From 22 through 26 June 2010, the International Communication Association makes its first ever visit to the island city-state of Singapore for its 60th Annual Conference. The smallest nation in Southeast Asia, Singapore is nonetheless one of the most important in the region: It is the busiest port in the world, with over 600 shipping lines; one of the world's major oil refining and distribution centers; a major financial center; and the commercial hub of Asia. Beginning with this issue, the ICA Newsletter begins exploring this city-state in preparation for the conference that takes place in June at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre - better known simply as "Suntec Singapore." The series begins at Suntec Singapore itself, and with the bustling surrounding district called Asia's Convention City.

Suntec Singapore is the second largest of five convention centers in Singapore, and the only one with a city district designed specifically around it. The facilities are extremely ample and spacious, covering over 1 million square feet (100,000 square meters). Of this space, more than 129,000 sq. ft. (12,000 sq. m) are occupied by the centre's three convention halls, which can together seat 10,000 people. Equal capacity is given to the exhibition halls, which can be sectioned into four smaller rooms or opened into one large hall.

In addition, Suntec Singapore features a nearly 40,000 sq. ft. (3,700 sq. m.) banquet hall; a two-story, 596-seat theater, equipped for dramatic stage productions as well as plenary speeches and award ceremonies; a vast concourse featuring three-story panoramic windows; a 23,000-square-foot (2150 sq. m.) sectionable ballroom; 31 meeting rooms, each featuring state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment and capable of seating anywhere from 10 to 400 conference participants; and an extremely large and versatile lobby that is designed to accommodate a high pedestrian traffic flow.

The facilities even include two on-site restaurants: Pearl River Palace, a gourmet eatery featuring a variety of traditional Cantonese cuisine, and Joaquim, a casual buffet whose specialty is its dinnertime seafood buffet.

Yet Suntec Singapore is only the heart of a bustling city precinct. A system of covered walkways and air-conditioned tunnels gives the convention center (and ICA conference participants) access to 5,200 hotel rooms, 1,000 shops, 300 restaurants, and a world-class performing arts center. This is Asia's Convention City, a unique "city within a city" that plays host to 2 million visitors each month, and has a daily working population of 15,000 people employed by 700 companies. No point within the precinct is farther away from Suntec Singapore than a 15-minute walk.

Directly adjacent to Suntec Singapore is the city-state's largest retail complex, Suntec City - a massive urban mall featuring 360 outlets. Indeed, mall's Galleria section occupies the ground floor of the Suntec Singapore convention center; it features a mixture of souvenir stands and high-end international fashion brands, including the flagship outlet of G2000, the large Asian clothier. There are also three other sections: the Tropics, featuring speciality shops for furniture, casual wear, lingerie, and leisure products; Fountain Terrace, a basement-level terrace that serves as the mall's large food court; and Entertainment Centre, featuring a five-screen cinema, a gymnasium, a video-game arcade, and Singapore's only franchise of the French-based "hypermarket" (combination supermarket and department store) Carrefour's.

More than just a shopping center, however, Suntec City features dental and medical providers, laundromats, and banking franchises, as well as a series of five office towers. These towers were designed by the architectural firm of Tsao & McKown so that from the air, they form the five fingers of a left hand; the palm of that hand is the enormous Fountain of Wealth, the largest fountain in the world.

Designed in the shape of a giant bronze ring suspended above the ground, the fountain is unusual in that its water flows inward - from the inside of the ring towards the center of the base beneath it. Water flowing inwards is a symbol in the Chinese art of feng shui of riches pouring in, and thus good luck. Visitors are said to gain good luck by circling the fountain three times with their hand constantly in the water.

There are also four other large shopping malls located within Asia's Convention City: Citylink Mall, a 50-store underground complex; Marina Square, a four-level, 250-shop "One-Stop Mega Shopping Mall"; Millenia Walk, an outdoor shopping center located on its own private street; and Raffles City Mall, a 100-store complex that also houses two hotels and several restaurants.

