Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[cozzielex]

Hi All
I recently retired after living and working in Hong Kong for 25 years. Ive travelled extensively in SE Asia and am very familiar with HK and Philippines.
And after all that I now live in Kent, UK

[starlagurl]

Welcome to the forums!

May I ask what your username means?

[cozzielex]

My family name is cosgrove which was always abbreviated to cozzie. I added on the lex because I was a lawyer and I never now get the 'that name is already taken' message.

[starlagurl]

Ahhh I see. So where are you off to next?

[cozzielex]

Nowhere right now as Im having medical treatment. But I'd like to get back to Phils and see more of Palawan and Mindeao

[huckabmm]

Hi Cozzielex! Welcome to TravelPod!

I'm just curious...what do you think of Singapore? I've always heard its a wonderful place to visit and as a self described expert in the area, what do you think?

[cozzielex]

Hi,
firstly I would say Im an enthusiatic amateur as opposed to an expert.
I first went to Singapore in 1981 and it was by no means as developed as it is today. But it did have some charm to it. Hong Kong has also developed but still has that quirkiness that you expect from old colonial locations. Singapore is clean, efficient and utterly charmless. Im told its great for shopping. I once stayed there for 9 months in '82 and I loved it but when I went back 10 years later it struck me that it had beome one big disneyworld with lots of rules. If there is one word to sum the place up then the one you are most likely to hear time and again is "sterile".
Having said that I dont like cities anyway and I would still recommend a visit say for one day, then cross over as quickly as possible to Malaysia and start having fun.

[huckabmm]

Hi,
firstly I would say Im an enthusiatic amateur as opposed to an expert.
I first went to Singapore in 1981 and it was by no means as developed as it is today. But it did have some charm to it. Hong Kong has also developed but still has that quirkiness that you expect from old colonial locations. Singapore is clean, efficient and utterly charmless. Im told its great for shopping. I once stayed there for 9 months in '82 and I loved it but when I went back 10 years later it struck me that it had beome one big disneyworld with lots of rules. If there is one word to sum the place up then the one you are most likely to hear time and again is "sterile".
Having said that I dont like cities anyway and I would still recommend a visit say for one day, then cross over as quickly as possible to Malaysia and start having fun.

Good to know. Thanks for the advice.

[cozzielex]

I now understand why you mentioned expert as it seems I have asked to be nominated as a local expert, that was a mistake. Can I change that in my profile?

[starlagurl]

Don't worry, your status as a "regular member" hasn't been changed Cozzie.

If you ever want to become a Local Expert, perhaps of Kent, you're more than welcome to apply.

[cozzielex]

thanks Starlaqurl
I would be have difficulty of being a local expert of my own living room!
By the way I had a great trip to canada a few years back and travelled from Vancouver to Toronto. But the best time I had was in Sudbury, which is not I understand the tourist Mecca of the region. But it just shows you that if you get a perfect confluence of circumstances any place on earth can be paradise; I guess that sums up for the joy of travel.

[starlagurl]

Oooh, what happened in Sudbury? I haven't been there since I was little.

I'm guessing you didn't go to Ottawa, did you?

[cozzielex]

Well, I went down the nickel mine which was..mmm...tedious! But quite by chance I bumped into an old schoolfriend from UK who was living there and he in turn introduced me to a lot of other great people. I like the small town atmosphere and after having been in Toronto for a few weeks it was just a lot of fun. No you are quite right I didnt get that far as I ran out of time and had to get back to HK.
But one funny thing was that I had been away for several months and when I was waiting for my flight in Vancouver I met some of the girls from Cathay Pacific who were rather surprised to see me in light of a rumour going round in HK that I was dead!

[starlagurl]

Hilarious! I went down in the mine too.

Canada is a great place to find all kinds of small towns, they can be boring, but they can be a lot of fun too. Glad you found a fun one!