So I've just come back from an enjoyable if not wholly satisfying trip to Singapore. As much as I like the Island of a Thousand Shopping Malls, it often feels like some state-controlled experiment in consumer capitalism. Offices, retail outlets & restaurants acting as temples for the officially sanctioned activities of working, eating & shopping. The brightly-coloured malls are the alter egos of the dowdy concrete monuments to state socialism in Eastern Europe.
An oasis of calm & order in the tropical craziness of South-East Asia, Singapore has been called the Switzerland of the East (N.B. Like Switzerland it has four official languages). Only with laksa & sentosa instead of cheese & the alps. Singapore is an experiment (economically, racially), a vision of the future and - as a city state built on trade - a throwback to the past. If Australia is the edge of the world then I sometimes wonder if Singapore may be its new centre.
Very much on the plus side, I got to meet:
- Jacob Wright - the obscenely energetic & bright Engagement Planning dude for BBH Asia-Pacific.
- Steve Bealing, CEO of Cognitive Edge.
- Patrick, Paolina & Edgar plus some of the members of IKMS.
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