Dreams and Reality: Museum D’Orsay Exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore

photo of gallery in the Singapore Art Museum, temporary D'Orsay exhibit

Room in the Singapore Art Museum D'Orsay exhibit. All photos are by John Hunter.

The Dreams and Reality exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore (now until 5 February 2012, it opened a few weeks ago) is excellent. Musee D’Orsay is one of my favorite museums; it is located in Paris, with many other great museums including the Louvre.

photo of Edgar Degas painting showing dancers climbing a staircase

Dancers Climbing a Staircase (1886-1890) by Edgar Degas, one of my favorites.

The exhibit includes many exceptional paintings by artists including Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, Rousseau, Pissarro, Mondrian, Cézanne, Gauguin and Renior (multiple paintings by many of them). I must say I don’t think the Monet and Manet paintings are their best work, but really who am I to judge them. This exhibit is definitely worth a visit for any art lovers in Singapore. If you are traveling to Singapore before February 2012, plan on stoping by to enjoy the paintings.

Related: Curious Cat Travel Photos: museumsCurious Cat Travel Photos: PaintingsTake Action to Your Dreams Come TrueThe Met Museum in NYC

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Don’t Leave Your Dreams Hidden Away, Make Them Come True

Great post by Benny Lewis on why why you (yes, you) can be live overseas and travel. Benny, from Ireland, has been traveling for 8 years now and started with no cash. Another of his posts explains why you don’t have to be rich to travel the world.

This isn’t the life for everybody, but if you want to do it, you can. The challenge is mainly being willing to accept the challenge. I certainly would put the difficulty below what most of our ancestors faced in their lives. At least for me, right now the nomad part is a bit too much. But if you want to give being an expat in Singapore, go ahead and try. Or if you are in Singapore and want to try elsewhere, do that.

Everyone just wants validation, love, security, enjoyment and hopes for a better future.

I believe this. Not only across cultures but across generations. Quit all those posts about generation x,y,z, a, b,c. He has many great points:

Deferring your happiness to the future is a terrible idea…
Spending time exclusively with people who agree with you on everything would never challenge you and allow you to learn so much more…
There’s no shame in saying “I don’t know”…
The Internet is the greatest tool ever available to us, but daily use must be capped…
Don’t take anything for granted. I couldn’t afford to pay for accommodation one night and had to sleep outside on a rock because of it. Ever since then I appreciate having a bed, couch or hammock, no matter how small or where it may be, because I know what it’s like to not have one…
Make sure that every day you have someone (family, friends, lover) to remind you that you are special. If you postpone this part of your life until later, after you get or do that thing you want to do, you will continue in that lonely path indefinitely…

Lots of great stuff. Ok, he is just crazy on some things like capping the amount of internet use; unless he means capping it at about 20 hours a day 🙂 Seriously read this entire post. And think about taking on the challenge of living abroad. It isn’t the easiest thing to do. But our lives our not very long. The value this can bring to your life is huge.

I lived in Singapore and Nigeria as a kid and travelled a great deal with my family. It was wonderful. It was also a big pain at times and I sure complained about it. Now I am living in Malaysia and looking at Singapore out my window. Getting settled has been a bigger hassle than I imagined but I am very happy. And I look forward to traveling around: Singapore, Thailand, China, India, Australia

Finally, living overseas is not going to be something a majority of the people reading this blog do (your kids though, I think a majority may well live outside your country for more than 5 years of their lives – the world is changing). Most of these ideas can be applied in a life where you live right where you are now.

Related: Singapore Ranks Highly as an Expat DestinationNew Graduates Should Live FrugallyHow About Only Enforcing Copyright in a Country if the Owner Allows Citizens Access

Megazip Adventure Park, Sentosa Island

For those looking for adrenaline rush, Megazip Adventure Park is the best place to go. Featuring various activities that offer different levels of extremity push yourself to the limit and try any one or all the activities in store for you.

Located at the top of Imbiah Hilltops, the park creates a unique and challenging adventure for tourists with guidance from specialists in this field.

Megazip
This is considered Asia’s most extreme adrenaline pumping zip line experience for adventure hungry tourists. Slide from the top of Imbiah Hill through the jungle canopy of 75 meters high and 450 meters sliding at a speed of 50 kmph.

MegaZip Adventure Park

MegaZip Adventure Park by alantankenghoe

Climbmax
This consists of high rope course where visitors need to cross while at 15 meters above the ground. Cross from one Eucalyptus tree to another while crossing through various rope courses.

Megazip on 26 March 2011

Megazip by 24seven Communications

Parajump
Overcome your fear of height and fear of falling. The Parajump is developed in UK where visitors will climb up 50 feet from the ground for the dropoff point for the Parajump.

