On board of Starcruise Aug'08
We're still young!
I want to travel around the world before settling at some place warm enough to be my permanent shelter. To be near my family: my Father, who always supports and encourages me to dream farther and achieve higher and from whom I admire for many things; my beautiful Mother, who not only encourages me but also loves me much enough that I can feel how it is to have all the love in the world; and my lovely Sister with her own very charm and energetic spirit, think of you and miss you everyday... And of course, my dear childhood friend, Little Monkey! Hope you'll soon find your own way to life & be able to develop your full potential.. I know you can & you will. All my Love, with You "I'm Home" (",)
On board of Starcruise, short holiday Singapore - Malaysia - Thailand
Modern Singapore - a cool place to live!
"Singapore is the world's fourth leading financial centre, and its port is one of the five busiest ports in the world. The economy depends heavily on exports and refining imported goods, especially in manufacturing, which constituted 26% of Singapore's GDP in 2005. In terms of purchasing power parity, Singapore has the third highest per capita income in the world." (wikipedia) Holding a place in my heart, Singapore is perhaps one of the great countries for living and working. I have stayed in Singapore for 6 years, finishing my study and then working there shortly in 2 years. Being really a multi-cultural countries, what I have missed when being away from the country is also the harmony and equality of different nationalities, the effectiveness and directness in the work. Singapore is well-known as well for one of the lowest corruption level with transparency in its governing system.. Well, I guess I can only say good things about the country, the only thing that might be a drawback is the size of the island country, which encourages a number of the locals' oversea holidays..
One of my enjoyable holidays was the 4 or 5 days cruise trip from Singapore to several other islands, the two main stops were Phuket in Thailand and Penang in Malaysia. The photos in this entry are all views when the cruise ship is in Singapore.
Star Cruise Singapore - Penang - Phuket Island, 2008
Clean and modern Singapore
Starbucks again!
When I stayed in Singapore, Starbucks was often a place for myself to hang around during weekend, relaxing, enjoying a cup of Mocha, reading books, magazines or writing as well as thinking about a new perspective for my future. I also spent some time searching on internet for a Master program in Europe. When I found the Erasmus Mundus Masters, I also based myself almost every weekend in roughly two months at Starbucks developing my application documents.
Fun time at Starbucks!
Gilfriend - a typical happy eating and shopping day (to celebrate my 20+th birthday) with my lovely close friend Minh Hang! Singapore 12/08. "Lovely colors and picture! Great shot!" - a comment from a flickr's friend, panaxy.
Like the sea around it, Singapore never stops changing. The island is also known as a 'shopping heaven'! You can just walk from a shopping mall to another one in cool air-conditioning without having to walk outside in the relatively hot weather. There are continuity of shopping malls which suit everyone's favours. And every shopping mall is crowded, you will normally see flows of people. Shopping and spending time at the shopping malls is kind of a common habit, as for me there are not many other things one can do when living in this small island. So we have done quite plenty of shopping, beside eating out, meeting friends, going to the gym and playing tennis. Our favourite shopping places are the area around the famous shopping street "Orchard road" or "Plaza Singapura" at the "Dhoby Ghaut" MRT station.
In Singapore one can find most of buildings including residential blocks are highrise, 20 storeys are common. The above photo is one example of a nice condominium named "SimVille" - the first condo that I stayed after my graduation and started my work in a civil engineering consultancy company.
Visiting the Singapore Flyer with my colleagues in the company
"The Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel in Singapore that was constructed between 2005 and 2008. Described by its operators as an observation wheel, it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 165 m, making it the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, 5 m taller than the Star of Nanchang and 30 m taller than the London Eye. The final capsule was installed on 02.10.2007, the wheel started rotating on 11.02.2008 and it officially opened to the public on 01.03.2008. Tickets for rides on the first 3 nights were sold out for S$8,888 (5,490 €), an auspicious number in Chinese culture. The grand opening for the Flyer was held on 15.04.2008." (wikipedia)
View of Singapore in sunset from the Flyer
"Each of the 28 air-conditioned capsules is capable of holding 28 passengers, and a complete rotation of the wheel takes about 30 minutes. Initially rotating in a counter-clockwise direction when viewed from Marina Centre, its direction was changed on 04.08.2008 under the advice of Feng shui masters." (wikipedia)
Sunset at Changi airport budget terminal - Singapore 04/06/2009.
