458 Italia World Premiere

458 Italia World Premiere, Maranello, Italy

The 458 Italia World Premiere took place on 09/09/09 and was a private very exclusive preview for selected clients and potential clients of the new Ferrari. The official launch would take place a week later at the 63rd Frankfurt International Motor Show.

The dining room

For once spouses like myself were invited to the World Premiere of a new Ferrari. Very glad to be able to actually sit down and eat a meal - without cutting up meat in X plates and refilling X glasses every few minutes. Very nice too to be able to wear a dress and forget about the need to have pockets.

Ferrari clients are very rich and/or famous, very masculine so you get a room filled with testosterone eventually dangling in its arms other hormones at least 20 years younger, often modified esthetically and wearing boobs jewellery that could steal the limelight from the new car.

Not being able to compete with the diamonds or the expensive cocktail wear, I decided to put on my new long printed purple silk dress from Zara and my not-so-new gladiator sandals also from Zara - comfy stuff. But I nearly suffocated myself when wearing my Misaki 4-strand pearl choker. Nonetheless I was pretty pleased with my "decorated" self - until I discovered that the guy sitting next to me was one of the Damiani brothers and therefore surely a great jewellery expert. One, as I would find out in the course of the evening, who has more than 100 carats of diamonds incrusted in his Ferrari. Alas I would have other things to worry about throughout the evening, like how to stop my boobs from spilling out of my dress.

A place at the table

I was fortunate to be able to have DC and M with me as Hub had to sit at another table with his guests and didn't have time for me. There were also DC's counterparts from Pininfarina and another Ferrari Director who has a Chinese sirname but who is not Chinese and who didn't seem to have a funny bone in him. One of Ferrari's test pilots (the last winner of 24H du Mans) was also part of the table. Dinner, thank God, was simple but good. Seabass Ravioli with fresh tomatoes and basil flowers to start followed by a really tender Chianina beef filet with mixed salad. After the farewell lunch that we shared with AB, I was so very off my diet for the day.

Qui est Qui?

Our table was next to the President's and I got a nice view of Kimi all the time. He has let his hair grow and used a pair of sunglasses to keep it from getting onto the face. There was also the new Ferrari pilot Fisichella who being Italian brought tears to his countrymen happy to have an Italian drive a Ferrari again.

458 Italia on display

The 458 Italia is a beauty and is a first in many things - but don't count on me too much to tell you about them. Once again, DC has outdone himself style-wise, though I still love his California the most. Performance-wise, I understood that this car is 1.5 to 2.5 seconds faster at take off from 0-100 or something compared to its predecessor - though why those guys should be in such a hurry I have no idea. It also has all the important controls on the steering wheel, V8 engine with direct injection, new aluminium chassis, F1 dual-clutch gearbox, carbo-ceramic brakes etc. Many English and Japanese clients around and you should see the faces on those men, all rapt and rapturous.

Gene, Badoer, Schumacher, Felisa, Montezemolo (President), Raikkonen, Fisichella, Fedeli

Massa said Hi from Brazil

Schumi tells you what it was like driving this car

The President himself presented the new car and charmed the audience with his humourous repartee, anecdotes, intimate remarks...In fact, you realised then what an exclusive club/family Ferrari and those who drive or aspire to drive a Ferrari make. Just that alone would sell the cars, I suspect. And when in addition it's a world's 1st in so many aspects...

458 Italia - The main features

However I wish that he wouldn't be so hard on Kimi. Maybe it's an Italian joke but I do not see why he had to keep harping on the fact that Kimi doesn't like to talk. Moral of the story the guy is not as popular as Schumi or Massa or even Fisichella in Italy and often gets the least applause. Pity as he's the cutest of them all and looks like your boy next door. And men are often better off just agreeing with you and not talking too much.

Fireworks above the Fiorano tracks

Dessert was served buffet-style outside with a view of the Fiorano tracks and the sky. And the guests were offered a fantastic fireworks display, each time you thought it was over it only got better. It was a lovely evening and I was really happy to have been a part (albeit nondescript) of it. It makes it a little easier to live with the Hub's long hours and working Saturdays and for being in this hole of a city. I can only hope that Ferrari will finish off the F1 season in some beauty and get off to a better start in the next. And if you have the money (and know not what to do with it), buy this car.

