EAPSI 2011 Singapore Orientation

The EAPSI orientation was on Monday 06/13/2011 and Tuesday 06/14/2011. Monday was a formal day with a brief Opening Ceremony where folks like the Provost of Research from NTU and a representative from the US Embassy in Singapore greeted us. Following the talks, we had a reception with really amazing food—my favorite was the Roti. The rest of the day was spent filling out paperwork to register the fellows as research students in Singapore.

Tuesday was a really fun day of sightseeing. The bus picked us up from East Lodge around 12:30pm. We started off the day with a tour of the Local Transport Authority (LTA) Museum. The museum had exhibits that covered the history of transportation in Singapore from the days of rickshaws to the current MRT system and then had a “Challenge Room” where we got to make decisions to address the challenges of transportation in the future. The highlight of the LTA Museum, though, was the movie at the end of the tour which was supposed to depict Singapore in 2020-it was basically a scene from a futuristic movie where you can just talk and a virtual assistant will make appoints, book reservations, contacts family members etc etc. What made the movie hysterical was the “Zap me later on my mobile if you’re free later” quote from the virtual assistant. In context, it made everyone cracked up laughing but tour guide seemed bewildered and asked why we were all laughing.

Next stop on the tour was the Changi Museum, which is dedicated to all those who suffered during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during WWII from 1942-1945. The museum had many quotes and photos depicting the horible events that happened during that time—very distrubing and moving.

From the Changi Museum, we headed over to the Marina Area for some photo-opps of the Merlion and Marina bay sands-- a cool futuristic looking building with what seems like a cruise ship on the top. We ate dinner at the Esplande, then headed to the Night safari.

The night safari was by far the coolest thing we saw that day—over 1000 nocturnal animals in their natural setting. It was amazing how close we could get to the animals. Unfortunately, no flash photography was allowed to protect the animal’s eyes, so I don’t have many pictures to show you from the Night safari—but take my word for it the Night Safari is one of the things you HAVE to do if you ever come to Singapore.

2011 EAPSI Singapore Fellows

                                               

                                                     Waiting for Opening Ceremony to Start

Reception after Opening Ceremony--The Roti was phemonenal!

Opening Ceremony Reception

  Exhibit at LTA museum--this was Singapore Traffic Light back in the day

Me "driving" the old style buses in Singapore

MRT Map with all the EAPSI fellows in the reflection

Chapel at the Changi Museum

Some of the EAPSI fellows in front of the Merlion

Me in front of the Marina Bay Sands

View of Marina

Esplanade--Locals call it the Durian

Baby Merlion--this is the first thing you see when you walk up to the marina and my reaction was "I thought the Merlion would be bigger..." Then I saw it's mamma.

Me at the Night Safari

Tiger at the Night Safari--unfortunately because of the no flash rule, this was the only picture from the night that came out