Just outside of Asia's Convention City sits a top-tier performing arts complex known as the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, consisting of two perpendicular, ovular glass domes covered with aluminum shading. The spiked shades give the buildings the appearance of durians, a thorny tropical fruit, leading to the complex being nicknamed "The Durians" by most Singaporeans. The facilities themselves are extremely ample for the arts. The centerpieces are the 1,600-seat concert hall, one of only six concert halls in the world with its state-of-the-art level of acoustics (featuring a gigantic reverberation chamber that allows technicians to vary the hall's acoustic characteristics); and the 2000-seat theater, built in the horseshoe shape of a traditional opera house, with Singapore's largest performing stage and an orchestra pit for up to 100 musicians. Esplanade Theatres also includes smaller performance spaces for recitals, dance, experimental theater, and chamber music, as well as an arts library, an exhibition space, and two outdoor performance venues.

Most importantly, four of the five official ICA conference hotels are located in Asia's Convention City: the Conrad Centennial Singapore (the conference headquarters), the Pan Pacific Singapore, the Ritz-Carlton Millenial, and the Mandarin Oriental. (The other hotel, the Carlton, is a 10-minute walk.) Apart from the accommodations these hotels offer, they also host several gourmet restaurants that conference participants can sample, whether or not they're staying in any particular hotel.

The Conrad Centennial features The Golden Peony, specializing in contemporary Cantonese cuisine prepared by top Hong Kong Chefs; Oscar's, an all-day restaurant with both an a la carte menu and lunch and dinner buffets; and the Lobby Lounge, which daily serves an Executive Lunch and Afternoon Tea.

The Pan Pacific Singapore also houses a Cantonese restaurant, Hai Tien Lo, which is on its 37th floor and thus offers sweeping panoramic views of the city of Singapore and Marina Bay. The Pan Pacific, however, is remarkably diverse in its inclusion of restaurants: In addition to Hai Tien Lo, there is a Japanese Restaurant, Keyaki; an Indian restaurant. Rang Mahal (regarded as one of Singapore's finest); Zambuca, an Italian restaurant; and traditional European appetizers in the hotel atrium.

The Ritz-Carlton Millenia, like the Conrad Centennial, features a lobby-level lounge (Chihuly) that serves afternoon tea and light snacks. But it also features two major restaurants. Greenhouse specializes in international seafood cuisine, with particular emphasis on Asian dishes - the highlight is Singapore's national dish, chili and peppered crab. The hotel's signature restaurant, however, is Summer Pavillion, another Cantonese restaurant; this one concentrates on innovative presentation and is placed in the center of a garden.

The Mandarin Oriental has a whopping six restaurants of extraordinary quality. MELT, which opened in 2005, is of such high caliber that within a year of its opening it had been named Singapore's Best New Restaurant and Best Restaurant, and was already in the Singapore Tatler's Culinary Hall of Fame. The restaurant carries lunch and dinner buffets, but also a regular menu of dishes from Singapore, China, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Western Europe, and America. Meanwhile, the Italian restaurant Dolce Vita offers both contemporary and traditional dishes, as well as over 100 labels of fine wine; its head chef, Edward Voon, was the winner of the 2005 World Culinary Olympics. Morton's, a celebrated chain of chic U.S. steakhouses, opened its first venue outside the United States in the Mandarin Oriental, featuring some of the world's finest prime aged beef and seafood. Axis, a bar and lounge on the hotel's fourth floor, serves an extensive English tea in the afternoon and tapas in the evening. Finally, the courtyard contains the Cherry Garden Bistro, the obligatory Cantonese restaurant.

Indeed, in Asia's Convention City, one can find all the comforts of home and the exotica of the whole world without ever going farther than 15 minutes from the ICA conference sessions and panels within Suntec Singapore. Yet, with its location on the edge of the island and 20 minutes from the airport, Asia's Convention City serves as merely the gateway to the larger city-state. That gateway, however, is surely among the most accommodating in the world.