Monday, August 27, 2012

Singapore Flyer

At 165metres the Singapore Flyer is the world’s largest observation wheel and offers spectacular views of the Island.




Singapore Flyer


On your awesome 30-minute Singapore Flyer ride you will see stunning views of Marina Bay and the Singapore skyline, plus tantalising glimpses of neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Singapore Flyer is a must-do in Singapore. Book your tickets today to ensure you don’t miss out on this incredible experience.

Why book this activity:-
  •     The Singapore Flyer is a must-do in Singapore!
  •      Breathtaking views of Singapore from the world’s largest observation wheel
  •     The view stretches 45km and encompasses all of Singapore’s highlights as well as glimpses of neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia

With this ticket you can simply turn up any time before 6pm and skip-the-line!


The Singapore Flyer – Itinerary

The Singapore Flyer is located at 30 Raffles Avenue, Marina Bay Singapore. Please arrive at the Singapore Flyer 30 minutes before your flight time.

Take a breathtaking ride on the Singapore Flyer, the world’s largest observation wheel. Flights last for 30 minutes and you will share a capsule with other passengers.




The Flyer has a total height of 165m and exceeds The Star of Nanchang by 5m and the London Eye by 30m. You will see 360 degree views of Singapore’s spectacular skyline and Sentosa Island. On a clear day you should be able to see up to 45km away meaning you can catch sight of nearby Indonesia and Malaysia.

Please Note:- Must Take your Cameras. Otherwise you will surely frustrate.  :=)

Location: Singapore
Schedule: Start time: Your ticket is valid for entrance between 0830h (08:30am) and 2230h (10:30pm).

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Could this be the Scariest Hotel Swimming ever ?

Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao’s swimming pool has an exceptional view, as the image above shows.

Part of the indoor pool, which perches atop the 24-story hotel, protrudes from the main building and is suspended mid-air. Its bottom is constructed with toughened glass.

This gives guests a delirious sense of swimming in the sky — they can see the street clearly down below while passers-by on Xiuyan Lu Street can see the swimmers way up above.

“I felt as if I was flying in the sky — I could also enjoy the beautiful scenery of Pudong from here … it’s so cool and wonderful,” a swimmer told CCTV.

“We wanted to provide our guests a unique swimming experience, and let them feel they’re vacationing even in a bustling city,” said a spokesperson from InterContinental Hotels Group, parent company of Holiday Inn.

While not splashing in the water, guests can enjoy Pudong urban views stretching as far as the Lujiazui skyline at the poolside lounge.

First of its kind in China

Exactly 30 meters long (about 98 feet), six meters wide (20 feet) and 1.5 meters deep (5 feet), the swimming pool is the first of its kind in China. It was designed by Singaporean firm Chan Sau Yan Associates, which helmed the interior design of the four-star hotel.

The Holiday Inn Shanghai branch said it gathered input from various architects and even aerospace experts while constructing this sky-high glass-bottomed water container to ensure its safety.
The hotel did not reveal the pool’s construction cost.

The 390-room, four-star hotel — which opened in May 2011, is located in the booming suburb of Kangqiao, which is some 22 kilometers southeast from Shanghai downtown and 30 kilometers west of Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

According to the staff working at the hotel’s gym, the swimming pool is open to hotel guests and a limited number of health club members.

Annual membership for the gym starts from about $2,400 per person.

Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao, 1088 Xiuyan Lu, near Henghe Zhong Lu, Shanghai.  Nightly rate: from $125, www.holidayinn.com

Do you know any cooler hotel swimming pools? Tell us about them in the comments section below.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Mountain Bike at the Top of the World in Whistler, Canada

 Whistler has become a global capital for downhill mountain biking, with its web of trails lower on the mountain. Now it has pushed the bike park into new territory, opening its first trail off the peak, dubbed Top of the World. We are among the first to test its rigors.

Top of the World begins on a steep decline over the back of the ski area proper. The grade at moments exceeds 20 per cent.
The switchbacks cut through loose rock and dirt, and the open alpine expanse is extraordinary. Single-track trails often flow through forests, on rooty, rocky ground. This high, it is a single-track fantasia, a vista of the jagged Coast Mountains and the iconic Black Tusk in the near distance, framing a photo Instagram could hardly make more perfect.

The initial descent of several hundred vertical metres – oh my goodness – offers sweeping views, but I keep my eyes on the ground. It is exposed territory, high on the mountain, where a fall isn’t just a little oops-and-dust-off. Up high, on steep ground, a simple fall could easily cartwheel into body-rending territory. So my ride, initially, is self-circumscribed. Finestone(Manager Mountain Bike)  had described the first section as “pretty gnarly” and noted the option to walk the bike through too-tough sections. “It’s a bumpy ride out on the rescue road,” he says. Without chagrin I choose caution, as the spectre of flying body-over-handlebars to a certain busted collarbone or worse washes away any worry of appearing cowardly.

The start of the trail is rightly designated expert, a double black diamond, even if most of the rest is intermediate. I am passed by a guided group of skilled riders in a “summer gravity camp.” As he passes me, carrying my bike on my shoulder, one rider blurts: “I’m not sure that guy should be on this trail.” Possibly true. But once I do humbly manage the first pitch, I’m on my pedals for the rest of the rip, first into the beginnings of the tree line.

Rolling through percolating wildflowers, intermittent stands of whitebark pine and flourishing bunches of spruce, the smell of forest burls up and explodes in my nose, an aromatic tincture. My unscientific conclusion: Spruce settles the nerves. Buoyed by the perfumed blast, we cover several more steep but less fall-and-be-crippled sections, before coming around the bend of the mountain’s peak. The valley emerges, Whistler Village and Lost Lake far below. We roll on, as the epic trail extends, a blissful daytime dream. The alpine recedes as we bounce and bang on a narrow road, the occasional pop through creeks of melting snow and happy splatters of mud.

Right now, Top of the World consists of half-finished, single-track sections connected by access road/ski trail, with work ongoing to complete the trail as one long single track. As we reach the bike park proper, Top of the World has covered five wonderful kilometres and a vertical descent of 700 metres, roughly half of the total from the peak to the village. The average grade was about 8 per cent.

It’s steep but not wildly savage, save for the earliest turns.

I guesstimate it would probably take a dedicated day or two in the bike park navigating tricky and technical black runs in the woods before I would feel comfortable in the saddle on the toughest turns off the peak.
Still, at the end, there is elation. Words from higher up the trail echo in my ears. After the first big pitch of steep switchbacks, where I walked, several summer gravity campers confidently made their way, led by a woman in her 20s, their guide. “Oh my God,” the young woman exclaimed, her smile beyond megawatt, chugging deep lungfuls of air, and exhaling: “This is amazing.”

 

The details


The Top of the World mountain-bike trail off the peak of Whistler Mountain opened to the public on July 28. It is open daily, as part of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, and the trail’s hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (5 p.m. on Friday and Sunday). Daily capacity is limited to just 100 riders. The cost is $15, on top of a $56 bike park pass, and space can be booked ahead of time.


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