Video of the Day: Singapore's Most Beautiful Building

This is where I used to work in Singapore - Parkview Square. Incredibly beautiful modern building with oriental features and a palm yard that is surrounded by the statues of famous people like Aristotle, Galileo, etc. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Singapore and worth a visit. Located in Bugis area, it is only 100 meters away from Sultan Mosque and Arab Street (other tourist spots in Singapore). Several companies including DHL have their regional head quarters here in this building.

At the entrance hall, there's a very posh bar. Waitresses dressed like angels with wings can actually "fly" high to fetch the wine bottles on the high standing glass shelves. For me it seemed like fondling the egos of top executives and business travelers... All in all, it is a very charming corner.
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Video of the Day: Merlion of Singapore

I took it 4 years ago with my then-no-sound-video recording Olympus camera. This was another favorite place in Singapore. The reason is that it offers great view of Esplanade area, and you get to sit nearby this mythical symbol of the city - Merlion. Singapore, or Singa pura, stands for "Lion city".
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"Mr. Prime Minister, help me to find a date?!"

I've personally experienced and shared how Singapore government does almost everything for its citizens, literally! All sort of support and discounts in health care, housing and education (and that's very crucial in one of the most expensive countries of Asia). Besides it offers great education opportunities with excellent libraries, universitites, etc. The cleanliness of the city/country and the security of its citizens are of high importance for them. It treats the PRs (permanent residents) and the foreigners working there as well, but it treats better its own citizens. Check out this article as well; you can see some facts and figures about how better it treats citizens.

Well, that's not really what I wanted to tell. Mostly effective and worth appreciation and respect, this Singaporean government-citizen relationship can take amusing turns as well. It appears to be that Singaporean are people too busy to spare some time for themselves to find a date. I've been there, and I've seen that it is like same as in many places; not that they are spending 10 hours or smth in the office and have no private time or so. But government sees it as a reason for the declining birth rate, and decided to take care of its citizens again to help them find their dates! And of coz, St.Valentine's Day is perfect time for this.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Worried that a low birth rate could threaten the country's very survival Singapore's government is playing Cupid, using Valentine's Day to promote romance and marriage. Read full story.

Also, another initiative to help to find a date for dateless & desperate people. Thanks to Nacho for the photo.

p.s. There's only one step between playing cupid and playing pimp. :)

p.p.s. I love and admire this country :))

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Culture Shiok videos. Aiyoh!!

Have a ever wondered how Singaporean senior managers rap beside running the big businesses?!! Just tune your few minutes under this video;



Or have you ever run into street argument/quarrel in Singapore?!! Me not. I associate it as too peaceful place. Or have you ever wondered how "nationalistic" Singaporeans can behave?! "This is Singapore! You live where?!" Video of "angmoh" (white man) getting into trouble for hitting Singaporean girl (was that some famous blogger?)



More videos about Singapore at Cultureshiok.
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my "singaporeans"

While uploading my videos from Italy trip, I took time to add this video I compiled some time ago. Maybe it is based pure on emotions and memories, but I repeat again that that was an unforgettable experience in Lion city. Dedicated to the wonderful people who made it special for me. Here.


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iTravel videos

I recently got time and uploaded the videos I took time to time and kept in my hard drive (even though it took time and cost me some time of starvation), so here in one post I present them all.

Singapore videos;

DHL Mafia at Karaoke

2005 New Year morning on the beach at East Coast, Singapore

Mafia Karaoke, singing "Copa Cabana"

Mafia Karaoke, singing "Just like a prayer"

Mafia Karaoke, singing "Love is all around"

Mafia Karaoke, singing "Hero"

Tropical rain in New Year

MacRitchie reservoir

Glance at Lau Pa Sat, our popular outdoor dining place in Singapore. Excellent food! Also, see how Teh Tarik (pulled tea) is prepared (while Tong is watching)!!! I missed this place!

Merlion of Singapore, Singapore river, Esplanade theaters, Fullerton hotel, one of the nicest corners in Lion City.

Parkview Square in Bugis (Singapore)

Siloso beach, Sentosa

Monkeys at Bukit Timah, Singapore

Chinese Garden, Singapore

View from the Pogoda in Chinese Garden. Zoomed is Mayfair condominiums where I lived in Singapore.

Feeding the birds with fish at Jurong Bird Park, Singapore

Sanjay and Hannele on fire at Annual DHL Dinner&Dance in Singapore (2004).

Performance by Ceci and Michal :)).

Another view from DHL Dinner&Dance. Sanjay rushing towards girls :)).

At Astoria. Tee wants "dramatic collapse", Gitti saying "ye ye ye", Michal and Krishna burning the kitchen, Nacho trying had not to lose... old good days!
I won that game by the way, je je :)).


Malaysia videos;

Petronas towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

View from TV tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


Taiwan videos;

AIESEC Taiwan MCP elections result, 2006

Yang Ming Shan, Mt.Cising Main Peak (1120 m), Taipei/ Taiwan.

