Top 10 Tallest Buildings in South East Asia.

The last time I wrote a post about the world’s top 10 tallest buildings was two years ago. I do wrote a number of posts regarding that in the past and I’m going to update the list with a new post next year. For now, I’m heading into the tallest for a specific region. And the specific region I’m highlighting now is of course, my region; South East Asia.

South East Asia is a subregion of Asia and it has 11 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), an area of over 4.5 million square kilometres, over 640 million population, and is a culturally and ethically diverse region. The region saw very high development rate, and hence skyscrapers are in abundance here. In fact, the first ever skyscraper(s) to snatch the world’s tallest building title from America in the past comes from this region. That’s the famous Petronas Twin Towers that has that honor. The towers now remain the world’s tallest twin buildings in present.

Here’s the top 10 tallest buildings in South East Asia, counting in only completed buildings and excludes telecommunication towers and antennas.

1.Vincom Landmark 81

Height: 461m.

Floors: 81.

Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Year completed: 2018.

2 & 3. Petronas Twin Towers

Height: 452m.

Floors: 88.

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Year completed: 1998.

4. Four Seasons Place

Height: 343m.

Floors: 65.

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Year completed: 2018.

5. Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower

Height: 328m.

Floors: 72.

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam.

Year completed: 2012.

6. Magnolias Waterfront Residences Tower 1

Height: 315m.

Floors: 70.

Location: Bangkok, Thailand.

Year completed: 2018.

7. King Power Mahanakhon

Height: 314m.

Floors: 79.

Location: Bangkok, Thailand.

Year completed: 2016.

8. Menara TM

Height: 310m.

Floors: 55.

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Year completed: 2001.

9. Baiyoke Tower II

Height: 304m.

Floors: 85.

Location: Bangkok, Thailand.

Year completed: 1997.

10. Four Seasons Private Residences

Height: 300m.

Floors: 73.

Location: Bangkok, Thailand.

Year completed: 2019.

Currently (as of June 2019), Vietnam topped the list with their Vincom Landmark 81 Tower in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It get past the previous record holder (South East Asia’s tallest) from Petronas Twin Towers by around 9m. Vietnam is experiencing superb growth now and it is no stranger that the country is now building more and more skyscrapers as a sign of its immense development. Malaysia and Thailand both have 4 buildings in this list respectively and are still the major nations of supertall skyscrapers in this region. Only three countries are featured in this top 10 list.

One may wonder where is Singapore since the country is well developed (the only developed country in South East Asia) and is known to have huge number of skyscrapers? Due to height restriction (country is small and airspace restriction covers the whole country which is basically just an island), Singapore can only build buildings up to about 280m. Hence, you see no building coming from this country in this list. In fact, the next one (11th place) will be the Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar Centre (283m).

One need to be breaking the 300-metres mark to get into top 10 list as seen above. In few years time, there will be dramatic difference to this list now as more and more taller skyscrapers are coming up in this region. For example, the Merdeka PNB118 (644m) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the already topped out The Exchange 106 (452m) also in Kuala Lumpur, One Bangkok O4H4 (436m) in Bangkok, Thailand, etc.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

Thank you, Lee Chong Wei!

Lee Chong Wei; a name that no Malaysians will not know and a name that has made a huge impact to the badminton world for over 19 years. A three-time Olympic silver medalist, Datuk Lee Chong Wei is truly a badminton legend and an inspiring Malaysian hero!

After diagnosed with nose cancer since last year, he has no choice but to stop his badminton career to focus on the cancer treatment at Taiwan ever since. The news shocked the whole Malaysia and we pray nothing but the best of health for this man. After confirmation of his recovery, he returned to the court but has been advised of not to undergo anymore intense training to avoid the relapse of cancer. Today, he decided to retire officially and we wish him all the best!

