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 <title>Wish you were here -- Beppu</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/wish-you-were-here-beppu-474651</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/wish-you-were-here-beppu-474651"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/Tina-Cheung_Beppu_promo.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;CNNGo reader Tina Cheung finds hope from the top of Mount Jumonjibaru in Beppu&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;This photo was taken on top of Mount Jumonjibaru in a very modest town called &lt;a href="http://www.city.beppu.oita.jp/" target="_blank"&gt;Beppu&lt;/a&gt;. On one gloomy day, only to be made worse by the proliferating amount of work I had to do for my studies, I looked out my window and at that very moment a section of the cloud cover opened up. As cheesy as this may sound, this picture portrays hope and the 'silver lining', so to speak.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Situated two hours away from the Fukuoka airport, Beppu is known throughout Japan for its copious amount of natural hot springs, otherwise known as 'onsen'. Get to Mount Jumonjibaru by taking any bus that's bound for Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div style="margin: 18px 0pt 14px; padding: 14px 18px; background-color: #e6e6e6; color: #666666; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About the author:&lt;/strong&gt; Born and raised in Hong Kong, Tina Cheung moved to Bangkok for the latter part of her teenage years. Currently, she is a university student in Japan. In the fall, she will be moving to Boston for the continuation of her education. Having grown up in an international environment, Tina loves to travel. "I love to see the world, and then share my experiences through photographs. I love films and music. I love sports, though I will, from time to time, find myself imitating a couch potato. I love to have fun."&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Tina submitted this piece as part of CNNGo’s CityPulse section. To find out what other stories we are looking for, go to our &lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/write_for_us" target="_self"&gt;CityPulse page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Wish you were here, hot springs, Fukuoka, Beppu&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=0iHge5cUXHc:1GMFa44TaRk:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=0iHge5cUXHc:1GMFa44TaRk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=0iHge5cUXHc:1GMFa44TaRk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=0iHge5cUXHc:1GMFa44TaRk:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=0iHge5cUXHc:1GMFa44TaRk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=0iHge5cUXHc:1GMFa44TaRk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/0iHge5cUXHc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:56:52 +0000</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
 <title>Valcucine Hong Kong debut: Sexed-up kitchens</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/shop/valcucines-hong-kong-debut-sexy-and-ecofriendly-kitchens-031282</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/shop/valcucines-hong-kong-debut-sexy-and-ecofriendly-kitchens-031282"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/Artematica-Noce-tattile_Val.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;The Italian kitchen designer combines technology, eco-sustainability and sex appeal&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;Valcucine makes kitchens like haute couture. The brand produces the kind of showpiece kitchens with such effortless good looks that even though we can barely cook an egg, we find ourselves inexplicably drooling over the sexy, gleaming high-design sinks and cabinets. Valcucine is opening its first Hong Kong flagship store and 6,000 square-foot showroom in Happy Valley at the end of this month and we are preparing to transfer our home-furnishings cruising from IKEA to the Italian kitchen boutique.&lt;/p&gt;  

&lt;p&gt;Using durable aluminium alloys for all their wares, Valcucine's products are 100 percent recyclable and abide to international standards of eco-sustainability. See &lt;a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/07/wip_valcucine_k.php" target="_blank"&gt;treehugger&lt;/a&gt;'s review of Valcucine for more eco-creds. Other breakthrough innovations such as a 2mm tempered glass door panel and heat-resistant glass table show plenty of substance to support all that prettiness. All the better for us to justify our future impluse buys.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Valcucine Hong Kong Flagship Store, 69 Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong; tel : +852 2893 8198; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.valcucine.com/en/" target="_blank"&gt;www.valcucine.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mooi Living Showroom, 1/F, Fortune Building, 150-158 Lockhart Road, Hong Kong; tel : +852 2802 9998; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mooi.hk/" target="_blank"&gt;www.mooi.hk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Valcucine, Hong Kong kitchen equipment, green Asia, eco-sustainability, eco design&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=zcRSq2cEh_c:cDRlkolbLrI:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=zcRSq2cEh_c:cDRlkolbLrI:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=zcRSq2cEh_c:cDRlkolbLrI:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=zcRSq2cEh_c:cDRlkolbLrI:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=zcRSq2cEh_c:cDRlkolbLrI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=zcRSq2cEh_c:cDRlkolbLrI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/zcRSq2cEh_c" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:03:51 +0000</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
