Holed in an Island

It's another trip to Singapore again, this time staying at the newly renovated Shangri-La Rasa resort in Sentosa. I have never been here but was quite impressed with the setting and the unique view. The sea is just littered with possibly hundreds of ships of different sizes, a good sign of how strong and vibrant the country's economy is.

Sentosa itself is apparently a lot cooler than the city centre because of the constant sea breeze.

Staying at the resort is all work and no play though. In one of the evening, had the chance to hear an incredible talk from one of the key government figure, Ambassador Ong who is the Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He shared the story on the challenging journey that the island state went through to be be successful and truly well developed and having a vibrant and mature economy as it is now. In particular, the main formula was the constant re-inventing of herself in almost all sectors of the economy over the last 40 years. This is even more incredible as the country has no natural resources, dwarfed and constantly competing with and under threat by the larger neighbours.

Shahbandaring

I came to know this new word from the local radio - Shahbandaring - I guess it means the act of going to Bukit Shahbandar for a bit of walk and exercising.

Indeed I can be counted as a regular Shahbandaring person .

For the regulars, one of the most annoying part of the park is the large troop of monkeys scavenging the dustbins and sittings on cars. Although they are not aggressive but can be quite menacing when in a group and dangerous for children.

There is now some development going on in Bukit Shahbandar to spruce up the place and provide more decent facilities for the general public. A new toilet block is in the making which will be a most welcomed addition to the park.

The backtracks however need a bit of attention. The small bridge across one of the stream is nearly collapsing. It has been like this for the last three months. With the current prolong wet condition in Bumi Bertuah, some of the trails are fast deteriorating due to erosion and are becoming slippery. Hopefully the park wardens have plan to rectify the problem.

Cricket and Life of Luxury

It's the cricket fever. Amidst the high tech and ultra modern buildings that make the city, the formidable forces that sweat and labour behind the contructions always remain anoynymous and hidden.

But tonight outside one of the sport shop at the Marina Bay Shopping Complex, we saw this amazing concentration of people from the sub-continent seated in an orderly and discipline manner watching the match between India and Pakistan. What a sight.

The Marina Bay Sands shopping complex is huge. Known as The Shoppes, it boosted a high-end and luxury shopping destination, filled with renowned luxury brands and designer labels shops.

But amidst all these, it is pleasing is to find a big food court within the complex and best of all it also has a couple of halal stalls. We learnt that the whole Marina Bay Sands complex employs something like 10,000 directly.