k r i s a n d r o

I love rides and even more so when it’s challenging; so I was extremely glad to extend the invitation from MegaZip Adventure Park to a group of  bloggers and go along for the ride(s)!

Huge crowd at the waiting platform for the Sentosa Express

We arrived at the MegaZip Adventure Park after alighting at Imbiah Station (Sentosa Express) and walking past Sentosa’s attractions like the Tiger Sky Tower, Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom & Sentosa 4D Magix. I don’t think it was a long walk but then again, my sense of distance is rather warped because of my hobby.

Apart from the heat, the weather was beach-perfect conditions; sunny with gusty winds to give moments of relief.

The staff at the MegaZip Adventure Park were a bunch of extremely friendly and upbeat people. Their smiles and positivity proved to be important as many participants needed much encouragement through the various obstacles the park has to offer.

MegaZip staff demonstrating what face you should make even when you are scared enough to piss your pants.

First up – ClimbMax!

“ClimbMax is Singapore’s premiere high ropes adventure course. 15 metre high Eucalyptus trees create a formidable course in the jungle hilltops of Sentosa.
3 LEVELS, 40 FOOT HIGH, THE ULTIMATE PHYSICAL CHALLENGE
The views are breathtaking, the thrills are endless and the well-drilled staff ensure that the experience is safe, efficient and highly addictive.”

ClimbMax Level 3 - 40 feet above the ground

Here's Mint attempting to navigate ClimbMax Level 2 with her eyes closed.

Looks easy but if you look closely at my right arm, you can tell that I was hanging on really tight.

Trixy navigated the ClimbMax like a female Tarzan and still had the capacity to camwhore!

This little girl who is barely taller than my waist went for ClimbMax Level 3!

I had to take a long breather after that particular stage in ClimbMax. It was unanimously voted as the toughest one.

Hayley needed some rescuing at the ClimbMax and we watched the staff weave himself expertly to her timely and got her down safely.

Derek - our hero for the day. When he wasn't lugging around the heavy Canon 5D plus 70-200mm lens, he spat on his palms and ran circles around the ClimbMax.

Alton was with Sarah, Ash, James and me on ClimbMax Level 3

ClimbMax Level 3 - Final stage; least effort with a dash of faith

I was drenched in sweat after completing ClimbMax Level 3. It was tough!

The ClimbMax was the toughest attraction of the MegaZip Adventure Park I tried that day. We could feel the ropes sway to the strong winds and even the structures seem to sway a little. It’s definitely still all in the mind, as we were all safely harnessed in the event of a misstep. The staff were very attentive and shouted out tips and words of encouragement if anyone got stuck at a certain obstacle. We were also witnesses to a real rescue that showcased how efficiently they can get to someone who got stuck or needed help.

There are 3 levels of difficulty in terms of height in total with slight variations to the obstacles. Definitely try out level 3 if you are game. The view is beautiful up there!

Next up – NorthFace!

Test yourself on this monster of a climbing wall! The 16 metre wall is one of the highest in Singapore, with three different routes to the top. Under the supervision of our climbing instructors you will be safely belayed all the way to the top. Find your own route, reach the summit, and then lean back, relax, and abseil back down the North Face.

Ruoxuan and Mint attempting to climb the NorthFace.

Only the two ladies in the picture above tried out the NorthFace as we were all spent from the ClimbMax. It’s something I’ll definitely go for on my next visit.

Next up – ParaJump!

At the ParaJump leap point, the views are amazing. Ocean, jungle, palms swaying in the breeze, white sand beaches… and a 50 foot drop to the family below!
A custom made safety wire and harness developed in the UK and controlled with clockwork efficiency by our experienced staff is a first for Singapore and allows you to replicate a freefall parachute jump – without the plane ride!

Here's another picture of Super Derek, scoffing at the 50-foot drop from the ParaJump as he cradles his mega-camera with one hand.

Trixy at her best. Jumping 50-feet off a ledge down to the ground while holding a camera on video mode aimed steadily at her face.

Sarah, my fellow Vibram Five Fingers wearer.

Jiaqi had the most style points coming down from the 50-foot drop.

Finale – MegaZip!

Asias most extreme zip line takes adrenaline junkies from the jungle canopy of Imbiah Hill to the white sands of Fox Finish Point.
75 METRES HIGH, 450 METRES LONG AT HEART POUNDING SPEEDS OF 50KMPH
Singapores first 3 wire zip tests friendships as you race your pals or parents to the finish line. Exhilarating, breathtaking, fast and furious… if you are going to go radical for a day, this is the way to do it.

Jiaqi & Hayley (Jay on the Hay) coming down the MegaZip in tandem.

I was the last to go down on the MegaZip and I was pointing at my crotch. The discomfort to my family jewels was well worth the awesome 450-metre ride down!

Posing for Ruoxuan's camera.

After completing the ClimbMax, ParaJump & NorthFace, the final ride is a cool zip line down Imbiah Hill and across the waters of Sentosa! The view is amazing and would be even cooler if I wasn’t uncontrollably swung around to have my back face the front most of the time. My tip for you is to find someone to go down in tandem if your combined weight does not exceed 140kg. You’ll definitely enjoy the ride more going down as fast as you possibly can!

The bloggers looking extremely cool with their harnesses and a beach backdrop.

Everyone had fun at the MegaZip Adventure Park!

I had so much fun that I am already trying to find a date to go back with KuKuNehNeh and more friends!

Prices for the attractions at the Megazip are as follows:

There’s also a 5% discount if you book online through their website at www.megazip.com.sg

Wear appropriate sports attire that cover your shoulders, waist & thighs to minimize discomfort from the harnesses. In the event that you are not wearing appropriate shoes or shorts that day, the Megazip folks will provide Crocs and shorts for you!

