World's best in travel in 2012

New York based travel magazine Travel + Leisure compiles a Worlds Best lists every year by surveying T+L readers to tell which hotels, destinations, and companies represent the very best in travel.  These World's Best Awards have been announced every August since 1995.

In 2012, according to Travel + Leisure press release, Osprey at Beaver Creek, Colorado is named Best Resort in the Continental U.S., Honolulu makes its debut on the list of Top 10 Cities in the U.S. and Canada, Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens is the first Costa Rican resort to rank among the top 10 hotels overall, and Vieques, Puerto Rico is voted the Best Island in the Caribbean, Bermuda, and the Bahamas in the Travel + Leisure 2012 World’s Best Awards readers’ survey, announced today. The results of the 17th annual Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards survey revealing readers’ favorite hotels, cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, carUrental agencies, spas*, safari outfitters, and tour operators are listed on www.TravelandLeisure.com now, will be featured in the August digital editions on iPad®, NOOK Color™, and Kindle Fire™, and is the cover story of the August issue of the magazine, on newsstands July 20.

Singita Grumeti Reserves in northern Tanzania is the top ranked World’s Best Hotel overall for the second consecutive year and is one of four properties in Africa to place in the top 10 among hotels worldwide. Australia’s four year old Southern Ocean Lodge, on Kangaroo Island, makes its debut on the Top 100 Hotels list at No. 3. Hotel Santa Caterina, Amalfi, Italy is the top Resort in Europe and is featured on the T+L August issue cover. Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Montana is the No. 1 Inn and Small Lodge in the Continental U.S. for the third year, and is ranked No. 2 among hotels worldwide. New York City holds its title for the twelfth year in a row as the Best City in the U.S. and Canada, and ranks No. 7 among top cities overall, while Bangkok retains its number one ranking in the world for the third year in a row. Istanbul rises to its highest ranking ever in the survey at No. 3 on the list of Top Cities Overall. Among cities in the U.S. and Canada, Chicago rises to the No. 2 spot and New Orleans moves up to No. 5 this year from No. 6 in 2011.

Two companies have held onto their No. 1 rankings every year since the poll began in 1996: Crystal Cruises (Best Large Ship Cruise Line) and Singapore Airlines (Best International Airline). The 2012 results, including the Top 100! Hotels, Top 50 Resorts in the Continental U.S., Top 10 Cities Overall, and Top 10 Islands.

Travel + Leisure Editor in Chief Nancy Novogrod said, "Even after 17 years, the opportunity to see what travel experiences resonate with our readers still intrigues and delights me. While some passions change over time, the allure of the exotic and the new remains as strong as ever, as does the attraction to trips that provide distinctive and long lasting memories. Along with great service, our readers crave adventure and the outdoors, reflected in their selection of this year s top three resorts in the Continental U.S., all located in Colorado mountain towns. And, this year, we re introducing our World s Best Awards Hall of Fame, celebrating the winners who have been recognized for the last ten years or more of the survey—congratulations to all 97 of you!"[1]

[1] - The Travel + Leisure 2012 World’s Best Awards Readers’ Survey Results of Top Hotels, Cities, Islands, Cruise Lines, Airlines, and More Announced Today

What Obama's win means for the economy?

US has voted and re-elected their president Barack Obama for a second term. As I was writing this article the counting was not over but the television networks projected that Obama will have a second term as a president. So what does this mean for the world or Singapore?

The main theme of the US election 2012 was economy centered around a very simple basic question: Will we start to do something to fix the underlying problems of the economy and take a pain (as recession) now to prevent a catastrophic disaster (a huge financial depression) in the future, or will we continue to kick the can down the road to prevent pain today (as ballooning the US debt to multi-trillion dollar levels) but risk a huge catastrophic disaster in the future?

I do not like Obama so much and I also did not heat up to Romney. But I believe Barack Obama was leaned to prevent pain now, print more money, balloon the debt and Romney was leaned towards doing something now to start to fix it. And hedonism won once again.

So, there is a good news and a bad news.

Under President Barack Obama, the national debt has ballooned past the $16 trillion mark — a number once inconceivable — and is growing by the second as the federal leviathan feeds on borrowed money.[1] Good news is that, Obama now has motivation to continue to kick the can down the road so the change of having a near future recession is less now.

Bad news is that since he will absolutely do nothing to fix the economy and US debt and worse he will continue to do a lot of things to make them worse (i.e. letting Ben Bernanke to print money and cause more job destroying malinvestments around the globe), the change of a catastrophic financial disaster in the future has increased. So be prepared.

