This year, the Singapore Arts Festival was a huge success as usual. The theme was 'water' and both the opening and closing shows were performed on water - Boat Quay, Bedok Reservoir. Performances included 'Water Fools' by the French group Ilotopie and 'Hydro Sapiens' by The Lunatics.

The event was also taken out on to the streets!
The Singapore Street Festival showcased acts such as breakdancing and yo-yo competitions by talented youths from Singapore. Besides that, there were also free performances put up at The Esplanade called the 'Flipside'. It was held in conjunction with The Singapore Arts Festival and offered fun and quirky dance, music and theatre performances.

To sum it up, the 4-week long spectacle captured the hearts' of the audiences and had everyone wanting more and looking forward to the event in 2009!

Labels: Singapore Art Festival

Labels: Singapore River HongBao

Labels: FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup 2008

Pico Art International was assigned to prepare the event venue. In preparation for Singapore 2006, The Singapore 2006 Organizing Committee has built 1,032 fully-fitted office suites within Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. These double-storey suites are completed with interior design fittings, air-conditioning, lighting, electricity, telephones and IT connectivity. 100,000 flowers and shrubs were used to beautify the landscape around the area as well as other parts of the island planted along pavement androad dividers.

The Organizing Committee has also launched the “Four Million Smiles” campaign to rally Singaporeans together in welcoming the 16,000 international delegates and visitors. At the launch ceremony, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged Singaporeans to take pride in Singapore’s opportunity to host this significant event and to unite together to provide our guests with a “Uniquely Singaporean Experience.” Pictures of smiling Singaporeans will adorn the Suntec Convention Centre and Changi Airport, which be the first places that delegates will be coming through. “Four Million Smiles” aims to add a human touch to the sheer mass of logistics behind the huge event.

Because singapore had been a target for terroist attacks and the violent protests at other meets, high levels of cecurity was maintained in and around the vicinity of the main events. Over 10,000 police officers had been deployed at the various venues. Traffic police were deployed to key juntions to redirect the traffic due to the road closures near the events venues.

Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre has been closed to public during this period, and several car park entrances to the mall have been closed to the public. During the event, Suntec City and the convention centre is being taken care of by the Singapore Police Force and CISCO Security, with many policemen patrolling the mall and the convention centre. Vehicle checks are done by the police when they enter the carparks.

It has been reported that since 10 September 2006, when road closures have been implemented, there has been a drop in shop businesses and various restaurants in the areas close to the IMF and World Bank meetings venues. Suntec City has also given promotions to its shoppers to attract shoppers, and special privileges have been given to the delegates for the meetings.

Now we move on to what happened on the various days.

11 September 2006, Monday

Registration for the meetings started on this day. Meeting delegates commenced officially at City Hall at 0800 hours Singapore time.

14 September 2006, Thursday

Civil Society Forum opens and an introductory briefing was held. A press briefing about World Economic Outlook (WEO) was held. There were 5 forums held that day.

1) Civil Society Accountability in Disaster Relief: Lessons from the Trenches - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

2) Social Enterprises and Social Development: The Opportunities and the Challenges - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

3) The Role of the International Monetary Fund in Low-Income Countries - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

4) Low-Income Countries in Asia and the Role of the IMF - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

5) CSO Planning Meeting for the Town Hall - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

15 September 2006, Friday

There were 1 CSO Townhall meeting, 2 press briefings and 3 CSO forums held on this day.

Meeting

1) CSO Townhall Meeting with Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato, and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz - Suntec Singapore

Press Briefings

1) Press Briefing by IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato - Suntec Singapore

2) Press Briefing by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz - Suntec Singapore

Forums

1) Breakfast meeting for CSO representatives with Homi Kharas, World Bank Chief Economist for East Asia Region and other regional senior staff to discuss Bank policies and work in the region - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

2) Promoting Compliance and Conflict Resolution: Experiences of World Bank Group Inspection Panel (IP) and Compliance Adviser Ombudsman (CAO) - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

3) "Poor Women’s Interventions in Global Trade and Commerce – Issues and Implications" - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

16 September 2006

2 meetings, 2 press briefings and 3 forums were held on this day.

