Last July post

I can’t believe Ive been here for 3 weeks now coming up to 4. The homesickness has improved and I’m finally starting feel more at home and apart of daily life.

My most notable part of last week was that I got a job!!!! Never thought I’d say this but I literally cannot wait to start work. As much as I love to spend the days shopping and sight-seeing I NEED to work and find routine. Many people have remarked on how I got so lucky to find a job so quickly, and I must say that is partially true. Within one week of arriving I have an interview, and the following week I have the job. The only part I find lucky in this situation is that I didn’t have to worry for too long. Money has a habit of coming out pretty fast and not going in so quickly when you’re not working. And with my daily Starbucks coffee and muffin habit ($11) plus the “cheer myself up” items it’s clear I either need a millionaire husband…or I need to work.

Last weekend Brian and I took a boat ride to Pulua Ubin, which is just a short ferry ride to get to (ferry is a loose term, more like a rickety fishing boat). Ubin is just a little day trip place which is heavily forested and has wild boar and lizards roaming around. Considering its a get away island, it was very quiet and seemed a world away from the urban Singapore. You can hire bikes for as little as $5 and tour the whole island. We lasted around 5 hours with a few stops to take some nice pictures.We also visited an 80 year old temple there which had little shrines all over the place and you could hear chanting songs...it was really lovely.

Meet the Locals -They can be kinda rude!

This is known as "Singlish" which is basically English with weird grammar and the word "lah" thrown in at the end

So, I thought id mention a little more about the people here in Singapore. To say that Sing is a melting pot is an understatement. Not only do the expats have a clear prominence in certain parts of the city, but then there is the mix of Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese, and Indonesian etc. I still can’t pin point who are the true Singaporeans, but I can tell you a bit about their habits; I think I mentioned once before how SLOW everyone walks here. Young or old, they walk at 1 mile an hour and leave no room to get around. It is very frustrating, particularly as I walk pretty fast heat or no heat.

The nice thing about Singapore is not just that it is an English speaking country and that they use English plugs, but that everyone drives on the left (easy to remember when crossing the street). However, I’m pretty sure back home on the escalators we stand to the right and people walk on the left. In Sing people must stand on the left so people can pass on the right. In moments of confusion I’ve literally had people barge pass me on account of my standing on the wrong side. Which indecently brings me to the personal space issue…people really have no idea about personal space. I refer mainly to queues and the MRT but no matter where or how much room you have, someone will be breathing right down your neck. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a Londoner (no song reference here) or if that’s just me, but I like having some room!! Not only that but generally, and I can’t this for everyone, but for the most part people just don’t smile at you here. The theory “Smile and the world smiles with you” doesn’t seem to apply.

Raffles hotel - Come and meet a Brit

Feeling a de-motivated this week, I followed mum’s advice and decided to get myself out and about. I took the MRT down to Raffle’s Hotel “Long Bar”. The bar is primarily indoors, but you can sit outside. Considering the heat coupled with the fact raffles is on a busy high street, I decided to sit indoors.

The first thing I notice upon walking in is how many westerners there are, and strangely enough, I had more stares here than I do on the MRT being the only blonde white person there. It was packed even at 3pm on a Wednesday I could barely find a seat. When I did find a seat I ordered a $9 latte and gazed around the room only to see British families. All bright lobster from too much sun, ALL ordering Singapore Slings. This kinda took away the magic for me, originally being one of the top 10 things I wanted to experience, I realized that everyone does it, and it costs $25 for the privilege. All tables come with a big box of Monkey nuts to snack on which is when I noticed the second strange thing about Raffles. Once you’ve left the table the waitresses come by and swipe all the shells on to the floor, so the entire bar was crunching with shells. This results in dive bomb attacks from the many pigeons floating around inside. Much to say, I’m glad to say I have been and to know perhaps not to visit again.

Tomorrow we are off to Chiang Mai and Laos for a week so I look forward to telling you all about it.

