Singapore - A Foreign Perspective...

Singapore takes centre stage for 2012 vote

By Geert De Clercq

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Royalty, heads of state and sporting celebrities are flooding into Singapore for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting on Wednesday that will chose the host city for the 2012 Summer Games.

The 3,000 to 5,000 visitors, including Spanish Queen Sofia, French president Jacques Chirac and boxing great Muhammad Ali, can expect to find a city that is very different from Moscow, where in 2001 Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 Olympics.

Singapore, a city of 4.4 million people, is one of the world's few city-states, like Monaco and Vatican City. An equatorial island at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula, its surface area is just under 700 square kilometres -- about eight times the size of Manhattan.

Although frantic building is claiming more and more green area, Singapore is known as "The Garden City". Upon leaving the spotless Changi airport, a visitor's first impression is of palm trees and pink bougainvilla blooms dripping off the flyovers.

Traffic jams are rare, because the number of cars is kept in check by a licence scheme and road pricing. London mayor Ken Livingstone, who flies in to support his city's bid, knows all about it as he introduced similar congestion charges at home.

WEALTHIEST COUNTRIES

With a gross national income of more than $21,000 (11,786 pounds) per person, Singapore is one of the world's 20 wealthiest countries and Asia's second-wealthiest after Japan.

In the mid-90s Singapore was one of Southeast Asia's "tiger economies", but the 1997 Asian crisis hit the economy hard. Singapore's trade-dependent economy has been dealt further blows since by the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2000, 9/11 in 2001, the Bali bombing in 2002 and the SARS epidemic in 2003.

As Singapore's factories struggle to compete against low-wage China, the government is steering the economy towards services, focusing on education and health and even dropping a decades-old ban on casino gambling to boost tourism.

A popular souvenir is a T-shirt that says "Singapore is a fine city" with pictures of behaviour that can get you fined, such as spitting, littering and not flushing public toilets.

It is perfectly legal to chew gum here but you cannot buy it except for medical reasons.

Most visitors' first taste of Singapore regulations is an irritating ding-dong in the taxi when the driver exceeds the speed limit.

The city-state enforces some of the world's toughest drug laws. Anyone aged 18 or over convicted of carrying more than 15 grammes (0.5 ounce) of heroin, 30 grammes of cocaine or 500 grammes (17.6 ounces) of cannabis faces execution by hanging. Several foreigners are in Singapore jails for drug trafficking.

SOCIALISING, SHOPPING

When meeting people, present your business card with two hands.

Social kissing may be the norm in bid cities Paris, Moscow and Madrid but it is not in Singapore. It is not uncommon to be asked how much you earn or pay in rent, but it is okay to be evasive.

Many Singaporeans speak a peculiar slang called "Singlish"; a staccato form of English that drops most articles and tenses and ads the word "lah" at the end of many sentences. "I used to live in London" becomes "Last time I stay in London-lah". "Can-lah" means "yes". "Cannot-lah" means "no".

A Singaporean won silver for weight-lifting in 1960, but the country has won no Olympic medals since independence in 1965.

Singapore's national sport is shopping, so it is only fitting that the IOC venue is Raffles City -- a huge shopping mall.

The five candidates to host the 2012 Summer Olympics are Paris, London, Madrid, New York and Moscow.

Day 135...

Oooo... Today marks the 135th day of my stint in Aussie!!! Just back from Milton to search for the musical box that Cat & Plene want; but they do not have those songs at Milton either... I went Roma Street to make a booking for my day tour to Fraser Island tomorrow; rather excited but a felt a little 'ke3 xi1' coz the day tour will not be bringing me to the Maheno Shipwreck... but will be passing by someother shipwreck tho'. Guess Fraser Island is too big!!!... haz... But it is indeed the world's largest sand island and is listed under the world heritage list. =)

Day 131 was partially spent in school to return my swipe card and took some photos in school with hong ee too... Headed to the city thereafter... Night was spent at clubbing at "Family"... It was a special event called "KlubCandy" that day coz it is an asian party...It is organised by the HK, Jap and S'pore Society in the universities here... There is only twice each year after the end of each semester... The pub is quite big and ha 3 levels... I like the music at the first level most and the lighting effects are fantastic too... However, in the mist of it, we got hungry and walked to Chinatown for porridge before going back... Headed back at about 3am but slept only at 630am coz I was caffeinated by the milk tea during supper...haha...

Slept about an hour and woke up for breakfast... Made a few photo collages and headed to the city... Came back in the early afternoon as I was dying to sleep..haz.. (Watch "Zero to Hero" on my computer..., it was a rainy Day 132)

Day 133 was even more boring coz the skies are pouring... till goldcoast is flooding now... Read from the news that Pacific Fair (the largest shopping complex in the southern hemisphere is closed due to the floods too. Also heard that a couple was swept off the highway along gold coast... Arghz... I spent the day watching the show from 3pm to 2am...hahaz...

