Those of you who don’t know (where have you been??), Gareth was given the opportunity to work in Singapore, so we decided once again to leave Wellington behind, and explore life in South East Asia. Coming from the Southern Hemisphere, I guess our blog should be called South East meets South Westerners, but that was too long and doesn’t quite work, so East meets West it is.
We arrived on March 31st via Sydney (thanks again Doctor Bob for your fantastic hospitality!) and Bali (fantastic diving) with not much more than the clothes we were carrying and few bits G has brought over earlier, so the first week or so was very strange and we didn’t feel like we were “at home” at all. A month and a half on and with all our stuff now around us, and a familiarity with the island, things are much better.
So, what it’s like living in Singapore? HOT – simple as that. We thought our barometer had broken and were about to put an insurance claim in because it hadn’t moved from 30 degrees for 3 weeks. Then, one night we had a storm and it went down to 28 degrees. Conclusion – it’s just 30 degrees in our apartment night and day! I’d have to say that living on the East Coast is great though – there is a cycle/walking track that takes you to the beaches and neighbouring towns/villages, so we can safely cycle round to the beach to catch the breeze. The swimming pool at the apt complex is getting a lot of use too – how did we ever live without one??
We’ve also found a brilliant market that’s open every day till about 10 at night and is operated mainly by Malaysians. They sell everything from sarongs to saris and the BEST and CHEAPEST fruit and veggies on the island. Everything is either $1 or $2 and the food is delicious. Their fresh chickens are delish, and they even cut the heads and feet off for us pinkies (Westerners)! Mind you, I think we’re the only pinkies who go, I’ve never seen any others there, and of course we’re as much an amusement to them as they are to us when bargaining over a 50 cent bag of spices!!
Singapore itself holds no surprises – it is what it is – a small island no bigger than Lake Taupo with a population of 4 million (and growing). So, very few houses to be seen, high rises and apartment complexes everywhere. It’s very lush with beautiful gardens and flowers and tropical trees everywhere. Tropical fruit is cheap and everywhere – the same of which can be said for shopping malls. If you want to shop – this is the place baby!!! Everything you can imagine is here and most if it at a fraction of the price you’d normally pay (apart from labels). Shoes, bags, clothes, TV’s, household stuff, everything you could want, and lots that you don’t really need, but would like to have anyway!! Locals have 2 favourite pastimes – shopping (of course!), and falling asleep in public places. The MRT (local transport network) is full of people asleep at all times of the day or night. Some of them have even learnt to sleep standing up if they can’t get a seat (honestly!), You do get the feeling at times that it’s all too “nice” though and you just want someone to say a rude word in public, flash at an old person, or just dare to cross the line. Alas, they don’t.
So, What’s Hot and What’s not in Singapore right now?
HOT
The weather!, cold showers, Lush FM (a local radio station that’s very cool and sent me free tickets to the Giles Peterson gig held here last week end), air conditioning, the MRT for being reliable and easy to use, KC DAT who delivered all our stuff, gave us a free bag of goodies on arrival, came back 2 weeks later to professionally hang all our artwork and have invited us to a welcome cocktail party (wot service!!), Mel’s pub that serves PINTS of Heineken at $6 up to 6pm and $8 up to 8pm., you don’t want to buy any after 8 when they go to full price of $11, but usually do….
NOT
The humidity!, the bureaucracy and form filling you have to go through to get anything done, the full price of a pint, the full price of a bottle of wine (you can’t afford to be an alcoholic over here!!), local TV which is crap, the MRT for being so popular it’s packed most of the time and you can't get a seat coz everyone's asleep on them!
There’s lots more to tell, but will wait till next time in case the next few weeks are particularly dull, although I doubt it with lots of work coming up for both of us, except to say that we are well and happy and hope that you are too. We trust that you will enjoy future posting and please keep in touch with all the news from home and abroad.
Cheers J & G
