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Mike Shinoda guitar Linkin Park concert Singapore F1

Singapore: Day 7 – Little India, F1 Sunday race, Linkin Park concert and Avalon Club

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Feb 09, 2012
/
Singapore, Travel

Date: September 25th, 2011

How time flies. I landed on the 19th and thought “Hmm, I can take it easy, I have lots of time!”. Now it was my last full day in Singapore.

I decided to visit Little India, as last year I had to rush through it. Plus, I wanted to have lunch from a restaurant there.

Little India mrt station Singapore — Took the MRT

Kerbau hotel Little India Singapore — It was noon by the time I got here

Chander road colourful old buildings Little India Singapore — It’s Indian, expect lots of colour 🙂

Sri Veeramakaliamman temple Indian gods design Singapore — Sri Veeramakaliamman temple, on Serangoon Road

Sri Veeramakaliamman temple Indian gods models — It’s a major tourist draw in Little India, but to most Indians — we’ve seen bigger

Shoe rack Sri Veeramakaliamman temple Indian Singapore — It was closed at this time

Mustafa centre Little India Singapore — Went to the famous Mustafa Centre

Mustafa center Little India Singapore — Even though Mustafa Centre is famous for being open 24 hours, I consider it a lousy place for certain goods, especially as far as pricing goes (Read my 2010 experience)

Ananda Bhavan vegetarian restaurant Little India Singapore — You have enough vegetarian food available in this part of Singapore

Serangoon plaza Little India Singapore — I just walked around aimlessly hopping from one shopping centre to another

Flour mill auto supply store Little India Singapore — It was time to find a place to eat

Azmi restaurant Norris road Little India Singapore — After checking out a few restaurants, I sat at this corner shop. You can buy beer from the Chinese vendor on the right and food from two other vendors on the left.

Mutton kheema chapathi Tiger beer Singapore — Had a few phulkas with mutton kheema & peas curry (and a beer). The whole meal cost less than SG$10.

Thye Chong restaurant Norris road Singapore — This is the place

Little India white building windows pattern Singapore — I walked back to the MRT station

Gandhi restaurant Little India Singapore — This place seemed really popular as there was a long queue for takeaways

Shree Lakshminarayan temple Little India Singapore — Shree Lakshminarayan temple

No durian sign MRT Singapore — ‘No Durian’ – popular fruit in Singapore, but not allowed in public transportation! 🙂

Back alley pubs boat quay Singapore — I decided to enter the circuit via Gate 5 as I figured the lines would be smaller than the more easily accessible Gate 4

Gate 5 entrance Singapore F1 circuit — I made it just before 3pm and I was right, the queue wasn’t that long

As soon as the gates opened and the security check was done, I began to run. Because so did many other youngsters! And by youngsters, I mean Linkin Park fans!

Line for Linkin Park Padang Singapore — Because this was the scene just 10 minutes past 3 ‘o’ clock. Two lines had already formed on either side!

F1 concerts Fanzone wristbands Singapore gp — Luckily, I got my Fanzone wristband! Woo-hoo!

Fanzone section Padang concert Linkin Park Singapore gp — Some people were already queuing to get as close to the stage as possible

Linkin Park concert line Singapore F1 — Just shows how popular Linkin Park is!

LG Cinema 3d tv booth Singapore F1 — I didn’t really have anything on my agenda, so I checked out LG’s booth where they were showcasing their 3D Tvs

LG booth babes Chinese model Singapore GP — I checked out the demos and left. (That model is really pretty isn’t she?)

Instead of wasting time, I decided to go all the way up to Avalon Club at Marina Bay Sands to find out when The Chemical Brothers were set to hit the stage for the F1 After Party tonight. The Linkin Park concert was surely going to end past midnight and I didn’t want to miss The Chemical Brothers. After all, I paid good money to see these both these acts!

Walking to Avalon club Singapore — I took the MRT and then walked to the club

Avalon club Chemical Brothers Singapore — I saw two guys who resembled Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons (a.k.a The Chemical Brothers) but I couldn’t go up closer as they were testing the visuals and the sound. I at least felt good knowing I could expect a good set tonight!

I asked around the club when The Chemical Brothers would take the stage for their set but no one could give me a definite answer. They guessed it would be after midnight, and well after the race.

