Don't worry, I've got this handled

One of the things I like about Singapore is the ingenuity that Singaporeans bring to problems, big and small.  Big solutions are everywhere; the way they have turned estuaries into fresh water reservoirs, the Marina Bay Sands, Changi Airport.

One of my favorites is the "handle bags" they use to make life easier.

One of the classics is the "bag holsters" that they have for coffee.  Yes, I know, this is wasteful--but do you know how much easier it is to carry a hot cup of coffee with your arm hanging down straight than having to crook your elbow at 90 degrees?

I discovered another one the other day when I decided to pick up a pizza on the way home.  I actually asked myself did I really want to carry a pizza box with my briefcase for the 10 minute walk from Modestos to our condo on Ardmore Park Road?  I decided that physical discomfort would win over hunger.  I had to wait about 15 minutes for my take-away pizza (enjoying a Tiger beer while I waited).  The server brought out the pizza and then whipped out a bottomless bag that the bag fit into perfectly.  This gave the box a handle that made it oh so much easier to carry home.

Bravo Singapore--you make my life easier. 

Moving Right Along - "The Hunt"

Man, it has been awhile since I picked up the keyboard and posted something.  Nevertheless, I have an excuse--I WAS MOVING!

Breaking News: I am out of the artificial living of a serviced apartment--The Pan Pacific Serviced Suites on Beach Road was very nice, but living 4 months in 435 sq. ft. with no opening windows gets old. 

Julie and Christopher came down in early June for 6 days to house hunt.  Friends of ours had suggested that we contact House Hunters International to see if we could be in it.  That was a big NO because someone is always edited to be difficult and unreasonable and I would not let them do that to Julie. 

My company provided us with a leasing agent; Eddie from LandPLUS and he was great.  He asked for a list of what we wanted in a condo and because of our extensive HHI training, we already had a list:

• 4 Bedrooms
• High Floor with a view
• Within 10 minute walk to an MRT (train/subway)
• 30 minute or less commute to work
• Pool and Gym
• Select neighborhoods (Newton, Novena)

We had also been surfing Property Guru for almost a year.  A great site that lists all properties for sale or lease in Singapore.  You can set a whole bunch of filters to narrow things down and most of the listings have “virtual tours”.  Bottom-line is we had a good idea of what we wanted.  And Eddie came back with what we wanted, including one we didn’t know we wanted.  After looking at a bunch of places we narrowed it down to two, one in Newton and one in Orchard (Eddie’s suggestion). (I know on HHI they always have 3 to choose from, we made it easier by not having to scratch the third choice.)

The Newton condo was one of the ones we gave Eddie.  The place was still occupied, but most of their belongings had already been shipped home.  It had 4 bedrooms and a study alcove, but we weren’t thrilled with the layout.  It also need some work on the shower, paint, and the a/c faceplates were yellowed plastic.  But the price was right.

The Orchard condo was in the process of having the wood floors in the bedrooms sanded and refinished as well as marble floors being polished.  Everything had been painted and the views were fantastic.  We were concerned about 2 things; 1) Google said it was a 17 minute walk to the Orchard MRT station, 2) It was a little above budget.

So Julie, Christopher, and I went the next day via Uber to time the walk to the bus stop and the MRT.  Five minutes to the bus and in another five minutes we were underground at Orchard Ion on our way to the MRT.  Getting underground in Singapore means you are dry and cool, so I stopped the clock at that point.  So issue #1 was no  longer an issue.  Issue #2 was handled by Eddie.  He negotiated the price down and it was a done deal.

So we will be living up high in a 4 bedroom high-rise building with a pool (three actually) and gym in Orchard about 35 minutes from work.  DONE!

I Could Car-less

Julie sold her car in California last weekend.  We gave away our 19-year-old SUV (with only 120k miles) to the daughter of friends and who also who grew up with Patrick.  (When her dad texted her to see if she was interested in the car, she asked “Is that the same one we used for field trips in elementary school?  The answer was “Yes”.)  We have one car left, “The Village Truck”, a 21-year-old Ford Ranger with only 60k miles—and that one we are “donating” to The Village to care for.

So in a couple of weeks I will be, for the first time in 42 years, car-less.  And I can’t wait.  People who know only a little about Singapore have asked “Are you going to have a car there?”.  NO!  Let me tell you why.

The major reason is that there is no reason.  The transportation system here is wonderful.  MTR trains and busses go everywhere with new, clean, and cool equipment.  And very cheaply.  My train ride to work is S$0.77 (about $0.50 USD).  Compared to what a similar ride would cost in in San Francisco and you realize what a deal it is.  And if you want to go by car, a “chauffeured”   Grab Car is only a few minutes away (from my current apartment it is about $8 USD to get to work--about 12 minute drive).  Driving would also mean learning to drive on the left in an urban setting, something that I would not want to do on a regular basis.