Finding Routine

I have reached week 2 here in Singapore, and it’s gone strangely slow. I’ve crossed over from being in holiday mode to “now what”. It’s been very up and down since I arrived with Brian leaving Australia and the fact that I keep student sleeping hours (Going to bed at 1-2, waking up midday).

Last weekend we celebrated Brian’s 29+13months birthday. We arranged a little get together with Sushi and Blueberry Margaritas (Amazing…look into it!!). We also took a trip to “Sentosa”, a

man made island resort which is pretty easy to get to via train/monorail/bus. It’s almost like a mini Disneyland without Mickey and the high entry price. It’s free to access the island and beaches but you have to pay to get involved with activities like Segways/ luge rides/ Universal Studios and a “seaworld” experience. The highlight of this trip was a naturally the Dolphin show. You can pay to swim with them too….something I have mentally marked as my top thing to do while i'm here.

Other than the weekends, which are generally full of lots of activity, the week days can be somewhat dull. Overtime I’ve realized that my week is generally as good as I make it. I’ve started to spread out the easiest possible activities over several days at

once to justify having something to do. My most notable trip this week was to Carrefour. To our American counterparts this is a Walmart type thing, the UK doesn't seem to have an equivalent that I am aware of. But basically this is just a huge hyper market with everything you could ever want for your household but super cheap. This was the moment I realized how sad my life is when I got excited over my $7 shoe rack purchase (but now our shoes are so nice and tidy!!!) At the moment our 1600 square foot apartment echoes with very little furniture and just needs to be a little homier so I am slowly adding to the collection day by day. Another notable part of my week was installing our cable. This excitement died pretty much after I realized it was double episodes of American comedy and chat shows on repeats 4 times a day!!

I’ve also started to get a lot better at being in my own company. A lot of the time I actually really enjoy it, I can wander around wherever I want to. And I’ve started to get into the habit of spending afternoons at a coffee shop with a book, an ice coffee and a HUGE muffin. Because I’m “on holiday” I feel as though I have every excuse to go and eat a big piece of cake or muffin….it’s become my highlight. I would never do that at home so why I’ve decided that it’s ok to do that here is beyond me. Watching the locals since I’ve been here, it seems as though this is something Singaporeans love to do. You can turn a corner without finding a dessert shop, and very little in the way of sandwiches or savory food.

I think the most unusual part of my lifestyle is how easy and laidback things are. On an evening you can go for dinner for $3, or go for a dip on your rooftop pool (not that I’m braggingJ) It’s like being on holiday, but with a bit of work thrown in. We do have a very small pool, and it only goes about neck high deep, but I don’t care. It may not be the best pool in the world, but its right downstairs, it’s open top, and it’s available anytime.

Anyway, I am so enjoying my blog writing and I’m also pleased people read it! But the longer I’ve been here the more I lose sight of what I want to write about, especially as we’re now settling in to a routine. I am really very excited about Brian’s birthday trip to Laos next weekend. We will be travelling up to the northern part of the country via a day in Chiang Mai (for those of you who have no idea of this place, don’t feel bad...unless its just me, it’s not common knowledge, and yes Laos is a country). Thanks to my trusty Lonely Planet book we can follow all the typical touristy place. We’re going through rain season…so yeah…let’s see how that goes…

My favourite Seaworld Picture....

Food & Shopping

Today I am here to talk about Food and Shopping. This literally seems to be the two main Singaporean past times, at least this is what I have gathered.

SHOPPING
According to my research there are approximately 250 Shopping centers in Singapore. They are linked to every MRT station, and you will find one everywhere. They have shopping centers literally dedicated to specific needs, electronics, sports equipment etc. These shopping centers are pretty much what you would normally expect with your typical high street shops.