Club Med Ria Bintan, Indonesia

Club Med Ria Bintan

We wanted somewhere to go to for sun, sea and sex. But didn't want to take another plane for it. Desaru in Malaysia was a little disappointing the last time, so we decided to try out Bintan Island in Indonesia. And on Bintan there are a number of resorts from the Nirwana to the Banyan Tree Group, but we finally settled on Club Med as they offer all-inclusive holidays and I didn't feel like playing travel agent.

The private beach at Club Med Bintan

We (including my mom) took a ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal in Singapore. It lasted less than an hour and was a smooth and comfortable journey. Before that we nearly couldn't leave as Hub had forgotten his passport. "Why didn't you remind me?"

Why don't you check!

He was really inflated, that man. He had only himself to look after and he couldn't even remember his passport. In the past, whenever I asked him if he had his passport, he would tell me that he had travelled more than me, so of course he always remembers his passport. And now it was my fault because I didn't remind him.

Thank God we were in Singapore and at the drop of a call, my dad rushed from wherever he was (i.e. buying lottery - that gambler) to pick up the passport from the flat and then bring it to us by taxi. Imagine that happening when you are at Bologna airport, it would have cost a fortune in money and in time. As it was, we were just finishing breakfast at the coffee shop when he arrived. Of course it helped that we were really in advance. Hub was wondering why we set out so early for the ferry, he should be grateful we did.

Our room

Balcony

You arrived to ice lemon tea and smiling GOs (Gentil Organisateur) at Club Med Ria Bintan (4*). A Japanese and Italian GO showed us to our rooms on the ground floor of a building partially overlooking the sea and mostly facing a little hill. We had 3 rooms of which 2 were connected. They were quite lovely and warmly decorated. Small LCD TV, thick mattresses, teak furniture for the balcony...Lots of wardrobe space, emergency torchlight (we had a blackout on our 1st night), a large shower.

Late lunch with seaview

At Club Med you eat for free and for as much as you want almost all day long. They had 3 main stations i.e. Chinese, Korean and Japanese plus the usual salad, international and dessert stations. You also drink from morning till midnight - always as much as you want. The quality and taste of the drinks weren't consistent though I averaged 5 alcoholic cocktails daily when I was there in addition to coffee and the non-alcoholic ones. A bar is always somewhere near you, whether you're at the pool, near the beach or walking past reception on your way to the tennis courts. Thank God we're not rich enough to go to a Club Med all the time.

A chacun son cocktail

Most activities are also included in the stay e.g. flying trapeze, golf practice, sailing, kayaking, wind surfing, archery, yoga, aquagym, bocce ball...You also have 24-hour access to the tennis, squash and badminton courts, with free loan of the rackets and balls. And if you need someone to play with you, they'll arrange it. The children can be part of the Mini-Club where they are looked after from 9-5.30 and then again from dinnertime till 9pm. The Babies were bored after 2 days and preferred to stay with us though. Meanwhile, teenagers like Eldest Son got a GO hanging out with the group, bringing them to try out different activities. We never saw the boy from after breakfast till just before dinner. And at 9pm, he would watch a live performance (there is one every evening) with us and then disappear again till bedtime.

Robin Hood

Beach Baby

If you want to play golf in an amazing setting, you can do so at the Ria Bintan Golf Club next door - like Hub did. It is said to be one of the best in Asia. But prices are European though you also get a caddy and a buggy for it. Hub's already thinking of bringing his second set of golf clubs over to Singapore the next time and leaving it at the parents' place - so that he can play golf anytime he wants when he's there. The left-handed golf club rental there was expensive and really horrible.

Ria Bintan Golf

On the whole it was a good trip as we had a massage at the spa (good massage therapists from Bali) and I've enjoyed the archery (got lots of bruises and a medal to show for it) and golf sessions, the warm water temperatures in both pool and sea and I love the fact that the beach is private and has clean white sand. Also, unlike some other Club Meds, it was rather calm there and they didn't have music booming nor do they force you to sing and dance with them every 30 minutes.