Meetings

1) Program of Seminars annual meetings - Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore

2) Group of 24 Ministers meeting - Suntec Singapore

Press Briefings

1) Press briefing on the World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation by World Bank Chief Economist François Bourguignon and WDR director Emmanuel Jimenez - Suntec Singapore

2) Press briefing by the Chair of the Group of 24 Ministers - Suntec Singapore

Forums

1) Promises and Perils of Regional Trade Agreements in Asia - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

2) Panel Discussion and Launch: "Raising the Governance Bar in the Forest Sector: How the fight against illegal logging is benefiting Africa" and Launch of the G8 Illegal Logging Dialogue - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

3) IMF: Rising Inequality in Asia - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

17 September 2006, Sunday

8 forums, 1 press briefing, 2 meetings, 2 'graduation' ceremonies, 1 foundation lecture were conducted on this day.

Press Briefing

1) Press Briefing by IMFC Chairman Gordon Brown and IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato - Suntec Singapore

Lecture

1) Per Jacobsson Foundation Lecture on "Asian Monetary Integration: Will It Ever Happen?" by Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, then Singapore's Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance - Marina Mandarin Hotel Singapore

'Graduation' ceremonies

1) Lithuania World Bank 'Graduation' Ceremony - Zigmantas Balcytis, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania; Shigeo Katsu, World Bank Vice President for the Europe and Central Asia Region; Svein Aass, Executive Director representing Lithuania at the World Bank - Suntec Singapore

2) Estonia World Bank 'Graduation' Ceremony - Aivar Soerd, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Estonia; Shigeo Katsu, World Bank Vice President for the Europe and Central Asia Region; Svein Aass, Executive Director representing Estonia at the World Bank - Suntec Singapore

Meetings

1) Program of Seminars annual meetings - Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore

2) International Monetary and Financial Committee meeting - Suntec Singapore

Forums

1) Breakfast meeting for CSO representatives with Katherine Sierra, Vice President, World Bank Sustainable Development Network and other senior staff to discuss Bank policies and work in sustainable development and infrastructure - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

2) "The Future of IFI Policies in Asia" - NTUC-Centre

3) World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

4) Labor Standards in World Bank Operations - NTUC-Centre

5) Jobs for Disadvantaged Youth: Affirmative Action or Market Led Skills Development? - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

6) "An Investment Framework for Clean Energy and Development" - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

7) Roundtable: Education for All - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

8) Press conference on "NGO Report on the World Bank's Clean Energy Framework" - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

18 September 2006, Monday

4 forums, 1 seminar, 1 press briefing, 2 meetings were held on this day.

Forums

1) Breakfast meeting for CSO representatives with Praful Patel, World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region and other regional senior staff to discuss Bank policies and work in the region - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

2) World Development Report 2007: "Citizen Youth" – Young People Exercising their Citizenship - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

3) Governance and Social Accountability - CSO Centre, Suntec Singapore

4) Small States Forum - Suntec Singapore

Meetings

1) Program of Seminars annual meeting - Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore

2) Development Committee meeting - Suntec Singapore

Seminar

1) Seminar by the African Governors

Press briefing

1) Development Committee Press Briefing by Minister Alberto Carrasquilla, Chairman of the Development Committee; Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, and Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the IMF

19 September 2006, Tuesday

8 forums, 2 meetings and 1 lecture were conducted on this day.

Forums

1) "Claiming Our Right to Know": Launch of the Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions - CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

2) Treatment Access--Affordable Options for Low and Middle Income Countries – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

3) Press Conference on "Civil Society Advocates Respond to World Bank Anti-Corruption Strategy" – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

4) Transparency and Poverty Reduction in a Resource Rich Developing Country: Lessons from Nigeria – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

5) Presentation and discussion of World Bank Governance and Anticorruption Strategy with World Bank senior managers – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

6) "Impossible Architecture" - Why the Financial Structure is Not Working for the Poor and How to Redesign it for Equity and Development – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

7) Lessons Learned by the World Bank on Sustainable Development and Infrastructure – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

8) Lessons Learned by the World Bank on Sustainable Development and Infrastructure – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

Meetings

1) Annual Meetings Opening Plenary Session – Suntec Singapore

2) Annual Meetings Plenary Session – Suntec Singapore

Lecture

1) Anne Krueger (IMF First Deputy Managing Director, Sept. 2001- Aug. 2006) on "An Enduring Need: The Importance of Multilateralism in the 21st Century" – Suntec Singapore

20 September 2008, Wednesday

1 meeting and 4 forums were held on this last day of the Singapore IMF and World Bank meetings.