His achievement is nothing short of breathtaking. Although he has failed in three past attempts to win Malaysia’s first ever Olympic gold medal, but he never gives up. Winning 3 Olympic silver medals in a row, he is the most successful Olympian in Malaysian history. Although always losing in several crucial final matches (I always find that luck is always not on his side), but he is the one that unite all Malaysians through sport. People of all races gather together at mamak stall in the evening to catch his action live on huge television. Crowd cheering when he win points or hearing your neighbours scream when he won are some of the memories I had in the past (I’m sure you experienced those time too). Only Lee Chong Wei has the ability to do that.

He do wish to compete in next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (will be his fourth attempt) but health shall comes first nevertheless. It’s okay, Chong Wei! You have tried your best and you have already made Malaysians proud! You have done enough and it’s best for you now to spend more quality time with your family and friends.

His achievement is not just limited to the Olympics. He has won a total of 69 badminton titles including a record-breaking 12 wins at the Malaysian Open. He is also a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist, and a four-time All England champion. He is also the king of BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Superseries with 47 titles. He held on to the position as world no.1 men single player for 6 years consecutively (from 2008 to 2013). Impressive, isn’t it? His career is so amazing that it has even been turned into an autobiography (book titled ‘Dare to be a Champion’) and a 2018 movie with his name as the movie’s title.

Thank you, Datuk Lee Chong Wei for all the contribution, inspiration and great memories you have given to us. Your superb plays on the badminton court in the past will be missed! It’s time now for the youngsters to step up the game to be back at the world stage in badminton.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

28th SEA Games, Singapore 2015 concluded.

The 28th edition of the South East Asian Games (simply known as SEA Games) has finally ended yesterday after about two weeks of intense spirit of sports shown by all the 11 participating nations in Singapore, the host country. The closing ceremony was held yesterday at the new National Stadium in Singapore Sports Hub. The closing ceremony was short and simple (took less than one and a half hour), but was nevertheless beautiful and meaningful. The most interesting part of the show is the stamp segment of which stamps depicted in larger animated 4D formats translated the history of Singapore. The country is achieving 50 years of independence this year. The massive fireworks display in the end was awesome!

The organizers kept it quick and clear so that there wouldn’t be any boring moments except for one; the performance segment by Malaysia, the next host of the games. It’s very embarrassing to see Malaysia putting up such a poor show here, in a way to introduce and welcome ASEAN to the country in 2017 for the next edition of the games. Very disappointed. We kept on delivering traditional-styled or cultural-based performances which were slow, very dull, unappealing, outdated and boring. I think we will put up poorer opening and closing ceremonies 2 years later compared to what Singapore have done this year. The probability for that is very high. We should really fire up our creativity skill on delivering performances in ceremonies.

Thailand came out top in the medal table. The country maintained the overall champion status as they came out at No.1 too in overall medal tally in the previous edition, Myanmar 2013. Usually the host country will perform exceptionally well probably due to higher number of athletes competing, hence higher chances of winning as well as the undeniable bias judgement to host nation in several subjective sports. And that is why Singapore emerged as the first runner up in the overall medal tally. They have more medals than Thailand, and this is their best achievement in the history of the games held once every two years.

Vietnam came out third. Now, here comes my country, Malaysia at 4th placing. That is considered a good position for the country which is recently criticized for poor performances in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games held last year. In Singapore 2015, Malaysia obtained 62 gold, 58 silver and 66 bronze with overall medal count at 186. It is a vast improvement to our previous medal tally of 43 gold, 38 silver and 77 bronze back in Myanmar 2013 (the last edition). We have also successfully achieved our earlier target of 50 gold medals. We have even broke the 60-gold milestone and this is one of our best achievement in SEA Games’ history.

