ACL-IJCNLP Plug
Hello! This is Swee Lan from Singapore. Now that you’ve seen the conference bag posted by Haizhou, I believe you’d be interested to know what special stuffs you could find in there. Right?
Well, a hint here. You probably want to check out the voltage and frequency used in the country you want to travel to, so that you can make sure that you bring appliance(s) of correct voltage and frequency to use in that country. But what if the plugs do not take the plug configuration of your appliance(s)? It’d be rather frustrating and an unpleasant experience, isn’t it? [Editor: When I got delayed in Narita, I was given a stay at Hilton and we had to pay $10 to rent out the adapter; not cheap!] Well, when you attend ACL-IJCNLP 2009 conference, you’ll not have such trouble.
Oui! You’d receive a universal travel adapter in your conference bag and voila! No more plug trouble. So don’t forget to check it out in your conference bag (along with other stuffs). It’ll look like the picture on the right, with ACL-IJCNLP 2009 logo printed on it. Having said all these, I’d still like to remind you that the voltage and frequency used in Singapore is 230V/50Hz, and the socket type is the G plugs (same as that used in United Kingdom, Ireland, Malaysia, and Hong Kong).
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Wow, and did you read the posts by Chris and Su Yuen about Singapore and Malaysia? The places look interesting and exciting to visit. While you are here, you might want to try exploring some of these places (and the editor, Chris, has informed me that more posts like that are coming). There are still many more interesting places in Singapore that you can also visit: Chinatown, Sentosa, Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Flyer, or even cruising onboard Singapore River cruise. We’ve also arranged a local travel agency—Global Travel—to help you plan your trip and check out these places in Singapore, if you need so. Check out what tours they have in place for you. Also, complimentary pick-up service will be provided from major hotels in Singapore to the tour assembly. Pick-up service usually begins 30 minutes before the tour commences, and the pick-up time is subject to the hotel location and traffic conditions. Major credit cards are acceptable for advance payment of your tour reservation. And cancellation is allowed 7 working days prior to the date of tour. However, travel insurance is not included. These are some information that Rose has shared with me. If you’d like to know more, do not hesitate to contact Ms Rose Lee at Global Travel Pte Ltd. She would be more than happy to assist you further.
Fullerton Hotel @ NDP '07 (red and white are part of Singapore colours)
Last but not least, if you don’t already know, 9th August is Singapore’s National Day. This year, it will be Singapore’s 44th birthday! As usual, there’ll be national day celebrations in town. The major attraction is the National Day Parade. It will be held at the Floating Platform along Marina Bay (off Raffles Avenue), which is very, very close to the conference venue. There could be traffic congestion along Raffles Boulevard, Raffles Avenue, Republic Avenue, Bras Basah Road, Nicoll Highway and Esplanade Drive. You are advised to use public transport if you happen to travel around the vicinity of Suntec City and Marina Square. But staying in the hotel, or going out for a stroll could just be as fun too. If the weather is good, you should be able to watch some lovely and beautiful fireworks in the evening on 9th August! You may therefore want to consider extending your stay in Singapore for another few days after the conference. If you’re not able to do so, don’t fret for there’ll usually be a national day parade rehearsal a week before 9th August. You may be lucky enough to catch the sight of fireworks on the 1st/2nd of August!
[Editor's note: While you probably would not be able to get into the floating platform itself (all tickets have been balloted out), you should be able to stroll around nearby to catch the sight of the military parade and fireworks. If you're into photography, a fast 70-200mm zoom or a 300mm prime would probably be a good lens to bring for this event. And make sure you have a tripod with you. 
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This post is contributed by Swee Lan See, who is a Singaporean. Swee Lan is the Manager of the Student Volunteers Programme of ACL-IJCNLP ‘09. She is currently the Assistant Department Head of the Human Language Technology Department in the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), A*STAR , Singapore. She is also a Committee Member of the IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group (AG) in Singapore. Her research interests include human-computer and human-robot interactions, speech & dialog processing, decision support systems, interactive digital media and education.