Lover's bridge, Danshui, Taipei

How fried ice cream is prepared. At Danshui, Taipei (Taiwan).

AIESEC trainees of Taipei singing Xmas carols in front of SOGO, Taipei

AIESEC trainees of Taipei singing Xmas carols 2

2006 New Year Celebs Fireworks at Taipei101

Farewell speech, Taiwan

Taiwanese KTV with co-workers from Datatronics

Lantern festival at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei (Taiwan)

Kyrgyzstan videos;

Nursi (my nephew)

Klasstashtar (classmates from high-school)

Dance #1 (Deloitte Bishkek NY 2007 Party)

Dance #2 (Deloitte Bishkek NY 2007 Party)

Dance #3 (Deloitte Bishkek NY 2007 Party)

Dance #4 (Deloitte Bishkek NY 2007 Party)

Dance #5 (Deloitte Bishkek NY 2007 Party)

Dance #6 (Deloitte Bishkek NY 2007 Party)

Kyrgyz Hymn Clip (I caught from TV)


Turkey videos (from my recent stay in Istanbul);

Inside the Blue Mosque

Ayasofya (St.Sophia) and Blue Mosque, Istanbul
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Singapore to house world's largest tethered helium balloon (DHL Balloon)

I took this photo and article from Nacho's blog. When I was working for DHL in Singapore, many buses, trains were decarated with DHL theme, DHL spent a lot for branding itself, now it seems it was not satisfied with it. One day "they really will move the world". :)

Singapore will soon be home to a new $2 million attraction. Considered the world's largest tethered balloon, it will be inflated on Wednesday night. It may seem like a strange sight - 40 grown men and women fussing over layers of what looks like plastic. But more than 12 hours of hard work later, it will morph into what's called "The DHL Balloon."
Cleared by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to fly 40 storeys high, the balloon will start taking passengers on April 27. At $23 for a 10-minute ride for adults, and $13 for children, passengers will be sent floating up into the air on a balcony. They will have a 360-degree panoramic view of the Singapore skyline. Some 250,000 people are expected to take to the skies in its first year, generating some $3 million in tourist receipts.
Manufactured in France, this balloon system is the only one of its kind approved and certified as an aircraft.
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Back in Singapore, day 2.

Early morning in Sentosa island, and some swimming and lying on Siloso beach.


Then lunch with Nacho, Melissa and Gitti. It was nice to see Nacho after long time, no change, same old el Padrino :). Just before lunch place I bumped into my ex-boss, Mr. Ko. Later I visited my old working place - Parkview Square, and ex-colleagues and new DHL trainees.



Suddenly I felt that like only yesterday I left this place, time really flies so fast. Later I atch up with Jing Wen at Starbucks, and then we went for a dinner at Lau Pa Sat. It was great to see old friends here, it really seems like it was only yesterday when I saw them last time. It was nice to have satay, prawn, and many other typical Lau Pa Sat food there.


At Lau Pa Sat I met group of cyclists wearing USSR (CCCP) cyclist suits, it was strange, and I introduced myself that I am from ex-soviet union country and asked why they are wearing it? They told me that "they like red" ???


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Back in Singapore, day 1.

It's a nice feeling to be back in Singapore, I feel I missed it a lot. Although I spent the day sweating, the smell of the weather took me back to last year. It was enjoyable to move from cold and rainy Taipei to hot Singapore, truly enjoyed again wandering around with a t-shirt, shorts and slippers. I spent the day visiting some fav. places and taking more pictures/videos, and of course eating, first sardine murtabak, then laksa, etc. From tomorrow I have busy schedule of meetings with friends. Highlights of the day in pictures;




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BMW & monkey

Photo i wanted to share, I took it last year in Bukit Timah in Singapore. Dirty little ape messing on BMW.
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"international" banks in South East Asia

Just from my recent experience; I have a DBS bank account. I opened it in Singapore. And as I was told it is an international bank. Now being in Taipei, I wanted to use this account, but it appears that Singapore DBS customers has nothing to do Taiwan DBS customers, and even DBS Taiwan charges more for deposit/withdraw/transfer to my DBS account than other banks here. Just for your information, when they tell you that the bank is "international" in S.E.Asia, you'd better ask how much "international" it is.
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Queen of stewardesses

was just another summer day
i stepped onto the plane
and then i saw the eyes and smile
which burn the fire inside
you smiled at me,
i couldn't resist...

I wish I asked your name...
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Merlion

the best angle to take a nice photo in Singapore!

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Singapore 1900 chat lines and phone bills

Yesterday my ex-landlady from Kallang Bahru (Singapore) called me and asked me to pay for more than 900 SGD phone bill. "What?!" was my reaction. She said all calls were 1900 chat line calls, and she was suspecting me saying that she trusts in her other renters. I asked her to scan and send me the copy of the bill. I received the bill today, and checked and those calls started from March, 11th till the day of bill and her home phone number was charged for 900 SGD (you can see last portion of bill in the picture).