Congratulations to all the winning Malaysian athletes! You make us all proud. Diving is proven to be the best sport for us in the region as we swept all the 8 gold medals contested in this particular sport. Our country also performed very well in archery, bowling, sailing, and squash. I paid close attention to badminton, and I’m very disappointed that Malaysia failed to win gold in the team events. Fortunately, we did better in individual events by winning 2 out of 5 gold medals. However, our Malaysian badminton team has to work harder for the following bigger games and championships as I still find that we are poor in several areas in the sport.

Now, the 28th SEA Games, Singapore 2015 had finally came to a beautiful end. The next edition (29th) will be held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017. That’s my city. SEA Games, see you in Kuala Lumpur 2017! And then after that, we will set our target further to host bigger sporting events like Asian Games. Hopefully…

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

July 2014…the month when World Cup is getting more exciting!

With the arrival of the month of July, we can all say that the first half of the year is gone. Time flies unbelievably fast. It was like just a few days ago when I watched the new year fireworks and greet my friends Happy New Year 2014. And that actually occurred six months ago. Now, it’s July 2014, and that means the on-going FIFA World Cup at Brazil would be getting more exciting as the final is approaching soon.

Many of the 64 matches had took place last month, and by now, we have had only the last 16 countries competing. They are Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, France, Nigeria, Germany, Algeria, Netherlands, Mexico, Costa Rica, Greece, Argentina, Switzerland, Belgium, and United States. Looking from this list, you would find it quite surprising that you didn’t see Spain, Portugal or Italy in it. Yes, these strong teams were eliminated in the earlier rounds unexpectedly, especially Spain which was the champion for the previous World Cup in 2010. The other interesting discovery from the list is that none of the four Asian teams (South Korea, Japan, Iran and Australia – Australia isn’t in Asia but they included the country inside the category) made it to last 16.

So far, four teams had booked their place into quarterfinal; Brazil (host nation), Colombia, Netherlands and Costa Rica. The other four will be made known after tonight matches. Then, we will come to the last 8 stage. After that, last four through to semi-final, and finally, the last two to the Grand Final which is going to take place at Rio de Janeiro on 13th July (14th July here in Malaysia in the early hours). That is why things are truly getting more exciting. Even some of the matches last month are already very interesting with presence of many outstanding goals, the biting incident (now very popular), and shocking exit of some powerful teams.

 

(Image source: http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/002/586/990/hi-res-129736250-world-cup-trophy-is-presented-after-the-fifa-executive_crop_north.jpg?w=630&h=420&q=75)

Question is who will get the trophy this year? Everybody will be talking about World Cup this month until it ends by the mid of July. In conjunction with the hype and the on-going football fever, the blog header of the month would be on this global event which only takes place once in four years. My blog headers for the previous four months had been showing the four best city skylines of the world. Earlier, I intended to put in five. But since it’s very hard to choose the fifth one, and that this World Cup highlight is more relevant this month, hence the World Cup is now made the priority. I will decide on the fifth one (best city skylines) next month most probably. Coming back to this month’s one, it features the logo of the 2014 World Cup and the beautiful view of Rio de Janeiro (landmark being the famous Statue of the Christ, the Redeemer), the breathtaking venue for the coming Final match of the World Cup. This beautiful city is also going to be the host city for Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Then, my wordings added into the visual are basically in green, as the colour is the major representation of Brazil.

Which countries would you think had higher chances of advancing into semi-final? For me, my picks are Germany, Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina. What’s yours?

Went to ARCHIDEX 2014 on its last day today.

The 15th International Architecture, Interior Design and Building Exhibition (ARCHIDEX) 2014 took place at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (usual spot every year) this year from 25th to 28th June. Organized together with the exhibition are the DATUM Design Conference, Eco-Building Exhibition, some forums and also a newly held congress themed ‘Rejuvenation’. This is the annual event I have been continuously attending, and this is my fourth time visiting the exhibition.