The reason I came all way to Avalon Club is because when I tried calling them earlier, no one answered. I had good reason for concern. When I tried visiting their Facebook fanpage yesterday, it had been deleted. I wanted to know how Friday night’s party (LMFAO and Ludacris) went but there was nothing! (Avalon has a new page now with a different Facebook url)

Marina Bay sailing Singapore — I left Avalon Club with the notion I may be able to catch The Chemical Brothers in time tonight

Marina Bay Sands The Shoppes mall interiors Singapore — Stepped inside The Shoppes for some air conditioning

Marina Bay MRT station Singapore — I took the MRT back to City Hall

St. Andrews cathedral church Singapore — I decided to go inside St. Andrews Cathedral as I passed by it so many times but never went in

Chinese fish St. Andrews cathedral pond Singapore — The Asian touch

St Andrews cathedral prayer hall Singapore — Christianity is the second most widely practiced religion in Singapore after Buddhism

Zone 4 grandstand Singapore F1 circuit — By 5:40pm, I went back in

Earth Collide Thai band Singapore F1 concert — A Thai band called Earth Collide were playing at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre

Marina Bay Sands hotel Artscience panorama — Marina Bay Sands was gleaming in the afternoon sun

Marina Bay Sands skypark Singapore — Took out my 70-200mm lens again

Singapore evening by the bay — The sun was about to set

Concert by the bay next performance Singapore — I waited for the Forbidden Broadway show to begin

Drivers parade on screen Singapore gp — But just then, the F1 drivers parade began

Drivers parade Singapore F1 Sunday race — I rushed back to Esplanade Drive and raised my camera over a barricade to try and get a clear shot

Rubens Barrichello drivers parade Singapore F1 — Rubens Barrichello

Jenson Button drivers parade Singapore F1 raceday — UK’s Jenson Button

Sebastian Vettel drivers parade Singapore F1 raceday — And the obvious guy to win the race — Sebastian Vettel

I went back to the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre where the Forbidden Broadway show had began.

Forbidden Broadway show Singapore F1 — New York’s longest running off-Broadway musical comedy revue parodies popular Broadway shows

New York off-broadway Lion King spoof — Like ‘The Lion King,’ which ironically, was playing right behind them at the Marina Bay Sands theater

Forbidden Broadway Singapore show Lion King spoof — They ripped Walt Disney for its corporatization of Broadway and invading live theatre with their successful film franchises

Lion King spoof Forbidden Broadway Singapore — It was pretty funny

Ariel Little Mermaid Forbidden Broadway Singapore F1 show — Even Ariel, The Little Mermaid, wasn’t spared

Avenue Q Forbidden Broadway Singapore show — Next up was Avenue Q (Poor Elmo, what did they do to him!)

Forbidden Broadway puppets Singapore F1 — Shows using puppets were ridiculed next

Mary Poppins spoof Forbidden Broadway Singapore — Oh god…

Mary Poppins spoof Singapore F1 show — Mary Poppins! Another Disney franchise that was made into a Broadway show.

Les Miserables spoof Forbidden Broadway Singapore — Next up, the long-running Les Miserables

Les Mis spoof Forbidden Broadway Singapore — The actors were funny, but they were great performers and singers too

Phantom of the Opera spoof Forbidden Broadway Singapore F1 — ‘Phantom of the Opera’

Wicked spoof Forbidden Broadway Singapore — ‘Wicked’

Even though I had never seen a Broadway musical live, I still got most of the jokes. After all, if you watch enough Glee or follow popular culture, one would have found this show funny. I enjoyed it, it was good change from the usual concerts.

Floating stage Mambo Jambo Singapore F1 — I caught up with my friend Niranjan who had also flown down from Bangalore for the Singapore F1

Marina Bay Sands hotel ArtScience museum F1 night — We just sat by the bay and took a break from the heat

Marina Bay Sands F1 car lasers Singapore GP — Marina Bay Sands had laser F1 cars going up the towers

Esplanade drive crowd Singapore F1 raceday — We walked back to Esplanade drive

Mithun Divakaran Niranjan Singapore — Me and Niranjan (Photo was taken by his wife)

I parted ways with Niranjan and we agreed to catch up after the race. I decided to watch the race for a bit.

2011 Singapore F1 starting grid — The 2011 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix was a go!

Zone 4 Grandstand Singapore F1 Sunday race — I walked to the overhead staircase near the Zone 4 grandstand to get a better view

Zone 4 seating from staircase Singapore F1 — Also, I wasn’t the only cheapskate tried to get to a better view, there were quite a few

Singapore F1 zone 4 grandstand race day — I didn’t stay on the bridge for long, just took these photos and left

Zone 4 walkabout Singapore F1 circuit — I walked to another vantage point

Singapore Grand Prix circuit turn — I mounted my 70-200mm lens again

Force India F1 car Singapore GP — Bends are probably the best spots to snap these cars, because that’s where they actually ‘slow’ down

Ferrari racing Singapore F1 car — And when I mean ‘slow down’, I mean taking turns at 90-100kmph

Air Asia racing F1 Lotus car Singapore GP — I shot these hand held over the photographers who had placed themselves right in front and set up their tripods

Red Bull racing Singapore grand prix F1 race day — Red Bull Racing has had an amazing 2011 season so far

I got bored and walked back to the concert ground. My opinion about watching an F1 race remains the same. When I watched the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from a grandstand seat in 2010, at first the prospect of it sounded exciting — but it soon got very boring. Be it seated or even with these walkabout tickets, watching cars whizz by at speeds in excess of 100kmph gets boring pretty quick. Given how loud these cars are too, you can’t even hear the on-air commentary through the speakers until the cars fade away.