Well, I left Singapore on March, 8th, and in the shock after receiving letter, she even didn't check the dates and called me :). At least, she gave me a day of stress. I suggested her to cut her line and investigate coz someone somehow got her line/number, and was/is using for his/her own purposes. Moral of the story; watch out!
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Singapore beauties

This is a counter-attack to Vega's post about Asian guys. ;) I used to see them on Singapore Airlines advertisements on the pages of TIME magazine. They don't look that typical Asian (like Chinese), different and charming. Well, and they look perfect in their unique costumes (later I learned that it is 'batik', and bought myself batik men's shirt). So here is my small collection of SIA stewardess photos;







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FedEx and DHL planes in changhi airport. Two logistics giants competing in S.E.Asia for bigger market share. I am neutral now ;)
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Farewell

Shot from farewell party. Was fun and sad. Some people managed to throw me to pool but soon I got some companions there :-). due to AIESEC food fest, food was good. I also invited Aisuluu (from Kyrgyzstan, the one beside me in the picture under "farewell party" text) whom I met just few days before that, she cooked "kyrgyz plov", it's yellow fried rice with meat and carrot, salad can be served with it too, a little bit oily. Pity to meet her so late. couldn't talk to her much, was trying to have a talk with all my friends there. probably that would be the last time to see some of those friends from Singapore. I like this compilation coz it brings all those warm faces together. South East Asian people are one of the most friendliest people I think. If it was possible, I'd turn time back to the day I arrived to Singapore.

It was pity not to see all friends there, especially some of mafiosa members.
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Bye Bye Singapore!

Probably this is my last chance to blog from Singapore. Soon I will be in Taiwan... Same story again... Moving to a new place, meeting many good new friends. then leaving them for next destination, for new adventures... Kinda sad... This is life... at least my life... Briefly, I had fantastic time in Singapore! I want to show my gratefulness to everybody to made my life here amazing, easy and fun. It will be long but still I want to thank some of them referring to their names; Thanks to AIESEC Singapore ( Sharon, Triin, Jing Wen, Dei, Made, Cheryl, Zafirah, Tong, DongWei, Ying Ying, Weihan, Joon, Eeling, Fida, Eeling, Susien, Susan, Terry, Sherina, Hui Fan, Devi, Lisa, Shalene, Terence, and all others whose names are still in my mind), Trainee Family ( Michal, Gitti, Teresa, Devrim, Nacho, Krishna, Cheryl, Lars, Stevie, Cecilia, Jona, Roy, Audi, Eric, Vega, Jessica, Sven, and others) and DHL colleagues! Better to say "See you again!".
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Last day in DHL Singapore

Well, time flies sometimes... When you have really nice time, it is short... Good things should be short, we value them better then. Time to pack and time to make next step. DHL is over for me now, this time i will do my best for my new company, Datatronics, and try to enjoy life in Taiwan. many nice memories for this traineeship in yellow-red logistics company. Many nice memories for life in Singapore. Many friends to leave behind again to find new ones. I am sure i will meet another Devrim, another Nacho, another Gitti, another Triin, another Michal, another Sharon, another Tee, another Jing Wen, etc there. No need for emotions. I just hope to meet these guys in future and come to visit in Singapore.
... Now I gotta go and complete exit clearance form, return the entrance card, take some photos with colleagues, exchange contact information, hugs, nice wishes, formalities,......, and that's it.
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New Year in Tropics!

Old story to share; how I met my first New Year in Tropics. Definitely, no winter no snow in tropics. So when I got this traineeship in Singapore, I was very excited about not having a winter and meeting New Year in shorts and T-shirts. Imagine, no winter whole year! :-) As it's also my birthday, so I had more reasons to celebrate it. We (Sharon, Shirin, Triin, and me) started our New Year eve with dinner at Jamie's place. After that we headed towards Esplanade area hoping to enjoy New Year fireworks! Thousands of people already were there. We were just on time... But... It hit 12 midnight and nothing happened?! Where is that promised firework show?!... Later we learned that it was cancelled due to tsunami disaster in region, makes sense. Well, not worrying much about it, we went towards Chijmes for Salsa Dance Night, met Yamini n her friends there. It was kinda fun. Some dances. And then Michal appeared from nowhere. Also Triin and others got some icy cake from I dont know where, it was meant for me as I got 24 that time, well we swallowed cake immediately. Well, what's next? Definitely, it was not enough. Especially for me n Triin (from Estonia), for whom it is a big event back in their homes, were insisting on doing some more things so we headed towards Orchard Road. Youngsters all around were spraying fake snows and stripes as we were walking in Orchard, some tourists were enjoying it in rickshaws, some were just sleeping on the benches. Light up in Orchard was beautiful as usual. ( Comment: Singaporeans just need a reason to immediately light-up Orchard Road and make it very attractive to both citizens and toursits. So Orchard is lighted-up almost for half of the year. As it contains mainly shopping malls and eating spots, I think, this is just another commercial trick.) After a rest at coffee house till first trains, we took MRT to East Coast Park to meet first sun-rise of 2005! Well, although cloudy weather didn't allow us to say hi to the Sun from the beach, we still witnessed the first morning of the New Year on the beach with bare feet, T-shirt and shorts. Amazingly, beach was full of people, mainly families, who built tents and spent whole night at the beach. That should be a great time. Well, our extraordinary New Year experience ended-up with a nice Dim Sum breakfast! What a beginning for a new year.
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Destination: Taiwan!

