Archive for Exhibition

Auto Incs – Car Exhibition

Collection of Sport Cars

Collection of Sport Cars

Well it is always nice to see a collection of the best cars in one location – so when we were in a taxi ride passing by Auto Incs, near Commonwealth MRT, we noticed that there was a line of Ferrari’s, Porches, Lamborghini’s and Maserati’s – now THAT’s a collection.

But there are still no Bugatti Veryon’s in Singapore just yet – apparently they barred it from being imported as it was still a left hand drive and thus, cannot be registered in Singapore, accordingly to the Yahoo report in Aug 2014.

Apparently, it isn’t just Bugatti Veryon’s that cannot be driven in Singapore…there was a CNN report in Feb 2010 that four Lamborghini Reventons were registered to Singapore owners, but they couldn’t drive it on the island’s roads!  How funny.

ROWAS 2014 Event (29th Aug)

ROWAS 2014

ROWAS 2014

Well another year, another Reach Out With A Smile (ROWAS) event – where we intend to visit as many merchants as possible, and refresh the POP and Decals and give the opportunity to re-enforce our Value Prop, obtain any merchant feedback and identify any new merchant leads or issues with merchant suppression.

This year, we meat at the Mapletree Business Centre, and then we registered – mine was at the Marina Square complex, so by 1pm, I made my way there with 2 other peoples, and we blasted the mall with decals, POPs and materials etc.

After finishing, I met up with a colleague and the g/f at the Black Swan – and we enjoyed the Friday evening at this quite pleasant establishment.

Another week finished…and now onto September 🙂

Singapore Yacht Show at One°15 Marina Club

Through the investment company that I have an account with here in Singapore, I received an invitation to visit the Singapore Yacht Show in Sentosa Cove.

It was a 4-day event starting on Thursday 10th through to Sunday 13th April, so I decided to go on the Saturday to enjoy the sights and sounds.

I located the place with relative ease, taken the Sentosa Express all the way to the final Beach stop, and then the shuttle bus to the Sentosa Cove location.

The first part of the show was an exhibition tent ranging from expensive cars, to the parts and other bits and bobs that relate to yachts and sailing in general.

The second part related to a walk-about and in some cases (if you were early enough to schedule an appointment) a tour of one or two of the yachts).  I could see from a distance that it was going to be an expensive show (luckily no money left my wallet), but the Yachts on display were simply amazing. They ranged from size from the small(ish) to the most majestic and huge vessels.

It was fun being amongst the upper class (and there was certainly lots of those around the show), but for me, it was just interesting to see how the wealthy folks spend their money…haha!

ONE°15 Marina Club
11 Cove Drive
Sentosa Cove
Singapore, 098497
Tel: +65 6305 6988
URL: http://www.singaporeyachtshow.com

Aaron acts as a tour guide

Well what an interesting start of the year, an ex-colleague from the UK office was in town, as she was now working on a project that related to Singapore. It was great that she was able to come out and meet her team, whilst at the same time, we managed to enjoy the sights and sounds of Singapore over the weekend – Aaron became the tour guide for the weekend 🙂

She was in town for about a week, and it was good to see an familiar face and catch-up on the latest happenings from the UK and my old team – it sounded like a lot of change since I left over a year ago. I do kinda miss the UK and Brighton teams, but actually I don’t really miss the work.

So on Saturday, I commenced the tour from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on the north side of Marina Bay, we then walked along the promenade towards Boat Quay and the Fullerton hotel, we headed across towards China Town, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Year of the Horse – as we headed into the Chinese New Year festive period. After that, we took the MRT and went across to Marina Bay Sands, taking the sights and sounds of this landmark. We had a bite to eat at the MBS food court – like any tourist does these days. I then noticed that there was this Ice exhibition on, called 2 Degree Ice Art – in an area just outside of the main MBS facilities. So we went in here, the tickets were a bit pricey at S$32 a ticket, but at least my mum (who was joining us for the tour) was able to register with a Senior ticket (at S$26). The exhibition centre then had the audacity to ask whether we wanted coat and gloves…we asked what temperature was inside, and they said -15oC. I don’t think we had much choice as we were wearing summer-ware!! Anyway, they charged us another S$5 each…making the whole session a total of S$105. Ouch! It was fun inside, and a nice way to see the various monuments of the world calved into Ice Sculptures. We then headed back into MBS, and we decided to do a bit of retail therapy. I got a nice pair of Hush Puppies shoes – very comfortable and reasonable, and a nice selection.

