Posted by Jess
12 June 2011
Last week I had the opportunity to visit Singapore for a few days of meetings. Singapore is an island country about 7.5 hours Southwest of Japan. It's actually made up of 60+ islands, but only totals up to about 270 square miles of space. It's about 85 miles north of the equator so its about 90 degrees every day and sticky every day year round! There are about 5 million people in the country, with about 3 million of them as native Singaporeans, which mostly are Chinese, Malaysian or Indian descent. There are four official languages - one of which is English, which made it nice for me!
While I didn't get much time out and about during our time there, we did have two stops during our time there. The first is the Raffles Hotel, which was a hotel opened at the turn of the 20th century while Singapore was under British rule through the East India Company. And every movie you've ever seen about jungle expeditions and old colonial rule was right on at this hotel. I LOVED IT. Seriously, I could have stayed there forever - although rooms are more than $500/night, so they'd eventually kick me out. I wanted to buy a safari hat, find some mosquito netting and wait for a tiger to walk by. I think I might have found the time of the world that I was meant to live in.
A Raffles Hotel Singapore Sling is:
The casino resort was right on the bay so I was able to get one picture of the skyline as we left. Like I said, I didn't get much time to explore Singapore, but found it to be wonderfully tropical, family-friendly, clean and overly air-conditioned. I hope I'll get to go back and spend more time there. Since my company's International Headquarters is based there, I'm sure I will!
Kanpai!
Jess
12 June 2011
Last week I had the opportunity to visit Singapore for a few days of meetings. Singapore is an island country about 7.5 hours Southwest of Japan. It's actually made up of 60+ islands, but only totals up to about 270 square miles of space. It's about 85 miles north of the equator so its about 90 degrees every day and sticky every day year round! There are about 5 million people in the country, with about 3 million of them as native Singaporeans, which mostly are Chinese, Malaysian or Indian descent. There are four official languages - one of which is English, which made it nice for me!
While I didn't get much time out and about during our time there, we did have two stops during our time there. The first is the Raffles Hotel, which was a hotel opened at the turn of the 20th century while Singapore was under British rule through the East India Company. And every movie you've ever seen about jungle expeditions and old colonial rule was right on at this hotel. I LOVED IT. Seriously, I could have stayed there forever - although rooms are more than $500/night, so they'd eventually kick me out. I wanted to buy a safari hat, find some mosquito netting and wait for a tiger to walk by. I think I might have found the time of the world that I was meant to live in.
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| fans at the Long Bar |
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| the Singapore Sling - invented here in 1917 and cost about $25 each today. yikes! |
1 oz (30 ml) Gin
1/2 oz (15 ml) Cherry Brandy
4 oz (120 ml) Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz (15 ml) Lime Juice
1/4 oz (7.5 ml) Cointreau
1/4 oz (7.5 ml) Dom Benedictine
1/3 oz (10 ml) Grenadine
Dash of Angostura Bitters
1/2 oz (15 ml) Cherry Brandy
4 oz (120 ml) Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz (15 ml) Lime Juice
1/4 oz (7.5 ml) Cointreau
1/4 oz (7.5 ml) Dom Benedictine
1/3 oz (10 ml) Grenadine
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Singapore is Western friendly and is a large financial and industrial center with a bustling port. This means that there are many foreigners there and tourism/service is a huge industry for them! In the past year, the government legalized gambling and there are two casino resorts in the country. Singaporeans have to pay a hefty fee to enter (in order to keep the locals from getting addicted) but foreigners more than make up for it. In 2011, Singapore - with only 2 resorts - is set to take over from Las Vegas as the 2nd largest casino market in the world. I didn't go into the casino, but we had dinner at one of the resorts one night. The shopping mall attached to the casino didn't disappoint either - every high fashion brand you could think of and not a single thing I could afford!
The casino resort was right on the bay so I was able to get one picture of the skyline as we left. Like I said, I didn't get much time to explore Singapore, but found it to be wonderfully tropical, family-friendly, clean and overly air-conditioned. I hope I'll get to go back and spend more time there. Since my company's International Headquarters is based there, I'm sure I will!
Kanpai!
Jess
9:02 AM |
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