Preparing for Medical Services

I am feeling unwell, today, and decided to schedule an appointment at a hospital for a bloodtest. I contacted International SOS at +65.6338.7800 for assistance. The operator collected my information and disconnected for 20 minutes to get ahold of a doctor. I believe the doctor was in France, but I'm unsure. We talked briefly, the doctor seemed mildly unconcerned as if it were a late hour for him (I think it was 11pm in France.) I made sure to ask him what tests I should expect. He suggested that I get a physical examination and blood test. Then he disconnected, and I worked with the Singapore operator to locate a nearby hospital. International SOS does not recommend going to a public hospital, because they are more crowded and take more time. We decided upon Gleneagles hospital. She suggested that I contact Blue Cross Blue Shield once I knew the appt information. Because the hospital appt services are closed (it's Sunday at 6pm), she said they would schedule the appt when the hospital opened and shoot for a 12-2pm slot. She promised to call with the details at 10:30am on Monday.

I then called BCBS right away to make sure the hospital and plan were acceptable and check my coverage. I called the international assistance at 001-804-673-1177 because the online worldwide doctor search was not recognizing the first three letters (XXP) of my ID #. (see possible explanation http://medweb.mit.edu/about/news/article/bcbs-card-091027.html ) I was informed that all hospital visits less than 24 hours in duration are paid up-front by myself and then I need to e-mail copies of the following to BCBS:

• claim form
• copy of medical record
• detailed itemized invoice
• receipt of payment

For stays longer than 24 hours, I can call BCBS and set up a case for BCBS to help negotiate fees. The operator told me that there were no restrictions on hospitals for international services.

Vietnam Visa

We are heading to Vietnam and Cambodia for the holiday. I went to the Vietnamese Embassy in Holland Village, today, to get my Visa. I was completely surprised that they collected 105SGD from me! That's about 80USD! I was surprised because the fees for online visas were $20... so... I went back to check the fine prints.

The cost for a Vietnamese Visa varies by embassy. In Singapore, it's about 80USD, in Washington D.C., it's apparently slightly more (100USD?). I read in another blog that the embassy in Thailand screwed up his visas (http://www.renegadetravels.com/how-to-get-a-vietnam-visa-in-bangkok/).

  Now, the online system is called a Visa on Arrival (VOA) and is only valid for air travel. You go online, enter all of your passport information, pay $20USD and someone in Vietnam obtains an entry letter for you. You then print this letter, and bring it along with 2 passport photos to Vietnam.  There, you pay an additional $45USD for your basic single entry visa. This process totals to about 65USD, and saves you anywhere from 15 to 35 USD. Instead of spending time traveling to the Embassy to drop off and then pick up your passport, you spend time filling out online forms, printing, and then waiting in line at Immigrations in the airport. The latter can take as little as 15 minutes, to, what I assume is 45 minutes. I assume it's similar to general immigration waiting times.

  Some online VOAs might be scams. Be careful, but, in general, I believe the Vietnamese government officially warns against the online VOA simply to get more money from "wealthy" tourists.

My Humidity System

Hopefully the sunsack can keep this white dress dry.

As I write, my hands are damp. Not from sweat, but from the air. In my last post, I shared pictures of moldy belongings. In this post, I present a solution that I am now testing. It involves air-tight and semi-air-tight containers to hold my at-risk belongings along with a dedicated dehumidifier. Having two or three dehumidifiers in my wardrobe was not cutting it. I needed to reduce the volume of air containing each dehumidifier.

I purchased vacuum bags and an underbed storage bag to store my scuba gear suits, sweatshirt, and purses. I also got a new system of dehumifiers (plastic containers with calcium chloride as a dessicant.)

The dehumidifiers I got:

DampRid sells refillable pots and loose calcium chloride for refilling the pot. I was starting to feel bad about the First Choice plastic containers that I was throwing out before. The DampRid containers don't have lids to prevent spills, though!

Instead of the smaller thirsty hippo packets, I found some "Sunsacks" and a charcoal bamboo product. These packets are meant to be dryed in the sun (or a microwave) and reused. These are useful to store in my underwear shelf, backpack, and other smaller spaces.

Here are the containers I bought. These should be useful to see how air-tight a container needs to be.

Then I filled these with my belongings, including my precious SCUBA gear that initiated the venture:

Suits and jackets

Purses

If my regulator gets moldy, I will get sick breathing through it.

