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Along with the opening of Singapore’s first casino at Resorts World Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore – Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park – also welcomed its first visitors on Sunday for its 8-day sneak preview of the theme park. The official opening of the theme park is expected to be in first quarter of 2010.

Lucky me was fortunate to score an invite to the theme park and although no rides will be opened during the sneak-peak period, the roller coaster junkie in me was raring to go! I’ve been to Warner Bros. Movie World in Gold Coast, Australia and Disneyland in Hong Kong, but this was the first time I was going to a Universal Studios theme park, so naturally I was very excited about the trip.

Let us “walk through” the various themed zones of the park as seen from my camera lens.

Hollywood

Upon entering the park, visitors will experience the famous Walk of Fame through Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood zone.

Madagascar

Inspired by the hit DreamWorks Animation franchise, Madagascar, this zone featured a river ride and a crazy carousel with King Julien.

Far Far Away

This zone is inspired inspired by DreamWorks Animation’s hit Shrek franchise. The highlight of the zone is the Far Far Away Castle which is a world’s first, it hosts attractions such as Shrek 4D Adventure.

The Lost World

This zone contains two themed areas: Jurassic Park and WaterWorld. Unfortunately, I kinda got “lost” in dinoland and did not venture into WaterWorld.

Ancient Egypt

The land of the Mummy featured gigantic warrior mummies standing guard at the Pharaoh’s tombs. The star attraction of this zone is The Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster, which is an extremely popular attraction at other Universal Studios around the world. It is based on the popular film franchise, The Mummy.

Sci-Fi City

This futuristic zone is based on the popular television series, Battlestar Galactica, and features the world’s tallest Dueling roller coaster. The red rail is for the ‘human race’ and its seats are mounted in traditional roller coaster fashion. The blue rail is for ‘Cylons,’ with the seats suspended below the rail, leaving legs to dangle freely.

New York

The New York zone featured the trademark New York city skyline, neon lights, façades and sidewalks as well as the romantic atmosphere of the Big Apple.

That concluds the sneak-peek of the 7 themed zones of Universal Studios Singapore, all based on Universal movie hits and franchises. And if you are feeling hungry after all the walking, screaming and being thrown about in those wild rides, there are plenty of F&B outlets and restaurants in the park to recover and replenish your energy.

Betshopboy.net wishes its Chinese readers a Happy Lunar New Year filled with rich blessings of peace, prosperity, abundance and good health. May you have roaring good times in the year of the Tiger!

It is time to bid goodbye to an interesting and eventful 2009. As I look forward to usher in 2010 with hopes and plans for a better year ahead, it is also time to take a step back and reflect on the past twelve months and contemplate those experiences, lessons and accomplishments.

On a global scale, many people were frantically adjusting to living life in a world plagued by a near-perfect economic storm and besides the gloomy financial outlook, it seem like there was an inordinate amount of natural disasters in 2009?

Fortunately, it was more subdued on the home front but no less daunting economically. Job looses abound and for those who managed to keep our jobs, we were faced with wage cuts, freeze and overall reduction in earnings.

Shifting aside these gloomy news, many personal milestones and achievements were accomplished for myself and my families. On top of being blessed with the immense joy my two wonderful children gave me, some highlights in 2009 include attending my first Formula 1 race and cumulating in completing my first ever marathon race.

Short of wishing for world peace (world leaders couldn’t even agreed on how to save the climate), my hopes for 2010 would be for less lives lost and children orphaned through natural disasters, good health always for my families and friends and wishing lots of warmth, laughter and love for my children to grow up in. On a personal note, since I’m still on a high for completing my first full marathon, I’ll challenge myself to take on 2 marathons in 2010!

On that note, I wish you a Healthy & Happy New Year that’s fill with passion, energy and vitality to celebrate life!

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 results are out and my official timing for my maiden marathon run is 5hrs 37mins. I didn’t hit the time target of 5 hrs I set myself, I’ll have to try harder next year.

Congratulations to all runners who have completed a great run and/or better your personal best time! See you again next year!

December 6 was a day of reckoning and excitement for me, it was a day when I would attempt the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 full marathon for the first time in my life.  Running a full marathon is one of the must-do things I wish to experience in my life and this was what I have all been training for the past 6 months.

More than 50,000 runners took part in various distance categories in this eighth edition of Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, with Guest-of-Honour Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo flagging off the Full Marathon. The annual event also saw supporters taking to the streets as they cheered on the runners and enjoyed the various activities staged at the East Coast Park, the F1 Pit Building, as well as the Padang.

As my maiden marathon, I was bent on enjoying myself in this unique experience. From the early morning 3.30am wake-up call right up to the moment when I crossed the finishing line, every steps will be etched in my memory for a long time to come. No words will be able to describe how I felt when I crossed the finishing line and completed my first ever 42.195km. I was on an emotional high and it almost felt surreal.

Let’s take a moment to view some of the pics I captured at the post-race carnival at the Padang.

Here are some runners at the home stretch, giving a final push towards the finish line.

Even the Standard Chartered mascots are taking a break in their duties to cheer on the runners!

I stole a “photo finish” moment as I’m by the track side cheering the runners on.

Here’s me proudly posing with the hard-earned finisher t-shirt. Now I can proudly proclaim “I’m a marathon finisher!”