Our flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore was delayed, instead of arriving Singapore in mid-afternoon, we witnessed this golden sunset scene right after the plane landed. This shot was taken through the plane window.
Roses bring me happiness - 02/07/2009.
I remember I often received roses to brighten up the little condominium apartment near Dhoby Ghaut in Singapore. We had got a fun time living in Singapore, playing much tennis, swimming, enjoying cooking various dishes as well as eating and going out with much shopping. Happiness can be real simple; maybe one can even feel more happy with a simple life, simple joy.. Love can be simple!
Airbus A380 Singapore - Paris 07/2009.
We moved in mid-2009 from Singapore to Paris, a total new life! I was so excited at first to discover Europe, little that I knew I would have to face so many changes in my life.. Should I wish the life that I had got in Singapore back? I could never give an absolute answer to that question... How would my life be if I chose the other path, would it be really better? There can't be an answer to my own kind of odd question, because nobody could turn the time back or see into the future, nobody could know in advance how his/her life would be if he/she follows a certain path but not the other. I don't feel regret about my choices, never regret about all the happiness, joy and a bigger wider perspective of life that I have experienced, even beside happiness there were also pains. As every day passes by, I still feel thankful about my current life and the future to come. Although I must admit in between some dark moments in life, I do ask myself sometimes, more frequently in my sleep, how my life would be if I took another choice at a turning point of life. Guess everyone needs to face at least once in their lives a difficult choice that makes them probably wonder "what if...".
The point is just not to look back at the past only and keep wondering, but it is more valuable to look into the future and try at the current present step by step to build a better future life. That is more important!
Singapore Zoo
We have visited the Singapore Zoo on the first day of the New Year 2009.
Singapore Zoo is a nice place to visit with variety of plants, species and animals, including white tiger and North Pole bear etc. The place is very family-friendly.
Beautiful flower garden
There are also animal shows organised in the Zoo, quite entertaining!
A white tiger is on average only 1 among every 10000 normal tigers
It is kind of amazing to see in a country with always hot weather like Singapore a Pole Bear. I hope Singapore always accommodates his icy living condition for a long time! :-)
An enjoyable visit to the Singapore Zoo
The atmosphere of Christmas in Singapore can be very joyful, with festive decorations of shops, streets and a number of celebrating events. The holiday is fully Westernized (in my point of view) as a big celebration. This period is also one of the peak sale seasons (beside summer sale in the middle of the year), especially right after the Christmas night. As I know when working there, people also take leave from work to queue before the shops are openned when there is a special sale. Living in Singapore create a habit to queue for freebies and sale, which sometimes can be quite entertaining and a 'special joy' when being able to buy a good product at discounted price even after hours of queuing. ;-)
Skyline of Singapore with the Flyer on the right from an office building at the Raffles Place, before the National Day's celebration started.
Firework celebrating the Singapore's National Day
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a "Southeast Asian island city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. The country is highly urbanised with very little primary rainforest remaining, although more land is being created for development through land reclamation." (wikipedia)
Singapore will always have a place in my heart! It has showed me an open door full of opportunities to the world far beyond my own small world, so that I have got a chance to live my life and experience much more than what a young girl from a third world country could if she did not come to Singapore.. Six years: I have got a nice cool time living in this lovely island, where one can find and appreciate equality, transparency (to an acceptable extent), work efficiency as well as relaxation, simple joy and friendliness in reality! And if it just depends on myself about where I will work and live in the future, Singapore is definitely in my consideration. Surely I will be there sometimes on the way back to my hometown. After few years away, I have a longing to see Singapore again!
Singapore, 07/2003 - 07/2009.
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