Opposites

DAY ONE

Friday was my first day in Singapore. I arrived Thursday night, and I checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel at about 230USD a night. That hotel charges an arm and a leg for everything, use of the business center (15SGD for a few minutes or an hour or something), wifi (33SGD per 24h), and the breakfast buffet (33SGD). I enjoyed a nice bath (included in the room) and pancakes (16SGD) and fresh squeezed juice (10SGD) in the morning. All were excellent, though I struggled to figure out how to get hot water. Btw, the exchange rate, today, is about 0.78 SGD to 1.00 USD. So take 20% off to find the USD price.

Marina Bay Sand light show at night.

I left the hotel around 9am. I took a cab to SUTD for 26SGD. There is no tipping in Singapore, which is nice, but doesn't make for the best restaurant service, outside of fancy hotels. My cab driver was great. We passed by the Marina Bay Sands hotel/casino shown in the photo. The three towers are connected by rooftop area where tourists can go. It also has an infinity pool for guests. My driver was also a PADI scuba instructor, and he said I would make lots of friends on the liveaboard trips.

At SUTD, I had a confusing arrangement. I was able to check into the hostel by visiting the manager in the visitor center, right at the SUTD entrance, but I needed to get an access card ASAP so I could be programmed for entry on my own. Also my room is on the 5th floor, and the elevator is a skip stop. So I had help with my 120 lbs of luggage, moving from the 6th floor to the 5th. I also happened to be the last one moving into the room, so I got the top bunk of the three beds. Each single is a narrow room (by US standards) with a bunk bed and a twin bed. There are three wardrobes and a couple shelves. There is also only one outlet, but I think my roommate acquired a surge protector with the multi-country plug outlet.

I immediately when to Human Resources, which is also by the entrance accessed through the President's office area. My contact there gave me thorough directions on where to go to get my medical exam for my employment pass, and he called another employee who came to meet me. She gave me my access card, showed me to my desk, and gave me a tour of the offices where my colleagues sit.

I then went back to the hostel to program my access card for the hostel (the hostel staff had lent me their card momentarily) and I set out to Clementi to get my medical. The medical office was closed from 1-2, so I went and purchased multi-country to UK plug adapters. I had only brought euro adapters, because I had recently been in Seoul and Munich. But Singapore is a UK remnant so the plugs are different.

Friday night, I went out with my italian roommate to Orchard road. This street is home to a giant mall, where I got some towels and a bowl from Muji. We walked along Orchard to see all the high end, Luis Vuitton, Hermes, etc. stores, and tried to eat nearby, but it was expensive for not much food. It was a sight to see, though, if you can stomach that much consumerism. :)

DAY TWO

Onto the theme of opposites: I almost got hit by a car on Saturday. Traffic runs opposite, thanks to the British, so I was looking the wrong way when crossing the street. The buses are therefore on the opposite side of the street than what I'm used to, and people stand on the opposite side of the elevator and walk on the opposite side of the hallway. 

Also opposites, on Saturday I purchased an umbrella for the sun. Umbrellas are generally useless for the rain here, but very useful for the sun. Torrential downpours still soak half of your body. But the sun can be shielded from your face.

Saturday, otherwise, was good. I woke up at 7am, as the sun was rising, and called a number of housing leads. I scheduled visits for Thursday, Sunday, and Saturday. Then I headed to my first visit in Clementi. I almost said yes to this first place. Even though it was 650SGD + 50SGD for utilities to share a small room where I would have just a twin bed, a small cloths rack and set of half-size plastic drawers, the roommates were very nice. They were from all over, traveled together, cooked together, had movie nights, and practiced Mandarin together. It would have been amazing, but I would have had to pay more than the SUTD hostel (550SGD), commute, and live with less space.

I went to Chinatown from Clementi and shopped. I picked up plastic hangers, clothes clips, and some Neckermann sandals to replace the identical Birkenstocks that have broken. These sandals were only 29SGD, and I don't mind the brand change. I may buy more before I leave the country.

I also enjoyed some fresh dragon fruit and banana smoothie and egg custard while I was out. I then had lunch at an HDB near the hostel. The food was terrible, but 2.50 SGD. There was a funny Chinese (?) show on the tv with lots of visual humor.

I'm getting tired of writing, but at night we went downtown to the night festival, which is August 23-24 and 30-13. There are lots of light shows, but we couldn't find the food in the Hawker Food Alley, just the art. So we went to Marina Bay and got some food. There were lots of good food stalls, and I got roasted chicken rice (3.50SGD) for dinner and banana tempura (3.50SGD) for dessert. It took such a long time to find food that I went home at 10:30 instead of going back to the light show areas, though we did see some flying light kites across the bay.