So, I’m quite familiar with what I shall do in the exhibition; going around all the booths in the exhibition halls and getting all brochures and catalogues, and if possible, together with goodie bags and some free gifts like pens or note books. It has also been made easier for me to enter as I do not need to complete any registration as I already received express tag earlier. This year, I think there are more companies involved in the event, and hence the greater number of booths and also bigger areas of halls covered for the exhibition. Here’s the official website of the exhibition: http://www.archidex.com.my/.

As usual, there are booths promoting doors, windows, glass, hardwares, softwares, outdoor and indoor elements, tiles, finishing, wood, roofing, paints, sanitary fittings, books, and all the other related products or technologies related to architecture, interior design, building construction and engineering fields. Me and my colleague were getting tired as time passes as we took more and more bags and brochures. Now, I’m taking some time to read through those catalogues we have taken and to check on which ones are interesting. However, the most delighted thing would still be the free gifts we can find from those bags.

We spent about two hours for the exhibition. Hmm…many booth’s staff approached to us trying to brief us on their products but we just don’t have time for most of them. Sorry…Lastly, we also managed to glance through some of the presentation works (finalists of some kind of architecture competitions) displayed outside several exhibition halls before leaving. Then, only after that, we thought of going for movie ‘Transformers 4’ (just out yesterday) at Suria KLCC. You can check out my movie review of that particular film in my previous post. And for all that, the worst thing is that I have spent RM30 alone for the parking fee. That’s shockingly high and unreasonable. I’m not like parking my car there for whole day!

On the other hand, tomorrow marks the beginning of Ramadhan, the fasting month for the Muslims before celebrating Hari Raya. Here, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Muslims (particularly my Malay friends and colleagues) a wonderful Ramadhan! Raya is coming soon….

Worsening haze in KL now…

Last Saturday was the last day we see the clear blue sky over Kuala Lumpur. At least clearer than what we see these two days. Yesterday, the first thing I realize as soon as I woke up; what is the smell? Ehh…it’s the smell of the air outside. That’s how bad it is. The smog has even penetrated into my home even when we have closed all the doors and windows. The haze has now returns to Kuala Lumpur after making its stop earlier at Singapore. And I got a recent news yesterday that API reading at Muar, Johor rises up to 750, the highest ever recorded in 16 years. That’s crazy. I’m really worried if KL hits that figure too soon. Wait…where is KLCC? I can’t see it…I think the picture below had already shown KLCC at the clearest these two days. Got it?

 

(Image source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/23/malaysia-smog-worst-in-16-years-due-to-indonesia-fires/)

It is really very hazy out there. Visibility drops to a point that I could barely see the hill which is very near behind my house. The smell is almost unbearable especially to me who has quite a sensitive nose and had asthma history. On Sunday, I just went out quickly just for lunch and dinner. The rest of the time; at home. Ahh, it’s good to be a student. You don’t need to go to school today as the government had announced closures of all schools in several states including in Kuala Lumpur. For me who has to work, I have to go to work too. No excuse, since I would be working all the eight hours inside an air-conditioned room unlike those who has to work outdoors.

Just a few advice to people here currently experiencing the haze which is quite bad to our health. Try to stay indoor most of the time. Drink plenty of water. Wear mask when you are outside. Rinse your eyes when you feel uncomfortable or itchy on your eyes. And drive extra carefully on roads at this point of time when visibility is quite low. Even today, I felt slightly not well on my throat and eyes already when the haze has just hit my place for two days. More is coming as it is reported that the hotspots in Sumatra (the cause of the haze) has doubled yesterday. That means thicker haze is on their way to Peninsular Malaysia. Oh…no!

Previously, it is the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore that were hit hard by the severe smog with API (air pollution index) or PSI (pollution standard index) hitting very unhealthy or even hazardous level. Then, now, wind blows the haze to the central part of Malaysia, and that’s where Kuala Lumpur, the capital, my place is. Thanks to my neighbour country for contributing this special gift (haze) for almost once every year. And they are blaming on Malaysian companies for doing open burning at their place, not realizing that it is their authority that gives approval to those responsible companies. And also they mentioned that Singapore behave like a child when the latter sends warning to Indonesia to tackle the issue. Wait, the haze comes from where first? Indonesia. I believe the three countries should sit together and discuss for a long-term solution to prevent haze from occurring again which is bad to people’s health and to economy.

