Hello! I am back in Singapore, and will be staying put in town for the next 2-3 weeks J, except that tomorrow I will be making a day trip to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to participate in the INTI College career fair.

I made my maiden trip to Myanmar two weeks ago. I was received with warm hospitality from the people in Myanmar. In fact, I found that people in Myanmar were very familiar with Singapore: almost everyone I met had a friend or relative who was studying or working in Singapore, most had visited Singapore, the Singapore education system was available in the local education centres, you could read The Straits Times daily in some of the hotels etc…I even wondered if Singaporeans know better about Singapore than several of the people I met in Myanmar!

I was also in Bangkok last week. I flew in and out of Singapore via the Changi International Airport Terminal 1. The airport currently has 3 terminals, and Terminal 1 is the oldest. It somehow brought back some memories of the days when I travel with my family as a kid using Terminal 1. That was probably about 20 years ago where we only had Terminal 1…Gosh…in twenty years we had added 2 more airports and I heard Terminal 4 and 5 are already in the planning! 

Alright, enough talk about the airport (already had 2 entries on that). I am looking forward to spend the coming weekend in town…heard that the “Audemars Piguet International Polo 2009” Tournament Final will be at the Signapore Polo Club this Sunday…this is one of the many events that the Singapore Tourism Board promoted to fill up our calendar with exciting activities for both tourists and locals. One of the four Cantopop Heavenly Kings from Hong Kong, Aaron Kwok, just came to perform in Singapore two weeks ago (he flew in his own stage!), and for those who are more into partying, you should not miss the Singapore River Festival 2009 next weekend (starting from 19 to 27 June 2009). There is always something happening every weekend, and the weekend is never long enough in Singapore J

Hi there, my name is Ray and this is my first post on the Contact Singapore (CS) blog.

Though this is my first blog, I have actually joined CS to cover SEA since August 2008. My key markets are Malaysia and Myanmar, and I called them “MM”…in case you are unfamiliar, “MM” is the acronym for Minister Mentor in Singapore, who is MM Lee Kuan Yew.

MM Lee is our first Prime Minister (so he was PM then) and held the office from 1959 to 1990. After the baton was passed to our second PM Goh Chok Tong, MM Lee served as Senior Minister (SM) from 1990 to 2004.

MM Lee is a highly respectable figure in Singapore and globally. In fact you can find his wax figure at the Madam Tussauds Museum in Hong Kong!

Talking about Hong Kong, I was there in early April and have been on the plane every week since then, except for this week which I am taking a break from Changi International Airport. I will resume travelling, for both work and leisure next week for another 4 consecutive weeks till early June…sometimes I wish I can stay longer in Singapore but the fact that Singapore is so conveniently connected to the rest of the world is not helping me to stay at home…nowhere feels like home: from the arrival back at Changi International Airport, one can feel the orderly peace of Singapore. Everything here is very intuitive, and you would seldom feel lost anywhere in Singapore. I would just need 40 minutes from touchdown to reaching my doorstep somewhere in the Central-Northern part of Singapore (Changi International Airport is at the Eastern tip of Singapore)!

I gotta go now…to finish up my preparations for my 4 consecutive weeks of travelling…will try to post an entry again soon to share my experiences on my trips…come back soon to find out where I would have been in the next 4 weeks!

During my recent visits to Malaysia, common hot topics of discussion revolved around the escalating property and transportation costs in Singapore. Must admit, the cost of living in Singapore is amongst the highest in Asia but this should come as no surprise as Singapore offers state-of-the art facilities for education, shopping, sports and recreation just like western countries.

Singapore is amongst one of the best places to live in. Mercer ranked Singapore 1st for its quality of life in Asia (Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Worldwide Quality of Living Index 2007), as well as Asia’s No. 1 place to live, work and play (Mercer Human Resource Consulting 2005-2006).

Though Singapore has bagged many awards and accolades, many people didn’t expect Singapore to come in first in a study of happy countries. The finding was captured in a recent global study called Blue Zones, which was reported by ABC News 20/20 show. The American TV programme explored why Singaporeans are the most contented bunch of people in Asia.

Learn about the first hand accounts from both Singaporeans and immigrants on what exactly make Singapore, the happiest place in Asia. Read about the full article report (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=4097264&page=1) and we welcome you to visit Singapore and decide for yourself if this is the place for you!

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