On Top of Malaysia

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A few weeks ago you saw the "Top of Singapore". Well ... this one definitely beats that !!!

Here's a 51-year old who made it to the top (in more ways than one :)

Approaching the peak of Mount Kinabalu ...

Everest next?

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Any more photos of the view from up there, AM ?

From a Small Island to a Smaller Island

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A few weeks ago, we drove over to the island of Sentosa (which is linked to Singapore by bridge, as well as monorail and cable car).

Sentosa has long been a kind of weekend getaway for Singaporeans and tourists, as there are various sites on the island that are worth visiting (eg. Underwater World, Musical Fountain, a huge Merlion statue, Fort Siloso, beachfronts, etc).

However over the past two years, its attraction has been considerably enhanced by the completion of the integrated resort, called Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), together with Universal Studio theme park. Several new hotels have also been opened, eg. Festive Hotel, Hotel Michael and the Hard Rock Hotel.

RWS is owned by the Genting Group of Malaysia.

This is what Resorts World Sentosa looks like ...

In there is a theatre ...

Here's the covered "main street" area, which has many shops and eateries ...

I can vouch for the food in this Irish pub ...

At one end of the street is the casino entrance. Anyone keen to try their luck?

We did not go into Universal but went near the entrance to take this photo. We plan to visit the theme park in September when my daughter comes back. More photos at that time.

With my sweet tooth, I naturally chose to patronise the candy store and bought some chocs and some popcorn ...

Well, there you have it. A nice visit to the Resorts World Sentosa.
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Lao PM receives ADB Country Director

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Here's an excerpt from an interesting news report in laovoices.com, dated 9 July 2010 ...


‎(KPL) Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, on Wednesday received at his office in Vientiane capital a courtesy visit of Mr Chong Chi Nai, new country director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Laos.

The Prime Minister congratulated Mr Nai over his appointment as new country director of the ADB in Laos, and highly valued the assistance the ADB had provided to Laos in supporting the socio-economic development in the country.
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Mr Bouasone said that the Lao government was focusing on materialising the resolution of the 8th Party Congress and the government was drafting its seventh five-year socio-economic development plan for 2011-2015 period of which the objective was to reduce poverty in the country, achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and take Laos off the UN’s list of least-developed countries by 2020.

ADB has provided Laos technical assistance for projects of basic infrastructure development in the country. Since 1996, the ADB has approved US$ 1.21 billion of loans and US$415 million of grant assistance for the socio-economic development in Laos. In 2009, ADB provided US$115.2 million worth of grant aid to Laos to support the development in the areas of agriculture-forestry, education, energy, finance, industry and commerce, health and transport and communication. In 2010, ADB has approved of US$ 108 million of loans for six government projects. The bank planned to finance 10 government projects with a US$140.18-million financial assistance for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Source: KPL Lao News Agency
July 09, 2010

For the full news report, click on
http://laovoices.com/2010/07/09/pm-receives-adb-country-director/


This is cool, man! St Joe Class of 1976 in service of the world!

And here's a more informally attired Dr Chong at his new office ...

Congratulations CCN !
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Message from WJ

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I just thought it might be interesting to show you where the visitors to our blog have come from over the past month.

Can you find your own location?
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