Yesterday (Day 134) was defintely musch more interesting... Headed off to school to do some stuff before heading to Toowong to find the Dustbin man (take photos...hahaz)... He is quite well known in Brisbane and has even appear on TV a couple of times... I heard that he can actually afford a decent life but chose to stay in the pile of rubbish outside St Thomas Church. He said that he has commited bad deeds in the past and is trying to make up for it now... Interesting...

Headed back to Indooroopilly to meet Sylvia and Edward for outing... Jolene met up with us briefly too... We even went to Priceline to search for Sylvia's sister... and Sylvia refused to tell us which is her sister... but I spotted it straight away in Priceline supermarket. She's Angela...haha... Her first sentence to me was "Tong Hua"...hahaz... coz we chatted over msn on her sister nick before and both of us like it very much... Ahhh... do not get the wrong idea...she's already attached... haz... But really an interesting way to meet her sister... All the best to her final year in high school... Oh yea... "Batman Begins" was great!!! =)

I'm going Mt Cootha for photography now... Seeyaz... Hmm... tomorrow shall be my first trip alone to an island... Hope the people on the same tour group as me are interesting...=) Got to run!!! (Oh yea, Jolene has went to Melbourne for touring and Sylvia to Melbourne for skiiling..., bon voyage!!!)

An Affair with "Middle of Nowhere"

I realise that I love to be in the middle of no where... In the semi-deserts in Adelaide (South Australia) where the long winding roads are never ending... It is there where you will be surrounded by majestic mountain ranges... It was a humbling affair.... They tell me straight in my face that I am nothing more than a dot in their eyes... I am at their mercy... I have to respect them and be in awe of them... It is also there that one will realise that our problems are insignificant and hence, no problems are insurmountable... It is just a matter of shifting our perspectives and the level of our persistence to resolve them....

(Oh ya, no one can contact me when I am in the middle of no where as there is no mobile reception... hahaz=))

Never waver when facing adversity... =)

3 days after exams...

Yea... it has been three days since my final paper (Peter Sutton's paper to be exact)... =)... Took photo with Yeow Meng and Serina outside the main library to mark the completion of the module!!! Hahaz... Headed to Macdonalds for a deli sandwich before heading back to the lodge... Met up with Iskandar and Winson to go to a pub called Embassy in the city... =) It was my first time to an Aussie pub... As usual, I am an observer at such places... - a place where spirits and hormones mixes... The majority of the the pubbers were Aussie - I think there is less than 10 asians inside (namely, from s'pore, HK, china and japan...) The french guys were there too; Piere and John had arrive earlier than us and they have went to Royal Exchange and DownUnder before heading to Embassy... Tinnesh appear after a considerable amount of time; fortunately, we did not wait for him outside DownUnder... hahaz... It is free entry for the pubs in Australia and you only need ot paid for a drink... I have a "screwdriver" - orange juice mixed with vodka... - courtesy of Winson... It was freaking cold that night... It was already freezing in the afternoon before my paper even though the sun was blazing down.... (I heard a middle-age woman exclaiming: "Jesus! It's freezing" in the afternoon outside Indooroopilly shopping mall, haz...)... Cold is indeed an understatement for that night... We took a Maxi cab back to the lodge at about 2 plus - slept only at 4am after drinking some self-made Miso soup to keep myself warm... =)

The next day (Day 128) to be exact... Hong Ee and I headed for the city to check out day tours for Lamington National Park... Met up with Sylvia thereafter and accompanied her for her dentist appointment at Chinatown... As she's going for skiing in Melbourne next week; she is shopping for some skiiling clothings too... Winter sales were on the rage in Australia now... We decided to walk to South Bank from Chinatown... The route was: Chinatown (Fortitude Valley) -> Eagle Pier Street -> UQ Guild House along Brisbane River -> City Botanical Garden -> QUT -> Skipped Southbank.... (it was too late then as we walked leisurely)-> Winter shops in city (Columbia, Kathmandu etc... ) Bought some stuff at Kathmandu as they are having 50% store wide winter sales!!! Headed back to lodge at 6 plus as we need to go to Jason's house for Glady's farewell dinner... The food was great! He should become a chef manz!!! Went for dessert there after at a Coffee Club thereafter...

(Ahh... I am tired now) But the next day was spent in the city as it was the Brisbane Pride Day (Gay & Lesbian Festival) and today was spent at Lamington National Park... Jolene made a big discovery that her classmate at UQ was one of the family member of the O'Reiley family who owe some part of the national park... She realised it when she saw her friend's portrait(Benaedact O'Reiley) in the main all of the the O'Reiley guest house... Need to get her signature man... hahaz... It happened to be her birthday today so she was not at the guest house... And oh yea, she's the same age as me too... Got to bath now... tired.... NitezZz... CAC Orientation is commencing soon... All the best to the councillors and I am sure they will make it a memorable one... =)