Meeting

1) Annual Meetings Plenary Session and Closing Session – Suntec Singapore

Forums

1) Social Protection: Income Support to Older People – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

2) Launch of "Odious Lending: Debt Relief as If Morality Mattered" – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

3) "Discussion on the National Barriers to Sustainable Development Implementation in 15 Southern Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America" – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

4) The World Bank and the IMF after the Doha suspension: Quo vadis? – CSO Center, Suntec Singapore

The Civil Society Forum closes and the Singapore IMF and World Bank meetings 2006 ended.

all this information can be found at http://www.imf.org/external/am/2006/schedule.htm

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_2006

Labels: IMF 2006

The Singapore Food Festival is a culinary celebration of Singapore food.

Targeting both tourists and locals, the island-wide festival features activities like carnival-style food events, food tours, cooking workshops and competitions, the Uniquely Singapore Chilli Crab Festival, and a host of discounts and promotions offered by participating F&B establishments.

The Singapore Food Festival 2008 was from 4 July to 27 July 2008.

It is Jointly organised by Singapore Tourism Board and Peter Knipp Holdings Pte Ltd.

The primary partners are City Gas and NTUC Fairprice.

Other partners include Chuen Cheong Food Industries Pte Ltd, Tiger Beer, Coca Cola Singapore, Golden Village, Singapore Post, National Environment Agency and Cuppa Choice.

Venue partners include Sentosa, Suntec City Mall, Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant, Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, Robertson Walk, Creative Culinaire Cooking and Baking School, Cookery Magic Cooking Classes Singapore, Chef's Secrets, At-Sunrise Global Chef Academy.

This is the time where people can get good food at great prices! :)

Now i will talk about the top 10 must try food in SIngapore.

First up, Hainanese chicken rice.

This is said to be one of the more enjoyable food in Singapore. The rice is usually prepared with the stock from the boiled chicken. An exact temperature is required to cook the chicken so that it is very tender. Some stalls will have their very own special blend of chilli sauce, but since I don't take chilli, I can't really tell you how it tastes. others will use the dark soy sauce provided, while others like me will just eat it as it is. Another variations to this dish is roasted chicken rice.

Another local dish, which many Singaporeans says that kind of describes us is Rojak.

It is a dish that comprises of fruits and vegetables like turnip, fried tofu, beansprouts, yu char kway, cucumber and pineapple. There are some variations that use green mangoes to give it more flavour. The Indians here also have an Indian version of rojak.

Satay

This dish consists of diced-sized meats like lamb or chicken skewered on thin wooden sticks and grilled over charcoal. This Malay dish is a favourite not only with Malays but the other races in Singapore as well. This is dish often accompanied with sliced onions, cucumber and ketupat (rice
wrapped with palm leaf).

Roti Prata

this dish is one of the more common Indian dish seen around Singapore. Made from a combination of water and wheat flour, the dough is skilfully stretched, flipped and folded by the vendor to form a flat square. Roti prata is often served alongside spicy curry gravy, although sugar is also an excellent alternative.

There are many variations including the ordinary egg prata (egg added inside the dough) to the oddly named tissue prata (fried with butter, rolled into a cone shape and sprinkled with sugar).

Chilli Crab

This is one dish that does not require any utensils except maybe something to crack open the crab shell or to dig out the crab meat from 'tight spots'. Most stalls use the Sri Lankan crab to cook this dish. Chilli paste that it comes deliciously covered in comes from a tantalising array of ingredients: onions, garlic, black rice vinegar, fresh ground chilli, tomato paste and so forth.

Some stalls offer a side dish of man tou (Chinese steamed buns) for customers to dip in the chilli gravy with. Another favourite variation of this dish is the black pepper crab.

Fish Head Curry

The Singapore fish head curry is a local creation that bears both Indian and Chinese cuisine characteristics. The Garoupa's or Snapper's head is often used for this particular dish. It is served in spicy gravy made from curry powder, fresh whole tomatoes, belachan, tamarind and so forth, with just the right hints of sweetness balanced against tanginess. The meat from the fish head should have an exceedingly smooth texture and taste. This dish noramlly accompanies a steaming bowl of white rice.

