Above picture courtesy: Panasianartsalliance

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Its that time of the year to clear leaves and also to stretch your legs and relax.  What better time to spend Christmas back home with family and friends.  Going back home to Hyderabad tonight.  Will be back in Singapore only in the new year.

Lots of cakes, cookies, appam, stew, hyderabadi biryani and the festivities await.  This will be our first Christmas back home since I got married.  Really looking forward to it.  Looking to go around the city and take the sights and sounds of the city i lived in.

Its really been a wonderful year. Tough no doubt but, professionally satisfactory.  At the beginning of the year moved to a new department, attended a course and got certified.  Worked in a more structured way.  Learnt the importance of documentation and keeping my foot down to say NO.

Raring to go into the new year.  Lots of things planned for the new year.  Gotta make some really radical decisions.  Cant wait.  Not to mention, completed 11 years in Singapore on the 4th of December 2011.  Time has just sped by.  Have spent a third of my life here in one of the most progressive and dynamic cities in the world.  Have made some great friends for life.

Let me take this opportunity to wish the best of the season to all of you and your loved ones.  Have fun and enjoy the holidays.

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Petronas Towers at dusk

Christmas @ a mall

A fish sculpture

Fountain

Liberty on wheels @ Genting

Chilly, misty afternoon @ Genting

Looooooong cable car

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Tree inside Takashimaya

Ion Orchard

Orchard Central

Orchard Central

Orchard Central Orchard Road

Paragon

Tangs

Takashimaya

Plaza Singapura

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It rained in the morning and there was a nice breeze.  Couple with the smell of the wet mud and the greens, the place reminds me of Kerala.  Some pictures of the bird park

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Happy Lunar Year everyone.  Wishing the year of the rabbit brings much prosperity and happiness to all.

Its a 4 day weekend for us here.  Hope the rains dont play spoilsport.

Above picture courtesy: Water-Trotter

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Over the new year holiday, went to Marina Bay Sands here in Singapore.  No regrets at not having gone earlier.  Honestly, there is nothing great about the place.  The hotel looks like 3 giant pillars and doesn’t even look pleasing in the day time.  Maybe the interiors of the hotel are world class, but the noisy crowd in the lobby of the hotel dragging their luggage around combined with a few girls standing around the doors dressed in cheongsam looking utterly bored and uninterested.  You wonder if this was what they could produce after spending more than SG$ 5 billion?

The whole shopping place looks as if all the premium brands of the world have been rounded up and put up in a giant warehouse.

There was nothing pleasant about the place.  It looked like a hodge podge of ideas.  Too much of money spent but hardly any class in the stuff.  The other structure sticking out like a sore thumb was the helix bridge.  Neither does it protect you from the rain nor from the sun.  Only God knows why they built that structure.

Maybe the whole thing looks awesome in the night.  And yes, it does look good in the pictures (taken at night).  Maybe the hotel up above and the rooms are terrific.  But the general view of the whole place was a big thumbs down.  The shops were all deserted with people not even interested in window shopping.  The only place (as usual) that was filled with people was the food court.  Just like any other eating joint in Singapore, it was chock a block with people and no place to sit.

The Casino was out of bounds for me and Iam surely not stupid enough to pay $100 to go in to gamble or even to look around.  It too looked crowded inside just like the food court.

The best thing about the place is the spectacular view of the skyline of the business district.  The view was great.

Would love to go see the Resorts World Sentosa too, but this experience has simply dampened my expectations.  So, that can wait.

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• Celebrated my 2nd Wedding Anniversary.

• For the second consecutive year, didn’t fall sick even for a single day.

• Lost more than 13 kgs in 4 months and overall 17 kgs to bring my BMI down to a healthy 23.

• Significant investments done in equity and mutual funds.

• Bought Gold ETFs for the first time ever.

• This blog had 100,000 hits after almost 2 years of moving here. My previous WordPress blog used to have so many hits in 1-2 months itself

• Blogged infrequently, but wrote more original posts unlike last time when i just blogged more about the news.

• Read 13 books and quite a few audio books too; making this year the most prolific when it came to reading.

• Had just one holiday this year and that was a visit back home to India.

• Read more about finance, investing. Diversified my investments and started reading more about the financial reports of the companies I had invested in.

• Got my MBA convocation certificate. Bringing to an end a 3 year juggle between life, study and work.

• Watched tons of movies, but was so busy that hardly had time to update the Movies page of this blog.  Hope to be much more regular next year.

• Made some significant plans for the next year and will disclose them as and when they happen

Overall, nothing great about the year.  Looking forward to the new year with excitement.  Hoping and wishing for an exciting new phase of life.

Previous recaps here – 2009 &  2008

Let me take this opportunity to wish all of you and your loved ones a Happy & Prosperous New Year – 2011

Meanwhile, let me leave you with a few images of the wonderful skyline of the beautiful city of Singapore where the New Year celebrations are to be held.

Click on the images for a bigger version.

Above images courtesy: Marina Bay Countdown

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Its the final week leading into my faviourite times of the year.  Its Christmas time.  I love the feeling.  Wish i was back home to the cold, wintery temperatures of Hyderabad.  Not to forget the warm cakes, appams, chicken stew and other eatables, the christmas trees, the star in front of the house, the singing of carols….

Put up the Christmas tree at home quite early this time.

Happy Holidays

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Click on the pictures to see their bigger version.

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