 <title>Singapore goes black for Earth Hour 2010</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/none/singapore-goes-black-earth-hour-2010-993295</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/none/singapore-goes-black-earth-hour-2010-993295"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/earth-hour_PREVIEW.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Hundreds of buildings and malls island-wide will turn off non-essential lights during Earth  Hour 2010&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;Come 8.30pm on March 27, 2010, Singapore will turn dark for an hour as hundreds of buildings, shopping malls, national monuments and landmarks island-wide will turn off their non-essential lights during &lt;a href="http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx" target="_blank"&gt;Earth Hour 2010&lt;/a&gt;. With the current movement against climate change, organizations and businesses are pledging their support for the energy-saving campaign.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Some of the bigger bodies include &lt;a href="http://www.changiairport.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Singapore's Changi Airport&lt;/a&gt;, who will turn off decorative lights and dimming many operational lights within the terminal buildings and malls, &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Resorts World Sentosa&lt;/a&gt;, and almost all the national monuments and landmark icons, including the Merlion, the Singapore Flyer, &lt;a href="http://www.esplanade.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Esplanade Theatres&lt;/a&gt;, the Fullerton Hotel, One Fullerton, Clifford Pier and the Asian Civilizations Museum.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Around the central business district, the Singapore River will flow in darkness while all around the downtown area, buildings power down for the requisite hour. These include the HSBC Building, Maybank Tower, Raffles City Shopping Mall, One Raffles Quay, Suntec City and Swissotel the Stamford.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you're interested to lend your support for Earth Hour, pledge your participation with these three steps&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sign up for Earth Hour 2010 on www.earthhour.org&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Make a resolution: Commit to long-term efforts to reduce your impact on the environment&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Switch off your lights for one hour on Saturday, March 27 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm (Singapore time) or 
longer &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
 
&lt;p&gt;For more details on Earth Hour Singapore and tips on going green, follow via Twitter at &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/wwfsg" target="_blank"&gt;twitter.com/wwfsg&lt;/a&gt; and blog at &lt;a href="http://www.earthhoursingapore.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"&gt;www.earthhoursingapore.blogspot.com&lt;/a&gt; or join &lt;a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8786319877" target="_blank"&gt;the Facebook page&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Green Singapore, green campaign, Earth Hour&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=q2C7UNhU5cQ:T7CTzyUYf1U:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=q2C7UNhU5cQ:T7CTzyUYf1U:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=q2C7UNhU5cQ:T7CTzyUYf1U:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=q2C7UNhU5cQ:T7CTzyUYf1U:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=q2C7UNhU5cQ:T7CTzyUYf1U:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=q2C7UNhU5cQ:T7CTzyUYf1U:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/q2C7UNhU5cQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:56:33 +0000</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
 <title>Where to machine wash your dog in Tokyo</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/none/where-machine-wash-your-dog-tokyo-110284</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/none/where-machine-wash-your-dog-tokyo-110284"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/dogwashingmachine-videosq.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;International media has gone barking mad over a dog washing machine located in suburban Joyful Honda 'home centers.' Here's some help in actually visiting one&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p style="margin: 21px 0pt 23px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: center; line-height: 1em;"&gt;Thank you, production crew, for not showing a pet owner throw their cat in this contraption. (Video by YouTube user AssociatedPress)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="border-top: 1px dotted rgb(102, 102, 102); margin: 18px 0pt; height: 1px; width: 100%;"&gt;&lt;img class="mceItem" src="images/transparent_spacer.gif" alt="" border="0" height="1" width="100%"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;This week, nearly every single international news outlet reported on an automatic dog washing machine in Japan, all using the exact same footage. For comparison's sake, here is the &lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8571591.stm" target="_blank"&gt;BBC version&lt;/a&gt; (classy British overdubbed narration), the AP version (above, with that bizarre American news announcer intonation) and the &lt;a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterwedderburn/100030286/the-japanese-dog-washing-machine-will-never-catch-on-in-pet-friendly-britain/" target="_blank"&gt;Telegraph UK&lt;/a&gt; (completely silent). Big year-end bonuses for whatever production company supplied that video.