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Posted at 19:47 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 15:48 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 03:29 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 03:13 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 12:30 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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What a day! What a week! Everyone's exhausted!
Between the content packed 4 days (I keep telling Anne that no one can accuse the group of coming to Singapore for a vacation now!!) and the effects of jet-lag ... the group is pretty much worn out by now.
The great news ... tomorrow is travel day ... which means lots of hours in the air, flying to Dubai with time for rest :-)
The last day in the Lion City started with a walk through the beautifully manicured Botanic Gardens, one of the highlights of this city. Nothing like starting a day with a walk through the park, before the heat and humidity take their toll.
From there we took the metro from Orchard Road station to Toa Payoh, where we checked out the HDB complex of subsidized government housing (read following post).
Lunch was at Suntec Convention Centre where the group had individual meetings with various Singapore based associations. And although I didn't go there ... I heard the lunch was spectacular and informative. The centre of the table being a wonderful flower showpiece ... made out of vegetables!
And with that, the study trip to Singapore is slowly coming to an end. The only thing missing ... the last supper! Guess where we went? The Zoo!! The multi-awarded Night Safari. I think the highlight was when the gigantic elephant took a liking to our lovely Anne and sprayed her with water from his trunk ... although she was lucky that he just missed, and the water just barely missed her. Otherwise she would have been soaked!
Oh ... and how could I forget? The zoo visit started with a 30 min show, where about a 1,000 people got to watch various animals perform tricks. At one point, they drag this massive python onto stage. Of course, they're looking for a volunteer from the crowd to hold her ... Maggie! The lights are searching the crowd and finally they stop ... and single me out! YIKES!!! Got pulled onto stage and had Maggie wrapped around my neck and waist, with her tail going in between my legs!
Needless to say ... I was nervous. Maggie was very long, very thick, very heavy, very smooth, somewhat cold ... and I could feel it ... VERY POWERFUL!!!
Best of all, someone took a great picture of this ... now I have to get my hands on that photo for posterity ... so that I will remember why they called me 'macho man' when I got dragged onto stage.
Thank you Chester! Thank you Li Ling! Thank you MCI! Thank you group!
Posted at 09:13 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 09:10 in ASAE Study Trips, Events in Singapore ..., Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Why don't we start with the end of the day?
The whole group came over for dinner to our house tonight ... and it made for such a relaxed evening with some amazing food. Don't worry ... we didn't cook ... otherwise it wouldn't have been amazing!!!
And for the first time I saw everyone in casual wear ... there were even some T-shirts and shorts :-)
Before dinner started, we had invited a traditional Chinese face-changer to do a performance. I know there is a Chinese name for this, but I just can't remember it now. It is a traditional dance from the Chinese opera, where the dancer keeps changing face-masks, until at the very end he reveals himself. To me it represents the many faces of multi-cultural Singapore.
So now, let's start with the day. I also have to announce that Anne and myself got our nicknames this morning ... Twitter Anne and Blogger Bo. You know what I do ... you can only guess what she does.
Singapore Workforce Development Agency
'We help you stay employable in today's ever-changing world'
WDA was setup in 2003 ... which is when you realize that given that Singapore is a very young country, a lot of these governmental agencies are not very old. Yet very accomplished. And all with master plans.
It has 4 key outcomes:
1) build a pipeline of workers (there are several new jobs/skill sets in SG for which there is no precedence, e.g. ride technicians for the new Universal Theme Park to open in 2010, as well as dealers and croupiers for the new integrated resorts ... aka casinos)
2) bridge structural skills gaps (transfer employees from the dyeing textile industry to the booming biomed industry ... where once they sewed fabrics, employees can now sew heart-valves)
3) raise industry standards
4) enhance worker employability (employees over 40 years old are considered mature)
> Continuing Education and Training Masterplan - is a source of competitive advantage since the country is resource scarce
> WDA is not a training provider - they provide training through accredited training providers
> introduction of absentee payroll concept: when a private company sends staff for training, WDA will pay the wage of the employee for the given training period, so that s/he is not a cost/burden to the company. Makes for a win-win situation.
> approx 500,000 employees have missed out on mainstream education, thus WDA tries to bring them back into the system
... is an alliance of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Ministry of Manpower, to create a one-stop centre that aims to attract global talent into Singapore.
... is a job portal site
The first thing that impressed me is their tag-line
'The dot is hot'
It was once said that 'Singapore is nothing but a red dot on the map' ... and that line has stuck, where Singapore is often referred to as that little red dot.
> Singapore has around 60 islands, but the majority are either small rocks, or used for military purposes, refineries or integrated resorts. Thus, it has no natural resources other than its people
> It is most probably second after Japan in terms of ageing population. There are not enough Singaporeans to sustain economic development ... so foreign talent is necessary.
> it is a global home to diverse talent
> they gave a great example of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which is a small tropical jungle in the centre of Singapore. It may be small, but it has a bigger diversity of trees than you would find in North America. And that is the great analogy for Singapore: Small, but very diverse.
Meeting over ... and then ... coffee break with Chester leading the way ...
