This past week, I was on assignment for The D&O Diary in Singapore, the prosperous and verdant city-state in equitorial Southeast Asia. With its clean and orderly streets and its lush parks, as well as its fabulous food scene, Singapore is one of my favorite places to visit, and this return trip reconfirmed my appreciation for the place.
The primary purpose of my visit to the Singapore was to serve as a keynote speaker and panelist at the annual educatoinal meeting of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society’s (PLUS) Singapore Chapter. This event is always well-organized and well-attended, and it is always such a pleasure to be able to participate. One thing I particulary like about this event is that it always attracts an audience of enthusiastic and friendly young professionals from the Singapore insurance community. My thanks to the event co-chairs Jessica Shappell and Andrew Robinson for organizing my participation; the Chapter Steering committee for inviting me back again for this event; and to the Singapore professional liablity insurance community for being so welcoming.
I always say that if I am having fun during a presentation, then it must be going well. I had a lot of fun during this presentation — which was entitled “Hot Topics in D&O” — so I hope that means it went reasonably well. This year’s event was once again well-attended, and the audience was lively and engaged. I also enjoyed being a part of the spirited, interesting panel that followed my keynote, on the topic of undewriting AI-related D&O risk. From left to right: David Ho of Everest, who moderated the panel; Rob Storer of Mosaic Insurance; and Pippa Austin of the Wooten Kearney law firm.A not particularly well executed selfie, which I took with Eric Teoh of Allianz, who was one of the event’s co-moderators, and Josephine Tam, also of Allianz, who spoke on one of the panels.I was pleased to be approached for a picture with this group of young attorneys from the Kennedys law firm’s Singapore office. From left to right: Cameron Laing; Jeffy Ho; Cherry Lee; Trevor Ho; and Joanie Ko. Always great to have a chance to meet young members of Singapore’s professional liabilty insurance community. I enjoyed having the chance to meet and talk to Jasmine Mah of Chubb.I also always enjoy seeing old friends as well, and so it was great to have a chance to catch up with Priya Gobal of the Clyde & Co law firm’s Singapore office. With another friend of many years’ standing, Jenny Wilhelm, of Allianz, in Singapore. I also enjoyed the chance to meet Jamie Sparks of AON, one of many people I met for the first time on this visit. With the Chapter Steering Committee. I congratulate the committee members for yet another very successful Singapore Chapter event.
In addition to attending the PLUS Chapter event, one absolutely indispensible thing I also did while in Singapore was to meet for lunch with this group of friends. These individuals are the ones responsible for bringing PLUS to Singapore in the first place, way back in the beginning. To my left, Shasi Nair or Berkely Insurance Asia; Dan Jenney of PLUS; Ronak Shah, now of MSIG Asia; Arati Varma, of QBE; and Aruno Rajaratnam. Aruno is often referred to as the “godmother” of financial lines insurance in Singapore. (Some readers may recall that in 2014 Aruno received the PLUS1 award.) It was pleasure seeing these friends again.
I have to say, it was an absolute pleasure just to be back in Singapore again. I have heard Singapore described as a city in a garden, which is accurate but incomplete. It is also a model of cleanliness, order and efficiency, as well as of multi-culturalism.
Over 6 million people live in Singapore, and one of the strongest impressions for first time visitors is the sheer density of its residential areas. But what makes the city so interesting — perhaps uniquely so — is that the city also incorporates extensive areas of trees, gardens, and open spaces, so that despite the city’s dense population, it never seems ovewhelming
We were fortunate that the hotel where we stayed was a short walking distance from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that spreads across over 200 acres and which offers such a delightful contrast to the city’s steel-and-glass skyline. The phrase “urban oasis” may be a cliché, but in this case it seems entirely apt. The contrast between the natural beauty of the gardens and the surrounding skyscrapers sums up one of Singapore’s defining characteristics: the seamless integration of urban development and nature.It can be pretty hot and steamy walking around in the Botanic Gardens in the city’s equitorial atmosphere, but talking a stroll in the Gardens definitely has its rewards. We were fortunate to spot this monitor lizard in the underbrush in a preserved section of rain forest. The gardens are so wonderful. I took hundreds of pictures, it is hard to select just a few to display here. One other interesting feature of Singapore, in addition to its natural beauty, is its various neighborhoods. Here’s a picture of the city’s Little India neighborhood, a dense and decorative community of shops, restaurants, and temples. Another particularly interesting things we did while in Singapore was to hike the Southern Ridges urban walkway, a 6.2 mile trail that connects three parks: Mount Faber Park; Telok Blangah Hill Park; and Kent Ridge Park. Along the trail are various named sections, such as the Canopy Walkway depicted in this picture. There are also several elevated view points along the way, including the view from Mount Faber depicted at the top of the post, which shows a new modernist building assembly known at Reflections at Keppel Bay.(I thought that an appropriate caption for the picture might be “Surrender Dorothy.”)