We then had a couple of options, head towards the original Botanic Gardens, or visit the Gardens By the Bay. I decided that we should do this, so we headed there, which is a short walk from the MBS complex. There was a nice Dragon dance within the gardens which was very entertaining (I do wonder what these guys do for the rest of the year!!). We then continued our walk around the gardens until we arrived at the 2 domes, we went to the ticket line. I had my ‘free’ pass, and I then tried to see if there was any ‘senior’ tickets, they said only for local residents, which was a shame. Anyway, I then had this brainwave, and as local / EP-visa holders was slightly cheaper, I pretended to buy one for myself (even though I already had an annual pass entitling me free access), so I got one expensive (S$28), one cheap (S20) and I had my own annual pass …haha! a bit crafty – but that’s me 🙂 If no one tells, I won’t!!

We went into the two domes, I do feel that the flower one is better, as they change the displays to the current themes etc. The first time I went, they had a tulips display, previously it was the horse display, similar to this time. But still nice all the same. The Cloud dome was a bit boring, but was refreshing inside at least.

After this, we headed back towards the hotel across the Helix bridge, just as they were doing some sort of art projection on the ArtsScience museum monument. Very nice indeed, it was like they were throwing paint across it in time with the music. A great show! We then went to the hotel, and relaxed at the bar, and then said our farewells.

On the Sunday, it was more of an Orchard Road tour, so we met up for Brunch at the Wild Honey at Scotts Square location – very nice and tasty indeed. We did a relaxing walk down Orchard Road, being part of the hustle and bustle of the Sunday afternoon. A bit of window shopping and retail therapy throughout the sprawling malls and shops along the road, before we ended up at an interesting wine bar just off Orchard Road – the House of Robert Timms – an interesting spot, as you can watch the world go by and enjoy coffee (or wine, in our case) and chill and relax. We then made on our way, a nice way to end the Singapore tour and the busy weekend 🙂

Amex Reach Out With a Smile (ROWAS) Merchant Event

Each year, the American Express Singapore team go out on a merchant event to say hello to them and thanks for accepting the card.  This year, it was scheduled for Friday, 25th October and we were based at the Fullerton Hotel.  This is a great way to speak to our merchant customers, something that the majority of the Amex team will unlikely do on a daily basis.

At the start of the event, there was some general quiz questions and I jumped to the chance to answer. I knew the MC that was on stage, and he knew it was my birthday, so he managed to get 400 odd Amex Singapore employees to sing Happy Birthday to me – what a nice treat 🙂

We separated into various teams, and the GNP teams were based around Orchard and Somerset.  My particular location was the Concorde Hotel – I initially was given 3 sheets of merchants (about 75-80 locations), but then 2 of the sheet were taken back, so I only had 30 merchants to visit, phew!

Some of the merchants were ‘interesting’ – especially as this place had a House of Condom and a few bars/clubs – the latter would be difficult to visit, as most would have been closed.  It is strange why these are still added to the merchant list, when we can’t “see them” during the business day. Anyway, I did the majority, gave all of my gifts out and actually enjoyed the visits and speaking with the merchants.

I took special attention to visit the House of Condom location – an ‘interesting’ shop…haha!  I managed to speak with the sales agent/owner, and she agreed to put an open/close sign on the door – which she kindly put up on the spot.  Lovely juvly – job done! 🙂

National Geographic Exhibition at the ArtsScience Museum

The Amex Social Club team arranged for a session at the National Geographic Exhibition which was exhibiting their 50 greatest images in Singapore for a few months. It was located at the ArtsScience Museum in Marina Bay Sands, and I always wanted to have a look at this collection. In fact, I was very keen on the National Geographics – as I have this thing about nature and world cultures – in all its beauty, but never got around to subscribe, so this was a good way to see some of the best images in the world 🙂

It was a remarkable collection, and it was certainly a special selection of the best photos of our generation – and it was good spending it with some good chums from the office. The irony is that whilst it was a Singapore Blue Box event (all employees), only 4 people turned up – and they were all from the ‘GNS’ world – so became a mini GNS team-build – haha!

If the exhibition comes to your town – you MUST pay a visit to see the fabulous images!

HK Friend Visiting Singapore – BOGOF Guinness – and then Karaoke

The brother of a university friend, who is based in HK and I visited when I went there around Christmas last year, was visiting Singapore and we agreed to catch-up, have a few drinks and grab some food. It was a great way to catch-up with him again and see another fellow “Ang Moh”. We went to enjoy a nice evening drinks session starting at Overeasy at Boat Quay – always a good spot to meet and have a few bevvies before we move on. I always enjoy this place, ‘cos it’s a good spot to enjoy the night life, it’s got a pretty good atmosphere, it’s great for people walking and very central to meet in the middle – oh and they serve the black stuff 🙂 Haha!