Beach bar

Main pool

If I had a complaint, it was the lack of Frenchness in this Club Med. As most of the clients come from Asia, entertainment was mainly visual and you didn't have the usual cafe-theatres, plays or stand-up comedies in French. When you go to a Club Med, you do somehow expect it.

My bull's eye

That was our last outing before we returned to Italy. After a week of buffets and cocktails, it wasn't just my luggage that was overweight.

Cinque Cento Fiat Nuova 500

Fiat Nuova 500

We are in the midst of a financial crisis. Hub after 2 consecutive Alfa Romeo 159s decided to go for the cuter and cheaper Fiat Nuova 500 - a modern car remodelled on the iconic Fiat 500 from the 1950s to 70s.

Passenger seat

It is cream on the outside, with a red leather interior, sunroof and surprisingly quite a bit of room for such a small car. I drove it for the first time today and it was comfortable and easy to drive. Needless to say, parking it was a breeze.

Sun-lit steering wheel

I want a Cinque Cento too!

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Floating Food Stall

The Mekong Delta is a region in Southwestern Vietnam and as its name suggests is where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of tributaries. It is a very fertile region (e.g. rice fields, shrimp and fish farms...) that allows communities to work and live in it and is not to be missed when one is in Ho Chi Minh City. Some of its better-known towns include My Tho, Cai Be, Can Tho and Vinh Long. One could also enter Cambodia from the region and in fact many Khmer people historically live in the Delta.

We visited the Mekong Delta with Sinh Café. The coach left De Tham street at 8am with a guide whose English could barely be understood and a load of tourists from France, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore...and also Vietnam itself. And these Vietnamese would be the friendliest and most generous of us all on board, often buying fruit to share with everyone. Actually, I probably would buy something too if I could speak Vietnamese, had researched into the prices of pomelos and dragonfruit and were not afraid of being kotok (cheated).

Housing and shops in the Mekong Delta

The coach was airconditioned and quite comfortable. I slept all the way to the Cai Be floating market. Woke up to board a boat (took a pill to avoid being seasick) and prayed all the time I wouldn't fall into the water as it looked really dirty. Those people did everything in the water : wash their clothes and dishes, pee and poo, and even bathe in it. At the same time, they also throw their plastic bags and rubbish in it - even if most of the time the stuff won't even float away but will stay near the bank.

Making rice paper

Making rice puffs - with the silt from the Mekong River

One good reason to spend at least a night in the region is so that one would be able to visit the bigger floating market the next morning. Otherwise by the time one arrives from HCMC any floating market would be almost over and there wouldn't be much to see. We visited factories where they made rice paper, coconut candy, banana biscuits, rice puffs etc. Then we had lunch in a simple restaurant (with clean toilets - very crucial) in an ecological farm that you reach by boat, eating soup and rice with grilled pork, or at least I thought it tasted like pork. It was followed by 2 ladies singing a few sad-sounding Vietnamese songs to music pulled by 2 Vietnamese men on traditional instruments.

Vinh Long market

We had 30 minutes to explore a land market in Vinh Long which seemed very long in the heat and pollution. Throughout this trip we would be given a little time to explore other similar markets (all looked and smelled the same after a while) and we would all be waiting desperately to return to the coach. The fruits and vegetables in these markets looked really fresh and wonderful - but nobody could buy them since they were bulky besides I'm not sure one is allowed to import such things into another country.

Baguette

Our hotel Hoa Phuong (2*) in Can Tho was a basic no-lift 4-storey building. But the rooms were clean and had ensuite bathrooms and airconditioning. And a hot buffet breakfast in the morning.

Finding dinner was difficult though as we couldn't eat in the streets and couldn't find a restaurant either - at the beginning. After walking around for a few hours, we finally found a few beer gardens that also served food to a mainly local clientele. The food looked quite good, though we ordered the wrong things (language barrier) and ended up leaving most of the food uneaten. This reinforced Hub's desire to only eat Pho in the same restaurant a few days in a row when we returned to HCMC.

No matter where we went, the scooters and their honking followed us. No matter where we went, crossing the road was a hazard.

Sacks of pumpkins, potatoes, sweet potatoes...

