Singapore update #2: Apartment Search, Awkward First Few Days, Thoughts on Singapore

Part I: Apartment Search

The bad news...

So I thought I had a place lined up. I had been emailing this French guy (actually, he initially contacted me) to share an apartment. He is also an NUS grad student, so it seemed like a good situation. I went to see his place on Friday. Although a bit farther from things than I would have liked, and a smidgen on the expensive side, he seemed like a nice fellow and the apartment itself was actually quite nice. I told him I'd let him know the next day, but I thought to myself that I was 90% certain that I would take the place.

That was until that night when he decided to email me, saying he had talked with his roommate (who wasn't there at the time), and they had other people interested, and they wanted to wait until they saw the place.... would not let me know until 31 July! THEN... he sent me another email, saying that a French girl was seeing the place on Monday, and that they would actually prefer to rent the place to a girl!! Ah... so much for this place.

It seems that this situation is actually quite common. More than one of the places I've called about was exclusively for girls.... in fact, of the listings I've seen, easily 40% are only for girls. Add to that the additional 40% that are only for Chinese/Indian/working professionals.... right off the bat the selection is quite limited.

That aside, there were two additional places that seemed promising. I called the agents/owners, and they said they would call me back... which they have yet to do. It's like I'm applying for a job or something! One would think that they would want my money right away.

The sorta good news....

Just a few days ago, NUS, who earlier declined to offer me a residence, informed me there was a last minute vacancy, and offered me a room. Great right? Well, I of course decided to take it, since there appear to be no other options. But...

There are a few catches. One thing is that it's actually über far from campus.... and everything else... yes, the location leaves a LOT to be desired. There is a free shuttle between the hostel and school, but is at inconvenient hours (only at 8 and 9 am... when my classes will start at 6 pm). The rent is not exceedingly cheap... and I have to pay the whole thing upfront by Friday (yeah... I have to come up with some $3000 SGD in 5 days). Perhaps the worst part: it's only until early December. Not only do I have to restart the whole room-searching process again, but I have to find somewhere to keep everything throughout the whole month of December. So, you can understand why I was so reticent to take this place. But, I did accept the offer, so barring some unforseen setback (which, given how things have went, is not so far out of the blue), I will have a place to leave - if only for the first semester. The good news is that it's strictly a grad student residence, so hopefully I can meet people there with whom I'd desire to live. Hopefully.


Part II: Awkward first few days

I won't lie... I'm getting pretty lonely here. With school stuff still a few days off, I haven't much to do, save for touristy stuff. However, I don't want to spend money like crazy until I'm able to set up a bank account.

It's true that I have a reasonable number of contacts in Singapore. However, it just so happens that nearly all of my contacts in Singapore (I could think of probably about 5 people) are momentarily away from Singapore.... just when I needed someone the most. The few people I have been referred to (for instance, colleagues of some of my relatives), have been rather elusive. Add to this my lack of energy and mild depression (hopefully) caused by lingering effects of jet lag ..... well let's just say I,m thankful that I have my working laptop and a good internet connection here in the Happy Hotel.


Part III: Thoughts on Singapore

I guess this entry has been pretty negative so far. However, my current impressions of Singapore are that of a wonderfully interesting place.

I was here with the Gerber family back in 2007 and I got a totally different view of the city/country. I lived in luxury and was driven around and spoon-fed everything- which is not how I'm used to travelling. That of course is not to say that it was bad.... quite the contrary: I was spoilt, and I had a wonderful time. But the view of Singapore that I got was a very sanatised and Westernised view.

It is certainly true that Singapore is a somewhat sanatised and Westernised country. But it's also a country of distinct neighbourhoods. Staying in Geylang, for instance, has shown me just how diverse Singapore actually is. Geylang evokes to me much more of my stereotypes of "Southeast Asia" and, if it weren't for the big screen tvs and super modern buses everywhere, I could be forgiven for thinking I was in a small Malaysian/Thai town. This is in stark contrast to Little India, Chinatown, the CBD, Orchard, and the many other areas of Singapore, which are seemingly connected solely by the wonderfully efficient and clean MRT.