My traineeship life in Singapore is coming to its end, so only 3 weeks left before I leave to Taiwan for another AIESEC traineeship, this time with Datatronics. It will be hard to leave so many friends behind and I got used to Singapore (I had same feeling when I was leaving Kyrgyzstan for Turkey and Turkey for Singapore, real nomad!:)), but this is life. I had noone and nothing while I was coming here, but now leaving this place with so many good friends, nice memories, more improved in sense of work-experience, life-experience, world perspective, cultural exchange, etc. I am happy for past 8 months here, it was one of the best periods of my life. That's why I decided once more to experience this life, life of AIESEC trainee. Now I will head towards another mysterious country Taiwan, this time I will have more difficulties with language as not many people speak English there. It's time to learn Chinese then! I have my girlfriend there, to whom I rely on everything, and definitely it will make my life much more easier in Taiwan. I will work in Taipei (capital of Taiwan), I have already been there twice. I like the city, hope I will get used to their food, I have been to company and it looks like a great place for traineeship. Datatronics is international company so everyone speaks in English there. Check http://www.datatronics.com.tw for more info about my new workplace. So I will spend last weeks discovering Singapore more and meeting my friends more. After that Bye Bye Lion City! And Hello Taiwan! This is Aibek Dunaev, from Kyrgyzstan which is... (and again same difficulties explaining where it is, and that actually I studied in Turkey and went to Singapore with AIESEC Turkey, and this time that I am coming to Taiwan with AIESEC Singapore, complicated:-)))) ) Again I want to join to all AIESEC events and learn and share as much as I can, again I want to challenge myself by dealing with IT projects, learning and applying this knowledge at the same time, again I want to meet new friends, again I want to explore Asia, this time I am planning to visit Japan, HongKong, China, India and the Philippines for the beginning. This excites me baby! Well, Kyrgyz were nomads for hundreds of years, I am Kyrgyz, I am nomad...
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Jurong Bird Park

Last weekend I decided to add one another spot to my collection of visited places. Singapore Jurong Bird Park was an option and I had corporate free pass card! :) So I was there and could catch a view of thousands of birds. I also watched some shows, feed pelicans (whose mouth can take up to 13 litres of water!), participated in All-Star Birdshow as a volunteer (the personel girl picked me among among others:-)), watched how eagles catch snakes and other animals, was amazed by Flamingo Lake with hundreds of pink flamingos, visited another fake, hand-made Singapore attraction - world's tallest hand-made waterfall, saw lories bathing and parrot singing Chinese New Year song and giving people red packets with money. I do suggest people to visit it if you have a chance. This is my last 3 weeks in Singapore, so I want to see most of it. This weekend sounds like it will be a museum and Sentosa tour weekend!
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Chinese (Lunar) New Year in Singapore

It is definitely one of the biggest holidays in Singapore. Atmosphere is different. Everywhere is red. You can hear drums of lion dances in the streets. Shopping is in its peak! Chinese people visiting relatives, having family dinners, exchanging red packets with money and 2 mandarin oranges with their wishes for happy and prosperious year. Interesting. It lasts for 15 days, but basicly first few days are celebrated widely and also official holidays. So you hear drum voices from early morning till evening. Lion dancers are performing on request. You can see 2 oranges everywhere; on colleague's table, in every house, in the cab, in stores, in food courts, and they are on sale everywhere. Almost most of the shops, offices, working places were shut in first few days, except some Malay and Indians shops/food places who were using this opportunity of being an only option. In Singapore, there were some outdoor celebrations near Esplanade area with some CNY shopping booths (you see! again shopping...), lanterns, fireworks, food, dragon dance show, etc. Btw, during CNY people basically celebrate it by eating a lot!
Another experience was eating Yusheng (raw fish salad) with my department in a restaurant. Interesting that is that all of you should stand and mix salad by raising stripes high and releasing down while shouting New Year wishes. Looks funny for a stranger. And as I mentioned above, everywhere is red. Red is very specific to Chinese culture. And also golden/yellow color. This year is a year of the Rooster acc. to Chinese calendar. And according to it I am the Monkey :-). Well, we, Kyrgyz, have the same thing, but ours change in March, in Nooruz which is a Kyrgyz New Year!! :-) Not only in Kyrgyzstan but in all those Central Asian countries. It is 21-March officially, and it is close to CNY date.
Gong Xi Fa Cai, my friends! I wish you lots of health for this year. Just don't get sick...
For more info about Chinese New Year (taken from Ying Ying's email, thanks Ying! when it comes I will post info about Kyrgyz New Year - Nooruz) click here.
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Birthday Party

I had my, Gitti's and Teresa's birthday party combined together as all of us were born in January. IT was in Gitti's place and Lars and Krishna were kind to offer their support to organize it. Theme was fashion. It was fun, also some AIESEC juniors and seniors joined to the trainees. Gitti got 25, I got 24, and Tee got 23 years old.
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Back from sickness...

