Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore

In mid-October 2009, I was one of the panel speakers in a big international conference, the Pacific Rim Policy Exchange mainly organized by the Americans for Tax Reforms (ATR, US), Property Rights Alliance (PRA, US), International Policy Network (IPN, UK) and about two more free market think tanks.Venue was the Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore. The organizers paid for my plane fare and hotel, no honorarium but no problem because the hotel was really fantastic.

Below are photos from the hotel website. I think I was able to go to the rooftop restaurant, the protruding round shape at the top of the hotel, just for a sight seeing :-)

Succeeding photos are from my camera phone. Sorry, low resolution. Inside that huge structure is a hollow or open space, one can see almost all aisles of the hotel. The glass elevator also allows the passengers to have a look at all the floors and aisles, nice. Bottom right is a lobby restaurant.

These are the views from my room, the giant wheel I think can be seen from the other side, not from my room.

Finally, my room, really nice. Since my hotel was already paid for, including transport to and from the airport, and Cebu Pacific fares were cheap, I brought my wife and daughter, Elle Marie, then 3 years old. She enjoyed the pool but I never had the chance to take a dip. Whenever I go to a conference and I'm a speaker, I just work-work-work, or join all the activities outlined by the organizers.

There is also a Pan Pacific Hotel here in Manila but I haven't been there yet. That's the irony :-)

Hyatt Hotel, Singapore

The last time I went to Singapore was late last January this year. I was one of the panel speakers in the "Think Tanks' IPR meeting", held in Hyatt Hotel in this city. The event was organized by Prof. Julian Morris of Buckingham University, London.

My room was nice, I liked it. The bed was huge, and good, wide working area, with complimentary internet connection. If I have a speaking engagement and a good working area, chances are I will stay more time there than in my bed. And that was exactly what happened.

Nice and wide, flat tv. But as usual, between working and writing my presentation (ie, cramming to add more content to my powerpoint) and watching tv, the ratio between the two, for me, is something like 10:1 :-).

Nice, shiny bathroom. I like staying in the bathtub for a few minutes with lukewarm water. To relax, or to ponder on some of my powerpoint slides :-)

The hallway going to my room. Nice. With my work cramming then, I did not even check the hotel's swimming pool, etc. Only the lobby, restaurant, the seminar room, and my room, argh!

I thanked Julian profusely for the opportunity to speak during the forum and stay in this nice hotel.