Crowds watching race Esplanade park Singapore F1 — Watching a race on the big screen is any day better in my opinion. You get to see the cars better, hear the commentary and view multiple angles.

But the Singapore Grand Prix is an experience like no other. First of all, the city is the circuit! That too the impressive central business district, which looks even more impressive at night. They don’t set up most of the grandstands until a few days prior to the race week. It’s an event which really showcases Singapore’s glamour — something the government is really good at marketing.

Watching Singapore F1 race Padang stage — I went back to the concert grounds and watched the race on the screens there

Padang stage crowd watching race Singapore F1 — It wasn’t that exciting a race anyway

Germany flag Singapore F1 crowd — As expected, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won

Linkin Park Padang concert Singapore F1 — With the race over, there was one final moment everyone was waiting for

Linkin Park concert Singapore show — One of my favourite bands, and one of the best bands that debuted in the last decade — Linkin Park!

Linkin Park concert Singapore GP 2011 — Linkin Park hit the stage at around 10:45pm

Linkin Park Chester screaming Singapore F1 concert — Took out the big lens for a few close-ups

Chester Bennington Linkin Park live in Singapore — I don’t know how he does it every night, but Chester Bennington’s heavy vocals are amazing!

Chester Bennington Linkin Park Singapore F1 concert — His screaming especially! Undoubtedly one of the best rock vocalists out there!

Mike Shinoda Chester Mr Hahn Linkin Park live Singapore — From their early days when they mostly wore casual black, these days the members look very ‘grown up’ 🙂

Mike Shinoda Linkin Park concert Singapore — The unofficial leader of Linkin Park, Mike Shinoda, and resident DJ Joesph Hahn on the turntables

Linkin Park clapping hands Singapore concert — It was harder for me to take photos of the other members as they remained ‘in the shadows’

Dave Farrell Phoenix bassist Linkin Park Singapore concert — Bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell

Brad Delson guitarist Linkin Park Singapore concert — The rather quiet Brad Delson on lead guitar

Linkin Park white stage lights Singapore concert — Linkin Park were on the Asian leg of their ‘A Thousand Suns’ tour, so they played a lot of their new material along with all their hits from albums past

I didn’t record videos because I did enough of that at the Abu Dhabi concert. I wanted to enjoy the show this time, so I only took one video. Here’s “The Catalyst,” from one of my favorite Linkin Park albums:

Linkin Park live stage lights Singapore concert — It wasn’t easy for me to take photos surrounded by so many people, but I did my best

Chester Bennington on-screen Singapore concert — I had a blast seeing these guys again

Mike Shinoda guitar Singapore concert — Mike Shinoda’s look reminded me of technology editor Joshua Topolsky (Yeah, what a geek am I right?)

Linkin Park Singapore F1 concert — The show lasted nearly one and half hours

Chester Bennington end of concert Singapore — Chester finally got to rest his vocal chords

Linkin Park end of concert Singapore — The band gave out guitar picks as usual

Rob Bourdon handing out drumsticks Linkin Park concert — Drummer Rob Bourdon finally came to the front of the stage

If you want to see the entire concert, this guy filmed it — but don’t assume the crowd was lousy based on that video. The crowd was much better on my side! It was a better crowd than at the Abu Dhabi concert, all thanks to the Zone 4 ticket prices which made it affordable for real fans of Linkin Park to come see them. Something the mostly younger fanbase couldn’t afford in Abu Dhabi.

For a band that has yet to perform in Bangalore, I feel quite privileged to have seen them twice. The setlist was slightly different (at least the order of songs) from the Abu Dhabi show late last year. Of course, in Abu Dhabi, I actually met Mike Shinoda in person! That luck didn’t repeat itself here in Singapore.

My 2011 Singapore F1 experience was finally over. I truly got my money’s worth! For SG$138 (Rs. 5000/$110/€83) I got to see Linkin Park, Shakira, a bit of Shaggy, 3/5th of K-pop supergroup BIG BANG, Charice, Rick Astley, an off-broadway show, samba dancers, etc. — and cars racing. Beat that for value! Had I not stepped out of the circuit to go around town with Aimee, I would have seen much more. The organizers definitely did a better job this year as far entertainment went. In 2010, they had a pregnant Mariah Carey headline on Sunday. Yeah, don’t ask. My friend Ramesh attended the race last year and he told me how bad it was!

