Cyprus the Perfect Holiday Destination (Part 2/2)

Where To Travel: Cyprus (2/2)
The weather is but one factor that makes this beautiful island so appealing to the countless people who return year after year

Click here for Part 1

For people who just want to relax without being hassled Cyprus is the perfect holiday destination. With miles of sandy beaches and delightful secluded bays you are sure to find somewhere to chill out whilst you enjoy all that Cyprus sun. The island is steeped in centuries of rich cultural history so there is more than enough to keep even the most enthusiastic culture vultures occupied. If you want to see more of Cyprus whilst on your holiday be sure to check out the many excursions that are on offer to all those places of interest. Or even better, you could take advantage of some of the excellent Cyprus car hire deals and enjoy the freedom of seeing Cyprus at your own pace.

However you decide to enjoy your holiday in Cyprus whether it’s relaxing on the beach or taking in the vibrant night life of the many bars and resturants the island has something for everyone. From pretty little coastal resorts tucked avoiding the hustle and bustle to the thriving holiday towns with every possible amenity. Until you experience Cyprus for yourself you can never completely fathom why so many holiday makers return to her beautiful shores year after year. In fact some of those visitors have so fallen in love with her that they have purchased a home of their own there but that’s another story. Enjoy Cyprus!

Source: Cyprus the Perfect Holiday Destination (Part 2/2)

Cyprus the Perfect Holiday Destination (Part 1/2)

Where To Travel: Cyprus (1/2)
The weather is but one factor that makes this beautiful island so appealing to the countless people who return year after year

By: Kev Moore

Cyprus is just about as far south as Greece extends before you reach the Middle East and Egypt. This is why the island is blessed with over 320 days of glorious Mediterranean sunshine every year and the temperature seldom drops below 18c even in winter. That’s if you can call December to February a winter at all. So if it’s sunshine holidays you are after then perhaps you should consider taking your next vacation in Cyprus. The weather is only one factor however that makes this beautiful island so appealing to the countless people who return there year after year for more of the same.

Once you arrive in Cyprus you could be forgiven for thinking that you have in fact landed back in the U.K. but in some alternate reality because Cyprus as often been referred to as England with the sun. Most Cypriots speak excellent English as a second language and it’s taught in all the schools even at primary level. They drive on the left and all the road signs are in English as well as Greek so getting around is much the same as back home but without all the congestion or hassle. perhaps this is why so many ex pats settle in Cyprus to enjoy their retirement in the sun.

There is good reason why Cyprus is so “English” and why so many Cypriots embrace English culture so readily in fact there are two factors that have influenced Cyprus in this way. The main reason Cyprus is so English is due to the British occupation of the Island from 1923 to 1960 after which time Cyprus became a stand alone republic although an agreement was reached allowing Britain to keep several military bases as sovereign or crown property. Another strong influence has come from the large Anglo Cypriot community which established itself in the U.K. during the years of British rule especially around the London area. As many of these “English” Cypriots have returned home they have brought the British influence of business and culture with them too. Despite this European influence Cyprus still retains its own culture both in language and customs which is what makes it so unique.

There aren’t many places left in the world where you can leave your doors unlocked or walk the streets in the dead of night without fear of molestation but Cyprus is one of them. The island boast one of the lowest crime rates in Europe which makes it a great place to live. Sure there are “bad apples” where ever you go and Cyprus has its share too but they are a minority and the Cyprus authorities have been known to permanently expel some criminals from the island altogether. If you are one of those people who also hate being accosted by street vendors forcing their tat onto you and your family take heart because the authorities are pretty strict there too.

Click here for Part 2

Source: Cyprus the Perfect Holiday Destination (Part 1/2)

Win Fall Out Boy Concert Tickets – Get Emo With 88DB

Join 88DB’s Snap.Post.Vote – Get Emo With Us contest and get a chance to win concert tickets to the Fall Out Boy concert in Singapore this February.

MECHANICS:

Joining the SNAP.POST.VOTE “Get Emo With Us” contest is easy:
1. SNAP a photo or video of yourself in an Emo get-up.
2. POST that in the contest page.
3. VOTE for yourself—and get other members to vote for you.

THE PRIZE:

FOUR PAIRS OF CONCERT TICKETS TO FALL OUT BOY ON 10 FEBRUARY 2009!!!

American band Fall Out Boy, last seen in Singapore in 2007, is back to tour their latest album Folie à Deux (literally, “a madness shared by two”) on 10 February at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Fall Out Boy was formed in 2001 in Chicago and is comprised of Patrick Stump (vocals and guitar), Peter Wentz (bassist), Andrew Hurley (drummer) and Joseph Trohman (guitarist).