Japan is continuing to throw everything two generations saved and accumulated into debt and is a bug looking for a wind shield. Europe is the same. US is the same. As I said, be prepared.

[1] - Obama's pricey gaffe that's worth talking about

Ong Kok Hao charged with hurting elderly woman on bus

Remember the Singaporean man who pushes an elderly woman off an SMRT bus? The video showing Ong Kok Hao (25) a.k.a Alex Ong was seen in a viral video shouting at an elderly woman to get out of an SMRT bus in July 2012 and then pushing her out of the bus. Police has classified the case as "voluntarily causing hurt" at the time and according to the media, he has been charged in court on Wednesday with pushing an elderly woman on an SMRT bus:

"Ong Kok Hao, unemployed, is alleged to have pushed Mrs Hwang Li Lian, 76, on her back and causing her to fall on the steps of Service No 167's rear exit along Upper Thomson Road at about 3pm on June 6. 

The 25-year-old, who is autistic, was clad in a white T-shirt and black bermudas in court.This prompted District Judge Christopher Goh to ask why he was wearing shorts, Ong assured the court that he will be attired properly the next time. The alleged incident is believed to have been sparked off when the woman pressed the bell at the last minute, causing it to stop a bus length away."[1]

Ong's lawyer Eddie Koh will be making representations to the court. The case will next be mentioned in December.



[1] -  Man charged with hurting elderly woman on bus
[2] -  Man charged with pushing old woman down bus

US Presidential Election 2012: Watch Live

Will Barack Obama hold for a second term or will Mitt Romney be the next president? World is waiting for the result now as the votes are counted. You can watch the live results of the US Presidential Election 2012 for Senate, House and the presidential race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney live on YouTube (video below).

UPDATE: Barack Obama Wins Second Term as U.S. President.

US President Barack Obama was inching towards victory on Tuesday as results poured in from the US presidential election, as Mitt Romney struggled to win vital swing states.

While the most important trio of battlegrounds -- Ohio, Florida and Virginia -- remained too close to call, Obama grabbed Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, dramatically shrinking the Republican's chances.[1]


[1] - Obama inches toward victory in US vote

Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) criteria tightened

Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP), is a special type of Singapore work visa issued to highly-skilled foreigners. Unlike ordinary Employment Pass (EP), PEP is independent of any employer and allows its holder to stay in Singapore for up to 6 months in between jobs.[1] With normal Employment Pass, you can only stay in Singapore up to a month if you lose your job so for this reason many EP holders try to get PEP to have better flexibility and security in their jobs in Singapore.

Currently about 12,000, 7 per cent of the 174,000 Employment Pass holders have PEP. But this number is set to fall as Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has announced that starting December 2012, foreign professionals applying for a personalised employment pass (PEP) will have to meet more stringent criteria that includes a minimum annual fixed salary of S$144,000, up four-fold from the existing S$34,000 a year.[2]:

From 1 December 2012, the qualifying criteria for the Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) will be raised and some of its features will be refined. This ensures that the PEP remains a premium pass for top-tier foreign talent and is in line with recent moves to raise the quality of Employment Pass holders. P1 Pass holders who earn a fixed monthly salary of at least $12,000 and overseas-based foreign professionals whose last drawn fixed monthly salary was at least $18,000 will be eligible for the PEP. For overseas-based foreign professionals, they should not have been unemployed for longer than a continuous period of 6 months at the point of application. Correspondingly, the minimum annual fixed salary requirement will be increased to $144,000.

 The period of validity of the PEP will be reduced to 3 years. [3]

The changes will apply to all new PEP applicants, including existing P1 Pass holders who wish to apply for the PEP. There is no immediate impact on existing PEP holders. MOM will give all existing PEP holders until 31 Dec 2014 to meet the revised minimum annual fixed salary requirement of $144,000.

Previously PEP was available for current and former P1 Employment Pass holders and overseas-based foreign professionals with $8,000+ salary, P2 Pass holders with at least 2 years’ on a P Pass and earned a fixed salary of at least $34,000 in the preceding year, Q1 Pass holders with at least 5 years’ on a Q1 Pass and earned a fixed salary of at least $34,000 in the preceding year and foreign graduates from Singapore’s Institutes of Higher Learning with at least 2 years’ on an Employment Pass and earned a fixed salary of
at least $34,000 in the preceding year.[3]

See this PDF file titled CHANGES TO PERSONALISED EMPLOYMENT PASS (PEP) for the details of the new changes and answers to frequently asked questions.

