(Photo source: http://www.wewelcomefamilies.sg)

'We Welcome Families' Awards is the pinnacle award of excellence in the effort to encourage businesses to cater to families. First launched by Businesses for Families Council (BCF) in 2010, it showcases and recognises businesses who had took extrodinary efforts and measures to welcome families.

For the third running year, the contest is currently open to all Singaporeans and residents of Singapore to vote for Singapore’s most family friendly business. 

Voters stand a chance to win prizes worth a total of $2,000 and five lucky winners will walk away with $100 worth of prizes every week!

We are definitely happy to have more businesses providing services, infrastrature and promotions to welcome families as their customers. Shopping malls have ramped up their facilities over the years with nursing rooms, playgrounds, complimentary use of baby prams or kiddy cabs, family parking lots and more. During the holidays, there are also meet & greet sessions and performances to attract families to bring their children for a series of fun-filled activities.

Visiting shopping malls is no longer boring for children. Our kiddos are able to find entertainment in the neighbourhood.

Water play
http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.sg/2010/11/kidzplay-at-northpoint.html
http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.sg/2011/03/kidz-play-nex-skygarden.html
http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.sg/2011/11/changi-city-point-garden-city-in-east.html

Meet & Greet
http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.sg/2012/12/meet-greet-traintastic-chuggington.html

Businesses are gradually transforming and improving their services and we look forward to more 'surprises'. :)

To vote, simply click on the following link http://www.wewelcomefamilies.sg/ and vote for your  favourite businesses. Voting ends on 28 February 2013! Good Luck!

One more month to Christmas and everyone seems to be in a jolly mood, happily doing their Christmas shopping. Have you also notice the beautiful Christmas log cakes on display to celebrate this festive season?

Thanks to The Icing Room, our family had the opportunity to DIY our mini Yule Log and soak into the Christmas holiday in advance! Denver & Gladys had a big surprise when we brought them to the counter. This is the first time we are decorating our very own Yule Log!!

Every DIY Yule Log set includes a mini log cake (available in strawberry vanilla or chocolate flavours), festive icing decor and icing and cream piping.

 Our strawberry flavoured log cake and our chosen icing decor and cream piping! Yummy and Pretty!

I gave a headstart by piping a "Merry X'mas" greeting note on our log. It is definitely not as easy as it looks, especially for first timers. ^_^

Denver and Gladys also helped to decorate our log cake using the cream piping.

See how focus Gladys was.

Denver suffered from a fractured left arm but that did not stop him from having some fun doing our DIY Yule Log. With an injured arm, this delicate task makes it even harder for him but Denver exercised a lot of care and detail.

It's great to see our Mini DIY Yule Log taking shape. The kids can't wait to bring it back home!

Here's the final product! Although it was not very professionally done, we love it 100% as it has our family's Effort, Love and Well wishes in it.

Front View of the Cake (Christmas greetings, Christmas tree, Snowman, flowers and not forgetting lots of hearts from us)

Back View of the cake : Adding a special final touch ~ our family's initials "BPDG" on our Yule Log. ^_^

Apart from the fun we had D.I.Y-ing, having our personalised Yule Log this Christmas is special and unique.

If you are interested to do your personalised DIY Yule Log as a gift, The Icing Room is currently having a Facebook photo contest for the Best DIY Yule Log.

Simply follow the steps below:
1. Purchase The Icing Room's Mini DIY Yule Log set (SGD$18.80) and start D.I.Y.
2. Snap a photo of your Yule Log masterpiece.
3. Submit your photo on The Icing Room's Facebook contest page and garner votes!

Photo contest is valid from 15 Nov - 16 Dec 2012. Start D.I.Y now and you may win yourself attractive prizes this Christmas!

3 lucky voters of the top 3 winners will also get a chance to win SGD$20 worth of The Icing Room vouchers each!

If you like our DIY Yule Log "Loving Christmas" and would like to support us, please send us your votes at The Icing Room's Facebook Contest page. ^_^

 

For more information, please visit The Icing Room's facebook page.

BPDGTravels would like to Wish our Readers MERRY CHRISTMAS in advance and may you and your family have a very Blessed, Loving and Jolly CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY!

Disclosure: Sponsored Review - All comments and opinions are personal and no monetary compensation was received. Mini D.I.Y Yule Log set was provided by The Icing Room (Singapore). 

Present your Undergraduate Research on Capitol Hill!

In the Spring of 2013 the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) will host its 17th annual undergraduate poster session on Capitol Hill. This event will help members of Congress understand the importance of undergraduate research by talking directly with the students whom these programs impact.