In 2003, the band achieved mainstream success with their first record Take This to Your Grave. They went multi-platinum in 2005 with From Under the Cork Tree and in 2007 with Infinity on High.

Join now and win concert tickets!

Click here for more on the contest details and mechanics: Get Emo With Us.

Tantric Massage Can Be Wholesome

‘I think most men would simply like to believe that the touch is sexual’
By James P. Ong

Photo credit: TANTRAPATH

SAY Tantric massage and the first thing that’s likey to come to mind is sensuality and sexuality. But if Tantra Path founder Christina Low is to be believed, it can be also be about spirituality and re-channeling energy.

There are various therapies under the wide umbrella of Tantra. “Watsu/Tantsu/ Kahuna are all forms of Tantra in a (non-genital) massage. And, of course, Kashmir Tantric massage that I teach is based on giving from a loving heart, and not a search for more physical triggers to gain arousal,” she says.

On 30 August, Low is holding a course on “Tantric Massage For Two” — one of three Tantric-themed workshops that day. What, exactly, is Tantric massage? According to the course outline, it is the massage of a loving heart and sensual touch.

Read more about how Tantric Massage Can Be Wholesome.

Arts Exposure

Three exhibits worth checking out this NDP weekend

UTTERLY ART: “Catmasutra”

OSAGE: “Inside Looking Out”

THE establishment by young Hong Kong artists of studios−in the flatted factories of Chai Wan, Kwun Tong, and, in particular, Fotan in the New Territories−constitutes one of the most interesting aspects of HK’s recent contemporary art development.

It is the closest to the Western notion of the aesthete or bohemian artist working for arts sake in his garret. It is HK’s 21 st century equivalent of the bohemian artists’ colony.

At Osage Singapore, catch seven of these artists in “Inside Looking Out.” They are Ma Chihang (Film/Media Arts), Kwan Sheungchi (Multi-disciplinary Arts), Lee Kit (Painting Installation), Chow Chunfai (Painting), Pak Sheungchuen (Conceptual Art), Lam Tungpang (Painting/Mixed-media) and Doris Wong Waiyin (Mixed-media).

The exhibit’s organisers believe that, as the art world becomes more and more fragmented, the identification of artists as a member of a particular group or “school” is for many the only way of lending structure to a highly fluid range of contemporary art movements.

And that’s why they ask the question: Is there a “Fotan School” in Hong Kong?

“Inside Looking Out” at Osage Gallery (11B Mount Sophia, #01-12, Singapore 228466; tel. no. 6337 9909) opens on the evening of 8 August, and a roundtable discussion featuring the artists will be held on 9 August, from 2pm to 5pm. It runs until 5 September.

Read more for the other two art exhibits in Singapore.

Fancy Mooncake Liqueur

Interesting twist to old Chinese favourite at Szechuan Court

Mooncake Liqueur

IT’S that time of the year again: August, the month of mooncakes. And Szechuan Court at Fairmont Hotel has come up with a fresh take on these centuries-old Chinese favourite: mooncake laced in liqueur. For that you have to thank Szechuan Court’s very own “Mooncake Empress”, chef Mandy Yeo, who prepares to enchant mooncake lovers anew with a robust selection of unique combinations such as Champagne Truffle & Chocolate Ganache, Baileys Chocolate and Rum & Raisin Chocolate Truffle, and all-time baked wholesome favourites of Double Yolk in White Lotus Paste and Peach-shaped Single Yolk & Macadamia Nuts in White Lotus Paste.

Free delivery to a single location is available for a minimum order of 50 boxes and three days advance order. There’s also a special 20% discount from 1 – 10 August 2008 for a minimum purchase of two boxes.

Read more about the different fancy mooncake liqueur.

StreetDirectory is back on!

Streetdirectory re-launches with all new maps and new features for the loyal visitors.

Streetdirectory.com launches their new maps with much more value-added features this 1st of August. Read on for the press coverage from Straits Times…

Aug 1, 2008
Streetdirectory.com back in business
Online map website relaunched with new owner and maps created from scratch
By Irene Tham

STREETDIRECTORY.COM is back online.

The website, whose street maps were found by a court to have violated the copyright of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), was taken offline in late March but is being relaunched today.

Two things are new about it: The site has new maps, created from scratch over the past nine months, and a new owner.

JobsDB, Asia’s largest online recruitment firm based in Hong Kong, bought the streetdirectory. com Web address and its assets from Singapore-based Virtual Map in the fourth quarter of last year for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was kept under wraps until yesterday.

Mr Samuel Sung, chairman of JobsDB, told The Straits Times: ‘Our online recruitment and classified ads businesses need maps. And streetdirectory.com is a good domain name to own.’