It's been a long time since I posted my last blog. Reason is that I was down with dengue fever. I was bitten by mosquitos at Kuala Lumpur during my holiday there and got dengue fever virus in my body. It came to certain dangerous level and I was immediately hospitalized. But without worse consequences I recoevered, I took vitamins and anti0biotics, and have been drinking a lot of water (which is very necessary if you are infected) and resting since then. My body got its strength back. Here is the brief info about dengue fever, it is important to know about it, especially, for those who live in tropical/subtropical climate. Here it is;

Q: What is dengue fever? What is dengue hemorrhagic fever?
A: Dengue fever is a flu-like illness spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often fatal, complication of dengue fever.

Q: What is the infectious agent that causes dengue?
A: Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are caused by any of the dengue family of viruses. There are 4 of them. Infection with one virus does not protect a person against infection with another.

Q: How is dengue spread?
A: Dengue is spread by the bite of an Aedes mosquito. The mosquito transmits the disease by biting an infected person and then biting someone else.

Q: Where is dengue found?
A: Dengue viruses occur in most tropical areas of the world. Dengue is common in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Australia, and the Americas. Dengue is most common in cities but can be found in rural areas. It is rarely found in mountainous areas above 4,000 feet.
The mosquitoes that transmit dengue live among humans and breed in discarded tires, flower pots, old oil drums, and water storage containers close to human dwellings. Unlike the mosquitoes that cause malaria, dengue mosquitoes bite during the day.

Q: What are the signs and symptoms of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever?
A: Dengue fever usually starts suddenly with a high fever, rash, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and muscle and joint pain. The severity of the joint pain has given dengue the name "breakbone fever." Nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite are common. A rash usually appears 3 to 4 days after the start of the fever. The illness can last up to 10 days, but complete recovery can take as long as a month. Older children and adults are usually sicker than young children.
Most dengue infections result in relatively mild illness, but some can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever. With dengue hemorrhagic fever, the blood vessels start to leak and cause bleeding from the nose, mouth, and gums. Bruising can be a sign of bleeding inside the body. Without prompt treatment, the blood vessels can collapse, causing shock (dengue shock syndrome). Dengue hemorrhagic fever is fatal in about 5 percent of cases, mostly among children and young adults.

Q: How is dengue diagnosed?
A: Dengue is diagnosed by a blood test.

Q: What is the treatment for dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever?
A: There is no specific treatment for dengue. Persons with dengue fever should rest and drink plenty of fluids. They should be kept away from mosquitoes for the protection of others. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is treated by replacing lost fluids. Some patients need transfusions to control bleeding.
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Die Hard Logistics FC #7

Soccer
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Exploring Singapore in weekends

During some weekends when I was not traveling, I tried to explore and learn more about Singapore itself. It had nice attractions itself. My first explore of Singapore started with Gitti and Teresa who took me to Clarke Quay. It is one of the popular evening places in Singapore. Later Jane took me and Nik here too, also she showed us Esplanade theaters and open-air cinema in Fort Canning Park.

On one of my weekends I was at world-famous Singapore zoo. Although I have been to many zoos, this one was definitely much more bigger than others. For the first time I saw real elephant shows, clever elephants obeying all commands of their masters. I had a chance to see white tiger, hippos, lazy orangutans hanging in the shadow and small baboons running all around in Monkey World, kangaroos (even touched and took photo together with baby kangaroo), cobras and vipers, giant alligators and comodo dragon! The rest of the animals were those kind I have seen before.

On another weekend, my reception officer Sharon took me to some gadget shops and I bought my mobile phone and digital camera. Also I tried Chinese fortune telling machine which tooks photo of your face and palm and prepares report on that. Then a woman explained me the meanings and told me what kind of stones could help me to be more lucky, wealthy and achieve success. As I don?t believe to such things I just listened to her, and she ended up trying to sell me some of those stones for the price of 60-70 dollars, hahaha! Another kind of business!... I told her that I can achieve what I find on my own way, without help of those stones. Later, on one of street markets we could buy same stone for 5 Sing dollars, and I bought just for decoration.