Deadline for Submission is November 1, 2012.
CUR is calling for students to submit an abstract of their research that represents any of CUR's disciplinary divisions (Arts and Humanities, Biology, Chemistry, Geosciences, Health Sciences, Mathematics/Computer Science, Physics/Astronomy, Psychology, and Social Sciences). In order to ensure proper review of applications, the above are the only disciplines that may apply. Should your research be inter-disciplinary, please select the division that most closely describes your research.

Abstract submissions will only be accepted by using CUR’s on-line submission form. Prior to submitting the form, students should gather the contact information for all co-authors, advisors and sponsors (if applicable), prepare a short vitae/resume, and poster abstract. A document listing the information required for submission can be found by visiting: http://www.cur.org/conferences_and_events/student_events/posters_on_the_hill_information_for_submission/ <http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/utilities/emailct.asp?A830B49DC9238158EEC90FB426B14F26316C487831C17283B05AD8A75B24607C>
  
For more information, and the link to submit an application, please visit: http://www.cur.org/conferences_and_events/student_events/posters_on_the_hill_call_for_abstracts/ <http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/utilities/emailct.asp?C9B50E616B245C00EBC4C91CEA4E1F1A1401BB6F3DF199D18069A0694309FF9E> .  You will note that CUR requires either the student’s home institution must have an institutional membership, or the faculty mentor or student must have an individual membership.  Please know that GW is indeed an institutional member of CUR. 
Please be sure that both portions (the electronic application and the electronic recommendation letter) are submitted by November 1, 2012.

For more information about the Posters on the Hill program, please visit http://www.cur.org/postersession.html<http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/utilities/emailct.asp?709038275EE3480D2057F7897D9BB075A57B826947083B9468FE58EAB07E674B> .

Further questions?  Contact research@gwu.edu

Date: Saturday, October 20, 2012
Location: George Washington University,  Gelman Library, 7th Floor
                  2130 H Street NW,  Washington DC 20052
Time: 9:30 am to 4:00 p.m.
Who:  Everyone
Lunch:  Provided  
                                                 
SCHEDULE:
  9:30 - 10:00 Arrival and wireless account set up; photo ID required to gain entrance to the library
10:00 - 12:00 New editor instruction and tutorials; experienced editors can dive right  in!
12:00 - 1:00  Lunch (provided) GRC specialists will provide orientations to the collections upon request
  1:00 - 4:00  Editathon led by TBD

EVENT DESCRIPTION: Gelman Library’s Global Resources Center invites you to participate in a Wikipedia Editathon “All Things International” on Saturday, October 20, 2012.  Almost everybody uses Wikipedia, but how does that information get there, and who decides what stays and what goes?  Wikipedia master editors will provide a two hour training session for new editors and content creators, and then assist as needed as you work on the Wiki articles you have pre-selected. Help will also be available for anyone with an interest in contributing new articles. 

SIGN-UP: Click on the following link to sign up for the editathon  -- just scroll down to the heading "Attending Oct. 20" and add your name:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/WLL/2012/2  

THE GLOBAL RESOURCES CENTER: The collections will be available to use as reference sources. GRC coverage spans the globe with concentrations of specialized English and non-English databases, books,  maps, statistics, primary documents, and a wealth of other resources focusing on 20th century China, Russia, Japan, Korea, as well as Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa more generally.  To learn more about GRC collections please visit the GRC website: http://library.gwu.edu/collections/GRC.

WHY PARTICIPATE: This is a unique opportunity to see behind the Wikipedia curtain,  learn more about their operations, how to strengthen or revise existing content, add much needed references, or even contribute new articles -- all to make it a better resource for the community of web users. Location: Gelman Library, 7th Floor.  Time: 9:30 – 4:00.  Please don’t forget to bring your laptop.  Lunch will be provided.   

WIKIPEDIA AND GW:  Wikipedia began these annual events last October. Gelman Library and the Global Resources Center plan to continue hosting editathons as long as the opportunity exists and GW faculty and students show interest. GW already has a record of contribution to Wikipedia articles. See this Chronicle of Higher Education article to learn how Donna Infeld, Director, PhD Program in Public Policy and Administration, contributed to a larger effort, and made it work for her:http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professors-shore-up-wikipedia-entries-on-public-policy/28015

WHAT ELSE:  Planning for next year’s editathon will begin in the Spring.  If there are faculty who would like to explore developing a writing or editing session as a classroom assignment, we would love to talk to you.   And of course, it’s not too late for the October 20 session should you be interested.