The next day, we were brought to visit the Cai Rang floating market in 2 motorised sampans. It was interesting seeing them work and live in their boats, including sending smses with no evident fear of dropping the phone in the water. We also visited a rice factory/husking mill, Vietnam being one of the most important rice exporters in the world. Then we visited an orchard and got to taste some fruit as well. It was a pity that our guide didn't bother to make much commentary during the trip, which probably also explained why nobody tipped him at the end - or it could be the reason why he couldn't be bothered to make any commentary in the first place (catch 22 situation). Our half-day HCMC guide on the other hand was very good and this guy was of course tipped quite heavily at the end of the excursion.

Mekong Rest Stop in My Tho - expensive one-stop for most Vietnamese souvenirs and imitation branded bags

We had enjoyed our excursion to the Mekong Delta though I suspect that it wasn't as colourful or busy as the floating markets in Thailand (from pictures I've seen). In any case, Vietnam is a really long and beautiful country which would merit another trip in the near future.

Saigon, Vietnam

Snack vendor by the road

I caught the Miss Saigon musical in London nearly 2 decades ago and have nurtured a certain fascination for Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. Then I met Hub who was among the 1st tourists to visit the city when Vietnam opened up to the outside world in the early 1990s. Finally, One Wheel bought me an ao dai from his trip to Hanoi a few years ago and of course I had to grow too fat for it since. I needed to go there for another one.

I didn't need a visa for Vietnam but the Hub yes. It was honestly a waste to just go there for 4 days, but he didn't have the heart to leave the kids (whom he had not seen for a month before that) for longer than that. Plus my mom's blood pressure probably would suffer from our prolonged absence, so we made the most of it with a 2-night stay in Ho Chi Minh and a 2D1N trip to the Mekong Delta in-between. On our last day, we also managed to squeeze in a half-day excursion within the city.

Scooter paradise (and if you need air for the tyres, they sell it on the pavements)

I was picturing rickshaws for some reason and got the shock of my life to find hundreds of scooters (some with up to a family of 5 on each scooter!) in the streets when I arrived. God they honk for no rhyme or reason all day long and could be found in every nook and corner. There are often no traffic lights for pedestrians and when there was any most of them wouldn't respect it anyway. Crossing the road was like playing Russian roulette - you just keep praying that it wouldn't be this time that you would get knocked down. And the pollution (both noise and air)...I was getting a headache within hours of my arrival.

The airport however looked newly built and was more interesting than the one at Bologna, for example. We stayed at the Metropole Saigon in District 1 and it was probably the only mid-price hotel with a swimming pool in the city. We paid for a deluxe room with airport transfers (I'm past the age of bargaining for a taxi) and had the pleasure of being upgraded each time we checked in (1st Senior Deluxe and then Suite). The rooms were clean and comfortable and came with a hot buffet breakfast which was quite good.

View of pool and streets from our room in Metropole Saigon

The pool was small but deep and tend to run out of clean towels, but it was a luxury to be able to take a dip especially in the evening (you'll need it). There was a gym next to it and a bar manned by slim and sexy Vietnamese beauties. Hub said that when he was in Vietnam 20 years ago, single men travelling on their own usually got prostitutes literally knocking on their doors when they arrived in their rooms.

We could walk to De Tham street where most of the backpacker hotels and travel agencies are. We booked our tours with the famous Sinh Café and they were really cheap making our nice hotel look too expensive all of a sudden. You do not really need alot of Vietnamese Dongs in Saigon if you do not eat too much in the streets or in cheap restaurants. The travel agency had a change bureau (they could even return your change in USD if you paid them in USD) and we withdrew a one-shot amount from the ATM machine located in our hotel lobby with our credit card - and used these Dongs to pay for our meals and small purchases.