But seriously, even the Trafford centre is a tiny little spec compared to here. There are so many levels and different departments you can get completely, utterly lost. You can imagine my excitement when I turn a corner and find a Zara, or a Mango. But one strange thing I realized in my short experience are the security levels. I was walking IN to Zara and the security barriers beeped. Not having ever stepped into this shop before, it was unlikely that I have had the opportunity to take anything. But despite any common sense the lady pulled everything out of my bag right there in the doorway all over the floor. Once she discovered I had nothing (shocking!)…I was sent on my way. The changing rooms are also a little strange, they actually take all the items off the hanger before you go in, which seems to mean a lot of extra work for no reason.
But for the REAL shopping, the Olympics of shopping…..you want to venture down to a place called Orchard Road. This is very much like Oxford Street but with a really big budget. Its one

long strip with a few more shopping centers thrown in for good measure (I think there are about 9/10 along this road). The shopping centers are for the lighter wallet, Topshop, New Look, M&S. But the Orchard Road high street is dedicated to Dior, Chanel, YSL, Gucci, Fendi, and more. I avoided entering any of these places as it is quite obvious just by looking at me that I don’t belong there. But a girl can dream!

FOOD
Well, I really did want to talk about food, but it really is unavoidable. It’s fascinating really. I already mentioned the hawker stands (food courts) but you can actually have different types of hawker stands depending where you go. You have the popular quick lunch time/dinner turnover court and then you have the local courts. Chris and I took a wander down to our local hawker stand which on first glance, you would most likely cross the street to avoid. But we actually discovered these are quite delightful. The chefs are so willing to help, and they bring over your food and will let you pay from the comfort of your chair. We also discovered the joys of cheap beer (a large bottle was $5, compared to $20 bottle of wine).

But, as much as I do love all the Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian foods…it seems to be a little tough on the stomach. When I was out shopping all I really craved for lunch was a plain M&S sandwich, no thrills, just bread. Sadly, they don’t provide this service in Singapore M&S so I settled for spending $6 on a Starbucks sandwich. That was my best meal that day. It’s also nearly impossible (or at least I haven’t worked it out yet) to get your 5 a day. I’ve only been here one week and I’m craving a bit of broccoli, Spinach, Anything! I don’t think Pak Choi counts when it’s smothered in oil and fried.

The weirdest food I am yet to experience here are the “Porridges”. Chicken, frog, pork, you name it. During the week I also took a trip to Ikea (!!??) which was much like home, however instead of meatballs, you get a nice bowl of chicken porridge!!!

More Singapore

So now I am on my fourth day here in Singapore. I really am starting to feel a lot more relaxed and am getting used to making my way around the city.

I made my way down to the Active offices to meet Brian and Chris for lunch in the afternoon. We went to another “hawker stand”, which by the way you will find EVERYWHERE. They’re like food courts but indoors, outdoors, on nearly every corner. All more or less selling the same thing (rice, noodles, dessert, fish head soup?!?!). An entire meal here will cost you a maximum of $7 (3 pounds) and that’s when you being lavish. My last meal only cost me $3. Unfortunately most of what you can buy is fried and we think isn’t too healthy but if you go to the supermarket it costs the same amount….for one ingredient. Our cereal which we keep at the house cost me $7. That evening we took the train to another part of Singapore which they call “Little India”. This is exactly as it is marked on the tube (MRT, which I learned today means Mass-Rapid Transit) and is a complete contrast to the Chinese/ Japanese influence you see around the rest of Singapore. It has different smells, different people, it really feels like a world away from Singapore and made me really want to visit India one day. We found a realllllly good curry house which we discovered in Lonely Planet. The downside to using this as your guide is you are pretty much dining only with other Lonely Planet readers (Westerners). From now on we will stick to the theory that those places with a large queue or many local are the best places to eat. The most interesting thing I find about Singapore is every time you reach a new area, or turn down a new street you see something completely different. So many influences of other cultures really stand out in specific parts of town i.e. little India and Chinatown. Chinatown was particularly interesting it looks like old town China in parts, then you look up and you see a big sky scraper!