As great as it was experiencing Singapore’s natural beauty, the high point of our visit was our exploration of the city’s famous Hawker food centers. The various centers incorporate dozens of food stalls ranging across a wide variety of food heritages, styles, and tastes. The open-air centers include rows of communal tables, at whch the city’s diverse population gathers for delicious and surprisingly reasonably priced meals. We were fortunate to be able to enjoy several of the city’s best known Hawker centers on this visit.
Like all of the Hawker food markets, the Lau Pa Sat market features a wide variety of ethnic food choices. On this visit, we chose Korean food, which was absolutely fantastic (and SPICY). I am enjoying Chicken Kimchi Ramyun, while my wife was enjoying Teppan Omu Chicken Bulgogi (on the plate in the foreground). The Lau Pa Sat market is a little bit more upscale than some of the other markets we visited, but still very reasonably priced. The food was excellent.
In addition to the Lau Pa Sat market, we also visited some other Hawker food courts. One market we visited for the first time on this trip is the Newton Hawker food center. The Newton center actually appeared in the movie “Crazy Rich Asians.” (Nick and Rachel visit the center with friends soon after their arrival in Singapore.)
We were fortunate to visit the Newton center after a late afternoon rain shower, so it was a little bit cooler and there was a nice breeze. The outdoor seating area is extraordinarily pleasant.We began our meal at the Newton food center with a shared plate of steamed sea spinach (quite tasty, actually) and then we soon followed with many skewers of chicken satay. An enjoyable meal in a pleasant outdoor setting. We also made a return visit on this trip to the Maxwell Hawker food center, one of the city’s most popular food centers, located right next to Chinatown. The Maxwell Center is famous for its Hainanese Chicken Rice, including one stall where people stand in line for the dish. At first we thought it was a little bland, until we remembered to add the chili sauce that came with the meal. Quite tasty with the sauce.
Here a few pointers for anyone planning on visiting the Hawker food centers in Singapore. For whatever reason, the various food stalls do not offer napkins, which is a challenge because the saucy dishes can be kind of messy. We did see strolling vendors offering to sell little kleenex packets, but we found that you can’t count on seeing the vendors. So you really do have to bring your own napkins.
One other thing has to do with the beer on offer. First of all, you need to know that all of the beverages are sold in shops separate from the food shops. Second of all, there is a strong temptation to get the local Tiger beer in one of the supersized bottles (two-thirds of a liter), as depicted for example in the picture above in the Maxwell food center. While the large bottles may seem like a good idea, the fact is that given the air temperature, the beer in the bottom half of the bottle is going to be warm by the time you get there. Better to order a smaller beer, and then go back for an ice-cold second one, should you want that much beer.
We need to talk about the Singapore subway system. I think there is a case to be made that Singapore’s subway system is the best in the world. Sure, there are larger systems, or more famous systems, and there certainly are older systems. What makes the Singapore system so special is its combination of cleanliness, efficiency, orderliness, ease of use, and cultural inclusiveness. The stations and trains are spotlessly clean. The platforms and stations are orderly and calm, even during high traffic periods. The system is very intelligently designed, so it is astonishingly easy to navigate. The system also represents a very praiseworthy expression of the city’s multicultural identity. Throughout the system, announcements and key signage are presented in four languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. The atmosphere on the trains and in the stations quietly reinforces the idea that Singapore’s different communities share the same civic space. In my humble opinion, Singapore’s subway system represents the very best of a really great place.
As by now must be clear, I am a big fan of Singapore. I was happy to be back again, and I hated to leave. More than once, I have said that if I were 30 years old, rather than my current age, I would seriously consider moving to Singapore. Instead, however, it was soon time for us to move on to other destinations. I hope to be able to go back again some time soon.
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