Northface
Test you skill in climbing wall with the 16 meter wall climb considered the highest challenging wall climb in Singapore.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5254/5564373074_78acd3f383_b.jpg

Megazip on 26 March 2011 by 24seven Communications

Watch the video to have an idea of what Megazip Adventure has to offer.

Related: Resort World Sentosa, SingaporeBattlestar Galactica: Human vs. Cylon (Universal Studios Park – Sentosa)Fort Canning Park

Singapore Light Rail from the Airport

photo inside Singapore subway car at the airport

Photo by John Hunter of a Singapore subway car at the airport.

I took the light rail from Changi Airport to downtown last time I was in town and it was very easy. The subway was crowded (eventually – the photo is at the airport stop, where it was not crowded). Getting down town was quick, easy and cheap (S$2 versus $30 for a taxi).

Related: Online Resources for Moving To and Living In SingaporeFort Canning Park

Singapore Ranks Highly as an Expat Destination

Global Professionals on the Move Report 2011 analyses responses from 2,637 professionals from 85 different countries with qualifications of a bachelor degree or above. The most popular destinations for those working internationally (outside of their country): USA (18% of respondents), UK (11%), Australia (10%), Switzerland (6%), Singapore (5%), Canada (5%), Hong Kong (4%).

The press release also states that 42% of Singapore’s population is made up of expats and overseas students and 80% of the professionals surveyed found it easy to settle in and make new friends in Singapore.

Working overseas received a great endorsement from participants who had already relocated, with 98% saying they would recommend working abroad to others and 76% of those away for at least three years saying they would stay working overseas for longer.

Related: Online Resources for Moving To and Living In Singapore

Singapore’s Health Care System

The Singapore Health Care system costs in Singapore costs less than 25% of that in the USA and results are better. In Singapore everyone has 6-8% deducted from your income for a medisave account that is used for hospitalized medical expenses. The government subsidizes the health care system but the system is based significantly on the consumers paying (from their medisave account or cash) and therefore making economic decisions.

The medical system in Singapore has been designed with much more attention to costs than the USA system. Hip replacement costs US$43,00 in the USA and US$12,000 in Singapore. A heart bypass costs US$127,000 in the USA versus US$22,500 in Singapore.

The quality of Singapore health care is at the highest level worldwide. There is health insurance available in Singapore though many rely just on the medisave accounts. Catosrpohic health care coverage is widely used.

What we can learn from Singapore’s health-care model

Matching Singapore’s performance in our $15 trillion economy would free up $2 trillion a year for other public and private purposes.

roughly one-third of health spending in Singapore is paid directly by individuals (who typically buy catastrophic coverage as well); in the United States, by contrast, nearly 90 percent is picked up by third-party insurers, employers and governments. Singaporeans make these payments out of earnings as well as from health savings accounts. The system is chock-full of incentives for thrift. If you want a private hospital room, for example, you pay through the nose; most people choose less expensive wards.

Supply-side rules that favor training new family doctors over pricey specialists are more extensive than similar notions Hillary Clinton pushed in the ’90s. And in Singapore, if a child is obese, they don’t get Rose Garden exhortations from the first lady. They get no lunch and mandatory exercise periods during school.

Singapore Ministry of Health on the system:

Singapore healthcare begins with building a healthy population through preventive healthcare programmes and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Good, affordable basic healthcare is available to Singaporeans through subsidised medical services at public hospitals and clinics. Our hospitals and healthcare system will never withhold help to a Singaporean because of financial limitations. Yet our philosophy promotes individual responsibility towards healthy living and medical expenses.

Medisave may be used for the outpatient treatments of four chronic diseases (diabetes, high blood pressure, lipid disorder and stroke), which affects about 1 million Singaporeans. MediShield provides a low cost catastrophic illness insurance scheme, designed to help members meet medical expenses from major or prolonged illnesses.

In 2008, Singapore spent about S$ 10.2 billion or 3.9% of GDP on healthcare. Out of this the Government expended S$2.7 billion or 1.0% of GDP on health services.

Related: More details on the Singapore health care systemUSA Spends Record $2.5 Trillion, $8,086 per person 17.6% of GDP on Health Care in 2009The USA Pays Double for Worse Health Results

Online Resources for Moving To and Living In Singapore

Singapore is well known as one of the best countries for doing business in the world. The city-state is extremely well planned, well managed and is know for an effective government. The city is a very popular place to live and along with that is also quite expensive.

The visas for working in Singapore have strict requirements but the process of wading through the bureaucracy in Singapore is not the horrible experience it is in most places. The bureaucracy functions well and quickly.

Many working in Singapore live in Johor Bahru for the substantially cheaper rents and other expenses. Singapore is one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Here are some resources I have found online for those interested in considering a move to Singapore:

Housing in Singapore

Living in Singapore

Blogs about Singapore and by People in Singapore

Forums on Singapore