Little India

Back of Chinatown

Later that same evening we met with Chris and a guy called Jason, who is the coach for dragon boat racing in Singapore, at “Boat quay” which is where all the tourists love to go….i.e. over priced and so tacky. So we decided to go to an English pub (?!) which was very very scarily too much like home. Even the smell of the pub smelled exactly like home and the toilets were flooded and toilet paper stuck everywhere. A beer here cost $13, and that was happy hour!!!!Alcohol is ridiculously expensive here. Jason also happens to be a local and he told us many interesting things about various meanings and symbols around Sing. I love all the traditions and cultural references which the Chinese/Japanese etc keep alive for hundreds and hundreds of years and still show a real presence in modern times. When I can remember one of those traditions I will be sure to write it down so I can tell you some! Another thing I have been doing these last few days is randomly meeting fellow expats. I have met about 4/5 of them and everyone is so friendly and willing to share experiences. Some have been here for 2 months and others for 10 years!! But I find that we get our best tips and tricks of where to go and where not to go.

Us and the Brit Dragon Race Team

I have come to the end of my first weekend in Sing and I am feeling pretty good, the heat is getting more tolerable (or at least you learn where to get your next aircon fix) and the getting around is so much easier when you know where you are going.

First Singapore blog

Welcome to my first ever blog! I am the most terrible writer and most of you will be appalled by my spelling and grammar, but I would say this is probably the best way to keep everyone up-to-date with what I am up to half way across the world. For those of you who prefer a more detailed and sophisticated account of what Singapore is like then I would suggest reading Brian’s blog.

With what appeared to be the longest flight in history I arrived safely with Brian waiting for me at the gate. The first thing he wanted to do was take me to a “typical food court” within the airport. It was much like what you would expect from a food court, except everything you can order has a picture, which is great as you can actually see what you’re going to eat! Being tired and confused I got Brian to go and he ordered me roast duck and rice. This will probably be the only time I will mention my day to day eating unless it happens to be amazing. However, I thought this was worth a mention as it was my first Singaporean meal. We spent our first night in our Condo, which is VERY big and fairly warm without the Air Conditioning. But we have a spectacular view of our pool, tall buildings and general Singapore cosmopolitaness.

I spent most of my first day being too nervous to leave the flat, but I had to wait for our mattress to arrive anyway so it was a good excuse to hide away. Around 4pm when I finally braved the outdoors I began to realize just how not-scary it really was. Being the whitest, blondest person to exist I imagined staring and pointing but was pleasantly surprised to fit straight in and even asked for directions! I had been told that most locals under 50 do all speak very good English, so even when I entered the shops for cleaning products it was very easy. In the evening Brian and Chris (the third housemate) took me down to the “Raffles area”, I didn’t actually see the Hotel (where the infamous Singapore Sling was invented) but there is a whole area dedicated to that name with a very beautiful river with Dumboats and a good mix of locals and tourists. This is also a good spot for people to run around the river in the evenings (it is waaaaayyyyy too hot to run in the day).

I awoke on my second day feeling far less daunted and somewhat normal. Everything is as convenient as people say it is. Every part of town has giant shopping centers and our flat is very close to a big shopping centre (bigger than Brent Cross!) with some recognizable shops, a supermarket, a gym and pretty much everything we need. I can also get the tube (MRT) here which easily connects me to all corners of the city. I am yet to venture out on this by myself, but it was definitely easier than the tube back home with less lines and no black lungs!

Mostly I walk around being confused and hot. This incidentally is the one of the first thing I noticed about Singapore, the humidity. You are constantly sweating. I literally cannot get the shine out of my face. Chris pointed out that people talk about Singapore being a very a fast paced city, but when you look closely you realize that this is true only in the evenings and in very well air conned buildings. If you observe the locals in the day, outside, you will notice they move very slowly. The second thing I noticed is that they don’t really have proper signage to places….(you have to walk right up to the station to know that it’s there).

Overall, I am pretty excited to be here. It’s my first time being far from home this and I’m feeling the odd pangs of homesickness but I already feel so comfortable on my second day I imagine it can only get easier. Anyway, leave comments on a postcard, I complained and Brian’s blog being so long and yet I whittled on for 5 paragraphs. Hoping to make them much shorter next time!