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After seeing that poor pooch desperately scratching at the dog washing machine window, you'll no doubt be raring to throw your own dirty mutt in the warm wash cycle. The good news is that &lt;a href="http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/03/05/do-washing-machine/" target="_blank"&gt;Japan Probe&lt;/a&gt; points us to the actual location of these machines: the &lt;a href="http://www.joyfulhonda.com/"&gt;Joyful Honda&lt;/a&gt; chain of &lt;a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC" target="_blank"&gt;'home center'&lt;/a&gt; superstores. The bad news is that they are all out in the middle of nowhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On Joyful Honda's &lt;a href="http://www.joyfulhonda.com/pet/dog_washmachine.htm" target="_blank"&gt;list of locations&lt;/a&gt;, the most reasonable stores were very, very sadly &lt;a href="http://www.joyfulhonda.com/map/map-yachiyo.htm" target="_blank"&gt;Yachiyo&lt;/a&gt; in Chiba (52 mins from Ueno on a train stop called &lt;a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%91%E4%B8%8A%E9%A7%85_%28%E5%8D%83%E8%91%89%E7%9C%8C%29" target="_blank"&gt;Murakami&lt;/a&gt;) or &lt;a href="http://www.joyfulhonda.com/map/map-mizuho.htm" target="_blank"&gt;Mizuho&lt;/a&gt; in Nishi-Tama-gun (West Tokyo but requires a car). Canine rights activists should rest assured that only suburban dogs will be subjected to such&amp;nbsp;hygiene-based torture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There was a rival brand of dog washing machines called &lt;a href="http://www.lavakan-japan.com/whats/index.html" target="_blank"&gt;Lavakan&lt;/a&gt; (developed in Spain, by the way), which 
did something Joyful Honda's machine could not: wash big dogs. The main 
machine was located at the relatively close location of &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komazawa-daigaku_Station" target="_blank"&gt;Komazawa&lt;/a&gt; in a dog
 cafe called Biscotti. But alas, the cafe seems to have gone out of 
business. Perhaps washing dogs is not something that actually requires the use of a 
machine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Joyful Honda, dog washing machine, dog wash Tokyo&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=A5gW-lwFiuE:31uQnh4BE4c:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=A5gW-lwFiuE:31uQnh4BE4c:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=A5gW-lwFiuE:31uQnh4BE4c:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=A5gW-lwFiuE:31uQnh4BE4c:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=A5gW-lwFiuE:31uQnh4BE4c:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=A5gW-lwFiuE:31uQnh4BE4c:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/A5gW-lwFiuE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:55:01 +0000</pubDate>
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 <title>China Love Report: 'Leftover women' look for younger men</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/none/china-love-report-989133</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/none/china-love-report-989133"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/china-buzz-promo_18.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;A new report into the state of love in China highlights a new breed of woman -- the shengnu (剩女)&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a country where thing changes rapidly, even a concept as simple as love isn’t static. The recently published China Love Report 2009 in New Weekly Magazine China reports that love is no longer the same thing as sung about in the romancic Song Dynasty Ci poems (see our piece on the &lt;a href="/shanghai/play/sausage-fest-2020-future-shanghai-marriage-market-086672" target="_self"&gt;Shanghai Marriage Market&lt;/a&gt;). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The New Weekly Magazine story breaks romantic relationships in China into several categories, the most startling being the existence of the shengnu (剩女). 

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Shengnu (剩女) and the younger men &lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In China, with a little help from the Internet and Chinese netizens, single women over 28 years old are now creatively called “shengnu.” With exactly the same sound as the Chinese word for “saint woman” (圣女), shengnu actually means “leftover women.” 

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And we thought the terms “pumas” and “&lt;a href="/shanghai/drink/cougar-trail-through-shanghai-bars-396674" target="_self"&gt;cougars&lt;/a&gt;” were bad.  

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href="http://lady.163.com/photoview/25TP0026/4158.html#p=2" target="_blank"&gt;study&lt;/a&gt; carried out by the Marriage Department of the Chinese Women's Union on the gender of those who were set up on dates in several Chinese cities in 2009 reveals that the ratios of men to women over the age of 28 were not in favor of the fairer sex. It showed one man to two women in Changsha, one to three in Tianjin, one to six in Guangzhou, and a startling one to 10 in Shanghai. So it seems Shengnu (剩女) probably are looking for men, it's just that all they find is more women. Also looking for men. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The explanation? “While [women] are busy filling in the information on the dating websites, they realize most men around them are old, married or sexually confused,” states Sun Linlin, author of China Love Report 2009.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With ideal men in their own age bracket few and far between, Chinese shengnu (剩女) are looking to a new market: younger men.

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While it's not news that many middle-aged Chinese men often believe that they can always marry girls under 25 if their current marriage ends in divorce, what’s new from the China Love Report is now that their wives feel similarly. Looks like everyone’s now on the prowl.  

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Love is a luxury &lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With a new take on relationship norms and expectations comes a new view of love for many shengnu (剩女) in China. “Love is a luxury, not a necessity,” says netizen &lt;a href="http://blog.tianya.cn/blogger/post_show.asp?BlogID=1999435&amp;amp;PostID=21861672" target="_blank"&gt;Gougou Bie Ku&lt;/a&gt;. “That's very cruel,” responds user Gu Ningyu, “but it's the reality.” 

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With some responses agreeing that at their age (read: over 28 years old) love is not the first thing they consider anymore, some shengnu (剩女) are still hanging in there. “We don't want to compromise,” says Qing Shui in her post, “but we will fall hard if we are unlucky.” 