The revamped site offers users the conveniences of its predecessor, such as location search by postal code, building and street names.

But the site now also allows map users to pan across a particular neighbourhood by holding down and dragging the mouse.

Users will also be able to look for jobs based on location, since the online street directory has been integrated with JobsDB’s recruitment engine.

A new company, called Streetdirectory, was recently incorporated here to run the online map business spanning three countries.

The outfit has about 70 people, including land surveyors and cartographers who chart the landmarks, buildings and roads here and in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Sung, asked why he chose to build the maps from scratch when he could buy them from other providers, said: ‘We’re starting on a clean slate. No one can question our maps. We own them.’

More than 10 senior managers from Virtual Map have joined the new entity, including former Virtual Map managing director Firdhaus Akber, now the managing editor at Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map is still awaiting judgment from the Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court, on its application to file an appeal against an earlier High Court decision.

Meanwhile, SLA has applied to strike out Virtual Map’s notice of appeal.

The problem between the two former business partners began in 2004, when SLA filed a suit against Virtual Map for using its copyrighted materials after it no longer had the permission to do so.

SLA won the case in a district court. Virtual Map then appealed to the High Court against the decision but was turned down.

When the High Court ordered Virtual Map to take down the maps that infringed SLA’s copyright in March, the map company went to the Court of Appeal, the judgment of which is pending.

Whatever the Court of Appeal decides, Mr Akber said, Virtual Map will ‘fulfil its obligations to SLA and the lawyers’.

‘We’re not going to run away,’ he said.

At its peak, Virtual Map had about 500 corporate customers in Asia, for whom it customised maps used, for example, on company websites and brochures.

Today, that customer base has under 100 names, said Mr Akber, who expressed hope that customers would recontract with Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map will remain open till the end of this year to service existing contracts. Until then, it will resell Streetdirectory’s new maps to these customers.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_263261.html

Go and take a peek at Streetdirectory.com now!

SINGfest 2008 Is Must-See This August

Travis, Alicia Keys, Panic At The Disco, and Simple Plan are just some of the names who will be performing at this sensory feast for music lovers on the first weekend of August

LEADING concert promoter Midas Promotions is bringing back SINGfest, the highly anticipated outdoor music festival at Fort Canning, after a very successful debut last year.

“SINGfest is the music event that all Singaporeans should look forward to every year,” says Michael Hosking, founder and managing director of Midas Promotions, the leading concert organiser in Asia.

“With all the brilliant acts coming in this year, it says only one thing – SINGfest will get bigger and better from here on. Music fans are definitely in for an incredible ride this August,” he adds.

“All the acts who attended last year LOVED it and word has spread throughout the industry that the Singapore summer festival is one to mark in the calendar, so this year we have enjoyed very positive responses from all the acts that we had asked. Those that could not make this year have all insisted that they would love to come another time if they were invited,” notes Hosking.

Read more about SINGfest 2008.

Gone Fishing Wednesdays

Every 3rd Wednesday evening of the month, a philosophy cum arts café transforms into a philosophy corner — a far cry from the boring, overrated coffee joints you find in town
By Estella Ng / Photos By Mr Lau / www.urbanwire.com

HOSTING the café since Oct 2003, resident philosopher Lau Kwong Fook, who holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Canterbury, hangs around Gone Fishing from 8pm to 10pm to lead discussions, on issues such as clear thinking, with just about anyone who is interested to hear what he has to say.

He is a freelance philosopher (giving talks to individuals, groups and organizations), editor and philosophy trainer. He even hosts a blog for reports and updates on the monthly philosophy café sessions held.

Read more about philosophy at Gone Fishing Café.

5 Ways To Dress Slimmer

Wear whatever you like, just make sure it fits your body shape
By Sabrina Ong

IN TODAY’S “world of fashion” anything goes! You no longer need to follow the crowd to belong – after all, fashion trends inspire constant evolution. But what is crucial is that you pick out the right clothes that fit your body shape.

“It is all about scale and proportion,” says Guinevere Ho, a U.K. Certified Image Consultant and Associate Trainer with First Impressions Image International (Singapore) and one of the three speakers at 88DB City Events‘ “A Brand New You” seminar in July.

“Pay attention to the designs, patterns in clothes, accessories and lines. They should be correctly scaled. A fuller figure person in small prints will only accentuate [her shape]. Likewise, a petite frame can be overpowered by large, bold prints. Scale is important and the whole silhouette should be well proportioned.”

Women want to look slimmer, most of the time at least. Perhaps it is because we know that there will be an event where we know photographs will be taken and don’t want the extra ten camera-pounds to show.

So, the question now is: “How can you pick out clothes that make you look slimmer?”

Read more on how to dress slimmer.