The chap spoke very good mandarin (mega jealous!) and we went for Szechuan cuisine for dinner in China Town – and I was extremely impressed by his ability to converse well with the restaurant staff! This reminded me that I need to put myself them on a course of something…it has been 6 months already…my bad…grrr!!

The food was delightful – bit spicey, as Szechuan cuisine is, but delicious and very tasty. I think we just ordered the right number of dishes for the two of us – which can’t be said for the table of 3 girls next to us, who seemed to order for the world! Funny when you see them surrounded by all of the dishes (they were pretty large plates too) – lol.

I then got a message that a work colleague was heading over to Cuppage in Someset for Japanese, so we decided to join them. We met them at the J2 Bar – which serves as a KTV place – yup you can see where this is going! After continuing the whiskey bottle that we previously put behind the bar, the two ladies arrived, and it wasn’t long before we started singing our stuff. I did a few interesting tracks (or should that be ‘varied’ tracks) such as Oasis – Wonderful, Blue – Park Life, and then my choice of music went downhill when I sang Cheeky Girls and their infamous Cheeky Girls title track. Funny and memorably (whoops, not sure if that is a good thing). Hey-ho!

We then finished off and headed our separate ways at the end of the night – or should that be early morning. I think it had gone past 2am … and then we remembered that we had to work that next day. Yup the head hurt a bit…for some reason (I think the mixing of drinks probably didn’t help) 🙂

DBS Marina Bay Regatta 2013

A two-day event scheduled for the 18th-19th May along Marina Bay.

I have heard about Dragon Boat racing, but wanted to … no not give it a go … but witness the sport in all its glory, and what better way than popping back to Marina Bay and enjoying the sights and spectacle of this amazing water sport.

Looks hard work indeed – well watching that is – but they do make it look (relatively) easy.

A pleasureable visit to the Gardens by the Bay

Well to fully utilise my annual pass, I decided to pay a visit to the Gardens by the Bay last Sunday – the newly opened (since October 2012 – still new to me!) Botanic Gardens just opposite Marina Bay Sands.

It is a pleasant location, and I must admit the timing was absolutely perfect, as the temporary Tulip display was ending on 20th May – so if I didn’t do it, it would have been a sad mistake. It’s kinda visiting a little bit of the Netherlands in Singapore – Europe in Asia – haha!

I decided to visit both the Flower Dome (where the Tulip display was) and the Cloud Dome (where there was an indoor waterfall display). Both were delightful, and definitely worth a visit.

The captivating part was definitely the Cautus and Tulip display (in the Flower Dome) – which was a very simply but delightful display, and for the Tulips, it was the glorious colours that made the display.

I wasn’t that impressed with the Cloud Dome personally, but it was more of an education display about the pressures on our global water supply and how precious water really is (remember those days from school?) – haha…

Either way, a very enjoyable early after session – a nice way to walk off my Sunday Roast – hehe!

Wine Tasting – Hubert Lignier Wines

I was invited to join a couple of friends for a wine tasting event at Crystal Wines @ River Valley Road.  The winery is called Hubert Lignier – and when we arrived we were directed to the table to “deliver” the wine.

We were given a wine glass, and a stamp-card for the 7 samples – apparently, we were only meant to sample each wine bottle once until the 7 stamps were completed.  This particular wine tasting didn’t provide a host to explain the differences, just a chap sitting behind the table that pours the wine, and briefly explains some of the background of the wine bottles – but it was a bit ‘limited’ in the terms of a more detailed run-down.

We ended up chatting with each other for a while, and we basically continued drinking, nibbling at the cheese until the wine tasting session ended.  They didn’t seem to mind, I guess for them if the wine is open, they would have to finish to themselves, so might as well give it to potential customers 🙂

We did take a walk around the wine merchants/shop – and I did notice a nice display of Barolo Wines as well as Montupulcino – my favourite two Italian wines – but alas all wine in Singapore is very expensive.  So I opted for one of the ‘weekly specials’ – the Windy Park Sangiovese – another nice red grape.  I hope it tastes as good as it looks 🙂

I do hope that they do a Barolo wine tasting soon – haha!

Crystal Wines
491 River Valley Road
#01-02/03 Valley Point
Singapore 248371
Tel:      +(65) 6737 3540
Email:  retail@crystalwines.com
URL:    http://www.crystalwines.com

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