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: gender relations, Chinese women, Chinese netizens, china buzz&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=vhLyPi3i8vs:BR-wSUCgt0o:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=vhLyPi3i8vs:BR-wSUCgt0o:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=vhLyPi3i8vs:BR-wSUCgt0o:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=vhLyPi3i8vs:BR-wSUCgt0o:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=vhLyPi3i8vs:BR-wSUCgt0o:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=vhLyPi3i8vs:BR-wSUCgt0o:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/vhLyPi3i8vs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
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 <title>Singapore, the ultimate sports city?</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/play/singapore-running-ultimate-sports-city-award-277278</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/play/singapore-running-ultimate-sports-city-award-277278"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/YOG-win_PREVIEW_0.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;With F1 in the bag and YOG to come, Singapore is in the running for the Sport Business Ultimate Sports City Award 2010&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Singapore in the running for Ultimate Sports City award&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In a country smaller than Rhode Island and not known for its sporting achievements, Singapore has somehow found itself in the running for the &lt;a href="http://www.sportbusiness.com/awards/usc/2010" target="_blank"&gt;Sport Business Ultimate Sports City Award 2010&lt;/a&gt;, a biennial event organized by London-based &lt;a href="http://www.sportbusiness.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Sport Business Group&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The shortlist was put together by analyzing the locations of over 2,000 sports events and federations globally between 2006 and 2014 and awarding points according to the importance of the event or federation. It is the first time Singapore has made the shortlist, and the Republic is one of five Asian cities -- and the only South-east Asian city -- in the mix. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"All cities are awarded a value according to the events they host annually, have hosted or will host between 2006 and 2014, as well as federations in their locale," Rachael Church-Sanders, author of the Ultimate Sports City report, &lt;a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1044610/1/.html" target="_blank"&gt;told Channel NewsAsia&lt;/a&gt;. "Singapore's score was boosted by events such as the 2010 Youth Olympics, World Netball Championships and the Formula 1 Grand Prix."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If the grapevine holds true, Singapore is believed to be among the frontrunners to topple reigning "Ultimate Sports City" Melbourne, which has won both editions in 2006 and 2008. Some of the other shortlisted cities include Moscow, Beijing, 2010 Winter Olympics host Vancouver, Johannesburg, venue of the 2010 World Cup Final, and London, host of the 2012 Olympic Games.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Youth Olympic Games, Singapore sports, Singapore F1&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=g223ddZw54I:o33kwmGKGHk:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=g223ddZw54I:o33kwmGKGHk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=g223ddZw54I:o33kwmGKGHk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=g223ddZw54I:o33kwmGKGHk:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=g223ddZw54I:o33kwmGKGHk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=g223ddZw54I:o33kwmGKGHk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/g223ddZw54I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
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<item>
 <title>Raise a glass! Thai wines winning global respect</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/drink/finally-thai-wines-getting-global-respect-593234</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/drink/finally-thai-wines-getting-global-respect-593234"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/F2_promo.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;As the harvest season comes to a close, we look into the hype surrounding Thai wine and discover some frustrating obstacles holding it back&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;This might come as a surprise, but the story of Thai wine actually began over 30 years ago, when a royal project under the auspices of HM the King started experimenting with grape planting in the region. It was found that certain areas in Thailand, where the climate is more Mediterranean than tropical, were conducive to grapes and vineyards.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But it wasn’t until 1995 that the first Thai wine went on sale, under the label &lt;a href="http://www.chateaudeloei.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Chateau de Loei&lt;/a&gt;. Founded by Dr Chaijudh Karnasuta, it was the first Thai wine to be exported to both Europe and Japan.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“While Thai wines might have existed for some time, it’s only in the last three or four years that it has really come in on its own,” explains Kim Wachtveitl, director of business development at &lt;a href="http://www.siamwinery.com/sw2006/main.asp" target="_blank"&gt;Siam Winery&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Siam Winery is probably the most successful business of its kind in Thailand. Its &lt;a href="http://www.monsoonvalleywine.com" target="_blank"&gt;Monsoon Valley&lt;/a&gt; label certainly commands the biggest market share in Thailand and has garnered numerous awards and accolades along the way. Their vineyards are located in the hills surrounding Hua Hin but that is not the only region where wine is made.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- INLINE240 --&gt;The six members of the &lt;a href="http://www.thaiwine.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Thai Wine Association&lt;/a&gt;, including Chateau de Loei and Monsoon Valley, are spread throughout the country. Four of the other members are located near Khao Yai National Park, while one is situated in the eastern seaboard area, near Pattaya. Though some money is made from the sale of wine, many of the wineries support themselves by offering packaged wine tours that offer both fine wine and a picturesque getaway. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Quality control and blind tastings&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Thai Wine Association itself was formed in 2004 to set a standard and barometer for Thai Wines. Each member had to sign a quality charter and undergo independent and blind testings. They also must submit wine to third party labs for stringent checks. This improvement has since been commented on by some of the most notable wine critics in the region, including the likes of &lt;a href="http://www.erobertparker.