On following weekend, I went to Sentosa island. Sentosa is a small island on the south of Singapore. It is one of the main weekend places for Singaporeans. It has some beaches, golf resorts and some attractions like Underwater world, Dolphin lagoon, cable cars, Insect world, Musical Fountain show, Merlion, etc. Although I go there every week to play football for DHL team (our team FC D.H.L plays in amateur league), I haven't seen much of Sentosa. So I went to Underwater world where one can catch lots of sea inhabitants including sharks, sea horses, jelly fish, sword fish, sea cows, etc. I saw real big bull sharks there for the first time. You just walk in a glass tunnel and enjoy underwater life. Next I met Zulfi and we went to Merlion and to Musical Fountain show. The last one was amazing. Different water fountains, music, laser show and multimedia projection were combined in a 30-minute show and could easily amaze its audience.
Also I had a chance to go to Kampong Glam Muslim Food festival. All kind of Malay foos was there and it was one of rare chances to catch it. It was Food Festival season in Singapore then. Earlier that day, while I was visiting Sultan Mosque - biggest mosque in Sinagapore, I met some Indonesian girls who announced me as Indonesian idol and invited to Indonesia for Ramadan holiday.

Next place to visit was Tampines. It was Jane who suggested me to see that place. She was from Tampines, a-haa! It is sweet place with nice parks.

I live near to beautiful Chinese garden, and in September there was 1-month Lantern Fun-tasy festival there. It had a theme "Journey to the west" and was combination of Disney world made of colorful lanterns. As a big trainee group, we had a chance to see art of lanterns, lion dance show, acrobatic shows and take some cool shots.
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AIESEC in Singapore Recruitment Camp

Photos are here.

This is an AIESEC event, or recruitment camp, for newly joined juniors. Basic introductory seminars, AIESEC culture, some simulations and games, activities helping juniors to learn more about AIESEC are parts of this camp. Of course, teaching AIESEC dance, AIESEC parties with crazy competitions and finally initiation to AIESEC are fun parts of camp too. This year it was held in SMU campus. For me it was also new. But although being non-AIESECer, I volunteered to be an orientation group leader for a group of juniors. I was given team "Estonia". As a group we had a lot of fun. Miss AIESEC AROC was also from our group (this is a beauty competition of boys dressed like girls). I had chance to meet a lot of new friends, learn more about AIESEC, learn some AIESEC dances (although they are too crazy and I am a serious person (hmm, am I ?!)), some country roll calls (like "Ass-toe-knee-eye" for Estonia), we (Teresa, Celine, Cyrus and me) won the sculling competition (it is a beer drinking competition, but as a non-drinker I contested with Coke), and finally was initiated to AIESEC! Here, we were supposed to enter completely dark hall. I volunteered to be the last one among around 100 people to enter. I entered and was asked who I am. When I said "Aibek", whole crowd started to welcome me in chorus "Aibek, welcome to AIESEC!". And I was supposed to crawl all the way between 2 long rows of AIESECers (first comes girls then guys) who were welcoming me and at the same time hitting, touching and pulling you back. Imagine you are crawling in a dark and a lot of hands are touching, hitting you, pulling you back although you are trying to crawl forward. I even tried to get on my feet, but they even didn't allow that, and you can?t see their faces. But when the whole crowd was saying my name, for the moment I felt like a superstar (haha!). It was tough to reach the other end, though I was tired and my elbows and knees hurt, I enjoyed it! Yeah, I am an AIESECer now! And it is amazing to be part of this very big family. Also I got my first AIESEC t-shirt thereJ. Well, that was another memorable day of my traineeship in Singapore.
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Pulau Ubin island

Pulau means "island" in Malay, so as u can guess Pulau Ubin is an island. It belongs to Singapore and it still preserves its natural beauty, real tropical island with those huge palms, coconut trees and wild monkeys. This is the place we went on my first weekend. Me and two AIESECers from Hong-Kong, Stella and Tracy, took a ferry in the morning. After a short sail we found ourselves among big palms of Pulau Ubin. The best thing you can do there is to rent a bicycle and ride along the island. Unfortunately, Stella didn't know how to ride a bicycle so I had to take the one with 2 seats, it was tiring but at the end of the day we became good friends. Island was beautiful, wild and full of trees and plants that I have never seen before. We took a break at the resort where we had the chance to get boats (canoes) and spend an hour on the lake. Cool water was what we needed in hot weather! Another interesting place was the Buddha temple on the other end of island. There I met real monks, dressed like Shaolin monks (maybe they were Shaolins?..). Maybe because it was my first step to explore Singapore or say tropical Asia, it was one of the unforgettable days in Singapore.
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Traineeship at DHL