It would also be damn expensive.  Let me list the requirements and costs to showhow expensive it would be.

1.       You need a Certificate of Entitlement to be able to just buy/own a car.  These are used to limit the number of cars in the country.  The last auction they went for S$52,000 and are good for 10 years.

2.       Cars are expensive here.  One of the most popular cards here is the Honda HR-V, noting fancy, that sells for S$113,000—UGH!

So that translates into ~$119,000 USD just for the car (and the right to have a car)

3.       Road Tax—about S$700/year

4.       Insurance – About S$1300/year

Plus gas, repairs, etc.  And you can’t have a car older than 10 years old in Singapore.  So no car for us—AND I LOVE IT!

 

 

 

Reaching Terminal Speed

As many of you know, I have been in card payments for almost 35 years.  My last position in the US was managing the acceptance and issuance adoption of EMV chip cards--not a small task.  Once we got adoption well underway, I would hear from friends and others about their chip experiences and it was always the same things: "It's slow" and "Why is it taking so long to adopt chip?”  I would tell them why it was, but now living in Singapore I still think about those questions.

It has become a habit over the last two or so years, to count in my head how long a chip transaction takes.  In Singapore (which has had chip for over 10 years), it typically takes 12-17 seconds.  McDonalds has the fastest at about 6-7 seconds.  Singapore has addressed that speed issue (as have Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK) with contactless Pay Wave chip transactions using dual-interface cards or mobile "Pays" like Android Pay, Apple Pay, or Samsung Pay. 

Terminals at Harvey Norman

And while the US is not there on contactless, the US did announce Quick Chip over a year ago which initially had transactions in the 2-3 second range and now one terminal vendor has transactions down to 1 second!  We will see what happens with contactless in the US.

So why did it take so long in the US?  US merchants typically have terminals that face the cardholder and are tightly integrated into their cash register systems.  Think about how rarely you actually hand your card over to the sales associate in the US--almost never.  And these systems are expensive and time consuming to change.  Contrast that with most of the rest of the world that has stand-alone or semi-integrated terminals that are easy to update the software.

When Julie and Christopher were here a couple of weeks ago, we went to a Harvey Norman (think of Best Buy).  The sales associate would take your card to make the transaction and look at the number of terminals they had to make transactions -- 10!

So the bottom line is that the US is different than the rest of the world, but boy are they catching up!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Not Sweating It

One thing that EVERYONE can agree on is it is HOT in Singapore.  Not too much of a difference between months through out the year, it's just always hot as this chart shows.


For those of you that don't speak "cenitgrade", 35° C is about 95° Farhenheit.  For those that a geeks, like me, there is an easy way to convert in your head:

1. Double the Celsius
2. Subtract the "10's value"
3. Add 32

Example:

1. 35°C x 2 =70
2. 70-7 =63
3. 63+32=95°F

Pretty accurrte and easy to do in your head.
 
People have been telling me that you will adjust and get used to it.  I am still wainting for that to happen. 

Back in SF I always wore an undershirt, but the cotton ones I brought  here just don't work inhis climate.  They get wet with sweat and stay wet for hours.  Plus they're hot in this heat.

I try to take the train to work most days which means a 10 minute walk from my apartment to the Bugis MRT station, 10 minutes on the train, and a 10 minute walk from the Tanjong Pagar MRT to my offince on Robinson Road.  It's not a strenuous walk, but this is what i look like when I sit down at my desk.  Nice, huh?

So if I had a morning meeting it meant I would take an Uber or a Grab car to keep from looking like this.

About 10 days ago a Ausie coworker told me about something that has changed my life: AIRism by UNICLO.  Now I am one of the last people that you would expect to shop at UNICLO.  I am 58 years old,  196cm tall, and weigh ~210kgs--not your typical UNICLO shopper, especially in Asia.

But man do they work.  They're lightweight, large enough, and they keep you cool, and most importantly absorbe sweat before soaking through your shirt. 

I am now ready to tackle whatever else Singapore can throw at me.

Big Wheel in Singapore

A Big Wheel in Singapore

Julie and Christopher were here in Singapore for a few days a couple of weeks ago.  The main reason for their visit (besides seeing me) was to find a place to live.  Julie and I had been cyber-viewing condos on Property Guru for almost a year, so we pretty much knew what we wanted—but we were open-minded.



