The fourth day in SE Asia consisted of a day trip to Jahore Baru in Malaysia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johor_Bahru). We got up and had another amazing breakfast buffet before having a meeting in the lobby and heading out on a bus.
JB is part of a peninsula, but you can get there via autobus from Singapore. The bridge was pretty cool:
We had a visit at Executive Jets Asia with founder and CEO Prithpal Singh. EJA is a charter jet service that also offers fractional ownership and a medevac service.
We had a meeting in the new offices to hear about the business, industry, and working in SE Asia.
Following the meeting, Mr. Singh gave us a tour of the hangars and airplanes:
Below is a jet that is set up for a medical evacuation. Clients can call EVA for evacuation with as little as two hour notice. There are doctors and nurses on staff to go and transport injured parties to the requested or suggested hospital.
After a very interesting visit, Mr. Prithpal brought us to a local resort for a buffet breakfast.
The hospitality at EVA was wonderful. It was a very different business model and interesting to see how Mr. Prithpal started in the industry and his plans for the future.
When we returned to Singapore, we had the evening free. Some people went to the gardens, some to the night zoo, and some to the Geylang red light district. The food that we had in the red light district was very questionable, in that we questioned what exactly we were eating. I was pretty certain that whatever meat-looking thing I ate would make me sick (it didn't!!!), but those who ordered noodles really came out ahead. The noodles were handmade to order from a big roll of dough, and the broth was delicious (though served out of a five gallon bucket...).
Our last night in Singapore brought reflections on the country. All the things you hear are true: it is super clean, the buildings downtown are large and new, there is a huge foreign presence, and nobody was chewing gum. Looking back, there really was no culture shock coming to Singapore. Everybody spoke English, the signs were in English, and most of the business were recognizable. We had Starbucks coffee in the morning, even. But travelling away from the downtown, into Little India or China Town, did bring more culture (though everybody still speaks English!). To quote our guide at Boeing, Singapore really is "Asia for beginners".
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