Everyone is welcome: students, staff, faculty or folks outside GW. Any article in Wikipedia is available for editing. Here is a link to the Global Resources Center website where the event is advertised: http://library.gwu.edu/collections/GRC    All specifics about the event are available from the "information" or "sign-up" links.  Signing up in advance is not required but will help us a lot in planning the number of lunches to have on hand. 

KSCPP Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project    

The Sixth National Essay Contest 

Award 

To foster the understanding and appreciation of  Korean history and culture, KSCPP is hosting its 6th national essay contest.  The Essay Contest is open to students at junior high school, high school, and college/university, and to the general public (ages 18 and older).  The entrants are required to read one of  the books published by KSCPP (available online for free at www.kscpp.net). 

Awards

College Students & General Public (18 & older)     

First Place: $1,000 

Second Place: $500 

Third Place: $ 200

* Honorable Mentions: $50

*The Honorable Mentions will be determined by the number of entrants.

Special Awards for Schools 
$500 will be awarded to the Schools whose students actively participated in the contest* 
*KSCPP will donate the funds to schools that are interested in teaching students about Korea. The funds should be used for the purpose of  teaching Korean history and culture (e.g. teaching materials, trips to museums, etc.).  The awards will be determined by the number of  entrants from each high school and/or the quality of  the essays submitted. 

Essay Topics

Junior High School Students
Junior high school students can read one of  the first three KSCPP series books (Admiral Yi Sunsin, King Sejong the Great, or Chung Hyo Ye) and select one topic from below. 
    a. After reading either Admiral Yi Sunsin or King Sejong the Great, discuss your impression on the leadership and character of Admiral Yi (or King Sejong the Great if  you read his book) and the lessons we can learn from him.
    b. After reading Chung Hyo Ye, discuss the values (or the stories) that you liked and why.

High School Students, College Students & General Public
All other entrants can either select a topic from the Junior High School Students topic section, or choose one of  the topics below:
   a. After reading either Fifty Wonders of  Korea Volume I, or Volume II, discuss the scientific or cultural achievements that impressed you and why.
   b. After reading Master Wonhyo, discuss your impression of  Master Wonhyo’s life and teaching.
   c. After reading the Practice of  Hong Ik Ingan, discuss your understanding of  the ideals of  Hong Ik Ingan. 
General Topic for All Entrants
Read one of  the books from KSCPP Series and discuss your impression, appreciation, or understanding of  the subjects discussed in 
the book.  

Eligibility:  Students in Junior High School, High School, and College/University, and General Public (ages 18 & older).


Instructions 
Essays must meet the following requirements: 
1. One-inch margin (top, bottom, left, and right); font size 12 (Times New Roman); double spaced; two to three pages long. 
2. Each essay must have the following information listed on the cover: 1.Name 2.Age 3. Phone Number, Mailing Address & Email 
4. School and Grade (or occupation, if  applicable) 

To Enter: Submit entries electronically to kscppcontest@msn.com with the subject heading “2012 6th Essay Contest.” Or mail to  
46-38 159th Street, Flushing, NY 11361

Deadline: Both online and offline submissions are due by January 15, 2013.  
The winners will be announced no later than March 17, 2013

If you would like to receive a copy of our book to enter the contest, please contact us using the information below. 

For more Information, please contact KSCPP at kscppcontest@msn.com or visit www.kscpp.net  

KSCPP is a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization.

Singapore is a multi-racial country and it's society is filled with rich culture and heritage. To commemorate the Racial Riots that happened in 1964, Racial Harmony Day (种族和谐日) is  celebrated annually on 21st July. Students are encouraged to dress in their traditional customes and there will be interesting games and performances. :)

Last weekend, we celebrated Racial Harmony Day at Weekend Expo. Held one Saturday a month at the Singapore EXPO, it features a different theme monthly. We are frequent visitors of the EXPO and to date, we have participated in a couple of their carnival events.

Since the theme for July is on Racial Harmony, traditional games, food and cultural performances were the main highlights.

Denver & Gladys adore the various games and have been hopping from stall to stall, earning their marbles, lollipops along the way.

Carom - our kiddos top favourite. :) 

Kuti Kuti and Chapteh - something new for our little ones which they don't usually get to play these days.

Giant pick-up sticks - Gladys loves this game and keep coming back for more!

Four stones was Mommy's favourite game (compared to Five stones) during my school days. Coming back here gave me a chance to 'show off' my skills to our kiddos. hahaha.

How many scoop of ice-cream can you stack up? The queue was really long for this game :)

Apart from games, Gladys and I also had our very first Henna art on our hands. :) I love the design and it stayed on for nearly a week.