We have watched enough House Hunters International to know how this processed worked.  Eddie Soh of LandPlus was our rental agent and we worked with him for a couple of weeks before Julie’s arrival telling him what we were looking for.  Our list of requirements was fairly short: 4 Bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, High floor with a view, Swimming pool and gym, Within 10 minutes of an MRT station, and our price range.

The View from our Condo Balcony

The first day we quickly narrowed it down to two units, one that we had seen on Property Guru and one that Eddie introduced us to.  The only thing was that “Eddie’s” was a 17-minute walk from the Orchard MRT according to Google Maps.  The next day the three of us took an Uber to the condo and walked it ourselves.  The good news was that it was less than 6 minutes to a bus stop and only 11 minutes until you were underground (i.e. dry and in AC) on the way to the train.  A day later we looked again, decided on “Eddie’s” after some negotiation.

So since we were ahead of schedule it meant we had some time to enjoy Singapore.  We had done the Singapore Flyer last year, but why not do it again?  We did it in the late afternoon and the skies were clear enough to not only see Indonesia, but also Malaysia.  There we only one other family in the capsule with us so there was plenty of glass to press your nose against.

The evening was the coolest it had been in a couple of weeks so we walked along the marina up towards the Esplanade Theaters, stopping for dinner at Kamasutra Glutton Bay.  This is a very tourist friendly hawker center right along the marina.  Peking Duck, pork dumplings,  and garlic rice with a couple of Tiger beers was a great way to celebrate.

Afterwards we sat at the edge of the marina and watched the fountains and light show on the Marina Bay Sands which was a great way to end a very busy bit enjoyable day.

 

What's In A Name?

 

 

I think many of us have noted the erosion of respect in the US since the election.  Yes it started before Trump (somewhere back in 2008), but it has definitely gotten worse since 2016. 

Singapore is different.  As I mentioned in a post before, there is a constitutional requirement to respect on another's religion.  But Singaporean’s and others that live here REALLY want to respect one another.

Let me explain.  Having hired help in a home is very common here, especially those with children.  It is a regulated practice here; most that are hired are from Indonesia, Philippines, or India.  They come to be able to send money home to their families.  Regulations require that their employers provide them with health insurance and other benefits. 

That said, they have a tough life; they work 6 days a week, typically live in very small rooms with no air conditioning, they work long hours.  Yes, it may be better than their conditions at home, but it is a hard life.

These people are not referred to as maids, servants, cleaners, or cooks—they are called “helpers”.  I like that term.  It implies that they are there to “help” the household.  A little thing, but a thing that shows respect for what they do.

I noticed a similar thing on the bus yesterday.  In most of the world we call them “bus drivers”.  Bus in Singapore they are “Bus Captains”.  Love it!  Again, it shows respect for what they do. 

And neither one of these terms is regulated.  You don’t have to use those respectful terms, you just do.  My Mom used to always say “It’s the little things that count”.  And this shows how true that is.

 

Show Me The Money

Now that it is official that we will be staying in Singapore for a few years, it was time to open up a local banking account.  So far, I have been able to make do with my US Visa cards for most purchases, and using an ATM for cash.  You really don’t need much cash in Singapore as cards and Android Pay/ Apple Pay are the norm almost everywhere.  The main exception is hawker centers where cash is king, and the local debit network, NETS, is the queen.  For over 3 months it worked, but now I needed a local account in Singapore dollars to be able to pay utilities and get reimbursed for some of my expenses.

Being the financial center of Asia (sorry Hong Kong), Singapore has many choices for banking.  They fall into two camps; a local bank such as DBS or POSB, or an international bank like Citibank or HSBC.  I have been around long enough to realize the best way to make my decision is to as our administrative assistant what she recommended.  And her answer was a good one: go with an international bank as they are not as crowed as the local banks.

So I elected to go with Citibank as they have a branch at Asia Square close to my office and they also have lots of branches in the US.  It took about 40 minutes to set up 2 accounts, one is US dollars and one in Singapore dollars.  A few days later I received my debit card and two checkbooks (USD and SGD), the next day my PIN, and the following day I went into the branch again to get the electronic token I need to make transfers.  As I logged into their website I needed not only my PIN, but a six digit “one-time password”, known as an OTP, sent to my phone bay SMS text. 

Once Julie gets here we will add her to the account, but for now I feel like I live here in Singapore.




  

A Real Know Where Man

Standing in line is a so orderly in Singapore.  And as I learned and wrote about before, knowing where to stand is important in Singapore.

My favorite is standing in line at The Old Tea Hut for kopi (the Singapore coffee).  You stand in line of the left to place your order and pay.  Once you've done that you move over to the line on the right, making sure you stay in the same line order and you are served your kopi as it comes up.  Much better than waiting to hear the Starbuck's barista mispronounce your name.

