Statue of Francis Xavier in Malacca. Doesn't he look a little like Singapore's Stamford Raffles?

You may wonder, is this all to SE Asia?  Of course not!

If you can find a day or 1/2 day free, you might find a chance to go out of the city center, to experience other parts of Singapore, or if you’re more daring (and have more than 6 months validity on your visa, try going out of the country to visit nearby Malaysia or Indonesia.  Johor Bahru (JB for short) and Malacca (about 2-3 hours away each way) in Malaysia offers a contrast to the super modern urban landscape that makes up downtown Singapore.

Our tour desk offers two tours going out of town to JB and Malacca and gives you a safe return.  We recommend going with the tour (especially if you’re thinking of going to JB; tourists are often targets of scams).  You can find the tour desk near the foyer of the Ballroom.

Enjoy!

(PS – want more detail?  Check out Chris’ earlier post on traveling to Malaysia)

Hope you enjoyed the festivities!  Here’s some pictures to remember the event by…!

Profs. Bird, Choi and Su receiving scrolls marking the auspicious opening of the conference

ACL-AFNLP executive members and conference chairs in front of the conference banner

Prof. Steven Bird demonstrating a prosperity orange "extraction process"

Good company and conversation had by all at the opening reception

The NTU Lion Dance Troupe and ACL-IJCNLP conference goers pose!

This philatelic collector sheet is uniquely created to commemorate the ACL-IJCNLP 2009 Conference in Singapore ! You can find totally 10 pieces of personalised stamps here. The ACL-IJCNLP 2009 Conference logo is printed on the right side of a real and usable Singapore postage stamp, which has the design of an Orchid flower. The Orchid flower, specifically Vanda Miss Joaquim (卓锦万黛兰) , was identified as the National Flower of Singapore, on 15th April 1981. This flower can bloom throughout the year, and signifies Singapore’s continuous efforts towards making better progress and excellence. This special edition of philatelic collector sheet marks the significant achievement made by all contributors at ACL-IJCNLP 2009 in the research and development of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing; and anticipates this spirit to strive on!

Whether you are a philatelic collector or not, this is a very special edition of stamps that you cannot miss ! If you are interested to purchase this limited edition of ACL-IJCNLP 2009 philatelic collector sheet, please approach Ms Wang Xi at the Registration desk during the conference period. Each set will cost SGD30.00 (or USD20.00). Whilst stock lasts !

T-Shirt

Besides the limited edition philatelic collector sheet above, you would also be able to find limited edition of custom-made ACL-IJCNLP 2009 T-Shirts on sale during the conference. The t-shirts come in two different colors (yellow with red/blue with red), and different sizes. The design and sizes are shown as follows:

You would see models (i.e. conference officers/volunteers/helpers) wearing them during the conference. If you feel like owning a piece of this limited edition t-shirt, you can also approach Ms Wang Xi at the Registration desk during the conference period to purchase. Each t-shirt will cost SGD15.00 (or USD10.00), and similarly whilst stock lasts ! Don’t forget to check them out !! >_<

As a final note – if in case you require any assistance during the conference, please do not hesitate to approach any of the models (i.e. conference helpers/volunteers wearing this conference t-shirt). We have a team of experienced and enthusiastic volunteers, who are looking forward to welcoming and serving you at ACL-IJCNLP 2009 at Suntec, Singapore. Besides wearing the conference t-shirt, they should also be wearing a special badge to ease you to identify and locate them. Fyi, the conference officers, volunteers and helpers could assist in the area of registration, first aid, technical assistance, logistics, general information, conference ushering, and publicity.  Half of them are  actually student volunteers from Singapore.  If you’d like to know more about life in Singapore, you could also try to chat with them, even if you do not require their assistance!

p.s. No need to reply to this, but some of us got here late last
night; any recommendations about where to explore today?

Here’s my short answer.  Hopefully others can chime in via comments.

Shopping: Try the north part of Orchard Road (Tangs, Takashimaya).  The new ION Orchard Mall is less than a month old.
History: try the National Museum at the base of Fort Canning.
Walking: try Chinatown or Little India.  Avoid afternoon sun if possible.
Tech: Try Sim Lim Square.
Nature: Try the Southern Ridges (see blog post: http://www.colips.org/blog/acl-ijcnlp-2009/index.php/175/)

Uniquely Singapore (brought to you by the Singapore Tourism Board) has a lot of information for walking tours, etc. too.

Jason Eisner replied:

Thanks a bunch!  I’ll forward that to the other 5 ACLers on my plane.

ACL-IJCNLP: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/P/P09
EMNLP: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/D/D09
Workshops: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W/W09

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