, one after another, at the way the sets transits through the scenes seamlessly and made complete sense without any awkward pauses that leave the audience scratching their heads. The interactive and creative uses of light and props gave us a feeling of realness! It was as if the whole Lion King cartoon was magically transformed into real life! every single bit of it! Even we were amazed by that fact, though we first doubted how real they could make those scenes.

I personally loved the way they brought Mufasa's spirit back in one of the scenes in Act II. The use of huge jigsaw pieces that suddenly fit together to reveal his face in the backdrop , it was just so amazing!

The elaborate Lion King costumes allowed us to see the 'animals' in the cast, and it wasn't just a show with people singing, THEY WERE ANIMALS, in the Savannah! The head pieces were so beautifully carved and Scar's moving headpiece definitely intrigued the audience! At times, it was just Patrick Brown's face with a Scar mask on his head, and at times, his mask gets drawn down to  cover his face and revealed a menacing grin. That was truly, what i call, theatrical creativity!

Apart from mind-blowing sets, props, puppets, the Lion King cast was AMAZING! Jee-L was superb as Mufasa! His rendition of 'He lives in you' truly touched us. He sang with so much feelings and the way he emoted into the song totally allowed us to see that song, which we already knew so well, in a whole new light. The young Simba and Nala, despite being children and only recently got on board the production, did an amazing job with their role. It was shocking to see how they were so natural and talented in their singing at such a tender age.

Jonathan Andrew Hume, who played adult Simba, blew everyone away with his velvety, rich tenor voice as he belted 'Endless night'. Reaching the high notes with so much resonance proved to be easy peasy for him. Ramsdem (ZaZu) entertained the much surprised crowd with his rendition of  a surprise local National Day tune! It was truly an element of surprise no one anticipated, especially for a non-local to pronounce the Malay words so well! Jamie(Timon), should get credit for trying to add some Singaporean slang into his lines. Not forgetting the wonderful supporting chorus with their wonderful blend in the African chants, the musicians, and the amazing dancers!

The show reflected rich African cultures in the intricacies of the props, sets, costumes and songs. It was so spectacular and left us all speechless! Those of you out there who are still deciding if you should catch The Lion King, one advise - WATCH The Lion King before it leaves Singapore!

To the cast and the whole production team, congratulations on a job well done! (:

by ONG

Marina Bay Sands.The Lion King,Singapore