Singapore is also a country which appears to exhibit and embrace wonderfully 4 different cultures which live here: Chinese, Malay, Indian, British/European. These are all present in the language, lifestyle, cuisine, and even archietecture seen throughout the city.

Another interesting thing about Singapore: it's a city/country that has been meticulously planned by super smart, but micro-managing people (or, perhaps more accurately, one super smart, but micro-managing person: Lee Kwan Yiew). The MRT works with grace and near perfection... with well-placed interchanges, etc. The HDBs are designed to intermingle the different races to promote multi-culturalism (which is why, apparantly, some flats can only rent out to Chinese/Indian/etc). Harsh fines on littering keep the city spotlessly clean. A wonderful MRT system, and heavy costs for driving (plus very well planned roads) make traffic an almost non-existent problem. Singaporean politicians are among the highest paid in the world (the current PM is THE highest paid in the world, earning about $2m USD per annum). This, according to Lee Kwan Yiew, attracts the brightest talent by making salaries competitive to top private sector jobs, and simultaneuosly reduces corruption (in theory), since politicians don't really need to take bribes to make more money. It's worked. Singapore is a city where things work- and they work well.

That said, evidence of the government's micromanagement is everywhere. For one thing, the PM Lee Kwan Yiew - who made everything happen- created a post for himself when he became too old to be PM... now at about 85 years old he is MM: "Minister Mentor" (and his son is PM!). There are the infamous fines.... $500 for jaywalking, $500 for eating/drinking on the MRT... $500 for littering... $500 for not flushing the toilet... bans on chewing gum...etc. What I find most amusing, however, is their attemps to regulate foot traffic on the MRT. At interchange stations, where you have to transfer between lines, the route that most people will want to take may be right across the platform. If it isn't than they have a planned route you are expected to walk. You are supposed to follow arrows, carefully placed on the left side of the corridor (people going the other direction follow arrows placed on the opposite side of the corridor). While following these arrows, you see signs that say "please allow ___ minutes to arrive at the other platform". My favourite, though, is the arrows placed at the MRT platforms themselves. Two sets of arrows show where boarding passengers are expected to stand when getting ready to board the MRT. In between these arrows is an approximation (almost always percisely right of course), where the MRT's doors will open, and and arrow showing where passengers will alight.

Even in dwellings, this parental attitude is seen. For instance, in the residence I have decided to accept, there are strict rules. Visitors are not allowed after 11 pm. And when someone of the opposite gender is in a person's room, the door must be kept ajar. And this is a residence for grad students!!!!

In practice, of course, people disregard these arrows, and no one is going to enforce them strictly. I just think it's an example of the strict planning and micromanagement that the folks at the top have applied to Singapore.

Although this type of governance would never fly in countries like the United States, it appears to have worked quite well in Singapore- turning the country from a backwater, slum-ridden, Third World outpost with no resources, to one of the most advanced and developed countries on the planet- all within one generation.

So why do so many backpackers hate it? I guess it's the same thing I thought two years ago. This country is rather Westernised... people, especially from Europe, are so used to things working efficiently, and being cleaned, that when they travel, they must want some freedom from it all. Countries like Thailand do not have these "anti-social" laws... add to that the fact that the fact that it is simply much cheapter and more exotic than Thailand... given the high costs of flights out here, backpackers get more value for the dollar. Singapore is aptly named "Asia for beginners" and is a great place for larger-budget travellers to stay if they want to experience something different, yet still comfortable.

I still have about two years left in this place, and I'm sure I'll learn much more about it, compared to my thoughts after just a few days (and a bit of reading).

All the best from Singapore!

