The clocks across China are counting down to the day in the evening of August 8th, the moment when Beijing will launch the games of the 29th Olympiad. In preparation for its moment in the centre of the world stage, the city has transformed itself from the downager of old to a dazzling young star decked out in a stunning display of architecture haute couture!

Beijing National Stadium aka The Bird Nest is a stadium finished for the Olympic Green will be an icon and new landmark for Beijing.

The stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field as well as soccer events. It has a total capacity of 91,000 and 11,000 temporary seating will be removed after the Game, leaving a permanent capacity of 80,000.

Pritzker¹ Prize -winning architects - Herzog & de Meuron Architekten , a Swiss architecture firm founded and headquartered in Basel lead the design.

The structural form of the roof is decsribe as a "nest", an interwoven structural elements of the facade produce a single surface, upon which further elements are arranged in a chaotic manner to blurr the distinction between the primary and secondary structure. The roof is saddle in shaped, and the geomatry is developed from an ellips based. The steel roof, a single 330m long by 220m wide structure weighting 45,000 tonnes is clad with a series of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) panels on the structure to make the Nest one of the most ingeniously designed "green" buildings in the world. This layer reflects and absorbs sound to maintain the atmosphere in the stadium.

An interwoven structure elements arranged in a chaotic manner.

ETFE
ETFE, a transparent plastic related to Teflon is taking the place of glass and other plastics in many of the most innovatibe buildings being constructed today. It is also known as the material of the future. Compare to glass, it’s 1% the weight, transmit more light, is a better insulator, and cost far less to install. It’s also recycleable, self-cleaning and far tougher, with an estimated 50 years life span.

The nest was build using a polymer called ETFE.

This amazing Nest didn’t come cheaply but still, Beijingers love this building!

Viewing from Google map when it was in construction.

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¹ One of the world’s premier Architecture prizes awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology. Some of the Laureates are: I.M Pei, Richard Meier, Kenzo tange, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid…

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Hong Kong Disneyland has been causing a buzz since the opening last year, so I decided to check it out myself! Although it’s small, compare to Tokyo Disneyland , Hong Kong has most of the typical Disneyland theme and features such as The Disney Main Street, the Main raiway Station including the typical manicured Mickey Mouse entrance garden, Tomorrowland and Space Mountain, Safari cruise, a Carousel, and the Slepping Beauty Palace.

The park can be easily visited in a day, although that might not work in peak seasons. The longest wait was the Lion King show which took about 20 mins.

All in all, I would have to say it’s worth the visit.

Entrance fee to the park is HK $350 during peak season and HK $295 on off-peak season. You can take subway train to Sunny Bay station and change to the Disney train. If you go from Central it’s about 30mins trip and a HK $40 return.

Full detail for transportation to HK Disneyland .

Main Entrance Gate

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Bought a ferry ticket to Macau at HK-Macau ferry terminal. Get out from Sheung Wan MTR and follow the signs It’s just upstairs. There are some other ferry companies staff shouting everywhere for their cheap fares but I ended up buying a ticket from Turbojet. First, I don’t like people that approached me out of the blue and pursude me to buy something from them, secondly Turbojet have a whole row of counters ~ (haha).

HK-Macau = HK138 (economy class/weekday)
Macau - HK = HK142 (economy class/weekday)

Ferries going to Macau every half an hour. Don’t forget there’s no night ferries during weekdays.

You may want to change some MOP (Macau Pataca) in HK first and get some Macau maps at the ferry terminal. HKD is widely use in Macau but some small retail outlet only accept MOP. But MOP cannot use in HK! I suggest you take a bus to town, and it’s only cost MOP2.5 and you can go anywhere you want! From the first station to the last station, MOP2.5 (USD0.31). Save your Money for casino~~

The journey start at Largo do Senado (where I get down from the bus), the focal point of Macau’s historic centre. It’s pretty easy, just a few stops away from the ferry terminal. I’m a fan of Colonial Architecture and immediatly fall in love with this place at first sight!

The must eat… Macau pork burger! BBQ pork slice sells everywhere, it’s much much more bigger piece compare to other places like SG and MYS… and of course, the reknown Portuguese egg tart!

The must go place… First on the list: Sam Ba Sing Tzik!! Also known as St. Paul Catholic Church. The front facade and the grand stone stairs are the only remains of the greatest church in Macau! The architecture is simply magnificent!

St. Paul was designed by an Italian priest and was constructed with the help of the Japanese technology. Because of an indissoluble course, the church caught fire three times one after another and it was rebuilt again.

Some other attractions like Monte Fort (which is actually a shortened version of the fort’s full name: The Fortress of St.Paul of Monte) You will find a barracks for the fort’s troops, storehouses, water cisterns… etc.

Lastly… I know… the CASINO~

Popularity: 13% [?]