Free balloons and photo-taking session Singapore Expo's new mascot and the pretty stilt-walkers.

Not forgetting the traditional snacks like Kacham Puteh and various Nonya Kuehs, free for grabs with vouchers redemption.

Games, songs and cultural performances filled the afternoon with lots of fun.

The final finale to end our evening is Denver receiving a prize for naming Singapore Expo's new mascot, Beaky the Bird! ^_^ This is really cool! The contest was opened to the public in June's Weekend Expo and Denver tried his luck by dropping in his entry. We were truly delighted to find out that he won a couple of weeks later! Thank you Singapore Expo! Now, whenever we see Beaky, we will feel so much closer as Denver was priviledged to give Beaky a name. ^_^

This is my 3rd year participating in the Singapore Blog Awards and yes... I nominated myself into a couple of categories! The grand prize of 4D3N Macau Trip and $30,000 worth of prizes is truly attractive! ^_^

For more information, check out http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/

Awards aside, my true inspiration comes from my dear ones. It has been a learning journey and we are still exposing ourselves to new arena and things. Blogging started as a hobby which slowly develops into a diary and memorable photo album of our lives. At times, we may not be updating our posts as regulary as Mommy has been busy with work, managing our 2 kiddos and juggling with home matters (Not forgetting enjoying family time together during the weekends!). It takes a lot of comittment and time to blog but it has been a wonderful and rewarding 3 years journey for us!

For the past year, our family has travelled more places, found more friends and participated in more events! As our blog name implies, BPDG will continue to travel and leave our little footprints as much and as far as we can. ^_^  Wishing SBA 2012 a Big Success and All the Best to All Bloggers! :)

Like us on BPDGTravels facebook page for more happenings and photos! :)

Last month, our family together with 14 bloggers participated in the Greenwich V Experience challenge and had lots of food and fun together.

We were being divided into 3 teams - Lifestyle, Urban and Village team. We went on an amazing race and our team (The Lifestyle Team) got 2nd in position! If you have enjoyed our stories, here's your chance to win $50 Greenwich vouchers!

Simply vote for your favourite team by entering your particulars at the following URL - http://contests.omy.sg/greenwich-v/

There will be 6 lucky voters and the winning bloggers team will also win vouchers too! Voting closes on 9th April 2012.

We hope you enjoyed the posts and had more information on whats there to offer at Greenwich Mall. Good Luck and may the best team wins! ^_^

Singapore Blog Awards 2011 is BACK with 16 Awards and over $30,000 worth of prizes to be won! There are also slight changes to the award categories and I have registered our travel blog for Best Travel Blog, Best Lifestyle Blog, Best Individual Blog .... hahaha.. is it too many? :p Our blog is still very young and new and it is our 2nd year participating in the SBA. Through this contest, apart from the prizes and exposure, it also provides a good opportunity to find many nice blogs. Good Luck to All!

Visit http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/ for more details.

Singapore Blog Awards is Back! For the past years, I have only been an observer and never had any thoughts of participating in this contest myself. Well, this year I decided to go for a try since there is also a chance to win a prize.

"To encourage registration, all successfully registered bloggers will be eligible for a random draw to win a Garmin ASUS M10 smart phone"

http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.com/

I have registered our family travel blog (BPDGTravels) in the S'PORE BLOG AWARDS 2010, Best Lifestyle Blog. I have spent a fair bit of time designing the blog myself to keep it simple and neat. Hopefully, this humble blog of ours will brighten your day as you see the photos and read through our little travel tales.

On average, I receive about two emails a week announcing new Travel 2.0 websites. I know that they mostly come from PR people, but some seem more genuine than others, which can border on spam. I find most of them of some interest, but only now and then am I smitten enough to be drawn away from my other activities to write a review.

However, I also know that just because I may not be overly excited about a new website, does not mean that other people might not be. So in deference to a presenting a balanced picture of Travel 2.0, this blog posting is summary of the websites that have been recommended to me in in the past month (not listed in any special order), along with my impressions.