Many people are now making hilarious comments or responses regarding the haze. Even my colleague today joked that they are now working at Genting Highlands since there are a lot of mist out there (it’s actually smog). Everyone must be talking about the haze now. It’s predicted to last for another few weeks more. Oh my…have to stand with this kind of atmosphere for that long. Some said that yesterday’s night, we are supposed to see supermoon of the year, the event when Moon is closest to the Earth in the year. I saw a slightly bigger moon, but it turns out in dark orange to us, thanks to the trapped dust particles at the sky here in Malaysia due to the haze that made the moon to look like this. Haze, when will you go away?

Alarming haze now pushes Singapore’s pollution standard index to over 400 today.

Haze has been quite an annual event that strike Malaysia, thanks to the seasonal burn off from Sumatra, Indonesia, its neighbouring country. Haze returns this year, at this similar period of time when the region experiences dry and hot season with little rain. However, it is not Malaysia that is hit hard by the haze this year. It’s Singapore now, a small island beneath peninsular Malaysia. Wind usually brought the smoke from Sumatra land to the middle of Peninsular Malaysia. However, for this time, the wind blows the haze towards the south, hence affecting badly Singapore and southern parts of Malaysia.

Pollution standard index (PSI) of Singapore has been reaching hazardous or very unhealthy level in these few days. By this morning, PSI of Singapore reached 401, the highest ever recorded for the island since September 1997 when it recorded 226. The current figure is almost double of the previous record. That’s very bad and serious. The haze must be very thick, the visibility must be very low, the air must be very smelly and choking. People in Singapore are now advised to stay indoors and to avoid going outdoor if necessary. The severe smog has continued to affect the developed country badly, which will inflict on huge losses in economy indirectly.

In regard to the worsening situation which is expected to last for at least few weeks, Singapore has pushed Indonesia to do something to tackle the haze which originated from the latter. However, Indonesia’s authority fights back and said that Singapore acted like a child, reporting that many companies that are responsible for land-clearing and open burning in Indonesia which contributed to the haze are from Malaysia and Singapore, and not from them. The blame has been fired back to us. I believe all the three involved countries should sit together and find an effective solution both in short-term and long-term to monitor the situation, enforce stricter laws on preventing pollution, so that haze will not be an issue in the region in future.

There is no point of fighting in words. It is the health of the people and the living quality of the environment that we should look into as priority. Even today, I noticed that haze starts to blanket over my city, Kuala Lumpur, which is few hundred kilometres away from Singapore. I started to smell something unpleasant from the air. This means that the haze now started to spread over the middle of Peninsular Malaysia too. Over 200 schools in Johor were ordered to close today, so that the children could stay at home, not exposed to dangerous air outside. Haze has been an every year’s gift from Indonesia for many decades, but still no ‘real’ action had been truly implemented to prevent it from further occurring.

Now, Singapore suffered seriously from the haze, and it made headlines in global news now. Previously, Malaysia had been hit hard by the haze in many years but receiving little international attention, while Singapore is always the least affected. Now, things turned the opposite way and yet Singapore’s haze is now on worldwide news. That’s the difference between Singapore and Malaysia, a developed nation and a only developing nation. I’m slightly off topic now. Sorry. The main issue now is that we want no more haze! That’s it. Haze has been the hot topic discussed now even on the internet. Interesting topic but of something which we don’t want.