Fruit stall in Ben Thanh Market

From our hotel we could also walk to the famous Ben Thanh market popular with tourists seeking local handicrafts, textiles, souvenirs and local cuisine. At 6 in the evening, the market closes its doors and the streets outside transform themselves into a night food market with many stalls selling grilled seafood. We chose to be taken in by this chain of Pho restaurants (Pho 2000) calling itself the "President's Pho" with photos of a visiting Bill Clinton hanging all over on its walls. I've eaten better Pho but we were really happy to have the soup plus the Cha Gio (fried spring rolls) and even returned a few times to try the rest of the limited menu (e.g. curry with baguette, seafood soup...). Guess we didn't have the courage to try street food and didn't feel like eating in chic restaurants either and just wanted to play safe and eat in a decent place filled with both locals and tourists.

Beef Pho in Pho 2000

Cha Gio Bun

Hub said that when he was last here, he really thought that the country would be developing very rapidly and was therefore surprised to see that except for more scooters and cars on the roads, things didn't seem too different from 20 years ago. But it mustn't be true since we did see huge new housing and retail developments in parts of Saigon a little further out when we were on my way to the Mekong Delta. I suspect that the country would be changing very quickly from now on. Singapore, according to our Vietnamese tour guide, is currently Vietnam's Number 1 foreign investor. But for the moment, one thing is sure, like in most developing countries, the women are the ones hard at work, the men usually hang around some form of transportation waiting for clients.

Lovely façade in Saigon

Heavenly Mother Temple, Saigon

During our half-day Saigon excursion, we visited a few temples, the wholesale market with its stalls selling sharksfin, birdnest etc in Chinatown (Cholon), drove past majestic colonial-style buildings and toured a crafts-making factory employing mainly Vietnamese suffering handicap related to gas poisoning that dates back to the Vietnam war. We didn't plan to buy anything but after seeing them painstakingly sticking tiny bits of egg shell to make vases or scrubbing wood till it shined (lacquering), we ended up spending nearly 100 USD on 2 objects.

Making lacquerware

If Hub weren't around I probably would have shopped, but as it was, not much hope of doing so. Every time you touched something he would ask if I really needed it. I may not need it indeed, but I may need to buy it. Why couldn't he understand the difference? Only managed to grab a little ao dai for Baby Girl and have one tailor-made for me but it was such a rush job it wasn't properly done.

Eating out in Saigon

It was an interesting first visit to the country for me, though I suspect that I didn't look at things with as great a fascination as Hub did - because while most Europeans have probably never known similar poverty, most Singaporeans my age could possibly still remember what it was like using dirty toilets and eating in the streets about 25 to 30 years ago. As such, it was like a bad memory for me and I didn't find it so funny seeing that they are still living like us a few decades ago.

At the airport in Ho Chi Minh, we had dinner at...Prima Taste. 8USD Ba Kut Teh and Fried Sambal Kangkong and 3USD cans of Yeo's soy bean milk. That was expensive but I was really quite happy not to have to eat another Pho. But I'll be back in Vietnam. I was told that the centre and northern parts of the country are lovely and very different from one another. And I still need at least another ao dai.

Korean Drama Couple or Trouble

Couple or Trouble

I am into Korean drama. And I know that I am repeating myself. But what you may not know is that I only like Korean drama with handsome Korean leads. Haha.

I caught 2 drama series when I was last in Singapore.

One of the series Couple or Trouble is based on the 1987 American movie Overboard. Anna Jo (Han Ye Seul) is a rude, confident and audacious American-bred heiress who can never be satisfied. She returns to Korea to the horror of her cowardly husband, Billy Park (Kim Sung Min). A series of misunderstandings with local handyman Jang Chul Soo (Oh Ji Ho) added him to the number of people who hate her. Later, after a quarrel with Billy that threatens to end their marriage, she herself gets drunkenly pitched overboard and falls victim to a bad case of amnesia. Jang picked her up from the hospital intending to make her repay him by doing chores in his home (he singlehandedly looks after his 3 nephews after the death of their parents) but of course they fell in love blah blah.

I've always enjoyed foreign language movies and dramas. I love seeing different people, landscapes, cultures, architecture, costumes, cuisines (though Korean food looks quite horrible in general to me) and wherever possible I would prefer to watch the show in its original language and subtitled in English. And nowadays, I like watching shows that wouldn't require me to think. No need to analyse, re-write scenarios, research history etc. Just sit back and enjoy.

And know what? Just found a site where you can watch Korean movies on your PC. My oh my, what will this mean?