Gotta keep the SCUBA gear dry and mold free!

Everything fits nicely under my bed.

My socks and bathing suit with my last Thirsty Hippo packet.

Even this backpack is getting moldy. And I use the darn thing!

These items were in danger!!

Now my closet has precious room to aerate.

What I Wish I Had Known BEFORE Coming to Singapore

I've been meaning to write this entry, and I'm sure I'll have more to add to this entry before I leave Singapore in May... but here are a few things:

Medical (pills and things)
1. There is no ibuprofen or aspirin on the shelf. There is only Panadol (paracetamol = acetaminophen).
2. You can buy prescription drugs, from a pharmacist without a prescription at their discretion. I'm not experienced in this act, but that's what I hear.
3. If you are prone to sea sickness, bring dramamine or whatever medication you prefer from the states.
4. Great Dental Experience: http://www.standrews.sg/contact.html. Tell them Cassandra Telenko referred you for $50 SGD off your fee.
5. Vitamins are really expensive here (40+ SGD, 30+ USD). Bring them with you.

I cleaned this hat in the wash, with vinegar, and left it in the sun. That mold is permanent.

Keep food bags sealed. I use plastic clips (not the spring ones) and a container with rice.

This container has my books and rice. All my books are moist otherwise.

This purse has mold.

This jewelry bag has collected mold over the past two or three weeks.

This earring was resting on my hat during the month that it collected mold. The humidity caused the wood color to bleed.

Belongings (the mold situation)
Especially during the rainy season (like 9 months of the year) it is so humid that your belongings will get ruined by mold.
Here are some tips: http://www.therobertsonsofmumbai.com/2012/04/expat-survival-series-the-bangkok-closet.html
1. Do not bring animal products (like leather)
2. Switch from shaving with a razor to waxing or veet. Razors rust really quickly.
3. Keep valuable/mold prone items sealed from air. (i.e. I keep my books in an airtight container. I keep flour and sugar in an airtight container with rice. I'm going to look into getting air seals for my clothes and scuba regulator)
4. Be aware that perfume can turn in rooms that aren't kept around room temperature. Don't refrigerate or cycle the temperature too much. Our perfume is generally ok, kept sheltered from sunlight and with our room usually within a couple degrees of 28C (82F)
5. Check your clothes and belongings for mold once a month or so. I've included photos of belongings that have collected mold over the past month alone.
6. Consider keeping some items in your office desk where the room is A/C and sealed from outdoor humidity most of the time.

Food
1. No one cooks, it's almost all eating out.
2. The food is oily and mostly Singaporean, Malay, Thai or Indonesian. There is usually a token Indian, Korean, and Japanese place.
3. There are no ovens. Getting a large oven-like appliance can be expensive.
4. You can usually ask for items to be "dry." Otherwise, things turn into soups. Every curry is a soup. The bulgogi at one north food court is a soup. It drives me nuts.

Money
1. Best money changing rate is in China town, and requires to change at least $200 to get that rate. (donated tip from Asli; I just use my ATM card for my bank that refunds the $3SGD fee each transaction. ATMS are everywhere.)
2. There are lots of money changers, and you can basically get any amount. To go to Indonesia, I changed $13 SGD to get $10 USD to pay the entry fee. Otherwise, entry was 20 SGD to Indonesia.

Cell Phone

I just got back from an interview in the United States. I slept for 12 hours, from 3am to 3pm. I never sleep for that long.  I really hope I get back on track, soon!

I scheduled a dental cleaning appt for Thursday at St. Andrews. The dental surgeons there were recommended by a diving buddy during my trip on the White Manta. I was quoted $50-120 SGD, but I was able to make a 10am appt only two days in advance!

The point of this post is to point out the misfortune that I realized upon making the call. My phone only had $1.50 left!! I had topped up with Singtel's Super Hot $128 plan, but the time had expired on Nov. 8th and I hadn't been around to top up and extend the validity!  Here's how it works:

1. Get a pre-paid $10 hi! card from a 7-eleven or other establishment
2. Go to singtel.com to top up online when you need more minutes. Here are the plans:
http://info.singtel.com/personal/phones-plans/mobile/prepaid/top-up-where-to-buy-and-check-balance
3. Note that there are lots of options, the biggest differences being their validity time, cost, and available credit. The Super Hot $128 was $28 dollars and gave me $128 dollars of credit, but needs to be topped up with the Super Hot $128 or Hot $55 within the 50 days to keep the credit. I don't think I even used up the cost of the card.
4. Get the Hot $55 for $15 if you don't use data. Switch to the $128 if you are texting and calling a lot. If you use data (i.e. WhatsApp), get the DataTalk$22 or the Yo!$18. I don't use the data, but maybe I will in the future.

