Next stop Singapore and it is 6 years since I have visited so I was interested to see what had changed. Looking out from the airplane window flying into the country, the success of Singapore’s trade is seen by the numerous ships waiting to enter the port. The flower lined drive from Changhi airport to the city brought back memories of previous times. For this visit, I was participating in a conference at Nanyang Technical University (NTU) which is to the west of the island. To the taxi drivers, it is the furthest distance from the airport taking 40 minutes and occasionally during my stay, there would be the occasional grumble that NTU was too far out for them. The University Campus is well planned and even in the heat and humidity, most of the places are easily accessible. There are some interesting buildings including the Hive (a student learning hub), and the School of Art, Design and Media with its curving double buildings. Other interesting NTU departments that I visited included the Medical School which had a mixture of old and new architecture. If you are interested, the conference that I attended was organised jointly by the University of Birmingham and Nanyang Technical University.
During the conference, there was also some downtime and I visited an old friend, Gareth Pearson, for a drink in the Marina Bay at night. He also arranged for me to visit Altitude which is the highest bar in Singapore with spectacular views over all the city and the Island. Following this I came down to Sea Level and caught a taxi from the Fullerton Hotel to an evening reception at the Tanglin Club which is one of Singapore’s oldest and prominent social clubs. The meal and company were great and the bar was well stocked as can be seen from the pictures.
In between my numerous meetings and the conference, there was also a chance to briefly visit Clarke Quay and the surrounding area of the Singapore Cricket club which not had not changed much since my last visit. The weather at midday is hot and humid so I took some photographs but did not linger very long.
On my last night in Singapore we had a reception at the National Art Gallery. The bar in the Gallery is called Smoke and Mirrors and has commanding views over the Cricket club and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Its central position allows for great photographic opportunities of the skyscrapers around the city both day and night.
Singapore is one of THE places to visit in the world and it does not disappoint. The place is always changing yet retains that British charm that made the place what it is today.