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Robert Parker.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As &lt;a href="http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/03/04/rivers.thailand.wine.cnn?iref=allsearch" target="_blank"&gt;CNN’s Dan Rivers recently reported&lt;/a&gt;, in blind tastings local white wines can be mistaken for their European counterparts, proving that at the very least local wines are competitive. Kim adds that “rose wine also has come a long way in Thailand with an almost Provence taste.” &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Critics agree that the red wines are the weakness in Thailand's vino make up, as the climate isn’t the most suitable or conducive to the grapes needed.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;That being said there is increasing demand around the world for Thai wines. Siam Winery alone exports to over 18 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. The United Kingdom is the largest importer of Thai wines and that is due mostly to their abundance of Thai restaurants. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Road blocks ahead&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;While the business aspect of Thai wines is certainly flourishing and growing steadily, business developers including Kim express massive frustrations with the Thai government. Not only do they not support Thai wines but the companies themselves are taxed regularly and heavily (as high as 200%) as part of the authorities’ crackdown on ‘immorality.’ Because of the stringent regulations placed by the Thai government on everything alcohol related the local industry also suffers when the government fails to protect it against unfair treaties like the ASEAN trade agreement. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For instance, Kim notes that India’s wine industry started out much later than Thailand’s but because it is heavily supported by the Indian government they are on the verge of overtaking the Thai Wine industry in terms of both quality and quantity. They have research centers and information sharing, sponsored by the government and local universities. In Thailand you simply don't see any of that. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“In Thailand the wine industry remains a business of individuals and pioneers,” says Kim. With political instability and changing governments things look set to continue that way for some time.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: wine tours, Thai wine, Thai vineyards, Khao Yai, Hua Hin&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=QrjCnMImmwg:S3ZBTnvzt8c:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=QrjCnMImmwg:S3ZBTnvzt8c:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=QrjCnMImmwg:S3ZBTnvzt8c:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=QrjCnMImmwg:S3ZBTnvzt8c:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=QrjCnMImmwg:S3ZBTnvzt8c:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=QrjCnMImmwg:S3ZBTnvzt8c:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/QrjCnMImmwg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:50:19 +0000</pubDate>
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 <title>5 best Hong Kong karaoke bars </title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/play/hong-kong-karaoke-010208</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/play/hong-kong-karaoke-010208"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/myfavouritebar02-PROMO.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Our favorites spots to play diva, from rowdy shout-abouts to classy saloons of harmony&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="624"&gt;
  &lt;tbody&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Who doesn't love Neway; it's a Hong Kong classic. 
Every guest to the city is brought to one and every resident has a best and worst memory of a (likely unplanned) trip to the singing establishment. 
But now our love for Neway can grow. Its management has announced the takeover of former rival California Red, leading to reports that Neway now owns 90 per cent of the Hong Kong karaoke market.
That's not necessarily a reason to be concerned. Nicolas Wan, executive director of Neway said that the brands will still be marketed separately, and that new services will be offered. 
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Recently, we featured the CEO Gateau in the CEO Karaoke outlet located in Sugar Street," he stated.
"The first of its kind in HK, [our] 'cafe in karaoke' offers unique and fresh desserts."
There was of course no mention of price rises, which could be a danger with such a large monopoly. But in case things turn nasty, here's a refreshing selection of karaoke establishments to try in the meantime. &lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;h2&gt; &lt;img class="mceItem" src="http://media.cnngo.com/media/gallery/karaoke/gallery-derby.jpg" alt="" height="388" width="624"&gt;The Derby &lt;/h2&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;How often is karaoke accompanied by a live band?
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;          If you're planning a night out around the races at Happy Valley then a stop at The Derby must be included. A traditional English pub inside, on race days the bar has a band playing an awesome array of classic rock covers. 
          The best part is that drinkers are welcome to join the band for a singsong.  They have an extensive songbook and a DJ will help with backing tracks to make any voice sound decent.
          &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The singing's free but it's a pub after all, so do buy some food or drink. Being an English joint, try the fish and chips for HK$55.
          &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Shop G-1, G/F Valley Centre, 80-82 Morrison Hill Road, tel +852 2893 9123&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;h2&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;img class="mceItem" src="http://media.cnngo.com/media/gallery/karaoke/gallery-place-to-go.jpg" alt="" height="435" width="624"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Place to go Nightclub &lt;/h2&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;This rough and ready establishment is a smoky den in which anything goes.
          Karaoke doesn't get much rowdier -- or dodgy -- than this. 
          Entering the building itself is for the intrepid, its walls covered in posters advertising the neighboring 24-hour saunas, some for gentlemen only. Take the stairs or the rickety shoebox lift to the second floor and make sure you have a Chinese speaker to negotiate a deal. 