I have my bets placed on Coldplay headlining the concert series in 2012 and even though I would love to go back to Singapore, the same Zone 4 Walkabaout ticket is now SG$178! :-/Update (10/02/2011): A day after this was pushed live, Maroon 5 has been announced as the headliners for Saturday. Now that a band is headlining one day, will it be a female artist like Rihanna or Madonna (or Katy Perry) headlining Sunday? (Please, no Britney!)

As I exited the concert grounds, I bumped into another friend from Bangalore who told me he attended the Friday party with LMFAO and Ludacris at the Avalon Club. He told me the experience wasn’t great. That… didn’t sound to good to me. None the less, I exited the circuit after catching up with Niranjan and his wife.

I said my goodbyes to them and took the MRT to Marina Bay, which was on its last journey for the night.

Marina Bay Sands light signals Singapore — I walked to the Avalon Club

Marina Bay Sands hotel shoppes night Singapore — The excitement I initially had for seeing The Chemical Brothers had wore off a bit. I was quite tired and I wondered if it was too much to attend this party as well.

As I entered the club, there was a sign outside stating an apology for Saturday night’s Sander van Doorn party — which was cancelled. This was yet another sign implying something wasn’t right about Avalon. It was too late for me to bail out though, I had no choice but to go in.

Once inside, I wasn’t too impressed. One, despite its exterior, the dance floor didn’t look that big for a big-name club. Two, what the hell is this?

Avalon Club smoke fog inside Singapore — I haven’t been to hundreds of clubs, but where have you seen this much smoke/fog?

It really irritated me. It’s as though the management didn’t want us to see if the DJ was even there! I made my way through the smoke and to the DJ stand, where there was no one playing a live set at the moment. I went upstairs because the smoke got nauseating after a while, plus it was really hard to see.

Avalon club Singapore F1 after race party — I still couldn’t see the stage from here, but at least I could breathe better

I ended up chatting with a few youth who had come down from Indonesia just to see The Chemical Brothers. We were excited and danced away when any Chemical Brothers track came on. An hour passed and after the popular tracks like “Star Guitar,” “Do It Again” and the epic “Hey Boy, Hey Girl,” I stopped dancing. The smoke machine was still on and I began to wonder if The Chemical Brothers were even performing live!

I bought my tickets for this gig with certain expectations. I wasn’t expecting Glastonbury-level of epicness inside a club, but the visuals are very much a part of The Chemical Brothers experience. When I visited the club earlier in the afternoon, they were running some visuals on the screen. As long as I was in the club, that screen didn’t even come on once! I felt so ripped off.

Avalon club fog machine Singapore — All I got was smoke & mirrors – quite literally

The Indonesians left after a while and I felt like leaving too. That is until I looked outside…

Heavy rain Singapore night Marina Bay — It was raining so heavily! For the past three days, it was sunny! It’s like the deal F1 organizers had struck with the rain gods ended as soon as the race was over.

Avalon Club inside VIP lounge Singapore — I was stuck inside the club. I had to wait until the rain subsided as I wasn’t carrying an umbrella — and the roads were a bit of a walk away.

Long chandelier Avalon club Singapore — Looked like they floors going a few level below the entrance

For something that was branded an ‘F1 After Party,’ I didn’t see many who even remotely looked like they were part of the major F1 teams. No drivers, nothing. Just a bunch of fat men who were ordering pricey vodka bottles and had Asian girls much younger to them on either arm. It wasn’t the crowd I was expecting for a Chemical Brothers gig.

Boy George DJ Avalon club Singapore — The smoke only subsided during Boy George’s set. His set was pretty good actually, but I was quite angry reaffirming myself all that smoke from earlier was to hide the fact The Chemical Brothers set wasn’t live!

It was nearing 3am, and I wanted to leave so badly. I didn’t care about the SG$83 I paid for this ‘party’ because I needed to get some sleep . I still had things to do before I left Singapore later in the evening of the 26th (which it already was). After Boy George ended his set and before the next DJ began his, I left. It was still drizzling, but I placed my handkerchief to cover my head. I was told by the staff at Avalon I could get taxis in front of the convention centre at Marina Bay Sands. I went through the Shoppes to the bus stop in front and waited.I showed my hand to many taxis that passed by, none of them stopped. Some were full, some were not — and there were quite a few of us in need of a ride home.

Fed up, I then walked to dropping point at the casino, to try my luck there. All the taxis that stopped here were already booked or weren’t taking any passengers. A bunch of Indians from Mumbai were frustrated and said if it were back in their city, they would have already gotten a rickshaw or a taxi in a matter of minutes. It’s true.

I was getting really angry at this point. It was still drizzling, I was wet and sleepy. Past 4am at this point, I then walked to the Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby hoping the reception could call me a taxi no matter what the cost. At the lobby, I was then shown to the dropping point where an snake-line had already formed, and where many like me were waiting an awful long time to get a taxi. An Italian woman who looked like model was frustrated at the notion of waiting this long to get a taxi at an “$8 billion hotel”! Couldn’t help but agree with her to an extent.

