http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog Around and about .SG, for our intrepid conference attendees Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:51:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Looking for some souvenirs for yourself and your beloved ones? Close to the conference venue, the Pagoda street opposite the Chinatown MRT (subway) station offers a variety of souvenir shops that you will want to explore. Generally speaking, the shop owners don't mind if you haggle a bit. And the ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/07/21/souvenirs/ It's great !!! SIGIR'08 is held at the same time as the durian (IPA: [ˈd(j)ʊriən, -ɑn]) season; a fruit that is unique only in this South East Asia region. Many love this fruit and even revere it as "The King of Fruits". Many others misunderstand and loathe it so much ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/07/19/extreme-durian/ Dear all, SIGIR is now in full swing.  We'd like to invite yourself to blogging about SIGIR 2008 and linking back to here, through your comments and posts here. We've created a generic user "sigir2008" (with the SIGIR 2008 wireless internet password - ie "inS******2008")  to allow *you* to write up ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/07/18/open-to-the-public/ A couple of short tips based on others' questions. 1. Clothes to wear. Singapore's unofficial uniform is t-shirt-bermudas-sandals (Bermudas are the same as "shorts"). There was a recent Straits Times article on this a few week's ago. You can go practically anywhere in this outfit. However, for ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/07/16/travel-questions-about-singapore/ It is interesting to note that there is a company set up to perform walking tours in Singapore in not so touristy places. It appears to me that the places mentioned in their tour itineraries seem to be good places to consider. Personally, I do not really recommend paying the ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/07/08/singapore-walks/ Singapore Food Festival during this July would definitely be a unique opportunity for you to easily know more about Singapore diverse cuisines with famous dishes such as Satay, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Chilli Crab. The Opening Celebration, from 4-6 July, is a review of Singapore's hawkers of the 50s and 60s with ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/06/07/singapore-food-festival-around-sigir-08/ For visitors who like intellectual games and would like to interact with the locals, you may consider stopping by at the Singapore Intellectual Games Center located at the Bishan Community Club. Four intellectual games organizations are housed under one roof: International chess: Singapore Chess Federation (http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/) Chinese chess: Singapore Xiangqi General Association ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/06/03/international-chess-chinese-chess-go-and-contractbridge/ Singapore, while quite the clean and lush garden city, offers and additional attractions of being a natural hub for visiting the surrounding countries. While the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) would be happiest if you spent all your tourist dollars in town, there are certainly many destinations of interest that ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/06/02/24/ In a few previous posts, we already highlighted a few of the nature spots in Singapore. In May 2008 (quite recent) the Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore's urban planning division; self acknowledged sim city folks :-P) opened up a series of parks stretching from right outside the Vivocity shopping mall ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/06/02/the-southern-ridge/ It will be the South-West Monsoon Season between June and September in Singapore, when you are visiting for SIGIR 2008. You might experience late morning or early afternoon showers -- however, they won't affect most of the plans you might have. Just in case, you can check out the ... http://wing.comp.nus.edu.sg/blog/2008/05/12/weather/