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Pariscontest.ning.com - A Travel Contest to Build User Content

From surveys that I have heard about, after the US, the top international destination that people in China want to visit in France. Ruyi-ParisHotel.com is a website for Chinese traveling to Paris, and elsewhere in Europe. However, they are also running a contest in English on the free social website buider, Ning.com. It is one of the smaller contests that I have seen. You can win a US$99 gift certificate to Amazon.com if you submit a suggestion on how to visit Paris on $99 or less a day (1 meal, 1 hotel, 1 activity). Sounds like an inexpensive promotional effort that could gain them some useful information. I found their use of Ning.com particularly of interest, since I am a active participant on that site (see here, for example). - Ruyi Travel Blog (blog in Chinese) - English - Contest Promo - Ruyi-ParisHotels (in Chinese)

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Destination Meta-Guide.com 2.0

This is not a new website, but it has apparently undergone some rennovations to make it more of a “daily green travel newspaper” for virtually every country on Earth. This site is for people who want to know what contemporary issues that are really going on in a country, beyond the general guidebook information. In addition to basic visitor information, it provides NGO and UN information and "the latest green travel news." A lot of destination information and definitely more for the serious traveler than the purely recreational one.

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Travelwebdir.com -Travel Web Directory

This site claims to only include sites that have been selected by real humans as being the best in each of their many categories. It kind of reminds me of the old Yahoo directories (do they still exist somewhere?), and as such feels more like Web 1.0 -- find a category and see the websites or online article. It is apparently still very new and many of the categories (such as travel podcasts) are empty. In addition, the email I received stated: "You can add your travel related site or your travel articles for free to our directory: Don't miss this awesome opportunity to gain visibility and pagerank at once!" It is easy to submit a website link. They only require that it be a "quality" site and that the site link back to the Travel Web Directory. There was no definition of "quality," however. Definitely a beta site with a lot more work to do.

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eBookers.es - Mobile phone phrase books

For 4 Euros you can download a 17 language phrasebook from the Spain-based eBookers.es. The website is entirely in Spanish, since English is one of the 17 languages (and the PR announcement was in English), it should work for us Anglophones. There are 200 traveler-related phrases that are both shown in text and vocalized on the phone. Since I travel mostly in Asia, Manadarin Chinese and Japanese are included, though Bahasa-Malay/Indonesia is not. In addition, my HTC phone is not on the list of phones that the phrasebook will work on. And finally, have you actually ever bought one those little pocket phrase books? I have, over the years, but I have never actually pulled one out and used it.

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SegnaloItalia.it - Digg-like voting system for Italian tourism

This website focuses on alternative accommodations, such as B&B and farm stays, plus events, and touring routes. Places and establishments are rated and reviewed, all in Italian, from what I saw. And there is a Google map showing the distribution, and you can see who has voted for what sites. If you know a little Italian, this could be a great resources for seeing the "real Italy."

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Extravigator.com - Discussion forum for luxury travel

The website describes itself as "Haute Travel Talk" and "Where sophisticted travelers go to discuss first class experiences." Categoried includ hotels, dining, spas, shopping, and more. Since I cannot afford traveling first class, this is not a site that I find much interest in. (I am, however, a charter subscriber to Budget Travel magazine -- I have 10 years of back issues.)

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Chokti.com - Multimedia destination information

To me, Chokit is sort of a YouTube portal for travel destinations. They link to audio (podcasts?), videos, photos, maps and journals, and users can upload their own material and aggregate them for specific destinations, which can then be presented on a personal or business website. I am not sure how the latter works. When I browse the site I see about 1300 resources listed -- most of which seem to be videos of the US and Europe. There was only one for Southeast Asia. Some a linked from Youtube and similar sites, while others were apparently uploaded by amateur users. There are quite a few other travel video sites out there, and I guess one difference with Chokti is the ability to add other multimedia files -- though I did not see any browsing around Europe, Asia and North America. I also found the interface somewhat cumbersome.

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Nile Cruise Podcast

This is supposed to be a weekly podcast. They have three episodes up, and the last one was posted on Oct 22. It is a good podcast, but hmmm, they seem to be a few weeks behind -- unless they have already podfaded. (Three podcasts is a very common podfading break point.)
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Tripology.com - Connecting travelers with travel agents

Despite of (or maybe because of) the growth in online travel, Americans are apparently returning to travel agents to some degree, in part because doing it all themselves is perceived to take too much time. On the Tripology website, travelers can submit a trip request (by destination or type of trip) and get responses from one to three travel agents from the Tripology network of over 6000 travel agents. To connect you with the best agent, the site asks a lot of information about your planned trip. While I can see that a travel agent would like much of that information to plan a trip, I can also see how the Tripology website owners could use this information for product development and marketing. I personally am uncomfortable providing a lot of information like this online. I also rarely use travel agents, though their list of travel agent myths gives some good reasons to consider one. Even though they have a blog, there is nothing else that is "Web 2.0" from the users perspective.

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This review took a lot longer to research and write up than I expected. There are some interesting efforts taking place. While quite a few of them fall short of ideal (from my perspective), I still think theat they all provide insight into the exploding landscape of Travel 2.0.