Many in line were fuming. Some tried the old ‘slip some money in the hands’ of staff to get an advantage, but the staff declined. But it didn’t matter. Some people saw that and started shouting at the staff over preferential treatment — even though the hotel employee didn’t show any. One taxi that did stop by demanded SG$500 from some Westerners who needed to go the airport. The taxi driver got a “Fuck off!” instead.

I stood there quietly, but very, very frustrated. Eventually I got fed up as the line wasn’t moving as fast as I hoped. I asked the staff when the MRT would open and he told me 5am. Fuming, I walked in the drizzle to the MRT station as it was only few minutes until 5am.

Got the first train, and finally reached Central mall. I didn’t take the overbridge, I just hopped over the divider and crossed the road. Yeah, I jaywalked, I didn’t care! I was so frustrated with how my night turned out after what until Avalon, was such a good day! Never going to make this mistake again. Another lesson learnt? Carry an umbrella at all time when in Singapore.

As soon as I got to my room, I took off my socks and slept. There was little else I was in the mood for.

Next Post:

Leaving Singapore, and discovering certain truths about this famous city state

Previous posts in the series:

Singapore 2011: Day 6 – F1 Saturday (Rick Astley, Shakira and Shaggy concerts)

Singapore 2011: Day 5 – Chinatown, F1 Friday (Charice, Seungri and GD&TOP concerts)

Singapore 2011: Day 4 – Marina Bay Sands Casino and views from the SkyPark observation deck

Singapore 2011: Day 3 – Bukit Timah and Singapore Botanic Gardens

Singapore 2011: Day 2 – Jurong Bird Park and… *ouch!*

Singapore 2011: Day 1 – Landing a second time; walking around CBD

Singapore: Day 5 – Chinatown, F1 Friday (Charice, Seungri and GD&TOP concerts)

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jan 27, 2012
/
Singapore, Travel

Date: September 23rd, 2011

Here we go, my F1 weekend begins! Oh wait… I had to shift hostels first.

I really enjoyed my stay at WoW hostel, and today I had second thoughts of checking out and moving to the other location I had chosen (to be much closer to the F1 circuit). But since it was too late to cancel the other reservation, I collected my deposit and they wished me well. I told them I would definitely stay at WoW Hostel again, if I were to return to Singapore. (I seriously would, I really liked the place!)

Pedestrian overbridge New Bridge road Singapore — I took the MRT and got off at Clarke Quay station, which is housed under Central Mall

New Bridge road Clarke Quay Singapore — New Bridge Road, Clarke Quay is walking distance from here

Central Mall Clarke Quay Singapore mobile photo — Crossed over to the other side

Central Shopping Mall office building Singapore panorama — Central Mall is pretty huge

Hong Kong street Singapore — The hostel I needed to get to was on this street

Hong Kong street hostels Singapore CBD — Quite a few other hostels in the area (The above were all taken on my phone)

Rucksack Inn River City hostel stairs building entrance — I arrived at the building which houses River City Inn… and I had been warned it’s a few flight of stairs up

Stairs to Rucksack Inn River City Inn Singapore — You pass another hostel – Rucksack Inn, which is very popular

Rucksack Inn hostel walls Singapore — Above Rucksack Inn, on the 4th floor, is where River City Inn is located

I was tired! The staff at River City Inn greeted me with a glass of water (I’m sure it’s a common gesture now, with each guest appearing tired upon first arrival). Footwear must be kept outside, which I did, and I then entered the hostel to check in. First impressions? Very nice! Looked new, clean and well maintained. I had reserved a single bed in the 24-bed mixed dorm room, which cost SG$32 (Rs. 1,261/$25/€19) a night.Yes, it cost way more than WoW Hostel, but you’re paying the location.

Other than that, the hostel looked nice and it was the usual facilities. Complimentary breakfast and wi-fi, two desktop machines in the ‘living room,’ a decent kitchen with all the requisite quick-meal facilities, a large screen TV, XBOX 360 — and pretty much all the furniture is IKEA! 🙂

I would have shown you photographs of the interiors but the staff told me they didn’t allow anyone to take photos of the hostel. Oh well.

