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SE Asia (Page 18)

Transit authorities offer commuters in Singapore free off-peak fares in effort to alleviate morning rush

Japan is of course not the only country that experiences crowded trains and subways during rush hour. Over the last 10 years Singapore’s population has increased by 30 percent, putting pressure on its public transportation system, especially during the morning rush. Though Japan is trying to alleviate overcrowding with wider trains, Singapore is taking a different approach to the problem; free fares until 7:45 a.m. for anyone getting off at one of 16 stations in the downtown core.

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A look at how Thai bikers roll: with guns, skulls, and pretty birds

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo-ZTTyKe3M?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&w=640&h=360%5D

A chance encounter on the roads of Thailand led Mike Swift to take a video of a biker so awesomely weird that he put it out on YouTube as soon as possible. At first you’ll notice the pet bird which obediently flies alongside the woman as she rides, which is wild enough, but you’ll soon find that this little half-minute clip is deceptively deep.

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【Recipe】Better than KFC?! We recreate a fried chicken favorite of the Philippines

When it comes to fast food, most people may think of McDonald’s. But actually, if you happen to talk to someone from the Philippines, they might mention Jollibee.

More popular than the golden arches, more sought after than the Colonel’s secret recipe, Jollibee is the go-to joint for a quick bite in the Philippines, particularly if you’re craving some lip-smackingly good fried chicken. We here at RocketNews24 have obtained Jollibee’s secret fried chicken recipe and it tastes 90 percent like the real thing. But considering it’s homemade and doesn’t require you to order from a greasy-faced teenager, we’d say that’s a pretty good.

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One brave young woman’s fight to replace shark fishing with ecotourism – We talk to Kathy Xu

Born and raised in Singapore, 31-year-old Kathy Xu had been a secondary school teacher all her adult life, including a brief stint in Japan in 2009. Despite her love of teaching, Kathy recently made the bold decision to dedicate herself full-time to helping stop the exploitative shark finning trade in Southeast Asia, having visited the island of Lombok three times and witnessed the grim situation first-hand. She is now working to provide those same fishermen with an alternative form of income: ecotourism.

With the long-term goal of replacing shark fishing with environmentally friendly tours operated by locals, Kathy hopes to change the way we think about sharks, as well as help maintain the delicate ecosystem that exists in the seas surrounding Lombok, potentially saving their sharks from extinction.

We sat down with Kathy to talk about her inspiring venture: The Dorsal Effect.

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Small, fast, and ‘crazy rickety’ – Cambodia’s breakneck bamboo train 【Video】

Shot by a couple during a visit to Cambodia and uploaded to YouTube just last week, the following video treats us to a ride on one of Cambodia’s “bamboo trains” — worryingly shaky, home-made bamboo pallets balanced on a pair of train wheels and fitted with a disconcertingly large engine.

After all, what trip abroad is complete without experiencing some potentially perilous activity that you’d never dream of doing in your own country?

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While travelling in Thailand, I was surprised by the large number of unattended dogs roaming about town. Much like the country’s citizens, though, they’re generally good-natured, and you’ll often see the laid-back pooches sleeping peacefully in plazas, next to temples, and along riverbanks.

Thai society appreciates the value of a good nap, but one canine in the city of Ayutthaya has more than just cultural justification for taking a snooze. Pui the Bangkaew dog has earned himself a little bit of rest and relaxation by saving a baby’s life.

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Xbox One delayed in Asia until late 2014, no release date for Japan

Microsoft’s forthcoming Xbox One console will not be released in Asia until late 2014, despite the fact that it will launch in the West in November this year, it was revealed last night.

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Go to jail, learn to… dance? 【Videos】

Going to jail is, regardless of the country, never fun. Between wardens forcing you to do their taxes for barely a bottle of suds, and the food, it’s got to be a horrible way to spend a few years of your life.

That said, some prisons certainly are better than others. For example, the dancing prisoners in the Philippines sure do seem a lot happier than if they were forced to do manual labor. And while a visit to a prison might not exactly be on the top of your average holiday to-do list, this is one jail you would want to go out of your way to get into! (At least for the show.)

Here’s RocketNews24 Japan‘s Sekai no Shogo with the report!

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Changes are expected to be made to the Vietnamese constitution this October during sessions of the country’s National Assembly. The current constitution was ratified in 1992 as part of the doimoi political movement that relaxed many of the government’s economic controls, and was a major departure from its previous incarnation.

Although minor revisions were made to the constitution in 2001, far more extensive alterations are expected in the next round. Among the many points to be discussed is the possibility of altering the country’s official name.

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Hope you didn’t plan on eating this week: we try duck fetus eggs in the Philippines

So it’s come to this, has it? Rocketnews24, after eating pretty much everything under the sun, has reached the last bastion of disgusting culinary curios.

Of course, we’re talking about Philippine balut, or duck fetus eggs. We’ve been here before, but somehow we felt this needed revisiting.

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  • May 31, 2013

A special visual treat from Vietnam, with plenty of bang! 【Video】

In Japan, we have a tradition of enjoying huge firework events in the summer. On weekends in July and August, you can often see girls on their way to a hanabi taikai (fireworks festival) in colorful yukatas, a popular summer kimono for women when going out to fireworks events. But of course, it doesn’t have to be summer to enjoy beautiful fireworks, as this stunning video from Vietnam proves!