Day 1 in Singapore: Nice flights, a sketchy hotel, a cell phone rip off, an amateur film, and good food

Part I: Nice Flights

So I was fortunate enough to fly on Singapore Airlines. After flying with them, I'm not so sure I could ever fly with anyone else - and I only flew coach. The 747 I flew on was massive, clean, and very modern. I was lucky enough to be seated at an emergency exit aisle, albeit one right behind the pertruding emergency exit door (ie, i wouldve been much better off at the adjacent seat). The entertainment was impressive, as was the food and even the bathroom! I've never seen an airplane bathroom that had so many things like after shave, mouthwash, etc. All these things together, coupled with the wonderful neck pillow I bought for $20 CAD in Montreal's airport means that I was actually able to get a good deal of sleep on the plane!

Part II: A Sketchy Hotel
Upon leaving the airport, I go to the Happy Hotel in Geylang. Ok so the hotel isn't THAT bad. The rate that I'm paying is 45 SGD per night (about 32 USD), which is a bit more than I'm used to. But this is Singapore, not Bangkok. And aparantly the normal rate at this very hotel is 60 SGD / night, mine apparantly discounted becasuse I'm staying for 10 days. The room has it's own (very clean, if tiny) bathroom, a working tv (although it seems you have to pay extra for a clicker), a reasonably big bed, aircon, a dysfunctional power system, and not much else. This all of course is more than adequete for me for the moment.

The hotel is situated in Geylang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geylang, a seemingly working-class area on the outskirts. While the rest of Singapore is probably about 25 years ahead of Montreal (my default city of reference), Geyland feels curiously stuck somewhere in the early 1900s, with its architecture and eating houses... one must, of course, disregard the über-modern city busses and ubiquitous 7-11s.

Part III: A Cell Phone Rip off

One of my first priorities was to buy a mobile phone... it will be quite important in the long-run, and in the next few days, as I search for an apartment. There are quite a few people celling phones here in Geylang, but most of the phones look used, sketchy, and overly expensive. I decided, perhaps unwisely, to head to Orchard Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_Road with the mission of finding a cell phone or bust. After perusing through the miles of upmarket malls, I found Lucky Plaza http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Plaza, a more downmarket mall which specialises in electronics.

They are also very skilled salespeople there. That plus the fact that I knew I needed a cell phone and didn't know where else to look means that getting ripped off was an inevitability. Only question was: by how much.

So for my graduation, my mother told me she wanted to buy me something similar to the I-Phone (in price and style): ie, a phone costing around $250 USD. However, it seems that finding a really good phone at a reasonable cost is difficult without a contract, which I don't want because of my horrific past experiences with Fido. So I knew I would have to downgrade my standards.

So given all of this, and that I didn't want a contract, $300 SGD for a Nokia 7100 Supernova didn't seem all that horrible. It's not exactly a phone I can brag about to other people, but its certainly a huge upgrade from any other phone I've had, and I'm not sure where I couldve gotten a better phone for the price. The guy then proceeded to sell me a SIM card - which I need in order to actually use the phone. I was expecting something to cost around $20, but the cheapest (according to him) was $88 SGD!!! I'm not sure if that's actually the going rate for a SIM card here in Singapore (I've only ever bought one w/o a contract in dirt cheap Thailand), or if he just blatantly overcharged me. So the phone, the sim card, and the $15 card to put money on the phone seemed more than I was willing to pay.... but the phone itself is being covered, so it didn't see THAT bad. I gave him my credit card (didn't have enough cash on hand) and then on the receipt (after he swiped my card) it said $527!!!! I asked him how they got that amount, and he said it was the GST. I know (and knew) he was lying, but he already swiped my card.... what could I do? Sadly, this one must go in the vault of me being royally ripped off. To add the icing on the cake.... he sold me the phone with a European charger... thats right, neither a Singapore/UK charger, or even a North American set.... a European charger. Fortunatley, I also happened to buy a (overpriced) universal adapter that day... so I can still actually charge the phone.

