Cos-players celebrating the new record (Image from BBC)

The Japanese must have no idea about the existent of the world record yet… they could easily smash the record by in one of their gamers/comics/anime festivals.

London set cosplay record from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The closing ceremony was ok for me; nothing much different than the opening… visually pleasing but not heart warming. I am a bit worried for London though; their short appearance last night was quite bland.

Beijing Olympics will be remembered as the Olympic with greatness. Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt obviously stole the spotlight… a few other personal favourite winners include Yelena Isinbayeva, Guo Jingjing, Zhang Ning, Roger Federer, Matthias Steiner, Japanese softball team and Argentine men soccer team etc.

It has been a wonderful event, but I am glad it has finally ended. The Olympics had taken away too much of my working (and sleeping) hours for the past two weeks… plenty of catchup needed now.

It’s goodbye to Beijing, and hello to London in 2012.

Good bye Beijing, hello London from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The power of love

Matthias Steiner of Germany was the men’s +105kg weightlifting champion on Tuesday. When I first saw the picture, I thought of how romantic this guy was… I only knew a day later that the woman in the picture was his wife Susann, who died in a car accident last year, and it sparked plenty of emotions…

Matthias with his gold medal and a photo of his late wife (Image via Beijing2008)

This will probably be the most memorable Beijing Olympics’ photo for me… it draws love, sadness, romance, pride, commitment and loyalty. If I am a woman I would probably fall in love with this guy.

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Beijing Olympics roundup (7) from YeinJee's Asian Journal

Matthew and Katerina Emmons

In Athens 2004, Matthew was just a shot away from winning a gold in the three positions competition… but he shot on the wrong target, a mistake that sounds almost impossible in professional shooting. He finished eighth.

It’s not all bad for Matthew though… later that night, he went to a pub and met Czech shooter Kateřina Kůrková who offered him consolation. The couple fell in love and got married in 2007.

If the name Kateřina Emmons sounds familiar to you, that’s because she is the winner of the first gold medal in Beijing Olympics 2008.

Matthew was trying to emulate his wife’s success, and he was pretty close at the three positions competition, again needing just an average score at his final shot to secure the gold.

Somehow, it’s deja vu… he didn’t fire the wrong target this time, but pulled the trigger at a wrong timing and got a bad score. He finished fourth.

Make no mistake though, Matthew is an excellent shooter. He won a gold in Athens in other shooting event and also a silver in Beijing. It’s just the bizarreness of how he missed those two golds that is going to make him a folklore of the Games.

Matthew has already expressed his ambition for London 2012… wish him luck.

[With reference from CNN and Wiki]

The tale of Matthew Emmons from YeinJee's Asian Journal

Mercer’s survey is arguably the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

The survery covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

Top 10 most expensive cities in 2008

Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), London (UK), Oslo (Norway), Seoul (South Korea), Hong Kong (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Geneva (Switzerland), Zurich (Switzerland) and Milan (Italy).

Surprisingly US have only one city in the top 50 (New York at 22nd)… and Canada don’t even make it into top 50. Perhaps we should migrate to that region instead lol.

Moscow is world’s most expensive city (2008) from YeinJee's Asian Journal

I am not really sure how biased BBC was, but this Chinese patriot probably needs to spend more time learning his English…

(Image from Chinadaily)

English lesson of The Day…
Lier: A person who lies down (horizontally, i.e. lies on bed, lies on floor)
Liar: A person who tells lies (not telling the truth)

I make a lot of English grammatical mistakes too, so it’s probably not proper for me to tease this fella; but it’s just funny… imagine you are on international news and the first thing people notice is some bizarre typo.

Chinese student calling BBC a ‘lier’ from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The Singapore Flyer (Image from Flyer’s official website)

Located at Marina Bay, the Singapore Flyer comprises a 150-metre-diameter wheel and a total height of 165 metres (equivalent to ~ 42 stories high), which is about 30m taller than the famous London Eye and 5m taller than the previous record holder, The Star of Nanchang in Jiangxi, China.

The Singapore Flyer from YeinJee's Asian Journal

Inspired by Improv Everywhere’s Frozen Grand Central, similar pranks were performed in London, Paris and other cities where groups of people would pause themselves at the same period of time at a specific location. It’s hard to explain in words… watch the videos and you would probably understand what I mean.

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KL Freeze in Unison from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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Big Ben clock tower, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal

It’s officially named the Shaftesbury Monument Memorial Fountain, or Shaftesbury Memorial.

The winged-nude statue on top has a name too… Angel of Christian Charity, popularly known as Eros after the mythical Greek God of Love.

Piccadilly Circus is a busy place; surrounded with theatres, shops, malls, hotels, restaurants, pubs and endless traffic. China Town is just a few blocks away as well.

The neon signboards at Piccadilly Circus are quite a scene at night; probably not as splendid as New York’s Time Square, but spectacular regardless.

When I visited London a few years earlier there were lots of pizzerias and Kebab stores around, but only a few of them remained in the area. I still managed to grab a pizza nearby, but disappointingly it wasn’t as good as it used to be.

London & UK travelogue

Next: Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column, London, UK
Previous: St James’s Park, London, UK

Piccadilly Circus, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal

Sceneries from the Blue Bridge

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St James’s Park, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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Buckingham Palace, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal

KLIA was much busier than a few years ago; reminded me that I hadn’t been travelling overseas (except neighbouring Singapore) for almost five years… quite a long gap for a self-proclaimed travel enthusiast lol.

Plane departed at 11am; and after 11 hours of movies, sleep, food and toilet visits, the plane touched down safely at Heathrow Airport in London evening.

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London, here I come! from YeinJee's Asian Journal