Image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345093/Singapore-haze-2013-Residents-told-stay-indoors-possibly-WEEKS.html

Information source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/21/world/asia/singapore-smoke-haze

It’s World Environment Day today, and three days later, World Ocean Day

My blog header image is usually designed based on something unique or special of the respective month. For this month of June, I thought of nothing else besides than a beautiful image of a seaside. I felt comfortable just by looking at it at the top of my blog for this whole month. At first thought, there is no relationship between this nature-inspired image to any events or anything within this month of June. Not until now that I found out that there is a link to that.

Today is the World Environment Day, and I got to know it from the radio station I have been hearing to every morning when I’m going to work. Ahh, my blog’s header is something related to environment too obviously. But that’s not all yet. Three days later, on 8th June, it would be the World Ocean Day. And my blog’s header image did show an ocean in it. What a coincidence. Hence, my blog’s header is actually marking these two special days which are celebrated in this month itself.

World Environment Day is something similar to the Earth Day. Well, both objectives are similar. Today’s theme of the morning programme of the Chinese radio station I have been hearing to (I mentioned earlier)  in conjunction with the World Environment Day is on environmental-friendly solutions to our current daily lifestyle.

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on 5 June to raise global awareness of the need to take positive environmental action. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The 2013 theme for World Environment Day is Think.Eat.Save.

 

(Image source: https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/c0.47.851.315/p851x315/894745_10152632103865167_590937694_o.jpg)

The campaign addresses the huge annual wastage and losses in food, which, if conserved, would release a large quantity of food as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint. The campaign aims to bring about awareness in countries with lifestyles resulting in food wastage. It also aims to empower people to make informed choices about the food they eat so as to reduce the overall ecological impact due to the worldwide production o World Environment Day (WED) is observed on June 5 every year to promote awareness on the importance of preserving our biodiversity, the need to identify problems related to the environment and ways to take corrective action. It was on this day in the year 1972 that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was formed. First celebrated in 1973, World Environment Day, also popularly known as Environment Day, is a means to tackle environmental challenges that include climate change, global warming, disasters and conflicts, harmful substances, environmental governance, ecosystem management and resource efficiency.

Every people should carry an environmental-friendly mindset, so that from there onwards, we will do things taking into account the importance of the environment to all living things on Earth. So, start not to waste food. I’m quite sad over the news today that in Malaysia, my country, people are dumping a lot of food wastes daily. Put a stop to that! From now onwards, let’s practice environmental-friendly lifestyle! Go green. Ok? ….then, Happy World Environment Day!

There would be a ‘Jurassic Park 4’ soon…

Yes! It’s true. No hoax or false news anymore. Jurassic Park 4 is coming soon. I’m very happy and looking forward to it. Jurassic Park’s franchise is one of my all-time favourite! The first two films, both directed by Steven Spielberg are the ones that brought the most memorable entertainment to me in my childhood years through films. When I was still a very young kid (before Jurassic Park 3 is released), I won’t get bored of ‘Jurassic Park’ eventhough I have watched it for over ten times. I remembered well that my uncle had a laser-disc (a very huge disc plate popular last time before CD is introduced) of Jurassic Park film and he would open it to let us (me and my sisters when we were still small) watch. I wonder where is that huge disc now? It should be an antique by now.

 

(Image source: http://cdn2.planetminecraft.com/files/resource_media/screenshot/1138/jurassic-park1_481597.jpg)

Jurassic Park was a very successful film. Other Hollywood films that could reach that kind of critical success at that time aren’t much. I can only name a few; E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Titanic, The Lion King. And I believe Steven Spielberg’s career rise to extreme stardom after that. The first sequel; Jurassic Park 2 was also a commercial hit. After year 2000 (more than ten years ago), the second sequel; Jurassic Park 3 is released which appears to be much violent than the first two but with poorer reviews. But still I do enjoy that film which is not directed by Steven Spielberg anymore. It’s really awesome to have this kind of franchise in my generation! Those dinosaurs really looked so realistic in the films and that they are very exciting to watch. The score is beautiful and epic! I have also played its computer game before. Amazing one during my childhood years.