Till now we've had Singaporeans selling us their impressive country. With the presentation at the US Embassy, for the first time we had foreigners talk to us about Singapore's achievements ... giving it perhaps a more objective, unbiased view.
Funny enough, their evaluation wasn't that different than what we got from the government agencies.
> Singapore punches above its weight!
> SG is the biggest port in the world, however, only 5% of the cargo actually stays in Singapore
> 1/3 of all ships in the world cross the Malacca Strait ... thus Singapore's geographic location is very strategic
> Even though official language is Malay, the administrative language is English (education is in English as well)
> US and Singapore are close partners but NOT allies. SG foreign policy is to not get too close to anyone
> Obama and Clinton are expected to make their first appearance in Singapore in November, for the 2009 APEC meeting
> Foreign policy is to strengthen ties to all major powers
> Singapore lives in a difficult neighbourhood!!
> SG is the 12th largest export market for US (US has $13 billion trade surplus with SG)
> due to the openness of the economy, this year the government expects a negative growth of -6% to -9%
> lot of foreign companies in Singapore but very few Singaporean companies (entrepreneurship needs to be encouraged more)
> SG is the 3rd largest refining centre in the world
> Exxon Mobil always builds a power plant within their refining plans, to guarantee the supply of electricity. Singapore has the only refinery in the world without a power plant. Utmost reliability!
> duty-free except alcohol, cigarettes and cars ... that are taxed to d#$@*
> it is estimated that 20,000 Americans live in Singapore
> 1,500 US companies present in Singapore, most of them with regional responsibility (ranging from the Gulf to Japan)
> US FDI in SG is the 2nd largest in Asia and the 12th largest in the world - US$ 83 billion, which is much more than China
> trans-shipment hub for people, money and products
> lots of money and containers moving through but not much control
> interesting observation: in Singapore you are told what to do, while in the US you are told what you can't do
> 2.2% unemployment ... which is considered very high since there is no social safety net
Luncheon at the Intercontinental
What a beautiful ballroom that was. Beautiful Venetian chandelier above us, with walls covered in rich tapestries amidst the wooden panelling. And there we are sitting in the centre of the room, like royalty! Doing what? Eating of course.
During lunch we exchanged experiences and views with representatives from the World Toilet Organization (WTO - yes, you're reading this right!!), CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) and WONCA (Global Family Doctor)
The discussion revolved around why they chose Singapore for their Asian association base?
> proximity of travel
> excellent value for money
> excellent calibre of local staff
> strong commitment to education
> global media presence
> beware of currency fluctuations when budgeting
> you can get translation help very easily
> cheap printing costs
The funniest line from this meeting came from the World Toilet Organization, who shares an acronym with another more famous WTO. After all, they said, we have so much in common ... we're both interested in big and small business!
Cultural Program
Today was much less intense. We even had a more relaxing cultural program after lunch. The group visited Chinatown, Little India and Arab Town ... viewing the vast Singaporean diversity in this small city-state.
To end ... and prior to coming over to our place for dinner ... they went to the Fish Spa. Will let the pictures do the talking.
Posted at 23:35 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Well, the funny thing about writing blogs is that the first one you read is actually the last activity you did.
So going to view the impressive Marina Barrage was actually the end of a very long and successful day with the ASAE & The Center study group. So you need to read the next article to see how the day actually started.
About a year ago I read about the Marina Barrage and the concept of it immediately piqued my interest. Singapore, with such a small land mass, has to maximize whatever little land it has ... and this is an example of complete control of it's environment, through immaculate planning, in order to make the city-state as independent and sustainable as possible.
Singapore has no natural water source of its own. It produces water via desalinization plants, utilizing vast existing catchment areas, importing water from it's neighbours ... and since last November ... with the completion of the Marina Barrage project ... it has completed the largest catchment area in the city, about 1/6th the size of Singapore. All-in-all, the Marina reservoir will boost Singapore's water catchment area to 2/3rd of the total land area.
I believe that once the salt water has been flushed out of the bay, Singapore will be totally self-sufficient in terms of its water needs.
The way the barrage works is that engineers have dammed the marina bay area, and as the rain-water flows into the Singapore river and marina bay, it will slowly flush out the sea water within the next 24 months. Basically, the dam is built in such a way that the salt water cannot come into the bay, but the bay water can be expelled out into the sea.
There is a great audio-visual tour within the grounds, which explains to you the mechanical functionings of this project. Fascinating is all that comes to mind!
Even better, besides being able to observe this wonderful engineering marvel from up-close, the views of the Singapore skyline from this vantage point are simply stupendous. Especially with a beautiful sunset in the backdrop.
We ended up eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant at the Marina Barrage ... and yes the dinner was wonderful, especially the chili crab ... but we were all so exhausted by this point that all we were looking forward to is to hop on the bus and head home for a good night's sleep.
Posted at 23:58 in ASAE Study Trips, Events in Singapore ..., Sight-seeing in Singapore ..., Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 23:52 in ASAE Study Trips, Travel reviews ... | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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