          Once in, Blue Girl beer is HK$10, but the idea of a private room takes on another meaning here as it's not unusual to have streams of fellow singers piling in every now and then to challenge you to drink, play dice or just see what everyone's up to. HK$100 per person.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2/F, 2-6 Nanking Street, Pak Tat Mansions, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, tel +852 2385 1577 &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;h2&gt; &lt;img class="mceItem" src="http://media.cnngo.com/media/gallery/karaoke/gallery-neway.jpg" alt="" height="433" width="624"&gt;Neway &lt;/h2&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;The Neway karaoke chain is tried, tested and true. The chief attraction here is familiarity. It may be a bit sanitary for some and more expensive than
independent joints, but it's such good clean fun it can't be knocked. Some have Playstations in the rooms for bored singers, most have nice bathrooms and the English song menu can't be beaten anywhere in Hong Kong. 
          Neway karaoke bars fit like an old glove and offer anyone from the first-time singer to the karaoke pro the chance to get comfortable and belt out their favourite tunes.
          HK$149 per person.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2-8 Sugar Street, Causeway Bay, tel +852 2196 2196 &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;h2&gt; &lt;img class="mceItem" src="http://media.cnngo.com/media/gallery/karaoke/gallery-my-favorite-bar.jpg" alt="" height="416" width="624"&gt;My Favourite Bar &lt;/h2&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Well-seasoned karaoke fans may wish to brave the more public nature of Kowloon's singing bars. Typical of many such establishments, My Favourite Bar is located in a bar tower which can mean its hard to find but persevere and the reward will be a different kind of karaoke experience. 
          Inside, TV screens are fixed up all over the walls, and microphones litter the tables. 
          Songs are chosen at the bar and singers get up to hit some high notes at any point throughout the night; either at their tables or in the centre of the room in full view of the rest of the bar. Spontaneous and anonymous duets are common as microphones exchange hands in all corners of the bar. Dutch courage is required.
          Again, the singing is free but pick up some beers for less than HK$40 a bottle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2/F, The Wave, 184 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel +852 9834 0777 &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;h2&gt; &lt;img class="mceItem" src="http://media.cnngo.com/media/gallery/karaoke/gallery-penthouse-sky.jpg" alt="" height="422" width="624"&gt;Penthouse Skylounge &lt;/h2&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Save the Penthouse for a special occasion, as it is a truly amazing sight. The manager claims this is the largest karaoke bar in Hong Kong -- he may well be right -- but it is the opulence that will awe.
          Near floor-to-ceiling windows offer views out over Wan Chai and
Kowloon, and a live DJ offers some choice cuts for drinkers at the
five-star bar. Despite the seemingly hefty price tag, the maths can work out to a pretty affordable evening. Gather enough mates to fill one of the rooms and you can party for HK$300 or less.
HK$12,000 for the main room, $9,000 for a smaller room (35 people). Walk-ups are available for smaller groups or casual drinkers after 10:30pm.
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;29/F, Silver Base Centre, 200 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, tel +852 2833 9992 &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Neway, Mongkok, Hong Kong karaoke&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=hPgZFpGKAJE:KTLl-_QoyIM:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=hPgZFpGKAJE:KTLl-_QoyIM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=hPgZFpGKAJE:KTLl-_QoyIM:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=hPgZFpGKAJE:KTLl-_QoyIM:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=hPgZFpGKAJE:KTLl-_QoyIM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=hPgZFpGKAJE:KTLl-_QoyIM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/hPgZFpGKAJE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
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 <title>Proposed bluefin tuna ban rejected, crushed and thwarted</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/proposed-bluefin-tuna-ban-rejected-crushed-and-thwarted-320274</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/proposed-bluefin-tuna-ban-rejected-crushed-and-thwarted-320274"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/Promo_4.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;The UN wildlife body soundly cut down the proposed bluefin tuna ban after heavy lobbying by Japan and China&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;The proposal to ban trade in&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1044589/1/.html" target="_blank"&gt;bluefin tuna has been rejected&lt;/a&gt;. The proposed cross-border commerce in Atlantic bluefin tuna ban was soundly beaten at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha with the voting 68 against, 20 for, and 30 abstentions. Two-thirds was needed to win.&amp;nbsp; 

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- INLINE240 --&gt;Seen in the picture above is Patrick van Klaveren, head of the Monaco delegation, who appears pretty happy and friendly towards Masanori Miyahara of Japan. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While Klaveren may appear outwardly friendly towards Miyahara, he was quoted in the AFP article as saying Nature will smite those guilty bluefin fishing parties, "It will not be CITES that is the ruin of professional (fisheries), it will be nature that lays down the sanction, and it will be beyond appeal." &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With a single bluefin tuna having been known to go for US$160,000 at auction, the result is hardly a surprise. Japanese fisheries are happy, while conservationists and environmentalists are down but not out. They surely will not give up the bluefin battle, but may turn attention to other causes for the time being. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Channel News Asia AFP article stated, "The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned that another expensive delicacy, caviar, had pushed sturgeon into the most threatened creature on the planet."