Fried Carrot Cake

The local name for this dish is 'Chai Tao Kway'. The Singapore fried carrot cake is more savoury than it is sweet, and is adored for its versatility as either a mid-day snack or a complete meal in itself. The fried carrot cake consists of small rectangular rice flour cakes, fried with white radish, scrambled eggs, chopped spring onions and chye poh. You can order the ‘white’ variant, with its slightly charred crusty exterior to be fried together with extra chilli, or request for the ‘black’ version which is sweeter as it is cooked with sweet soy sauce.

Char Kway Teow

Step into any hawker centre and you’re likely to find a stall or two selling the popular fried flat noodle dish.

Its distinct slightly-sweet caramelised fragrance is often a crowd-puller. It compromises of flat rice noodles fried with dark sauce and pork lard. Now you’ll find a myriad of other ingredients like cockles, prawns, bean sprouts and eggs added to the fried noodles, together with a generous helping of sweet dark sauce, giving the dish its famed appeal and characteristic brown-black colour.

The Singapore style is, often more than not, sweet.

Laksa

Laksa is a spicy Peranakan noodle soup dish that combines Chinese and Malay elements. Sometimes called Nyonya laksa, the noodle soup dish is easily available at many food outlets in Singapore.

The highlight of this dish is the gravy. Tt should have just the right amount of coconut milk to give it its characteristic mouth-watering aroma. Complete with blanched bean sprouts, thick white noodles and topped with cockles, eggs, prawns and sliced fish cake, laksa is an excellent dish to have at any time of the day.

For those who are allergic to seafood, or are concerned about hygiene, it is possible to ask the stall owner not to add any cockles to the dish. The Katong area in Singapore is more famous for its Laksa.

And last, but definitely not the least, Bak Kut Teh.

Bak kut teh, or literally ‘pork bone tea’, is a popular Chinese soup-based dish found in Singapore.

Despite its fairly simple presentation, creating bak kut teh from the basic ingredients is no simple task — it takes hours to boil meaty pork ribs with fresh ingredients like garlic, white peppercorns, star anise, soy sauce and so forth to form the soup base.

You will probably find several variants of bak kut teh in Singapore. The Hokkiens like theirs with an extra dose of soy sauce to achieve a darker colour, while the Cantonese prefer a combination of five to six herbs for that added herbal flavour.

Recommended with a steaming hot bowl of rice, or simply dip some freshly-made yu char kway (fried Chinese dough sticks) into the soup for a perfect start to your day.

All information was gathered from and can be found at http://www.singaporefoodfestival.com/

Well, the best way to know if the food is good is to come down and try it!

Labels: Singapore Food Festival 2008

The Great Singapore Sale is an annual shopping event that transforms Singapore into a shopping extravaganza for both local shoppers and tourists. It is a major event that is co-organized by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and many other retail companies to promote the tourism industry in Singapore. The Great Singapore Sale is an eight-week shopping extravaganza which welcomes people from all over the world. It starts on the 25 May and last till 22 July for this year.

Shopping, one of Singapore’s favourite pastimes, climaxes during the Great Singapore Sale. It is the most anticipated shopping spree as it sweeps over the island with irresistible discounts and offerings. The Great Singapore Sale makes sure to cover up every angle of sale. From fashion apparel, accessories, watches, electronic goods, cosmetics, children toys to even Singapore souvenirs, every visitor will be spoilt for choice with abundant special offers, discounted prices and exclusive promotions.

There are enough offers, events and prize draws to satisfy even the most dedicated shopaholic. This is the time to pamper yourself and treat yourself in style. Shoppers can look forward to discounts of up to 70 per cent on a huge range of products, attractive spending rewards, special privileges for tourists, and even $15 deals to celebrate the Great Singapore Sale's 15th anniversary this year.

Moreover, there are even Great Singapore Sale shopping tours to bring you around to enjoy the different shopping experiences while indulging in the major retail therapy. Major shopping malls and stores will be extending their shopping hours till 12 midnight and beyond every weekend during the sale period.

For more information regarding Great Singapore Sale, please visit:
http://www.greatsingaporesale.com.sg/

Labels: Great SIngapore Sales 2008