Background of Concept

The idea of Around My Place grew out of a browsing, in late 1999, for local places in the Internet for the site - The Singapore Directory . It was then difficult to find local and non-touristic type spots for the tourists to dive into.

In almost all search engines, the local tourist spots were listed either in their official capacity or by satisfied visitors or by local citizens wanting to put up a bit of Singapore for the world to know. Even in official sites, we do not even find mention of non-tourist type of places - places we are sure tourists would like to go and be filled with the local life, eg. the pasar malam or the local hawker centre. If not to physically enjoy the sights, then to be mentally stimulated by the photographs and the descriptions.

The idea and concept was held in abeyance until a more opportune time. The domain name "serangoongarden.com" was also 'booked' so that one day the entire concept could be explored and expanded.

The opportunity came in January of 2001 when Mr Yeo stumbled upon the magazine Your Choice and met the managing editor, Ms Alicia Teo. And this was after he had joined BNI and persuaded two men who were into event management to join BNI, together with Ms Teo. With this impetus and from subsequent discussions, Ms Teo was willing to assist to bring the concept to life from the print angle. So were the two gentlemen who formed one half of a partnership, called HAM Creations. Thus a combination was formed for print, web and events to come together to present something!

The result is the coming alive of the concept in this site and in the events that will follow. The Around My Place Team (AMPT) was formed!