River City Inn Rucksack hostel building Singapore — The yellow building on the right is where River City & Rucksack Inn are housed

City Backpackers hostel Clarke Quay Singapore — Bang opposite is another hostel — City Backpackers

City centre backpackers hostel Singapore — Another one

Central shopping mall Singapore — Given you have a large shopping mall and an MRT station a short walk away, the location isn’t bad at all

Gamehaven building Singapore — Went around the block

Rucksack Inn 2 Hongkong street Singapore — Rucksack Inn has another branch in another lane

Pavement South Bridge road Singapore — I was on my way to the Gate 4 entrance of the F1 circuit

Clarke Quay South Bridge road Singapore — Cross the road and you get to Boat Quay, in just 5 minutes from the hostel

Singapore river Clarke Quay afternoon — Down the river is Clarke Quay

Singapore river cruise boat afternoon — One of the River Cruise boats

Singapore parliament road — Passed by the Singapore parliament

Singapore school girls walking cbd — I walked towards the Gate 4 entrance, which was a right turn from up ahead

Queue Gate 4 Singapore GP Friday afternoon — It was only 2pm, and gates weren’t going to open until 3… so I sat and waited

Friday queue Singapore F1 gate 4 entrance — There was a reason why the queue was this long an hour before the gates opened

St. Andrews cathedral Singapore lawn — I patiently waited

At 3pm, the gates opened and people were slowly allowed in. First a security check. They saw my bag full of camera equipment and the staff asked me whether I was ‘Press’ — I said ‘no’. They still requested that I go up to the Press registration counter and sign a declaration saying I will not sell these photographs, to which I replied “sure”.

Once past the security check, I quickened my pace of walking. So did everybody else. Then as soon as I reached the Padang grounds, I ran — and so did the others!

Singapore F1 concert stage friday Padang grounds — You see, the reason why so many of us queued up so early is because they were handing out FanZone wristbands, so that we could get inside an enclosed section much closer to the main stage

Padang lawn Friday afternoon Singapore GP — Luckily I managed to get mine, and so did the others who queued early — most of whom were VIPs* (I’ll explain later, they’re not *really* important people)

Padang grounds Singapore gp Friday — Phew, well worth coming early for — but now I needed to grab something to eat

Singapore F1 Friday Padang tents — I tried looking for the ‘Press’ tent, but couldn’t find it. Honestly, I wasn’t even too bothered to look for it, I wasn’t going to sell these images. Heck, I’m writing about a September 2011 event in January 2012!

Padang stage Singapore F1 Swissotel Stamford tower — It was past 3pm and I hadn’t eaten yet

Singapore GP Padang grounds way out — I went in search of food

The Cenotaph war memorial Singapore — The Cenotaph War Memorial

Hawker food stalls Singapore F1 grounds — Ahhh, food!

Shawarma doner kebab Singapore F1 food stall — Ahhh, shawarma!

It’s expected food and beverages inside such events were going to be pricey but what to do, I was hungry. So I paid the SG$10 (Rs. 390/$7/€6) for the roll — the most I ever paid for a shawarma in my life, ha ha! (I grew up in the Middle East, so I’m used to having paid only a tenth of that)

Official F1 merchandise stalls Singapore Grand Prix — Checked out the booths

Official merchandise Fanvision stall Singapore GP — Plenty of official merchandise on sale

Singtel booth Singapore GP — SingTel is the title sponsor of the Singapore F1, so they had a massive booth

dbl 0 bar stall Singapore gp — Make-shift lounge bars

Tan Kim Seng fountain Padang Singapore — Tan Kim Seng fountain

Esplanade drive bridge Marina Bay Sands — You can walk under this bridge to get to the Theatres by the Bay

Esplanade Drive Singapore — Esplanade Drive is a part of the F1 track — and thus closed from public use for an entire week

Classic Alfa Romeo drivers parade cars Singapore F1 — On display were the classic cars the Formula 1 race drivers were going to be driven around the circuit for the Drivers Parade before Sunday’s race

Classic Mercedes drivers parade cars display Singapore GP — Very classy line-up

Classic Triumph car display Singapore Grand Prix — They mention which car is assigned to which driver

Singapore gp zone 4 photographers platform F1 Friday — Ah, my people

Singapore GP BMW safety car F1 Friday — It was nearing 4:30pm, the Porsche Cup Asia practice session was about to start

Maybank UOB Capitaland hq buildings Singapore — I took out my 70-200mm zoom lens

BMW safety car start of Friday race Singapore F1 — The safety cars were doing the rounds

Photographers F1 Friday zone 4 Singapore gp — The cameras were ready as the sound of the car engines grew louder

Porsche Carrera cup Asia practice session Friday Singapore — Here they come!

Porsche Carrera cup Asia practice Friday Singapore F1 — I decided to walk to another viewing point

Porsche Carrera Cup practice lap Fullerton Hotel Friday Singapore gp — Mind you, I was still behind barricades. You can’t simply walk closer to the circuit.

Singapore gp security briefing panorama — I had enough of cars zipping past, so I moved on

Asian civilizations museum gate 5 exit Singapore gp — I exited the circuit area

Walking out of F1 circuit Singapore — I was going to meet my friend Aimee now

Steps Uob building lobby Singapore — I waited for Aimee at the UOB building

Singapore blue sky cloud UOB building — Remarkably, I got sunshine today!