The silver lining in all of this is that the prepaid plan itself actually seems quite good. You can buy cards in increments of $15 (or even cheaper if you wish), which gives you $18 in credit (doesn't expire for some 16 months). I can call North America at local rates, which is 16cents (SGD) / min during the day, and 8 cents/min on nights and weekends (which is when I'd call NA anyway). SMS is only 15 cents. So, after overpaying by probably $150 SGD, at least I don't have to overpay by $30/month like I did in Canada. I try to look on the bright side of things.

Part IV: An Amateur Film

I was walking from the MRT at Geylang, heading back to the Happy Hotel, while trying successlessly to convince myself that I didn't get too badly ripped off, I was approached by a tiny young lady who asked me to be an extra in a film. Since I really had nothing to do for the rest of the day (and it was only yet about 14:00), I really had no reason to decline, so I said yes. She brought me to this abandoned airport not too far away, where she and probably about half a dozen other individuals slightly younger than me were working on a film. They recruited about another half dozen extras who seemed to be young teens just finishing up school. The film they were doing was for a project at school -they were all film students. They were making some version of Harold and Kumar... I don't know too many details, except that they only needed me for one scene: I was to stand in an "immigration queue".... I never even got to where the "immigration officer" was standing.

Part V: Good Food

By 15:00 I was back in my room. I did some things on the internet (which I get for only $5/day from my laptop), among which was to set up my first apartment viewing today in just over an hour. Next thing I knew, I fell asleep at 16:00, knowing that I should set my alarm for that night, but too lazy to do it. Although I woke up at different points throughout the night, I was too tired to get up and actually go out for something to eat. I woke up "properly" at 02:00, and decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to meander around outside the hotel, given that I'm in the city's red-light district. Fortunately, 02:00 is 14:00 in East Coast time, so I was able to kill time talking to people from North America (although I was starving!).

By about 05:45 I decided that I should at least walk and see if maybe 7-11 was open - or was opening soon. I didn't even have to go that far to see that the 2 eating centres on the corner were not only already open, but were doing so much business that the only table I could get was half in the rain. The wonderful thing about Geylang is the variety and cheapness of the food. For breakfast, I had a simple plate of fried noodles with an egg- $1,80 - and a cup of crappy coffee $0,80.

So that leaves me with now... 10:30 am local time. I'm going to see my first- and if it goes well, only - apartment today.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Late Summer Thoughts

You might ask yourself.... "late summer????" It's only July! I leave for singapore in less than 2 weeks. Registration starts just 1 week after I get into Singapore... Oreitnation less than 2 weeks after... and class less then 3 weeks. Of course... in Singapore, summer never really ends - but thast a different thing altogether.

Just a few updates:

Regarding my failed internship.... I finally heard in mid-June that I was cleared. At that point it was too late because I already had my 21 July flight to Singapore booked, but even if I changed my flight, started the internship at the earliest time possible, and got to singapore at the lastest time possible, I would only have had 5 weeks at the internship- which doesnt seem worth it.

Regarding NUS....
I never knew just how complicated this all would be! I mean.... going to McGill was complicated, and this isn't necessarily worse...

-So after a long and awkward wait, in early July, I was finally notified of how "pre-registration" works, and they finally updated their list of modules (ie courses) for the upcoming semester. The immigration process seems quite easy - as I've already been "pre-approved" for a student pass on their online system.

So what could be so bad?
- I have no less than 8 forms I have to fill out and sign....
-I had to go through a medical examination, which included a test for HIV and TB (both of which were of course negative).
-In theory, I still have to do a "chest x-ray" the only point of which would verify that I don't have TB. The American doctors seem to think this procedure is pointless and refused to do it.
-NUS has declined to offer me accomodation, leaving me on my own to find a place to live.

I'm hoping this stuff will get easier once I get to Singapore... but for now I'm a bit frustrated.

I will keep you all updated!