Now, Steven Spielberg had confirmed that there would be Jurassic Park 4. He would not direct this, but he will be the executive producer. Hence, I do think that this 4th instalment would be another great masterpiece with his involvement. Instead, a newcomer would directs this. He is Colin Trevorrow. Now he isn’t famous, but perhaps he would find fame after the release of Jurassic Park 4. I’m now really feeling anticipated for it, but it would only be released to cinema by mid-2014. That’s still far long from now. I believe right now the production is in filming and developing stage. Not much details are revealed yet. But at least we knew now that there would be Jurassic Park 4!

By the way, Jurassic Park (the first movie) would be released to the cinema this year again by April in 3D version to coincide with its 20th anniversary. (Yes, it was first released back in 1993, when I was only two years old). That was such a long time ago. Nowadays, old classical movies would tend to get a re-release in 3D version, a way to earn more money. So now, what would the story of Jurassic Park 4 be? Any guess? Are the former casts in the previous films would be reunited to film this latest instalment? Hmm…I think some will return (by now, many of them would be veterans already), while new cast members would be included. Can no longer wait for the release of Jurassic Park 4 by 13th June 2014. That would be the time dinosaurs ruled the world (the screen actually) once again!

(Source: http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/3/15/movies/20130315110636&sec=movies)

 

Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay opened to the public

Gardens by the Bay officially opens to the public on Friday, marking the latest milestone of Singapore’s vision in becoming a “City in a Garden”. The Gardens was officially launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday evening, who together with 700 invited guests, enjoyed a special preview tour of Bay South Garden. The Prime Minister called Gardens by the Bay “an icon” of the redeveloped Marina Bay, adding that it is the latest manifestation of Singapore’s Garden City vision.

The first part of the government-funded development that is ready is Bay South Garden, which alone costs $1 billion. Other sections of the park will open in phases. At 54 ha, the highlights of the newly opened Bay South Garden which is located near the Marina Bay Sands include the Supertrees, the Flower Dome and Cloud forest conservatories, the Heritage Gardens and World of Plants; the Dragonfly Lake. Revealing that gardens are one of his favourite places, PM Lee said that Gardens by the Bay is “a place that Singaporeans can be proud of, identify with, and think of when we talk about Singapore”.

PM Lee encouraged all Singaporeans to visit the Gardens, adding that it is the “people’s garden” for everyone – residents or visitors – to enjoy. He said  it is a great place for Singaporeans to relax after work or bring the family there on weekends to enjoy a concert or a meal. Gardens by the Bay is open daily from 5am to 2am. Entry to the park is free, but entry into the cooled conservatories and 128m-long aerial walkway are ticketed. For more information, visit http://www.gardensbythebay.org.sg.

Previously, Singapore has been known worldwide as the City of Garden already. This project further strengthened the country’s image not only as a successful developed nation but also as a country driven towards green and comfortable living environment. This kind of project run by the government might cost a lot, but in the end, it benefits the Singaporeans as they could enjoy the amazing Gardens by the Bay for free, something not everyone from other part of the world could have. Previously, it is seen as a highly visionary project, and now it turns into reality.

The Gardens by the Bay is expecting over 30 000 visitors on its opening day on Friday. The project gains more and more attention globally from the time of its proposal to its construction, and now finally to its completion and opening. This is going to attract a lot of people, targeting also foreigners. It is definitely interesting to have a walk in this Gardens by the Bay, specially planned and designed with unique structures and vast landscaping. It is no ordinary garden. It’s the first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art futuristic garden of wonder and luxury aims to open the eyes of the world. I’m looking forward to visit, but I will wait till all the other phases open too. I’m definitely going for it on my next visit to Singapore, a lovely country.

Reference: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Relax/Story/A1Story20120628-356047.html

Images from:

http://thegreenmarketing.blogspot.com/2012/01/singapores-supertree.html

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/74924

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_816057.html