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So while PETA's ploy to have us all thinking of fish as cute little "&lt;a href="http://www.peta.org/sea_kittens/" target="_blank"&gt;sea kittens&lt;/a&gt;" may seem absurd, the act of eating bluefin could for some people continue to fuel a guilty conscious as long as it remains a legal dish (as opposed to some of the ones listed on &lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/asias-endangered-delicacies-029047" target="_self"&gt;this list&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main source&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1044589/1/.html" target="_blank"&gt;Channelnewsasia.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Tokyo sushi, sushi, bluefin tuna&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=wGcdUdYzTLQ:9j_zvAcc3h0:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=wGcdUdYzTLQ:9j_zvAcc3h0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=wGcdUdYzTLQ:9j_zvAcc3h0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=wGcdUdYzTLQ:9j_zvAcc3h0:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=wGcdUdYzTLQ:9j_zvAcc3h0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=wGcdUdYzTLQ:9j_zvAcc3h0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
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 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:30:20 +0000</pubDate>
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 <title>It's finally open -- First look (and ride) at Universal Studios Singapore</title>
 <link>http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/play/public-launch-universal-studios-singapore-712213</link>
 <description>&lt;div style="padding:0.5em;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/play/public-launch-universal-studios-singapore-712213"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/mini-thumbnail/article-images/square/mrbrown-USS_INLINE2.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Ahead of the public opening of Universal Studios' latest theme park, mrbrown sneaks a camera onto the Battlestar Galactica roller coaster ride&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin: 21px 0pt 23px; text-align: center; line-height: 1em;"&gt;Against all danger warnings and common sense, mrbrown smuggles a video cam to capture the first ride on the gut-wrenching Battlestar Galactica ride. Video by mrbrown for CNNGo.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div style="border-top: 1px dotted rgb(102, 102, 102); height: 1px; width: 100%; margin: 18px 0pt;"&gt;&lt;img class="mceItem" src="images/transparent_spacer.gif" alt="" border="0" height="1" width="100%"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;


&lt;div style="background-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 14px 18px; margin: 18px 0pt 14px; font-style: italic;"&gt;Ahead of the public opening on March 18, CNNGo columnist and &lt;a href="http://www.mrbrown.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Singapore blogger mrbrown&lt;/a&gt; was invited to experience the rides and attractions of Universal Studios Singapore. He braves the rides, shares his take on the whole place and answers the question, is the latest big-name theme park in Asia a big whoop or a huge yawn?&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I am a theme park junkie. It started when my father took me to Gay World amusement park, in the days when the word meant carefree or happy. We had the best of times on the carousel, in the vomit-inducing rotating teacup rides, and the electric bumper cars. There was even a daredevil motorcycle show where two riders rode inside a giant cylindrical concrete hole, mostly riding on the walls.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Those days gave way to sophisticated theme parks like Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Universal Studios in the US, where I went on vacation as kid as well as for my honeymoon.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And now, Singapore has its own theme park -- &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/en_universalstudio.html" target="_blank"&gt;Universal Studios Singapore&lt;/a&gt;, located in &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Resorts World Sentosa&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My first impression was how small the place was. I was used to sprawling grounds but upon inspection, I realized that while the physical size of the park was compact, they managed to squeeze many rides and attractions in the smaller space, kind of like Singapore itself, cramming everything into a small amount of space.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Either that or when I was a child, my legs were shorter and distances felt further.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- INLINE240 --&gt;The wife and I began our media preview looking at the map and deciding which way to go, clockwise or anti-clockwise. In the end, we decided it did not matter because the media crowd was not that big and we won't need to fight queues.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Our first stop was the Hollywood area where we queued for Lights, Camera, Action, supposedly hosted by Steven Spielberg. We never got to see Mr Spielberg because after waiting for 10 minutes, and being told there was a slight delay due to technical issues, we were finally told to come back later in the day, sorry.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That was not a good start to the day. In fact, the day was plagued with short shutdowns of attractions for technical and operational reasons, which annoyed us somewhat.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Still, we managed to try some of the attractions like the &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/RidesShows/SciFiCity/BattlestarGalactica" target="_blank"&gt;Battlestar Galactica dual roller coasters&lt;/a&gt;. The wife and I tried the red Human one first and I think we bit off more than we could chew. The wife took an hour to recover from her ride though I totally had an adrenaline blast. While she loves coaster rides, she also has a healthy fear of them. And our age meant we could no longer jump onto a coaster and come out the other end dying to go up again, like we did when we were younger.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;After the coaster ride, we decided to look for less thrilling rides to give our frail middle-aged bodies time to recover.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We wandered into Far Far Away and checked out &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/RidesShows/FarFarAway" target="_blank"&gt;Shrek's Far Far Away Castle&lt;/a&gt;, where was a 4D show to watch. This means you watch a 3D movie with the 4th D being the moving seats and special effects like water being spit at you.