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Together with a colleague (Frans) I was asked by Philips Singapore to help a
team to work on the Philips L7 TV chassis. We stayed in Singapore during the months April and May of 1997.
First I stayed in the hotel
Royal Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Scotch road.
A week later I moved to the
Orchard Apartments.
On this page I want to share my experience with you.
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Evening impression of Orchard road and MRT travel.
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I just met Annemieke so I agreed to do the trip only if she was allowed
to come over during my stay in Singapore. Philips paid for the extra trip for Annemieke.
The 2 month did have an unforgettable impact on me. Singapore is a
multicultural society. People live in peace with each other. The city is alive day and night. The
taxi fee is cheap. The subway is very well organized. Because Singapore is a "fine" country, it is a clean and save country.
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This is an example of the Singapore metro MRT (=Mass Rapid Transit) fines.
Having the same fines and enforcement would solve a lot of problems in the Netherlands!
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Everywhere you go you will hear air conditioners. So you have difficulty to find a quit place. You
can eat many different foods for little money. There are a lot of "Hocker centers" where you will
find many culture foods.
You also have to get used to the humidity (99%).
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This is first hall you will see when you arrive in Singapore. It is the arrival hall of
Changi Airport.
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This is Merlion. The Merlion has a head of a lion and the body of a fish.
The Merlion was designed by Fraser Brunner for the Tourism Board in 1964. In 1997 the Esplanada Bridge
was just finished (bridge on the left). When I saw the statue position I thought it was wrong positioned.
This is the original
Merlion location in 1997.
The statue is relocated on the 23 of April 2002 to the
new location.
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Behind the Big Merlion you will find the little merlion.
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This is a shot in the
Orchard apartments where I stayed for 2 month.
On the roof top there is a swimming pool, sauna and gym.
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Frans -my colleague- and I visited the "
Bukit Timah nature reserve".
The visit was an experience of a life time. It is like survival journey in a jungle.
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Explore Bukit Timah with me in this video.
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Feeding the monkeys made them very aggressive.
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Annemieke and I booked a boat trip to the Singapore
Kusu Island or "Tortoise island" (Chinese).
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View of the Singapore harbor.
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On the boat we had a nice lunch.
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On the
Kusu Island you will find a Malay shrine and a Chinese temple. The legend has it that
a giant turtle turned into an island to save 2 shipwrecked sailors, a Malay and Chinese. As an
act of thanks, the two men build a Chinese temple, Malay shrine and a huge turtle sculpture
on the island. |
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There are many temples in Singapore. You are allowed to visit them on bear feet.
This is the
Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple in Chinatown.
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Upstream on the south bank of the Singapore River you will find
Boat Quay.
Since the 1990s, Boat Quay has been transformed into a pedestrian mall with restaurants, pubs, cafes and
clubs. Annemieke and I had many a great dinners in these fine restaurants.
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On the North bank of the Singapore River
Sir Stamford Raffles landed.
He founded Singapore on the 29th of January 1819.
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Many souvenir shops make it difficult to choose what to buy.
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The
Jurong Bird Park has an area of 202,000 square meters. It opened the
doors in 1968.
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At the Jurong Bird Park, a drawing was made for me. We have put it on the
wall at our home. The Phoenix and the Dragon is also the logo of the "ronaldsnoeck.com" domain.
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In this video the drawing is explained.
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You need more than one day to explore the whole park. This is a video of the Jurong waterfall.
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The
Singapore Zoo occupies 28 hectares (0.28 km˛) of land. There are about 315
species of animal in the zoo.
You can also visit the Night safari.
Here Annemieke is receiving a kiss from a giant elephant.
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You probably never experienced rain like in Singapore. You need only a view seconds to become soaking wet.
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This pair of gardens includes a Suzhou-style Chinese garden and a Japanese garden
sited on two adjacent islands and linked to each other by a bridge.
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From mount Faber you can take the
cable car to the Singapore Sentosa Island.
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The Mount Faber cable car station.
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Sentosa, which means tranquility in Malay, is a popular island resort in Singapore,
visited by some two million people a year.
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The Underwater World oceanarium on Sentosa is home to more than 2,500 fishes
from 250 different species. This is a sea dragon.
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Clown fish.
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Sentosa is a major tourist attraction, it hosts a sheltered beach of more than
two kilometers in length on its southern coast were we had a great swim at the Palawan Beach.
Palawan Beach, where a
suspension bridge links beach-goers to the Southernmost Point of Continental
Asia, or Asia's closest point to the Equator, boasts beach bars where you can chill out while staying
in touch.
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A colleague suggested a trip to the
Kota Tinggi
(Lombong) waterfalls.
The Kota Tinggi Waterfall is located 62km away from Johor Bahru and 16km away
from Kota Tinggi.
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Kota Tinggi waterfall video.
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We took the bus nr 170 from Singapore to Johor Bahru. Larkin Bus Terminal we
took the bus to Kota Tinggi. From the bus station in Kota Tinggi we made a deal with a cab driver to
get to the Kota Tinggi Waterfalls.
Tip:
Be careful when you have a working permit. When I reentered Singapore the customs did not continued my
working permit. My visa became valid for only 1 month. Philips had arange a new visa.
At one night in the weekend I went with some colleagues to the
Singapore hooters bar.
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Lots of beer and nice girls made the evening to an unforgettable evening.
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"The joy of sax" is the slogan of the Saxophone bar. This bar was just
100 meter from my apartment, I spent many evenings listening to many blue's bands. In the video you will see OD Levey.
The
Saxophone bar was located in the Peranakan Place Complex. In 2005 when I returned it did not exist anymore.
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Every day we went for lunch to a hocker centre nearby. A hocker centre is place
were you have a lot of small kitchens close together. All kinds of foods can be found.
I was promised that the first hocker centre I visited would be a real culture shock. Before the chicken
rice was served the women cleaned her forehead with the dishcloth, then she cleaned our cutlery and
finally our table with the same cloth.
The Chicken rice we ate was delicious.
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This was our
favorite restaurant. Sam was always cheerful. Here we just
finished our lunch. Sam is serving our coffee.
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Lunch at Sam's.
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This is shot of the
lab were Frans and I worked on the L7 TV chassis. We
worked together with 3 French colleagues.
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Video impression of the lab.
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