Another everyday experince on where to stand is on escalators.  Traveling on the  MRT daily you spend a lot of time standing to the left (remember as a former British colony they drive on the left here).  And the left is for standing only.  If you are on the right you are expected to walk up the steps or quickly shiftto the left if there is a place to "change lanes".  Really nice because EVERYONE does it.  (By the way, this makes me think that BART's line about this practice causing wear is BS!)

Once you get up or down the escalator and are waiting for your train to arrive you also need to know "the directions" on how and where to wait.  Luckily they put arrows on the floor to help you. 

1. Stand to the side
2. Let people exiting the train go first down the center
3. Then enter the train in two orderly lines

It too works becasue everyone follws the rules.

Last is one that I have observed now that we are entering the sunnier season.  Its easy--whenever you are crossing a street, stand in shade even if its 10 meters from the street--it makes a BIG difference. 

We never have had to worry about that in SF!
 

Did You Notice?

There is no excuse for not knowing what is going on in Singapore.  There is plenty of information about what is going on, whether it is government information or real estate. 

PropertyGuru is a good example.  It not only tells you all of the the houses and condos for sale or rent, it also uses government data to tell you what was paid for recent sales or leases.

But what really is unique is the signs that you see in everyday like, like these:



Arrests were made 6 to 18 months ago at a hypermarket and they are still gatherring information.  In the US this probably wouldn't make the police blotter in the local paper.

A No Trespassing Sign



The close up shows they really mean it, violators will be confronted with an AK-47

And my favorite that is on the landing card coming for entering Singapore--with that red proint it would be hard to say you "didn't ntice".

The Can Can

Flights from February to May 2017

I have done a lot of flying on a lot of different airlines in the last four months.  And much of it has been in business class.  I have, therefore, seen a lot of business class lavatories.  So what better to do than rate them.

Worst

 Jet Airways is an Indian carrier and while the bathorros were not down to this level, they were nothing to write home about.  Luckily it was a rather short flight from Bangalore to Mumbai.


Average
Air Canada, Lufthansa, and United were all servaciable.  Lufthansa is sometimes referred to as "The United Airlines of Germany" and it lived up to that reputaion.  All three were realtively clean, if someimes rather small for a person my size (like on UALs 747).  On the other hand, UALs 787 has little tabs on the side of the toilet seat and lids that makes it a little more sanitary to raise and lower the seat and lid (I was well trained).


Honorable Mention
ANA is so Japanese.  Their lavs not only have the seat and lid tabs, they also have Washlets.  These are airborne bidets.  Washlets are common throughout Japan and, evidently, on their airlines. 

Top Honors
Not surprisingly, Singapore Air has top honors.  They are kep amazinly clean, even on 15 hour flights.  They not only have the lid/seat tabs, but they have motion sensors on the faucets so you dont have to touch anything.  Another step towards hygene is the foot operated trash lid.  Plus how the heck to they always have fresh orchids in the lavs.  Kudos to SQ!
 

Petaling Through Singapore

Today is Buddha’s birthday--who knew?  What that means here in Singapore is that it is a public holiday, Vesak Day.  What it meant to me was I could take a hike to The Southern Ridges.  I will post on that in the near future, but for now I just want to share some of the impressive (and unexpected) flora.

I started at Hort Park which is known for its gardens so that got me in the mood and made me take my camera out.  I don’t know what many of these flowers were called (one was Cat Whisker’s and another one sure looked like a Bird of Paradise), but there were pretty.  And, of course, they had a vertical garden which is always a winner for me.

Mustafa is a Flip Flopper

Since before I came to Singapore I had heard about a store opened 24/7 that carried almost anything you would want.  That store is The Mustafa Center.

It took a couple of months before I actually went to visit (shopping is very low on my list of things to enjoy).  I had also been warned to know go on Sundays as that is the day when laborers and helpers have off and one of the things they do is go to Mustafa Center.  So since it was a free Saturday I decided to go check it out.

I walked from my apartment towards Little India and was there in about 20 minutes.  As I got closer the streets seemed to narrow and the density of people seemed to increase.  Definitely had an Indian feel.

I really didn’t know what to expect at Mustafa, but I was kinda expecting chaos.  What I saw was one of the most orderly store layouts that I have ever seen.  Also one of the densest.  Overall, it can be intimidating, but not stressing  if you are just wandering.  If you’re looking for something specific I suggest printing out this guide that an expat mom created--INVALUABLE!

So here’s one little example of what they have.  Want men’s flip-flops?  They have 6 racks of them—more than I have ever see before.  All different styles and colors.  More choice than any man would actually want.