SINGAPORE

The JEWEL at Singapore Airport

The JEWEL waterfall is in the background.

SINGAPORE  --  some photos

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore

Singapore Sreenivasa Temple

Sustainable  SINGAPORE ... June 2019.                    I took this video while passing by in a car in Singapore.    What you see in the video is an example of development ... a world class hotel ...  3 towers of 55 storeys, ‘Sky Park’ (you can see the trees on a plate like structure on the top of the 3 towers) and a world’s largest and highest ‘Infinity-edged swimming pool’ at a hight of 200 metres in the sky.  More than for this, the appreciation comes for the commitment and achievement in making Singapore an environmentally sustainable, clean, green and beautiful country.  Instead of encroaching on to the limited inland spaces, considerable area of space is created by converting portions of adjacent sea into land through reclamation !   --  Dr. T. Rama Prasad

ALL MILLIONAIRES HERE !

This morning, I asked one taxi driver here about his salary. Two million per month, he said. I inquired about the salaries of others in general. All get millions and millions ! A breakfast costs lakhs; a lunch may cost half a million; an art piece may be priced at several millions. In one hotel, an appalam (papad) is served for Rp. 15,000; and a cup of Nescafe coffee Rp. 40,000, and in an Indian restaurant one 'masala dosai' for Rp. 48,800. One litre of diesel is sold at Rp 7,000 and imagine the price of a car.

But, in general, most things, especially wood carvings, sculpture, art pieces, artefacts and furniture, are much cheaper here than in our country. Only the figures of prices look stunningly high because of the low unit value of currency used here in BALI, Indonesia (the value of the unit, Rp - Rupiah, is about 1/200 th of our Indian rupee). You don't see huge economic activity here; people, not much spoiled by materialism (most of the people in Bali practise 'Balinese Hinduism'), do a lot of excellent traditional art work which attracts foreign tourists; no high rise buildings, no railways; no posh high-end shopping malls; but there are vast terraced rice fields, unspoiled undulating verdant landscapes, uncluttered beaches with coral reefs, and, most remarkably, plenty of road-side shops with a vast variety of arts and artifacts of impressive paintings, exquisite wood carvings, marvelous stone art, etc. and very friendly salespersons with whom we can comfortably bargain for a low price. But we can't buy big things and many pieces because of the cost factor of transportation to a distant country.

Dr. T. Rama Prasad

These are the PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia which were the World's tallest (88 storeys, 451 metres) twin skyscrapers until 2019. You can see a bridge connecting the two towers. The bridge is at the 41st & 42nd floor as can be seen from inside in the photo below, with Rajyalakshmi & Rama Prasad inside the bridge.

Read the note above this photo