Aimee Marie cheek Singapore — After catching up with Aimee, a visit to the ATM

Society bar CBD Singapore — We set off on our walk

Great Eastern building Singapore — Great Eastern building

Walking to Chinatown Singapore — Aimee was going to take me to Chinatown

Indian temple Pagoda street Chinatown Singapore — Even in Chinatown, there’s an Indian temple and a mosque

Chinatown food street Singapore — Chinatown food street

Chinatown classic architecture old buildings Singapore — Like Little India, and Kampong Glam, Chinatown has its share of retro architecture

Buddha Tooth Relic temple Singapore Chinatown — Aimee took me to this temple, the most famous in Chinatown it seems

Buddha tooth relic temple entrance Singapore — The name of this temple? Buddha Tooth Relic temple

Aimee Marie buddha tooth relic temple door Singapore — Seemed like a nice place to take photos of Aimee

Aimee Marie Buddha tooth relic temple incense Singapore — There is a dress code, so they give shawls at the entrance to cover up

Buddha Tooth Relic temple main prayer hall Singapore Chinatown — Inside, it was rather impressive

Buddha tooth relic temple prayer hall god Singapore — Go read up on the ‘Sacred Relic of the tooth of Buddha’ — it’s quite an interesting story

Buddha Tooth Relic temple prayer hall Buddha wall Singapore — Very impressive design

Buddha tooth relic temple prayer hall Singapore — This temple is in fact a newly built one, opened only in 2007

Buddha teeth relic temple back exit Singapore — We left the temple

Chinatown market stalls Singapore — Aime and I then walked through the Chinatown bazaar

Chinatown market Singapore — We had the urge to have some ice cream — bread ice cream in particular

Water chestnut juice vendor Singapore — Couldn’t get the kind of ice cream we were looking for, so we just had juice. I chose water chestnut – because it sounded weird, and I never had it before. It tasted okay though.

Aimee and I took the bus back to Central mall, as I wanted to reduce the weight of my camera bag by offloading equipment I didn’t need.

Aimee Marie freezing Singapore bus — It was very cold inside the bus

Bridge road evening traffic Singapore — Even though the distance wasn’t much, I experienced Singapore evening traffic today. It took some time to cover around a kilometre distance.

After giving our feet some rest at the hostel, we headed towards Boat Quay.

Boat quay inner road evening Singapore — It was 7:30pm

Boat quay friday night restaurants Singapore — It was Friday night

Boat quay friday night crowds bars Singapore — The bankers and officer goers of Marina Bay were all out filling up the bars and eateries

Singapore river at night boat quay — We sat by boat quay

Mithun Divakaran Singapore river boat quay — Look, Mithun!

Bread ice cream vendor Boat Quay Singapore river — And we finally got bread ice cream!

Bread ice cream boat quay Singapore — I had durian flavoured ice cream

Aimee Mariee bread ice cream boat quay Singapore — Yay

Boat quay pier Singapore at night — Kids jumping in?

Boat quay pier boys jumping into river statue Singapore — Not really

Fullerton hotel Singapore river bridge at night — I still had some time before I needed to get back inside

Aimee Marie peace sign Singapore — So we goofed off in front of the camera

Aimee Marie Singapore skyline at night — One final shot against the backdrop of Singapore’s famous skyline

Aimee and I said our goodbyes as she had to go meet her fiance and I had to head back to the Padang grounds.

Gate 5 tunnel underpass Singapore F1 — I went back to the circuit

JK Racing practice Friday night race Singapore F1 Fullerton — The JK Racing practice session was going on

JK Racing Friday practice lap Singapore GP — Nothing exciting, until…

JK Racing car crash Singapore grand prix — … this guy crashed!

Singapore gp racing crash F1 circuit — Didn’t see the others cars race past until this car was lifted off the circuit and all the debris cleared

Singapore gp food court crowds Friday — I walked past the many hungry attendees

Singapore F1 concert Padang grounds Friday — The concerts on the main stage were about to begin, and lot of people had already gathered

Singapore F1 crash on screen — But since I already collected my FanZone band, I could walk straight up close to the stage!

Charice band playing Singapore F1 — As the noise from the JK Racing series subsided, a band began to play

Cameras recording Charice concert Singapore F1 — Who was it for?

Charice stage Singapore F1 Friday concert — Philippine songstress Charice!

Charice singing Singapore F1 Friday concert — The many Filipinos in attendance surely showed the Glee-star some love

Charice singing Singapore F1 concert — She belted out her hits “Pyramid” and “One Day,” and even sang her (then) upcoming new single “Louder”

Charice band dancing dougie Singapore F1 concert — Charice and her band even took a dance break to do the “Dougie”

Charice performing on stage Singapore F1 Friday concert — Charice also sang covers of other popular hits like Jessie J’s “Price Tag”

Charice powerful singing Singapore F1 Friday circuit — She maybe pint-sized, but her voice packs in quite a punch!

