Mom's Adventures in Singapore

Since Mom started her new job at MasterCard 7 months ago, she has had a chance to travel to many exciting places ... New York, Newport Rhode Island, White Plains, Montreal (perhaps a few too many times) and now Singapore!

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The beginning of her adventure in Singapore is entitled "THE DAY OF KATIE"... explanation below...

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Life is busy. Really busy.

And there are very few days when you wake up in the morning and can choose to do whatever you like. But that is EXACTLY what mom woke up to on Sunday Oct 30... and no better place for a "Day of Katie" than in a fabulous city like Singapore!

On 'Day of Katie', Mom woke up at 6am.

This was the view from her hotel room at the Mandarin Oriental (not too shabby, eh)

First up - a trip to the gym.

Mom thought the chandeliers were a nice touch.

The workout continued with some laps in the pool... and since mom was up so early she had the entire pool to herself. And WHAT a pool it was... 25 metres with a breathtaking view of the city skyline.

Mom fell in love instantly and never missed a morning swim throughout her entire stay

Outdoor yoga pavilion too... mom couldn't have imagined a nicer fitness centre!

After a quick shower, mom hit the street to take in the sights (and look for a nice patio to grab some breakfast!)

This is a shot of The Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. The domes are two concert halls designed for optimal acoustics

While the locals didn't celebrate Halloween, they certainly did decorate for Christmas.

This was the first tree mom had seen in 2011 - and it warmed her heart and she couldn't help but take a pic!

Mom really liked this building - the Sota (School of the Arts)

By this point, mom was starving and she managed to find the perfect spot to grab breakfast. Why was it perfect? Can you spot the rationale in this picture? :)

Belly full and ready to shop!!

Mom charted her course to Orchard Road...a small strip of road with eight million square feet of retail space that stocks everything from inexpensive local souvenirs to the latest international designer brands - and yes, I said 8 MILLION square feet!! Mom had never seen so many malls and stores - and she's been to a few in her day! Mom happened upon a sewing store where she picked up some presents for Grandma's birthday. Happy birthday Grandma!!

And no shopping trip would be complete without gifts for me (and Lola and Dylan too)

Mom was fascinated by all of the Chinese and Japanese herbal & beauty stores. She bought some very strange vitamins, teas and facial creams/masks... when in Rome...

The people who live on the island of Singapore call it "The Little Red Dot" - as that is about all of the space it occupies on most maps of the world. And while it may be small, it truly is one of the most modern, vibrant and wealthiest cities in Asia - innovating on a scale that many 1st world nations could only dream of.

Above is a shot of the Marina Bay Sands - home to a massive hotel and casino. And the piece that looks like a big ship resting on the very top of the three buildings is a park or "sky" park and a VERY cool nightclub called Ku De Ta (pronounced Coup D'Etat) that mom might have enjoyed a few scotches at one night. By far the best view ever seen from a bar!

It is important to note that Singapore is more than just a city dominated by skyscrapers - it has not forgotten its roots as a sleepy fishing village before becoming a British colony. Cultural traditions live on in the Chinese shophouses of Chinatown... also a stop on mom's "Day of Katie"

Above is a popular shopping street with hundreds of outdoor vendors in Chinatown. Mom bought some nice scarves there, that probably weren't 100% legal

Singapore has a very large Indian population as well. This is a shot of the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore - a national and protected monument

All of the terrific sight-seeing made mom hungry - again.

So, time for high tea at the hotel (and a nice glass of wine to accompany it never hurt anyone either :))

Refueled (again) and ready to shop (again)!

This time a trip to one of the thousand tailor shops for a new tailored blue pin stripe suit, silk blouse and perhaps one more thing... a traditional Chinese dress made from the gorgeous silk fabric modeled above.

Mom put her negotiating skills to full effect!

And maybe one more dress (off the rack) to complete mom's new Singapore collection

Last time mom saw one of these she was in London. Actually that is not true... she did see this exact one (called the Singapore Flyer) on Season 16 of the Amazing Race. The Flyer is the world's largest observation tower and one of the biggest tourist attractions in Asia.

And, now having seen it in person, mom truly feels for those Amazing Race contestants that had to climb on the outside of the wheel from one pod to another while stopped at the very top (a mere 165 meters or 541 feet off the ground!)

Time to stop for dinner!

So mom went to the Raffles Courtyard at the famous Raffles hotel. This historic hotel was named after Sir Stamford Raffles who founded the city-state of Singapore back in 1819 as a British trading post.

This hotel is also a national monument and has a rich history. It has housed many famous writers and actors including hollywood movie stars like Ava Gardner and Liz Taylor

So, mom brought her homework (The Pyramid Principle book), ordered a beer and settled in for the next 60 - 80 minutes.

"Tiger Beer" was mom's beer of chose while visiting Singapore. And appropriate that mom ordered it at the Raffles hotel, as this was the exact spot that the residents killed the last tiger on the island of Singapore in 1890's while it cowered under a billiard table.... yeah, really not a pleasant story
Of course, mom couldn't visiting Singapore without sampling a Singapore Sling.

It did not disappoint.

And the "Day of Katie" ended back at mom's hotel room where she was utterly exhausted and fell asleep before 9:00pm! What an amazing day!

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The next day it was all about work and the real purpose of the trip - to be trained by the famous Barbara Minto on The Minto Pyramid Principle

Barbara is the lady in the white suit in the middle. And while she looks like a friendly grandmother-type, don't be fooled - she is tough as nails and won't hesitate to tear you apart in front of your colleagues.

The rest of the people in the pic are MasterCard Advisors' staff like me who were selected for this special training. As we are a global company, we had to represent all four corners of the world.

Excluding Barbara (who is an American but lives in London), our group consisted of 2 Russians, 2 Brazilians, 1 Brit, 1 German, 1 Indian (the only Singapore resident), 1 American and 1 very enthusiastic Canadian :)

Can you guess who is who?

Truly a great group! Mom was quite impressed by the caliber of people who were selected.

And while most of the time was spent studying / working, they did manage to have a little bit of fun... but only a little!

One evening was spent at the "Night Safari" - the world's first nocturnal zoo. It was created at great expense ($100MM+) and is a big tourist attraction in Singapore with over 1,000 species (29% of which are endangered). The concept is NOT to reverse the day-night cycles of the nocturnal animals like normal zoos, but instead have a place that is open at night and puts the animals under "moonlight-like" lighting.

It also doesn't have fencing or cages like normal zoos. Mom read in the brochure that there are "natural" barriers to keep the animals in place, however, the little tiny hill between her and the Siberian Tiger didn't seem like enough!

Unfortunately none of mom's pictures of the zoo turned out. In fact, she doesn't even know what these pictures are of!!

Mom worked really hard for the week that she was in Singapore and was officially certified by Barbara. As you can see, she wasn't happy about it at all :)

Mom had an absolutely remarkable trip to Singapore. And when she saw this poster at the airport on the way home, she thought it summed up her trip perfectly. She did fall head over heels for the city-state of Singapore and had a truly "priceless" experience while visiting!