For data, note the bottom: http://info.singtel.com/personal/phones-plans/mobile/prepaid/mobile-data

It's humid, my friends.

It's very humid here, so humid that they sell dehumidifiers at the grocer. These go in your closet to keep your clothes from molding. In fact, I have bought a few dehumidifiers in the past couple weeks that have absorbed a lot of water!

Also, my pillow often feels damp and items of clothing often feel damp. I find it's most important to keep the Thirsty Hippo packets with my underwear!

Thirsty hippo that hangs with my clothes

He's a wet hippo

This one hangs out with my undies

My general closet dehumidifier after 2 weeks

This one is from my roommate's room!

Cost of Living in Singapore

I really have no idea what a common room or master room in Singapore should cost. It seems like a lot of places use tenants to make some money or get really cheap rent. I found this blog with a very nice breakdown of what things cost around here: http://joeyandmae.com/2013/03/01/cost-of-living-in-singapore-2013/  The entry also taught me that the food areas in the HDBs are called "hawkers." I have yet to enjoy the food in Singapore. I find the hawker food to be similar to poor quality Chinese food in the U.S.  I think I would like to live where the hawker food is best.

The only thing this entry leaves out is where the most affordable groceries are! Cold storage in One North station, by SUTD, is not affordable.

Some housing definitions:

COMMON ROOM: a bedroom in an apartment without attached bathroom.

HDB: housing and development board, gov't housing, each building is listed as a block and number

A floorplan of an HDB 

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.

Other odds and ends...

I'm using this blog as a skeleton to help put together a tip sheet for next year's fellows. So, I want to make sure I get everything written down that I had to do before coming.

I had forgotten to mention that MIT has International SOS. And, if you have your MIT certificate, you can go to the private MIT SOS portal and scroll to the bottom of the page. There will be an image of an insurance card, click the print card button to load the PDF. I had an issue with the web browser ADOBE where the card number would not display, so I downloaded the pdf to store and print out.

ISOS also has an emergency information  and vaccination record storage option that should be good, but I had some problems entering information.

MIT employees are covered by International SOS (ISOS) for emergency assistance while traveling abroad for both work-related and non-work-related trips. Students and MIT employees traveling abroad are encouraged to register with ISOS prior to departure.
MIT’s ISOS program does not cover medical expenses. For information about health insurance coverage in the case of a medical emergency while traveling, consult your health plan. Whatever your coverage, do not hesitate to seek medical care if you become ill while traveling.- Travel Clinic

I got my Singapore phone number on Friday. SingTel prepaid cards are available in some SingTel shops, but not all. Mostly you can just pick one up at the 7-Eleven, pop it into your unlocked phone, and start using it. I put the SingTel Hi! card ($15 for $18 of credit) into my dad's old G2 phone. I then just turned off the data network. While I'm on WiFi, I can use WhatsApp to message people like a text message. I can also use WiFi to download maps to use with my GPS and city guides on trip advisor. I can get monthly plans after I get an employment pass, but I may just stick with the prepaid plan. Phone calls will probably only be used for meeting people.

I think WhatsApp is kind of a silly service. It's just another internet messaging service. The only difference is that it's tied to your phone number. So, it finds your contacts by searching for their phone numbers in it's registry. To activate WhatsApp, you need to have a phone number that receives texts or calls. I gave WhatsApp my GoogleVoice number. Then, Google emailed me the text message with my registration code. It can also call your google voice and leave a voicemail with the code if you have trouble with the texting option.

I still have GoogleVoice connected to my old mobile service. I don't know if that's bad or not. I simply turned off Call Forwarding and turned on "Do Not Disturb" mode.

For GoogleMaps, you can view a map on the Wifi, and then in the menu or some other options (it's different in different versions) you can "Make Map Available Offline." The maps are about 1 or 2 MB depending on the size. I then use this offline map and my phone's GPS to locate myself when I'm out and about.