[1] - Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP)
[2] - MOM tightens criteria for premium employment pass
[3] - Changes to the Personalised Employment Pass

Korean idol Hyuna's R Rated Ice Cream is K-Pop's fastest MV to reach 10 million views

Can South Korean idol Hyuna's Ice Cream be a hit like PSY's Gangnam Style? Not sure but it has been watched 10 million times in YouTube in just 4 days after its release on October 22nd.[1] It took 15 days for Gangnam Style to hit the same number. In fact, by hitting 10 million view points in just 4 days, “Ice Cream” became the fastest MV to reach the milestone in K-Pop history.[1] The record is in tie with Girls’ Generation’s 2011 single, “The Boys.”

Ice Cream, produced by mega hitmaker Brave Brothers, is the title track of Hyuna's second mini album titled Melting. For those who do not know her yet, Hyuna is the Korean hottie appearing in the video of Gangnam Style. Her full name is Kim Hyun-a and she is 20 years old. She made her debut with the Wonder Girls at the age of 15 in 2007. She is a member of girl group 4Minute and is one of the hottest women of Korean wave. She is so hot that the video for her single, Ice Cream, was R rated in South Korea.

Since its release the video of Ice Cream has been watched more than 22 million times on 4minute's YouTube channel. Gangnam Style's Psy makes a cameo appearance in the video as a payback to her appearance in Gangnam Style.

"Very Hot", from Melting was banned by television networks KBS and MBC due to the reference to a specific brand (KaKaoTalk).[2]

Hyuna - Ice Cream

[1] - HyunA’s “Ice Cream” MV Ties Girls’ Generation’s Record for Fastest to 10 Million Views
[2] - HyunA’s “Very Hot” banned from KBS and MBC

Best cities in Asia in travel 2012

New York based travel magazine Travel + Leisure compiles a Worlds Best lists every year by surveying T+L readers to tell which hotels, destinations, and companies represent the very best in travel.  These World's Best Awards have been announced every August since 1995.

According to 2012 results, Bangkok is voted as the best city in Asia by Travel + Leisure readers in the 2012 World’s Best Awards. Bangkok is voted both Asia's and world's best city for the third year in a row while Hong Kong took the second spot from Siem Reap and Kyoto kept its third position.

The magazine with its 4.8 million readers reflects usually the taste of American travellers. According to 2012 survey here are the top 5 best Asian cities in travel:

1 - Bangkok, Thailand

The capital of Thailand and tourism capital of Asia is voted as Worlds Best City and Asia's Best City 3rd time in a row by T+L readers. Bangkok is not only the premier gateway for Thailand, but for all of Southeast Asia.

2 - Hong Kong, China

More than ten years after its handover to China, Hong Kong is still vibrant and influential. Hong Kong is the poster child of Asia with its iconic skyline and is an important cultural center among Chinese and Asians. Hong Kong moved up from 4th spot last year to 2nd spot in 2012.

3 - Kyoto, Japan

Former imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto, is one of the most beautiful cities in Japan and is voted as the 3rd best city to travel to in 2011 and 2012.

Bangkok is the best city in Asia in travel according to Travel+Leisure magazine's world's best awards.

4 - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap, famous as the location of Angkor Wat and the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park, is a small, extremely tourist-friendly city that operates at a relaxed pace. It was the second best city in Asia in travel in 2011 and is 4th in 2012.

5 - Shanghai, China

Once a humble fishing village at the mouth of the Yangzte River, Shanghai is now China's biggest city and an epicenter for art and culture as much as it is for commerce. Moved 1 spot up in the list, pushing Tokyo to the 6th position.

The other best Asian cities in the top 10 are below:

6 - Tokyo, Japan
7 - Singapore
8 - Beijing, China
9 - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
10 - Xi'an, China

Here are the top 3 best cities in the world 

Bangkok - Thailand	Florance - Italy	Istanbul - Turkey

Elaine Chiam saved from suicide attempt after Twitter posts

Elaine Chiam, a 32-year-old clinically depressed woman in Singapore, was rescued by Singapore police after she has started to tweet that she was ready to commit suicide. Shortly after 1:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, Elaine Chiam (@avalon in Twitter) started to tweet suicidal messages. "33 years is too long to have been alive" she wrote. An hour later she has tweeted the following messages:

"It is raining. wonder if the night i was born it was raining too."

