We finally finished editing the footage from our little London performance. Here it is in four parts. Shot with a Canon Legria HF S10 camcorder and Creative Vado HD pocket video camcorder.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Being a bunch of bike geeks, Ryan and I got very excited when we saw the bicycle shop in Holland. We spent a good amount of time ooh-ing and ah-ing at their offerings, especially in the commuting accessories.
One of the rituals that Ryan and I have whenever we are overseas on assignment is to get presents for our wives and kids. It is a hard task but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
We set off early to the city centre of Zoetermeer to see the flea markets, a tradition on Koninginnenacht, or Queen's Day, where folks bring out their secondhand stuff to sell. We ended up buying a little too many things.
Holland partied on Queen's Night. And I mean ALL of the Netherlands. I have never seen so many people in one place, and Den Haag was not even the main party city celebrating the eve of the Queen's birthday or Koninginnedag. I heard it was even crazier in Amsterdam. Dangit I am too old for this stuff.
You gotta try to touch the North Sea when you go to Holland, so we made the drive to Schevenegen for that experience.
If you go to Holland, you have GOT to check out Madurodam. Sure it costs an outrageous €15 per adult but it's still fun to visit. The theme park cum war memorial is made up of 1:25 scale miniature versions of the Netherlands. It has been around for a long time and still draws the crowds. A real treat especially for those who are into trains.
They did try to spice things up with a new Sesame Street attraction when I was there but it was just an area with some videos, computers and merchandise to buy.
If you are in a hurry to see all of the Netherlands, I suppose you could come here and do it all in one day.
After a long drive from Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, Ryan and I decided to stay the night at Dunkirk, France before getting on our ferry to Dover in the morning.
I found this place online called Formule1. It is a chain of cheap hotels/hostels in France. For €32 a night (before taxes), you get a clean room for two to sleep in.
And what do you get for your €32? Er, a clean room for two to sleep in lor.
It ain't a fancy place but it is certainly cleaner and less dodgier than that two-star dump, near the Moulin Rouge, that we stayed in when we were in Paris.
The room is clean and functional. There are two beds in the tiny room. The shared showers and toilets located outside in the corridor.
Yep, you don't get your own en suite toilet and shower. But the shared toilets and showers look clean. You do get a sink in your room though. Hey, it's €32 a night, what more do you want?
You don't even get a key. You just get a 6 digit code which you use to unlock the door. Oh, if you are coming in at some unearthly hour, do call and get some kind of pre-check-in and your keycode issued. Or else you may arrive and find no one at the reception.
There is a sink to the left and a hanger to the right. A window you can open, if you like. A powerpoint near the small desk, and an LCD tv showing French free-to-air channels. We watched Starship Troopers in French and realised you don't need to know what the soldiers are saying to get the movie. It even sounded sexier dubbed in French.
You can see some of the photos of the place in the Flickr slideshow below.
Haring is a typical Dutch delicacy where you eat a raw herring (fish) with raw onions. We tried to get Ryan to try one too but he wouldn't budge.
Hasan told me that they shops selling Haring are held to very strict standards of hygiene. If your haring tastes funny, from being not fresh, your shop will get into a lot of trouble with the authorities.
This is truly FAST food. Some office people can just grab two harings, pop them into their mouths, and that will be a meal. Cheap and good for you.
Other local fare I really got into include fast food from the Febo chain of stores. I love eating kroket and frikandel by putting coins in the coin-operating vending machines call automats. Don't ask me what is inside a frikandel. I don't really want to know what mystery meat is in there.
But I love haring best. Dang, so fresh and clean, the taste!
We are in the kitchen of Hasan's Dutch home, resting from the day out.
Hasan getting our Canon Legria HFS10 HDV camcorder mounted on his monopod, ready for our evening at Koninginnenacht, or Queen's Night.
Koninginnenacht is the eve of Koninginnedag, or Queen's Day. Queen's Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands.
We needed the monopod because we are all short Asians amongst the tall Dutch. Hasan also mounted his 35mm adaptor on the flash-based Canon camcorder too, so see if we can take even nicer videos.
We are a bunch of gadget geeks, gathered here in Holland.
It was a rainy day in Holland but we still wanted to explore Amsterdam by bike. We could not wimp out because the residents were still riding what!
Hasan took us for a lovely ride around his estate and we got to see the slowest sunset ever. Netherlands is really great for riding.
We go to The Hague in the Netherlands for a day of food and sightseeing.
We drove all the way from London to the Netherlands, crossing via ferry from Dover to Dunkirk. It was a fun little adventure! (Thanks for the car, Hertz!)
We met Jane and Andrew, two nice students in for breakfast on Sunday morning at the hotel. Andrew traveled TWO hours by coach from Cambridge to meet the mrbrown show gang!
Then we checked out of the hotel and picked up our diesel Mercedes 220 CDI rental car from the Hertz at Marble Arch (thanks to our sponsor Hertz). After a look at my Nokia's Google Maps, Ryan and I drove 140km from London to Dover.
We drove our car into the Northfolk ferry to Dunkirk, France, and checked into our VIP Lounge. First Class is only an extra £8 per person more, so we thought we'd give it a go. There is free wine or beer, a coffee machine, fruits and biscuits and even free wifi! And our car gets priority getting on and off the ferry.
You can see the White Cliffs of Dover in this shot from the lounge window.
It's a two hour ferry ride for the car and the two of us. Then another long drive to Zoetermeer, our final destination.
I did a short live video of us, just before we were to go out on stage.
I know. Bloggers. Simisai also shoot. Even just before a big live performance. Haha!
Here are some photos of us, backstage, minutes before we were due to do our live show. The crowd outside were warm and friendly. And we were as ready as we could be. Marc and Ivan is in costume, ready to go.
These are our costumes placed backstage, ready to be worn between the numbers.
These are the three stools on standby, ready to be placed on stage for our last song.
Marc's guitar, waiting to be played for our show.
Here is a little preview of Singapore Day premises when we were there on the eve of the event, for our rehearsals
Here is a little preview of Singapore Day premises when we were there on the eve of the event, for our rehearsals.
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