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Hanging Gardens of Singapore: the PARKROYAL on Pickering

We’ve all heard about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world and I’m sure we all wish we could go back in time and see them at the height of their glory. For me, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon might have been the best, even if they probably didn’t actually exist.

Unfortunately, no one’s figured out how time travel works yet. Fortunately, though, PARKROYAL on Pickering seems like a pretty amazing substitute. (And, starting at US$180 a night, probably cheaper than time travel too.)

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JSDF’s new helicopter may or may not be fake, a real-life transformer

All this anime is clearly getting to Japanese people’s heads. Japanese media has fallen hook, line and sinker for this seemingly impossible, anime-inspired helicopter design, breathlessly reporting that Ghost in the Shell-style vehicles are being designed by the (Japan Self Defence Force) JSDF right now.

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With Title “Happiest Place on Earth” Already Taken, Amusement Park on Cebu Island Makes Its Claim to Be the Sleepiest

When you’re a kid, theme parks are a place where your dream can come to life. Wouldn’t it be great to feel that excitement once again?

In search of that childlike wonder, one of RocketNews24’s reporters recently visited the Lecian Grand Carnaval amusement park in Mandaue City on Cebu Island, in the Philippines. While it doesn’t have the high-tech animatronics and pyrotechnics of Disneyland, it offers plenty of old-fashioned attractions like a tilt-a-whirl and haunted house, plus a life-endangering roller coaster and very lenient napping policy. Read More

Trapped in a Glass Cage in the Philippines, Mario Has No Mouth with which to Scream – The Shocking World of Knock-Off Plush Dolls

Recently, one of our correspondents was strolling through a shopping mall in Mandaue City on Cebu Island in the Philippines. As he passed an arcade, one of the attendants flagged him down, asking if he wanted to try to win a stuffed doll in one of their crane games.

Intrigued by the offer, our reporter peered into the machine’s glass case, at first thinking he saw popular Japanese anime characters Doraemon and Testuwan Atom (also know as Astro Boy internationally). Closer investigation though, revealed that the arcade was filled with cheap, yet somehow incredibly endearing, knock-offs.

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Heavy Industry without the Heavy Equipment

Here at RocketNews24, we like to bring you the latest and greatest, whether it’s (potentially) killer mechs or adorable new fonts! But sometimes it’s nice to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of raw human ingenuity. Read More

Gyu-Kaku Philippines Now Open, Serving Up Excellent Seafood

Mariah Carey’s done it. Lindsay Lohan did it too. Megan Fox even does it with her husband. And in Japan, practically everyone’s doing it. It’s yakiniku, barbecuing meat on a charcoal flame, and the hottest place to do it is at the popular Japanese restaurant chain Gyu-Kaku.

Now people in the Philippines are getting a taste of the celebrity-endorsed outlet, with the April 5 opening of their first branch in metropolitan Manila. Already, it’s proving to be very popular with the locals. But when we heard that the star of this Gyu-Kaku (“Bull’s Horn”) wasn’t the meat but the seafood, we had to pay them a visit to see what was going on.

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We Try a “One-Piece Chicken McDo With McSpaghetti” at McDonald’s in the Philippines

In our continuing endeavor to visit McDonald’s restaurants around the world we sample the unique regional offerings the international chain creates to appease the locals and delight tourists.

This time RocketNews24 sent a reporter to a McDonald’s in the Philippines to sample one of their localized combos centered by a heap of McSpaghetti. The following is their report.

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Checking Out the Myanmar Amusement Park “Happy World”: An All-star Lineup from Mickey Mouse to Doraemon to…BATMAN?!

When traveling overseas, we like to check out the nearby shopping malls and amusement parks, too, whenever we can. But we don’t waste our time with the famous amusement parks that everyone and their mother has been to. For us, it’s the local, never-before-heard-of amusement parks that we love. Why? Because that’s where you can really see the way the local people live… and some of the clever stuff they’ve come up.

So, this time around, we headed to “Happy World” in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), located right in front of the world-famous Shwedagon Pagoda.

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Thai Fans Remake Entire Iron Man 3 Pre-Release Trailer by Hand, Blow Our Minds 【Video】

If you’re a superhero fan living in North America, today very likely means only one thing: the launch of Iron Man 3. Perhaps waiting for a more suitable date to release the title, Marvel and Walt Disney Studios hung on until May 3 to unleash Tony Stark’s newest — and, according to some, best — supersuit-powered adventure, and millions of fans are champing at the bit to see it.

Despite having opened in Japan surprisingly early (Japanese releases are notoriously late, with movie fans forced to wait until this March for both Django Unchained and Wreck it Ralph alone), tongues are wagging all across the country today about Iron Man 3, but for an entirely different reason.

Put together by a clearly passionate and creative team of fans in Thailand, the following video recreates the official Iron Man 3 pre-release trailer shot by shot using little more than hand-crafted props, questionable make-up and models dangling from strings. Even so, it is nothing short of wonderful.

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