"rainy day is good to die. forever 32 yrs old."

"I haven't cried this hard in a long time :'(" can i dies already? stop rescuing me please."

Luckily, her tweets sparked alarm over her followers in twitter and Yahoo! Singapore has alerted the police and provided them her address. According to Yahoo! Singapore, Elaine Chiam, who suffers from major depressive order and a unipolar low-mood syndrome, was due to see her psychiatrist at 5:15 p.m. but got drunk, sparking the torrent of suicidal tweets.[1]

Police arrived at her HDB flat in Ubi Avenue 1, which she shares with her mother and boyfriend, shortly after 430pm. Singapore Civil Defence also had to be called in to force open the door after she failed to respond to friends who had gathered outside her flat. According to one of her friends who spoke to Yahoo! Singapore, Chiam was found barely conscious and is now being treated at Changi General Hospital.[1]

According to Samaritans of Singapore, out of ten persons who kill themselves, eight would have given warnings of their suicidal intentions. These warnings may be verbal or come as pre-suicidal planning and emotional or behavioral changes.[2]

Verbal warnings or threats

• Expressions such as "Life is too painful for me."
• Bidding farewell – e.g. "Take care when I'm gone."
• Threats such as "If you don't love me, I will kill myself."

Pre-suicide planning

• Tidying up one's affairs
• Giving favourite things away
• Writing suicide notes, emails or blogs
• Checking out methods of dying

Emotional or behavioural changes

• Intense feelings of hopelessness or helplessness
• Rage, anger, seeking revenge
• Feeling trapped – like there's no way out
• Unusual behavioural changes
• Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking
• Increasing alcohol or drug use
• Withdrawing from friends, family, or society
• Anxiety, agitation, unable to sleep, or sleeping all the time
• Dramatic changes in mood
• No reason for living; no sense of purpose in life

If you think you or someone you know is at risk for suicide you should immediately call 999 or Samaritans of Singapore (see below) for help.

Suicide hotline:
Samaritans of Singapore 
Tel: 1800-221-4444       (24-hour)
Email: pat@samaritans.org.sg


[1] - Woman saved from suicide attempt after Twitter scare
[2] - Warning Signs

What is the fiscal cliff?

Fiscal cliff or United States fiscal cliff is shorthand term used to describe the effect of a series of enacted legislation which will automatically take effect at midnight on December 31, 2012 as tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the US budget deficit and slow down the growth of US debt. As it happened in United States debt-ceiling crisis in 2011, where a financial crisis started as a debate in the United States Congress about increasing the debt ceiling, the US Congress kicked the can until the very end and let the US economy to come just to the edge of this cliff. So if nothing is done - and nothing is done until this very last months of 2012, taxes will go up and there will be huge spending cuts. Many economists predicts that this will result in a new recession. And US debt situation is so desperate that even all these new tax increases and spending cuts take effect, they will only slow down the growth of US debt.

So within a few weeks, after the new President of The United States is elected, there will be very large debate will erupt in Congress about how to deal with the “Fiscal Cliff” and both sides of the debate will argue that their solution is the best when the other solution is an absolute disaster.

So what is the fiscal cliff? In the The Perils of the Fiscal Cliff [1]  article, John Mauldin explains:

In the third quarter of 2011 the US Congress agreed to rather severe tax increases and spending cuts that would kick in as of January 2013, as a way to get a deal done to increase the debt ceiling.[2] In addition, the Social Security payroll tax cut and extended unemployment benefits are also scheduled to go away in January. All told, if nothing changes, this abrupt shift in fiscal policy would result in a hit to the economy of about $650 billion, or a little more than 4% of GDP, at a time when the economy is likely growing less than 2% a year.

In the video below, David Wessel from Wall Street Journal explains things you need to know about the "fiscal cliff". As he explains the real problem is the US budget (or budget deficit):

"Like any budget, money comes in and money goes out. And more money goes out than comes in, there is a budget deficit. I think we have made things way way to complicated. Let me give you 6 facts about the federal budget, which is pretty much all you need to know:

1 - In 2011, 63% of the all federal spending was on auto-pilot. The money went out the door without any voting in Congress to pay the promises made in the past. To pay social security benefits, medicare benefits for elderly, medicaid for the poor, farm subsidies and of course the interest on the federal debt. 

