By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE–No, it’s not your regular Ferris wheel ride. You won’t be able to feel the wind blowing at your face. Instead of gondolas suspended from the rim, it comes with capsules that could carry more people. It says one capsule could carry as much as 28 people.

The Singapore Flyer is currently the world’s highest observation wheel. It is 165 meters high from the ground — about 30 meters higher than the London Eye, with a diameter of 150 meters.

The first time I saw the Singapore Flyer, it looked much like the London Eye from afar. I almost had my chance to ride the London Eye several years ago.

After an afternoon session with a key executive here, Oracle Corp. decided to take the visiting Southeast Asian journalists for a ride — a unique one. Most of us were first-timers. So everyone brought their digital still or video camera to document this 30-minute ride.

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By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

BANGALORE, India–It rained hard.

Just a few hours before my scheduled flight to Singapore, on our way to Bangalore, a freaky rain shower kept planes scheduled to land in Ninoy Aquino International Airport hovering over Manila. Our plane got delayed by almost two hours. By the time we took off, I was tense. I was constantly looking at my watch to find out if we still had time to catch our connecting flight to Bangalore, India’s version of Silicon Valley.

But just a quick rewind. It was unusual for Singapore Airlines to be late. But our plane was just that — very, very late. Some passengers started crowding the table near our gate, asking if they could still make it on time for their connecting flights. The airline announced the flight had been redirected to Clark airport (huh?) so it was expected to arrive an hour late. I made a quick calculation. Since we had a three-hour window to catch our connecting flight, I didn’t panic.

I was wrong.

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