My 1st encounter with Asia looks like love at 1st sight. From the very first moment I stepped out to the Changi airport of Singapore, after 17 hours of flight, I felt like home in that elegant and welcoming place. The behavior of the people, the extremely simple formalities at the border make you feel excellent from the very first moment. Besides, Singapore is an extremely cosmopolite world, English – the official language and more than 50% of population consisting of expats – all these make you feel a citizen of the world. In that evening I was seduced by that place where, irrespective of ethnic group or religion you feel welcomed. Singapore is a world of the 22nd century, where education represent a fundamental value. The famous business school INSEAD has a branch in Singapore.
The governors of this country know the importance and therefore support the creation of high value industries. Singapore is a young country created in 1965, by splitting off Malayesia. In a really short period of time, Singapore transformed from a British colony rather underdeveloped, with no natural resources, into one of the most important Asian tigers’. The one who made possible all this transformation was Lee Kuan Yew, considered the father of Singapore, prime minister for 3 decades. In essence, the visit to Singapore represented for me a lesson about innovation, creativity, evolution no matter that we speak about the visit to the Botanic Garden, Garden by the Bay (see photo), Oceanarium, Night Safari or Casino. Each and every moment I felt that for every Singaporean dollar invested/spent I was receiving 10 times the value.
I am pretty sure that I will not live 100 years from now on, but after my visit to Singapore I know how the world will look like in the next 100 years.
No matter where you go… it’s important what you learn. That’s the kind of journey that makes feel complete, transformed and a whole, brand new person!