The Beijing National Stadium, popularly known as the Bird’s Nest, is the main venue for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It will host the track & field events, football matches, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the game.
The North-South Korea relationship is on tension again following the death of a South Korean tourist who was shot dead by the North Korean soldiers at the Kŭmgangsan holiday resort in North Korea.
The shooting incident occurred on Friday morning. The N.Koreans claimed that the 53-year-old woman had crossed deep into a fenced-off military area and ran away when a N.Korean soldier told her to halt… the soldier chased her and fired a warning shot before she was shot dead at around 5am.
Kŭmgangsan, or Mt Kumgang, is a tourist spot in North Korea. South Korean tourists have been allowed to visit Kŭmgangsan since 1998 but within a fenced zone; it’s a popular place for S.Koreans to take a glimpse of their northern neighbouring land.
The tragedy has caused outrage in the south, as the public is questioning the authenticity of N.Korea’s explanations and called for thorough investigations into the matter. North Korea on Saturday have expressed their regrets over the death, but has dismissed any wrong doings on their side.
From the current development, it seems like there are no other alternative explanations besides what the N.Koreans are saying… which would be a very unfortunate incident regardless. Rest in peace, Mdm Park.
Gas stations across Japan are rushing to fix digital signs that can’t display gasoline prices higher than 199 yen per litre; most current digital signboards at Japanese gas stations can only display a “1″ in the hundreds column. [Mainichi]
The average retail price of gasoline in Japan stood at 181.5 yen per litre for regular fuel as of July 7. With the current trends and latest tension in Nigeria, the crude oil price is expected to continue soaring… the 200 yen mark could be reached pretty soon, unfortunately.
The 2008 Summer Olympics will be held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, which is just a month from now.
I’ll be sharing some facts and trivia about Beijing Olympics for the next 30 days; follow this tags for info and updates. You can also visit the Beijing 2008 official website for other details.
My country Malaysia is not traditionally strong in Olympics; we have had a few medals, but none of those are in gold yet. Hopefully we could make a breakthrough this year.
How about sharing some of your thoughts on what Olympic Games means to you and your country?
American Joey Chestnut retained his Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest title in 2008, beating Japanese arch rival Takeru Kobayashi after a close fight.
Each of them consumed 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes and forced the game into extra time, with Chestnut claiming the final victory after a five-dog playoff.
Video: Nathan’s International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest 2008
Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is arguably the world’s most famous competitive eating contest. The competition is held annually on US’ Independence Day (July 4) in Coney Island, New York, since 1916.
Takeru Kobayashi is a legend in the contest, winning it for six times in a role (2001-2006) before Joey Chestnut, nicknamed the “Jaws”, claimed the title in 2007 and successfully defending it in 2008.
Musiri, a remote town in India’s Tamil Nadu state, has launched a scheme to promote hygiene in rural areas by paying residents to use public urinals.
People relieving themselves in the open is a common sight in India’s rural towns and villages, as basic sanitation still eludes millions. [Reuters]
Not really sure about the exact pay, but it’s reported that they would get close to USD1 a month for doing so. Sounds like a small sum, but it could mean something in poor areas… besides, no harm is done for using proper sanitary system.
Some local foods in Jiufen, a small town in Taiwan which I visited in late April 2008…
Caramel haw (冰糖葫芦; bingtang hulu) is a traditional Chinese candy made by dipping haw-on-a-stick in hot caramel… it can be done with other fruits as well, obviously
2016 participants (1008 reflexologists and 1008 tourists) have set a new Guinness World Record in Taiwan on July 1 for having “most people receiving foot massage (reflexology) simultaneously.”
Tourists who volunteered for the event came from various countries, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong etc.
The attempt was organised by Taiwan Tourism Bureau to promote health tourism Reflexology is a popular practice in Taiwan for relaxation and improving general health; the activity is gaining popularity among foreign tourists in recent years.
There were no previous attempts made on this category; Guinness have set the requirement to have at least 400 participants with treatment for at least five minutes on each foot… which were met by the folks without much sweat.