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

For those MIT Postdocs

In case you are wondering, here are the hours spent on 3.007 teaching duties since I arrived in Singapore:

8/23-29             8h17m

 8/30-9/5             5h13m

 9/6-9/12           12h00m

 9/13-9/19        23h 35m

 9/20-26           18h 40m

 9/27-10/3          18h 4m

 10/4-10             34h 9m

 10/11-17          11h56m
10/18-24         41h33m

Pulau Tioman

On Sept. 20-22nd I went with Sunny Cove on a dive trip to Pulau Tioman. The coral was beautiful and there were some nice fish. Visibility was great, but not like Cozumel. We stayed at the Paya Beach Resort , which was fairly nice. The buffet food was edible, but the rooms were nice. I paid an extra 90SGD for a single room. The whole thing cost around 400SGD. We had a private coach take us to Mersing Jetty for the Ferry to Tioman and the Ferry wasn't super crowded. We had reserved spaces on the Ferry to get back, so we didn't have to fight people.

Going across the border to Malaysia is a pain though. There are long lines and lots of buses and vans on both sides of the border. You have to go through both Singaporean and Malaysian immigration both ways. I can't believe that Malaysians would do this commute everyday, but some do.

My review of Sunny Cove: I had an enjoyable trip and would do it again. Nevertheless, I was surprised to learn that the dive master going with us was not from Sunny Cove and that no Sunny Cover personnel were leading the trip. I also overheard the Dive Cove personnel complaining to the Dive Company DMs about the lack of notice from Sunny Cove and that they felt overloaded because they had their own customers. Also, I had asked to rent a dive computer. I was told by sunny cove staff that I would be getting one from the Dive Cove. When I arrived in Tioman, I found out that there were no computers for rent, and I was not able to use my own regulator set and had to rent, since I didn't have a depth gauge. I was very disappointed that I had to rent gear that had a small leak at the gauge connection, and that Dive Cove did not seem to be informed by Sunny Cove about the situations and needs of the Sunny Cove divers.

The Theater!!

Local and international theater activity is just one way to judge a city. I am super excited because I learned that actors from London's West End are coming to perform The Mousetrap next month! I was not able to afford tickets when I visited London in 2005, but now I can!!

There's also an awesome dance festival (da:ns festival) in October that blends cultural dance and contemporary dance. I am super excited about the monkeys! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV7kIewePVg


Then there are some cool plays at the esplanade. I am interested in the http://www.3titansoftheatre.com; I want to see Masushi.

St. James Station

This entry is not about the club. Nope. It's about food and sports. Roomy and I got some dinner and watched some of the America's Cup out here the other night.

Check out these prawns. S$6 + S$2.50 Milo Dinosaur! Chocolate drink with chocolate powder on top

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!

This meal cost S$4

Yep. Delicious fishy from Redhill Market.