First of all, I am really happy to work in one of the world's biggest companies, one of the leader companies in global logistics. It is DHL ("We move the world", "No one knows Asia Pacific like we do", bla bla...). In DHL, I am working as Applications Programmer, implementing some software tools/products, at Business Process and Organization department of DHL Danzas Air & Ocean. My task is to help to optimize existing AspaNet project (which I was supposed to do but later different projects were given to me), develop new software applications. Our department provides all kind of support to other departments of DHL Danzas, and some trainings. My part is in IT support. Briefly, my colleagues are Mr.Ko Guan Seng (head of BP&O in Asia Pacific), Andrew Goh (deputy to Ko Guan Seng), Hou Boon Ang (my boss, software engineer), Joe Poon, Hai Thong, Jacques, Jo Prisca, Sherry, Linda, Nello and Terry. The first big project that I was given was OceanSMS, software program which will be used by DHL Ocean Freight. Later I worked on different versions of this project; multi-language version, client-server ftp module integrated, later I developed Air SMS and then they were combined as Air&Ocean SMS project. My office is located on the 23rd floor of Parkview Square, it is one of the most beautiful buildings in Singapore. There is a nice view of Singapore from up there. Working environment is very professional, people I work with are professional so I have everything to become professional too (hopefully). Projects are not easy, challenging, with strict deadlines. Most important is that I am learning a lot.

More photos of my workplace, Parkview Square

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Food

It took not long to get rid of jetlag, adapt to environment and work, but it took some time to adapt to climate and food. For food I can dedicate a whole chapter, coz of its variety and importance in Singapore culture. Because Singaporeans are originally coming from Chinese, Indian and Malay, and also because Singapore is located at the centre of Asia Pacific, one can find huge variety of Chinese, Indian, Malay, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Taiwanese and western cuisine and Singapore is full of restaurants, cafes, big and small eating places. What we are doing is that trying to taste as many different types of food as possible. We are lucky to have Bugis Junction nearby where we usually go for lunch. What can be pointed out about food is that it is very spicy! Rice, noodles and chicken are very popular, I am sure at the end of the year I will be sick of them. Also you can find a lot of seafood, may taste frog legs and shark soup J, well I did? as a result, after eating frog legs, back in the office I ate a lot of cookies and drank juice to get rid of that taste, haha, probably that was the first and last time that I tasted frog. (Small story to share; it was our department lunch with all my bosses and colleagues, as our boss Mr. Ko Guan Seng suggested to taste something different like frog legs, and my reaction was like ?No, we don?t eat frogs!...?, which made Hai Thong to react ?We don?t eat frogs too! We eat only frog legs!? which brought a big laughter J. I didn?t think much, it was just another ?Why not?!?, and ended up with frog legs to taste). Frog legs taste like chicken, but more fatty. (I know? my friends from Kyrgyzstan and Turkey will hate me for that? ;-)) I tasted shark soup in one of our lunches at Ritz Carlton hotel during Regional BP&O department meeting. What I like here is the possibility to get tropical fruits a lot and for very cheap price. Also concept of chopsticks was very new for me, trying to master with them now.
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Flatmates

My flatmates are Susan (Indonesia, student, president of AIESEC in NUS), Zhou Ning (China, works at NTU) and Lisheng (Hong-Kong/Singapore, student from NUS). Well J, many people smile when I tell them that I am living with 3 girls, haha, actually at the beginning it was like we would be 3 guys and 1 girl, but things went the other way and we ended up with this group. We are all good friends, and it is good sometimes they cook some soup for meJ. Also we have 2 temporary flatmates; Monika (Germany, AIESEC internal trainee) and Erik (Korea, trainee at HP). So it is like a big international family, kinda UN office in Asia Pacific, hehe…
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DHL Mafia and other new friends

More Mafiosi photos are here.

So the new chapter of my story begins, and after flying over 40 hills and 40 seas, I landed in Singapore? (we had a short stop at Bangkok, Thailand) Yes, I was finally in Singapore!!! Frankly, after many stressful days of exams, preparations and rush, it was hard to believe that I am in Asia Pacific, another part of the world. Tong Lee and Sharon (my reception officer from AIESEC Singapore, who is responsible of me) were waiting for me. They were my first friends here. Everything seemed ok till I got my first shock; when I just walked out of airport, I was hit by very hot and humid air! That reminded me that I was in tropical climate. First days I stayed at Fortune Jade with my new big future friends like Devrim(US/Turkey), Teresa(New Zealand) and Nacho(Argentina). All of them are AIESEC trainees and they work for DHL too, or what we call here as mafiosas! Well, I was nominated as Mafiosa-022. Also there are Gitti (Hungary), Krishna (India), Steve (Kenya, ex-trainee), Cecilia (Hong-Kong, ex-trainee), Lars (Germany, ex-trainee) and in September there will be new mafiosa, Michal (Slovakia), arriving for traineeship. All of us work in DHL Regional Office in Parkview Square, which is located at Bugis, one of the central places in Singapore. Jane, Zafirah, Weihan, Chong Wey, Qian Wen, Dong Wei, Triin, Marek were among first friends that I met here. I am very grateful to all these people, especially to DHL Mafiosas, who helped me a lot in my first days, shared their house and time, guided me how to make my stay in Singapore easy, fruitful and fun! Most of my time I spend with them, we hang out a lot, travel to other countries, share all fun together.
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Home at Mayfair

It took about 1 month for me to get a new place to live, finally I ended up in Chinese Garden area, west of island, with a famous Chinese and Japanese Gardens nearby. We rented a condominium apartment (that is what they call here an apartment with all facilities like swimming pool, gym, tennis court, bowling alley, etc.) in The Mayfair, one of the most beautiful apartments in neighborhood.
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Welcome dinner

Welcome dinner and first pick up.

