MrUpUpUp's Blog

On a hot and humid evening in Singapore Sports Hub, the Sunwolves almost pulled off an upset win over the more experienced South Africa’s Stomers on 14 May 2016 in the Super Rugby League game. The Sunwolves wasted an 18-point lead when they lost to the Cheetahs at the same venue in   Singapore two months ago and the Singapore Sports Hub supporters feared another breakdown when Stormers scored a try off the back of a driving maul and also had the rugby conversion to reduce the margin to seven points with 20 minutes left of the game. The game was super exciting at the closing stages. South Africa’s Stormers’s Vincent Koch scored a late try in the last minute as the team came from 14 points down to manage a 17-17 draw against Super Rugby newcomers the Sunwolves at Singapore's National Stadium. The supporters were a bit disappointed that the Sunwolves did not get a win in Singapore which was the team’s second home ground, besides Tokyo. The Stormers extended their lead in the grou

SINGAPORE WELCOMES THE GLOBAL RUGBY FAMILY  TO THE 2016 HSBC WORLD RUGBY SINGAPORE SEVENS ·         23 rugby nations gathered in Singapore – 16 world’s best for the HSBC World Sevens Series and seven including host nation taking part in South East Asia 7s ·         Rugby legends like Waisale Serevi, Ollie Phillps, George Gregan, Stirling Mortock are among the 5,000 overseas visitors in town for this week’s global rugby celebration April 2016 – The world’s best rugby teams have arrived in Singapore and are ready to rock, ruck and rumble at the 2016 HSBC World Rugby Singapore Sevens.  The festivities kick off with an ancillary tournament, the South East Asia 7s, on Friday, 15 April 16, at Yio Chu Kang Stadium with seven countries competing. Southeast Asian Games champion, Philippines, will take on Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Brunei and two Singapore sides in the men’s competition, while the women’s tournament features favourites Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indo

Cherry blossoms in bloom right here in tropical Singapore – this unexpected sight is what visitors will get to see at Gardens by the Bay’s latest floral display, “Blossom Beats”. About half of these  sakura  trees have started to bloom in this experimental floral display, and blooming is expected to continue over the next one to two weeks. This is the first time that visitors can see such a myriad of cherry blossoms, as well as other blossoms, in the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay. More than 20 varieties of cherry blossoms, or  sakura , are showcased in the floral display. Visitors can look forward to seeing cultivars such as the  Prunus  Fujishidare which has pendulous branches, the  Prunus  Yedoenis Yoshino which stands out with its striking white flowers, and the  Prunus  Accolade, with its pale pink blooms. In addition to cherry blossoms, peach blossoms are in bloom too. One unusual variety on show is the  Prunus  Genpei Shidare which has flowers of  two different c

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Mrupupup attended the Arts Stage Singapore 2016 at Marina Bay Sands exhibition halls. The Art Stage Singapore 16 brought all the major galleries to show case their artists' work. The works of arts were really diverse and interesting. It was a great visual arts feast and this flagship event was the sixth edition.          There were works of arts from major countries like Japan, Indonesia, China, USA, Australia and etc. 173 galleries from 37 countries joined in this arts exhibition. However, there was a greater focus on South East Asian art. Well, the pieces could be really expensive like $200,000 for large Chinese man art to small pieces that costs $5000. Some of the pieces were thought provoking and stimulate Mrupupup's tiny brain cells. Mrupupup is not an artist but just interested in expanding the horizons of thought (Hope So!). The art exhibition was not cheap and costs $32 per person for entry and lasted four days in January 2016. Lucky got some kind sponsor for the entr

Wakey Wakey, Mrupupup! Time to travel from Takayama (really slow pace sleepy town) to Kanazawa via train. Out we checked out from Washington Plaza Takayama Hotel, it was a cold day in December. The hotel person said we could go. Mrupupup found this hotel a bit of stiff business class hotel, not too friendly though.           Along the way to the train station which was just across the road from the hotel, Mrupupup bought a bento set and nice box of fresh strawberry (about SGD4 - quite cheap compared to imported ones from Japan) for the train ride. Mrupupup had to queue up for the train ride half an hour before the train came as we did not have reserved seats. Surprisingly, the queue had many Singaporeans and bunch of Asian people.           As the train came, we rushed in to get the best seats so as to enjoy our meal on board and the view outside. The train had wide view window which allowed one to see the meadows, farm land, pretty houses, mountains and Japanese countryside (much

Mrupupup went to Shirakawa-go and Gokayama for the famous Thatched Houses that had roof shaped like 'praying hands'. Mrupupup took the bus from Takayama to go to these two places. The bus journey would take about 1 hour. Do queue early before the bus arrives as there would be many Japanese wanting to visit these areas. Once board the bus, prepare for a long journey to these places. Do prepare snacks and water for the journey. Do read the bus time table properly as Mrupupup nearly miss the bus. You could take the bus and go to the villages of Shirakawa-go (which is more famous) and the other Gokayama villages, Mrupupup went to one of the Gokayama village named Suganuma. If you are short of time, Mrupupup thinks Shirakawa-go would be enough for a day visit. Mrupupup never stay overnight in the village to enjoy the quietness, but one could stay overnight. Mrupupup saw many tourists dragging their luggages after an overnight stay. However, the villages got pretty dark from 5p