From the top, same view but different thinking, I hope
Had lunch at the top of One Raffles Place yesterday, tallest building in Singapore, I am told. Used to be called UOB Centre but now changed to the more fashionable One. Taxi driver moaned on way over, “They always changing names.”The views looking out over the bay are amazing. It still looks lik [...]
Help, I am being stalked but I’ll take the fish head curry anytime
A long time ago, I was stalked. I am sure many of you have had that experience before. That feeling of being watched and followed, getting strange letters and worse, having strange letters about you sent to your boss, your parents, your friends.Well, that feeling’s coming over me again. And the st [...]
Final touches, outrageous requests – are you ready?
Woke up this Friday morning to realise that two Fridays from now, I will be taking an AirAsia flight to Chiang Mai where I will then take a five-hour ride to the Golden Triangle to take a breather in the hills of Northern Thailand.The weather should be superb this time of year and I am looking forwa [...]
I dream of being an irresponsible teenager with money
Each time I attend the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE), I find myself wishing I was older and retired – about the only time I wish I was older, I can tell you that for sure.That’s because then I’d be like a “teenager but with money”, as Peter Harbison of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviat [...]
Steve Jobs – he knew me, you know, and he knew you too
I was wondering about doing a blog piece on Apple and the iPhone 4S - struggling with what to write.Then, yesterday - when I first heard the news at 7.45 in the morning (Singapore time) - things changed. And the subject of the piece became clear.I was going to talk about about how a ‘disappoint [...]
Planet Travel thanks you, Steve Jobs
In the wee hours of this morning, I was inspired to write a column about how, to me, the iPad’s been the best thing to happen to travel in a long time. A few hours later, I woke up to an Apple home page that showed a black-and-white photo of Steve Jobs.My throat clenched. My heart sank. For a mome [...]
WIT Charity Auction to help build a school and dormitory for young girls in Laos
I was curious to meet Marie Cammal. I had heard of her work in Cambodia rescuing young children from prostitution, abuse and rape. Her organization, Sok Sabay which means “happiness” in Khmer, has done such good work that in 2004, Time Magazine singled her out as one of 27 European Heroes. Ment [...]
Are you ready for a Groupon-ised kind of life?
I had my first group buy meal with my girlfriends the other evening, it was a Teochew steamboat feast in Joo Chiat – 50% off , and all the prawns you can eat for free.I must say it was scrumptious and the fact that we were saving half our money through the superdeals voucher while putting on twice [...]
Letter from Bhutan, Pt 4: Living on the edge of happiness
“The thing is, nobody says don’t make money. Just that if you don’t, it’s okay,” said our dinner host, shrugging. “It’s important not to take things too seriously.” Tobgye Dorji (left) shrugs and laughs a lot. A wonderul host during our stay in Paro, he comes across as someone who's [...]
A heady brew of exits, passion and Gen Y desires
I think I traded too much beer last night. So forgive me if this post is a little incoherent, but what the heck, it was the last WITNext in Singapore before we begin the countdown to the WIT Conference in October. It was great for Fritz Demopoulos, former CEO of Qunar, to fly in from Hong Kong for [...]