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- INLINE240 --&gt;The Singaporean young man who read us some instructions, obviously written for American voices, told us in his singsong faux American accent that we had to follow some rules, or "There will be frogging". We were told to repeat after him every time he mentioned the punishment for not following Lord Farquaad's rules.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"There will be frogging!" we shouted enthusiastically.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;After a few shouts, we realized he meant "There will be flogging".&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I convinced the wife to try the &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/RidesShows/TheLostWorld/JurassicParkRapidsAdventure" target="_blank"&gt;Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure&lt;/a&gt;. She kept saying no, she doesn't like "The Dip", referring to the moment when thrill rides send you down a steep drop. I said it looks pretty ok from out here, let's go.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Once more testing her trust in our 13 years of marriage, she agreed to board the round raft that would take us into the Jurassic Park compound. We already knew how wet it may get, and purchased our disposable rain coats for S$1.50 each. I reckoned there was no point getting too wet before we were done checking out the rest of the park and also, I saw some of the people who came out of the Jurassic Park ride positively drenched. We are talking Wet T-shirt Night drenched.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The ride itself was okay. Some bumps and turns, some spills. The highlight was supposed to be the T-Rexes and random dinosaurs lurching at you. I am not sure why but we were not too frightened by them. Maybe it was because we had seen the Jurassic Park ride before years ago at the other Universal Studios. Maybe it was because we have been spoiled by Avatar the movie, and expected to see something more than just stiff looking animatronic dinosaurs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I had more fun looking at others who did not come prepared with rain coats and who happened to sit on the Splash Zone of the raft.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- INLINE240 --&gt;Then we entered &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/RidesShows/AncientEgypt" target="_blank"&gt;Ancient Egypt&lt;/a&gt; and tried the &lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/RidesShows/AncientEgypt/RevengeoftheMummy" target="_blank"&gt;Revenge of the Mummy&lt;/a&gt;, an indoor roller coaster ride. The wife decided that this would not be as bad as the BSG coasters since it was "in the dark", she said.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We had to walk a long long way to reach the ride. Inside the building, they had obviously planned for long queues. You could run a marathon inside, using the queue path.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The ride itself was fun, with some cool effects like fire and an evil robot mummy damning us to hell, but just when you started to feel the thrills of the ride, it ended. It needed to be longer, methinks.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I doubled back to the BSG coaster to try the blue Cylon coaster because I really wanted to know which one was scarier. The Cylon coaster was different in that, unlike the Human coaster where we were seated, here we sat with our legs dangling and there was more crazy stuff like cockscrews and a cobra roll.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Verdict? I liked both coasters. Both were scary in their own ways. I only wish I could have convinced the wife to ride the Cylon one with me.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We also checked out Monster Rock, a mini-musical with Universal's monsters. That was very slick though it lasted only about 20 minutes. The most fun bit was listening to one of the Caucasian actors singing a Mandarin song and another "monster" doing an impression of the Wonder Girls' "Nobody."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We finally broke for lunch at Mel's Dinner at almost 2pm. It was not as expensive as I thought theme park food might be. Less than S$10 bought you a generous portion of cheeseburger with drinks and fries.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You may be wondering why we had such a late lunch. Word to the wise -- it is never a good idea to do coaster rides on a full stomach.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I will certainly return. I did not have time to try other thrilling stuff like all the kiddie-safe rides. In the interest of helping parents decide what is good for their kids, I shall leave my adrenaline addiction at home and subject myself to the mind-numbingly slow jeep ride on Treasure Hunters or ride King Julien's Party-Go-Round carousel.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Whoop-de-doo.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div style="border-top: 1px dotted rgb(102, 102, 102); height: 1px; width: 100%; margin: 18px 0pt;"&gt;&lt;img class="mceItem" src="images/transparent_spacer.gif" alt="" border="0" height="1" width="100%"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p style="font-size: 24px; font-family: georgia; margin: 24px 0pt;"&gt;getting there&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Universal Studios Singapore&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Resorts World Sentosa&lt;br&gt;
Tickets available at admission or via website&lt;br&gt;(Note that tickets for March 18 and 19 are sold out, and tickets for the first weekend are selling fast)&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/Tickets"&gt;www.rwsentosa.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tags: Universal Studios Singapore, theme parks, roller coaster, Resorts World Sentosa, official opening, launch date, Battlestar Galactica&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=rpl7LIUNqhU:QnUXai71JSQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=rpl7LIUNqhU:QnUXai71JSQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=rpl7LIUNqhU:QnUXai71JSQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=rpl7LIUNqhU:QnUXai71JSQ:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://rss.cnngo.com/~ff/cnngo?a=rpl7LIUNqhU:QnUXai71JSQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/cnngo?i=rpl7LIUNqhU:QnUXai71JSQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/cnngo/~4/rpl7LIUNqhU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:08:37 +0000</pubDate>
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