Charice on stage Singapore F1 circuit — Amazing singer — and a good show by her!

Singapore grand prix Friday race Jumbotron — After Charice’s performance, the Friday practice lap took place

GD&Top concert crowd Singapore F1 — Plenty of fangirls (VIPs* mostly) were awaiting the main acts for Friday’s concert. I didn’t go too close to the stage as many had already stuffed themselves as close as possible and I didn’t want to be in the midst of girls screaming their lungs out. Trust me, it’s not fun!

Stage rig lights Singapore F1 concert — The lights were ready

GD&Top balloons Singapore grand prix concert — The balloons were ready

GD Top fan sign Singapore concert — The fans… you get the idea

YG Entertainment DJ GD&TOP Seungri concert warmup Singapore F1 — A DJ came on and began spinning some hip-hop jams, and then some 2NE1 — so we knew it was YG** time!

Past 11pm, the lights dimmed and the DJ introduced the first BIG BANG member to hit the stage…

Seungri dancers Singapore F1 Friday concert — … and VIPs screamed as loud as they could when Seungri hit the stage!

Seungri Big Bang performing Singapore concert — Seungri kicked off his performance with “VVIP,” from his debut EP of the same name

Seungri singing Singapore F1 concert — Seungri obviously didn’t have too much material as his solo effort had just came out earlier in the year

Seungri perfomance Singapore gp concert — But he still performed his best

Seungri back up dancers performing Singapore F1 concert — Seungri ended his brief set with his big solo hit “What Can I Do”

Seungri sweating Singapore concert F1 Friday — Imagine dressed up in a suit and dancing under the stage lights in Singapore humidity!

Seungri funny face Singapore F1 concert — Feel free to caption this. Only thing I could think of was “Pew, pew.”

Seungri VIP crown light Big Bang Singapore F1 concert — We were well warmed up for the next act!

And when those two other boys from BIG BANG hit the stage — oh man, the screams!

GD&TOP kpop concert F1 Friday Singapore GP — GD & TOP leaped on to the stage and began their set with “Intro,” the first song on their album

GD & Top korean pop Singapore F1 concert — For those who don’t know: G-Dragon (Left) and T.O.P (Right) are two popular members of the hugely successful K-pop boyband BIG BANG, and as the sub-unit GD & TOP, released an impressive album in late 2010.

T.O.P Big Bang member Singapore Formula 1 concert — T.O.P, the really good looking member of BIG BANG

G-Dragon Singapore F1 concert — G-Dragon, the talented song writer and composer of BIG BANG — and one of the richest idols in S. Korea!

GD and T.O.P dancers Singapore concert F1 Friday — For all his hip-hop swagger, I couldn’t help but laugh when G-Dragon would speak to the crowd in his limited English by saying something like “… you want to make crazy?!” 😀

T.O.P Big Bang member formula 1 concert Singapore — T.O.P on the other hand wasn’t too hyperactive

G-Dragon YG dancers Singapore F1 concert — They performed other great songs from their album like “Knock Out” and “Oh Yeah”

G-Dragon T.O.P Big Bang Singapore Formula 1 concert — The boys spoke to the audience briefly before ending their set with everybody’s favourite “High, High”!

G-Dragon T.O.P Singapore concert formula one — Eventually a sweaty G-Dragon took off his overcoat and sunglasses

Seungri T.O.P Big Bang members Singapore F1 concert — Seungri then joined his group mates to close out the show with (what I believe) was a Big Bang song

Given what a tumultuous year 2011 was for Big Bang – with Daesung’s involvement in the rather unfortunate car accident and G-Dragon’s drug ‘scandal’ – it was still quite a thrill for me that I got to see 3/5th of Big Bang. If only Taeyang could have been there as well, because the K-pop concert only lasted around 45 minutes in length — Seungri and GD&TOP’s performances included.

Oh well, in some ways I was glad it was over — I was completely drenched in sweat! I was so hot, and my arms were aching as I struggled to hold my heavy Canon 7D with the even heavier 70-200mm lens mounted. I took photos the best I could.

I also managed to record some video but if you plan on watching it, I suggest you turn down the volume…

The bass was just too damn loud! I wasn’t even that close to the stage or the speakers, but even from where I was standing, my rib cage was trembling with every thump! I looked up YouTube for other fancams and most of them weren’t any better.

Clarke Quay at night river bridge Singapore — I left the Padang grounds and walked back to the hostel

MICA building at night window colours Singapore — It was well past midnight

I initially thought about reading a fan account of the K-pop concert but my body was just so damn tired after the long walks today and the heat at the concert. I had dinner, took a nice bath and just laid in bed.