Its been a really long time since I wrote anything here. Partially I felt like a lost my creative thread and partially it wasn't as relevant to the MBA, which was the original topic of this blog, so I wasn't sure if its going to be relevant to you, my reader. In any case, here goes my attempt to resurrect the blog and hopefully we can both find it interesting and relevant to start this new chapter.
Quick recap of what you might have missed: I'm originally from Moscow, moved to Canada when I was 16, did my Computer Engineering degree at University of Manitoba and then worked for couple of years in IT before venturing out to do an MBA at Ivey School of Business. Since graduation I've been working in Asia, with Prudential UK, first in Hong Kong and now in Singapore. Its been a very interesting journey and I'm happy to share with you, my reader my ups and downs.
A lot of my friends were asking me, when I first moved to Asia, if I'm finding it very difficult to live here. A lot of people thought it would be a different world out here. In reality it does have its differences and that's what makes it interesting, but so far nothing that I haven't been able to overcome. Having said that, I'll make a disclosure that I've taken the route of working in a more developed Asia so far. So the experience might be slightly different if I would have been working in Vietnam or Indonesia where conditions are more extreme than Singapore and Hong Kong.
I love both cities! Everyone always has this question: which city is best? Hong Kong or Singapore. My answer to that one, they are different, its like asking: do you prefer coke or pepsy. Hong Kong is a very vibrant city and is my first Asian love. Its the city which never sleeps! You can be going to the gym at 8am on Saturday morning and people are coming out from clubs, or if you are hungry at 6am I came out to discover on Sunday a bustling flee market right outside my doors in central HK. Even though Cantonese (Traditional Chinese)is the official language in Hong Kong, its very hard to find people who won't try to help you when you speak English to them. Even though the pace of life in Hong Kong is really fast (some people actually run from the train to escallators in the morning to beat the crowds) people won't hesitate to stop and try to help you.
Singapore is great and I love it a lot too. The ease and cleanliness of Singapore is hard to deny. Everything is in English here, taxes are low, and things just work. The air is generally much cleaner than in Hong Kong too, which makes it a lot better for outside activities. Moreover, the city is so close to other travel destinations that it makes it a perfect base town if you like travelling to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. All within a short flight over from Singapore.
Singapore has also been the place where I found my lovely girlfriend, who has brought a lot of joy into my life over the last year. The journey continues...