It was at the usual place AIESECers used to have welcome dinner for new trainees, it was in Lau Pau Sat. I met lots of AIESECers and trainees (unfortunately it was hard to remember Chinese, malay and Indonesian names). There I had my first Malay satay. That place has big variety of food to offer to its customers. After dinner I joined some mafiosas for some trainee and AIESECers gathering at newly opened bar in Orchard road. It was ladies night (means ladies get drinks free) and was very crowded. I met there Jane for the first time. Also I met there Weihan, Fabien, Marek and some other AIESECers. As a non-drinker I ordered my juice and enjoying baby sharks at nearby aquarium and talking with Jane (I met her here for the first time), Weihan and Fabien. For the moment I was alone, and another girl sat nearby me and asked my name, I was surprised! She directly went to subject and told me that her friend wanted to meet me but she was shy, and also she invited me to her birthday party that Saturday. It was so sudden and unexpected! Some trainees noticed it and just smiled saying "Welcome to Singapore!". I also said myself "Aibek, things are different here". Well, AIESECers just forced me to go and meet that girl, and I just gave my name card and tried to put full stop on that. That was the first time I noticed that I would be popular here :). It was unexpected and different kind of experience. Thing is that I don’t remember her nam:) .
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Traineeship story...

Here I put all writings from my traineeship story that I used to keep updated with me, from now on I will be directly blogging them here....

Before coming to Singapore
Well, many people in Central Asia and Turkey still don’t know much about Singapore, so did I. What was my first feeling when I heard that possibly I will be going to Singapore for AIESEC traineeship at DHL?!! I looked at the map!!! I knew it was somewhere in Asia Pacific and it took some time for me to find its exact location. It was an island! And it was almost on equator line!!! “Ohhhooo!” (or “Oha lan!” in Turkish) was my first reaction. I didn’t know much about it, I’ve only heard that it has been developing rapidly, that there are some really strict rules and big fines like “500$ fine for chewing a gum” (!) and that it was very clean country!! The next thing to do was to open old buddy Google and ask for brief info about country. After going through all the process of work permit and visa applications which took more than a month ( thanks to Zafirah who helped me a lot, answering all my questions and directing me in arrangements), I went back home to Kyrgyzstan for only 2 weeks (after being away for 3 years, I missed it so much, every stone, every corner,….. .. sounds like a poetryJ), my sister and my brother looked so grown-up! I spent 2 weeks with my family and also I visited my brother and his wife in Almaty, had the chance to explore Almaty, ex-capital of Kazakhstan, very beautiful city indeed!! After 2 short weeks holiday at home, anyways, I went back to Turkey to give my final exams. My starting date for traineeship and final exam dates were coming to same dates, as a result, I gave my last final exam and the next day I was on my way to new experience, new life, new adventures!

On the plane
It is hard to leave a place where you spent some wonderful years, so was to leave Ankara after 6 years of study and work. A lot of friends, a lot of nice memories are left behind, and just taking only 1 suitcase of the most necessary things with me, I headed to Istanbul to fly to Singapore from there. Till the moment the plane took off, I didn’t realize that I was leaving Turkey, and going to the place I have never been before and I didn’t know anybody. Everything was new, it was like to start everything from zero, it was very exciting! I tried not to think about future, coz I was sure that a lot of nice things would be waiting for me there. Did I know at that moment that I was going to have great experiences in Singapore, meet a lot of new friends, work in one of the most beautiful buildings in Singapore (Parkview Square), have possibility to travel to many countries in Asia Pacific, and most importantly that I would meet very special person here?... Answer was no, I didn’t know anything, just hoping to experience a nice traineeship and rest after my tough 2 years in University & Student Senate & Part-Time work. I was just trying to relax on the board of THY Airbus A-320.
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Back to beginning of story... Before my traineeship.

Before coming to Singapore for traineeship, I was in Ankara, Turkey. I was the student of METU, took active tasks in Kyrgyz Student Senate (for which I was president in 2003-2004 year), was a goalkeeper of my team (here I am striker now!:-)), etc. I had one of my best years in Ankara to meet a lot of Kyrgyz, Turkish and other foreigner friends. University life was tough, challenging and at the same time dynamic and full of excitement and enthusiasm, and it had its ups and downs. My tasks in student society added another dimension to my learnings, it took me into active youth work which helped develop myself a lot in leadership, interpersonal communications and being initiative. Especially my last year was very stressfull but at the end of the year I was the one who benefit a lot from that...
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24-year old !

01.01.2005...00:03 a.m., Esplanade area, Singapore. I am officially 24!
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