[Disclaimer]: This trip was sponsored by the good folks at MegaZip. All views on this posts are of my own and were made while sober.

It was a blast at the “Your Blog” event yesterday at the Open Room. The event is organized by the good folks at Ogilvy and the topic was on “How to market your blog Like a brand”.

Yongfook

The speakers came from very different backgrounds; we have Yongfook, the handsome-enough-to-make-me-question-my-sexuality CEO of Egg Co., who produced cult favorite projects like Open Source Food (now known as Nibbledish) & Sweetcron;  Arti Mulchand, who has spent much of her career life in SPH and probably regards words as any guy would regard porn; Design Sojourn,  a serious award winning industrial design leader who still has enough humor to tweet this; and not forgetting Andy from ToysREvil who made me laugh so hard from his Singlish and subtle hand-wanking gestures that I teared up.

All of the speakers (apart from Arti who owns a small personal blog) have very successful blogs in their own right and the amazing thing is that none of them made money directly from blogging. The success I am referring to is of course the niche traffic that they have built up over the years and it was the personal branding in their blogs that led them to other opportunities. All these happened because of their blogs; Yongfook dated a hot girl (he also got a job in a big media company in Japan but I like to emphasize the ‘hot girl’ part), Design Sojourn is working for a huge electronics giant; and Andy has… toys. (You guys will never understand how important that is to him)

The great thing about the speakers is that they shared their own experiences on how they evolved as a blogger through the years and it’s exactly what I am or what most of you bloggers are going through. I started off writing in 2004, just wanting to have a voice and not caring about what I say because who is to judge me on my own space? Soon the readers rose from one (myself) to a couple (colleagues, friends) and I found blogging tools like wordpress that relieves me of my lousy html skills. Soon, strangers started popping out of nowhere because of search engines and referrals and I found my voice becoming restricted. I could actually hurt somebody and thus hurt myself from the things I say! I came soon to accept that true opinions (the ones with FUCK YOU! ALL YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!) are not meant to be on the web especially when I am not very anonymous.

I soon turned to the ‘dark side’ and got into the hype of putting ads on my blog so that I can eventually strut around in my berms in Orchard during daytime, scoffing at all the stressed out peeps in suits and ties while checking out my adsense account.

It didn’t work. So now I am back to where I started, and realize that not everyone can make money through blogging directly (certainly not me).

Their blogs were a brand. People who knew of Yongfook, Design Sojourn & Andy knew what they were about and their success were built upon shaping their blogs to their strengths for a niche audience. Getting success in terms of traffic hits are not much of a secret these days considering how much information is out there. Barring bloggers who cannot write coherently or has no opinion whatsoever, we all can succeed in our own right.

So what’s my niche to work on. Humor methinks.

It’s a little on the ‘Lame’ side of humor but I’ll get whatever laughs I can get.

Don’t make me come over and tickle you.

(Check out the key take aways summarized by Brian Koh of Ogilvy)

(Oh and Arti, if you are reading this. You were shaking so bad throughout most of your speech but the points that you put across were definitely a lot of food for thought.)

Nokia has officially launched their ‘Comes with Music‘ service in Singapore on the 27th February.

The service brings you unlimited downloads of music for 12 months from their ‘Comes with Music’ store, which boasts an extensive library of 4 million (and counting) tracks from huge music labels and even some asian labels such as Ocean Butterflies and Rock Records.

The catch for such a good deal is that you must own one of their ‘Comes with Music’ handsets. There are 6 of them as of now and they are the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, Nokia 5220 XpressMusic, N96, N85 and N79. Users can download from the ‘Comes with Music’ store right off most of the mentioned handsets or on their PCs through an application.

There is no subscription fee or download limit to speak of if you are wondering about that. Users can also keep their music after their 12 months of free, unlimited downloads.

I got to attend their media event held at Zouk prior to ‘Earn Your Stripes’ party thanks to the awesome folks at Text 100 who remembered that I am was an avid user of the Nokia N95 8GB. It’s kinda ironic attending a Nokia event based on that fact, seeing that I have move to the Apple iPhone after a decade of using Nokia products like the indestructable Nokia 3210.

Pictures of the event.

Funny Hosts – Vernon and Justin

The All-American Rejects who sat 3 feet from me!

The issue of DRM is pretty important for users like me and unfortunately, Nokia ‘Comes with Music’ isn’t DRM free. The good news is that Nokia is working to change that. If this is materialized, users will definitely benefit seeing that there isn’t even a hint of the Apple iTunes music store being made available to Singapore.

I still love Nokia and seeing Nokia bring a legal music download service to Singapore ahead of Apple, brings much joy to a Nokia fanboy.

For those who have been dwelling in underground vaults and marvelling at how fast your Intel Core 2 processor is and how l33t you are, well, I got news for you. Intel has released their bleeding-ly fast successor to the Intel Core 2 with the Intel Core i7 processors and once again, kept bloody Moore’s Law alive and threatens to bleed my wallet dry.

It’s such a love hate relationship I have with processors and graphic cards. One would feel excited that technology is keeping up the pace and a great company like Intel creates great products like the Core 2. You wait a few months for the prices to plunge before making the purchase. You buy it after saving up for a couple months surviving on scraps from the rubbish dump and water from the bowl of your neighbours pet. And before you can bask in the full glory of owning one of the fastest processors around, Intel steps in and taps on your shoulder and says, “Oh! We have just released the Fastest Desktop Processor On The Planet! The Intel Core i7!!!”

[Photo from Pat Law]

At least I got to attend the media event to help me regain some love for Intel and I can always count on the peeps at Ogilvy to tickle me and Nadnut with the labelling of our media passes.

[Photo from Pat Law]

Yes, I was Christopher Tan for that night and no, I didn’t do anything kinky with Nadia Bennylava.