2 - 1 out of every 4 dollars spend from Us budget goes to healthcare. In 1960, before Medicare and Medicaid, healthcare was less than 10% of the US Federal spending. Today, in 2012, it is 25%. 10 years later, it will hit 33%. 

3 - A lot of people think that US government employs a lot of people and they are right. 4 million people work for the US government. But the fact is, if you fired every single one off them, from the secret service agents standing next to the President to the lady collecting tolls for tickets in Yellow Stone and soldiers in Afghanistan, you save 435 billion dollar in a year. That would not reduce the deficit even 1/3. The point: Closing down federal agencies can save some money: but not nearly enough to solve the problem. 

4 - US spends a lot of money on defense: 700 billion USD only in 2011! That is 1 out of every 5 dollars the US government spends. US defense budget is bigger than the combined defense budget of the next 17 big defense spenders: China, Britain, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, India, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Turkey, U.A.E, Spain and Israel. 

5 - Federal income taxes have been falling for more than 30 years. In 1981, the middle class has paid 19.2% of their income as tax. In 2007, that percentage was 14.3%. So how the government has managed to spend more and more? First, the rich paid more taxes as they have made more income. And US have borrowed! US government has borrowed 36 cents for every dollars spend."

So if you decide how much to spend on benefits, healtcare, how many workers government should employ , how much US should spend on defense and how much tax should people pay, you solve the US debt problem. Everything else is detail. But sorting all these out is the problem because people have different views of the solutions for the very same problem and they cannot decide on the solutions.

There is no good solution to the US fiscal cliff: with huge us debt still growing, there are bad and worse choices. If US does not start to reduce the budget deficit now as the fiscal cliff or as some sort of other solutions, a time will come when the US deficit will be so high and countries lending money to US will require very high interest rates: The result: forceful spending cuts in almost everything. So the question is like do you get some pain today (as a recession) to avoid a big torture in the near future (a great depression) or do you try to postpone the pain and face the torture in the future.  I believe US, as Europe and Japan, will find a solution to the immediate fiscal cliff problem by kicking the can down the road more and  doing absolutely nothing to address the real structural problems. As John Mauldin repeatedly says, Japan is a bug in search of a wind shield and in my opinion Europe and US are fast going to that craze point. [1] - The perils of the fiscal cliff [2] - Refer to United States debt-ceiling crisis

British Airways to move Singapore flights to London Heathrow’s Terminal 5

British Airways, the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, is enhancing Europe connectivity and in-flight experience for customers flying from London to Singapore. The airline announced on November 1 that  from the summer 2013 schedule, all services between Singapore and London will move from London Heathrow’s Terminal 3 to Terminal 5. Two daily services on London - Singapore route will also be operated by British Airways’ newest aircraft - the Boeing 777-300ER – which offers the airline’s latest on board cabin design in all cabins.[1] London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 has been named as the world’s best airport terminal by Skytrax in 2012 and it is home to six state-of-the-art British Airways lounges, including the Concorde Room for First Class customers and the Club World Galleries lounge complex.

“Arriving and departing from T5 allows passengers to have even faster and smoother onward connections", according to Jamie Cassidy, British Airways Area General Manager Middle East and Asia Pacific. "Premium passengers headed to London will have access to our impressive Arrivals lounge at T5, where they can freshen up and even get their clothes pressed before heading into town later in the morning. They will also be able to relax and get work done at our award-winning Galleries and Concorde lounges in T5 when they are leaving London."Terminal 5 features a large collection of retail and dining outlets such as Gordon Ramsey’s Plane Food and famous brands such as Paul Smith, Harrods, Tiffany & Co and Mulberry.

Boeing B777-300 ER (Extended Range), the best selling Boeing 777 variant, is a ultra-long haul aircraft with  a range of 7,600 nautical miles. British Airways operate this newest aircraft in its fleet on routes to Asia and North America. The aircraft provide super quiet, super wide cabins with high ceilings, audio and video on demand to all seats and burns 20% less fuel compared to the Boeing 747.[2]

British Airways Boeing 777 ER 

 The aircraft is  fitted with British Airways’ next-generation First class, new World Traveller economy and World Traveller Plus premium economy cabins. It also features 56 fully-flat beds in the ever-popular Club World cabin, named World’s Best Business Class at the 2012 Business Traveller Awards.[1]

[1] - British Airways enhances Europe connectivity and in-flight experience for Singaporean customers
[2] - Boeing 777-300