I highly recommend nice family of offline appa: the TripAdvisor Offline City Guides. You download each city that you want. It stores Trip Advisor entries for attractions, shops, restaurants, itinieraries, and other items on your phone. You can access them offline, and even bring up maps and have TripAdvisor use your GPS to guide you to the selected location. It was helpful for me to find the borders of Chinatown, yesterday.

Pre-trip Planning

There are so many activities and necessities to plan before leaving for Singapore.

 First, I need to get vaccinations. You can find out what vaccinations you need by just checking the CDC site, but one then needs to go to the "travel clinic" or nurse-who-reads-the-CDC-recommendations-for-you and get the prescriptions and the shots.

I had to make a list of what countries I might visit, so I mentioned the ones I had thought about in Asia. I listed: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Tibet, Taiwan. As expected, I needed yellow fever, typhoid, and the hepatitis vaccines. I had already had all of these in 2008, but I needed a typhoid booster. I actually messed up the typhoid booster, inserting a couple days between the second and third pills, but I elected not to restart the schedule with a new set of pills. I read in academic journals that the oral vaccine (TY21a) has a 67% protection rate for the first 3 years, and a 62% rate for 7 years. Since I took the oral vaccine properly back  in 2008, I decided to just continue with the current regimen. I'm within 7 years, so I figure this 5 year mark is just a precaution.

I was surprised that a polio booster was recommended for China, and I was also given prescriptions for malaria preventative and anti-diarrhea medicine. I was also told that I might want to take altitude sickness pills, which are prescription, if I decide to go to Tibet. Since that's not a definite situation, I elected to leave that prescription purchase for a Singapore activity.

Writing this blog entry, I found that I can register with the US Embassy abroad in advance in case of medical emergencies and also to be privy to embassy info. (CDC: Getting Health Care Abroad)

 Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP)

The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) is a free service provided by the U.S. Government to U.S. citizens who are traveling to, or living in, a foreign country. STEP allows you to enter information about your upcoming trip abroad so that the Department of State can better assist you in an emergency.
STEP also allows Americans residing abroad to get routine information from the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

Luckily, I have premo DAN (Divers Alert Network) diving insurance. For about $100/year I get airlifting and hyperbaric chamber treatment. A DAN member will basically show up and front the cash for your services so there is minimal lag time between accident and treatment. It's not just diving accidents,but it's meant as purely supplemental insurance.

Which reminds me, I need to change my benefits enrollment to plans that work abroad!



I also filled out an employment pass for the Singaporean government through SUTD. They have human resources helping me out, but it was a very confusing application. I'm not sure I did it all correctly. There are some seemingly non-sequitor sections, and confusing word choices. For example, the education section has a lot of fields that mean similar things to me:

Main Campus or Affiliating College Attended:
(Applicable only for India qualification)

Qualifications (e.g. for Honours Degree, state class/division; Diploma):

Faculty (e.g. Engineering):

Specialisation (e.g. Civil engineering):

 I believe my answers are: UT, PhD, Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, but I would have no idea without those exempli gratia. Also, it's difficult to committing to a term of stay without a definite return date. One can't purchase flights that far in advance...

I haven't found housing yet; I've heard tell of loads of scams over in Singapore, so I'm waiting to see places when I arrive. I have scheduled to stay in the campus dorms (called hostels) for two weeks while I look for a place. I heard that PropertyGuru and EasyRoommate are very good options for finding a place, while Craigslist is not. Also, a studio apartment runs about $3000 SGD ($2400 USD) per month. Many people let rooms, and they seem to run between $900-1500 SGD ($700-1200 USD.)

I started packing some of my belongings. I drove most to my dad's house, combined with my last trip home for a very long time. Some belongings will go into a communal storage unit rented by my program. I am planning to bring a few items with me. I got a really big purple Samsonite duffel bag off Amazon for $25 that should come in handy. I also purchased velcro one-wraps and a set of three packing cubes to help organize my bag.

I wish I could take my dog, Lucy. But, she has a heart defect and I'm afraid to put her on airplanes. Many dogs die on airplanes, and I'm sure the experience is not pleasant on the noisy, hot tarmac and in the noisy, hot storage areas. I've seen how luggage is treated. There are ear protection headphones sold for dogs. I am leaving Lucy with my dad and sister. She's been there for 7 months already, that way I could help take care of here and make sure the vet transition and everything went well.