MATT'S TOP 10 FROM SINGAPORE
Weeks 8-12: May 29, 2011 – June 11, 2011
1. As an ex-pat in Asia, you’re always ‘On’…
One of the downsides of being in Asia, is that you feel like you’re ‘always on.’ Because of the 12 hour time difference with the US, there never seems to be any down time. When you get home from work at night, the emails from work in the US start flowing in. I also seem to have con calls most nights until 10 to join meetings back home. This all after working “Asia” hours all day. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining – I’m the one who signed up for this. It’s just different to never feel like you can shut down.
I especially love the calls I get at 3AM from places like Empire Carpet asking me how I enjoyed their services of the carpet they just installed in Lisa’s condo in Bellingham. Let’s put it this way Empire Carpet – this is the fourth time you’ve called me in the middle of the night….and the fourth time I’ve asked you to change my number and not to call. Do you really want to be asking me about my experience with you at 3AM – I’d be happy to provide you with some colorful anecdotes, but I’m sure you’re then going to have to treat my responses as ‘outliers’ in your sample set of data. (As an aside – don’t EVER use these buffoons for your carpeting needs).
My ‘favorite’ is the difference in our holiday schedules. July 4th and Memorial Day weekends are sonm of my favorite weekends of the year back home – so it’s kind of sucky (is that even a word?) to miss them this year. Even suckier were the emails I was getting on Memorial Day while sitting at work on Monday morning from friends and co-workers as they were enjoying their Memorial Day weekend Sunday night…by the way – you’re all a bunch of lushes. As a small example of things of pictures that were being sent, see below. I was tempted to put the full picture in, but decided to ‘alter the photo’ to protect his identity on the good old world wide web J
2. India…check.
So I’ve finally made my first trip to India. Unfortunately, I can’t say India is one of my favorite places in the world to visit. In fact, I probably would put it right up there with visits to Beijing, Cleveland, and a visit to the doctor to get a enema. (Sorry Manasvi – I gave it a good try – I really did). Now I’m sure that there are very beautiful parts of India…unfortunately I was not in any of these places during my visit to Bangalore. Most of the stereotypes that I was warned about ahead of time, are absolutely true – tons of traffic, cows just wandering down the middle of major roads/highways, malnourished dogs everywhere, scary elevators, heavy hotel security, interesting food, and not a pleasant smell.
Let’s take a few of these one at a time:
a) Traffic:
What an absolute nightmare. The only place worse in the world that I’ve ever been to which is comparable with traffic is Sao Paulo, Brazil. Bangalore is a place which has a major infrastructure problem. So many companies have moved into the area so quickly in order to take advantage of the less expensive labor, that the infrastructure has not had enough time to catch up. Things like roads, public transportation, and basic public services have a long way to still come.
What should have taken 20 minutes to get to the airport from the hotel, took us a little over two hours. Our driver which we had for the entire time we were there drove like an absolute maniac. They have road signs and lines in the roads to direct traffic, but drivers take these as more of a ‘recommendation’ then an actual law. There is no sense to the way people drive. Here’s a picture of what it was like every morning going to the office – a total free for all.
And check out the "cabs."
It’s also a very ‘horny’ culture – meaning they can’t stay off their horns. ‘Oh look, I’m going to pass you’ – let’s beep the horn. ‘Oh look, you’re driving too slow’ – let’s beep the horn. ‘Oh look, you’re driving too fast’ – let’s beep the horn. ‘Oh look – there’s a cow in the middle of the road’ – let’s beep the horn. ‘Oh look, you’re driving a green car’ – let’s beep the horn. On our last night there I was out to dinner with some colleagues and had to take a 15 minute ride back to the hotel. I decided to do an experiment and count the number of times my drive beeped the horn. An guesses? 15 minute drive – 48 separate times he used his horn.
Motorcycles and scooters are everywhere. Thousands and thousands of them. How do you like this one (and these situations are everywhere – unfortunately, this was the best picture I was able to get) – dude is driving his motorcycle (with a helmet on) while his wife and baby are on the back without helmets. I also saw a guy driving down the road on a motorcycle with a laundry basket latched onto the front with a baby in it. He too had a helmet on, but none on the baby. Now I understand not everyone has the means to buy a car – but to put your child at risk and have it be accepted as a ‘norm’ was kind of an eye opening experience for me.
On a lighter note, I found out that you can rent cars in India just like anywhere else – except in Bangalore, your rental car comes with a driver. Go up to the Hertz counter to rent a car and not only do you get your car, but you also get some crazed lunatic driver to haul your arse around. Probably not a bad thing to have a local driving you around given the traffic situation.
b) Because the cow is considered sacred in Hinduism, they pretty much have a ‘free reign’ in India. Kind of odd to be traveling down a busy highway 90 km/h and have to swerve around a cow that’s just lying in the street. Or to have to walk around them on the sidewalk because they refuse to move. They know they're in no danger of being threatened by people and they take full advantage of it!
c) Hotel Security: Kind of odd when you arrive at your hotel that you have to have your bags go through x-rays and also have to walk through a metal detector. I guess it’s better safe than sorry…
Same thing with the mall. We had dinner at a mall one night and needed to go through a metal detector before entering…that is except for those that decide to just walk right around the security and didn’t even get stopped or questioned…when I tried to do that I got yelled and cursed at….talk about being on the opposite side of racial profiling! It probably also didn’t help that I asked the mall security guard to put out his cigarette before running the metal detector wand around me – he didn’t like that request too much…
d) I can’t begin to tell you how unsafe I felt in the elevators at our EMC office in Bangalore – not our Center of Excellence campus, but our down town sales office. Out of the 4 elevators, only 2 worked (according to co-workers, this was always the case). Picture a large crowd shoving themselves into a small little elevator. The elevator actually loudly beeped when too many people got in (or if it was overweight). This happened on every floor on the way up to our 12th floor office because so many people tried to jam themselves into the elevator. As soon as it would beep to signal it was overweight, the last person in would step out. Can you imagine the stress on those elevator cables every day? I started taking the stairs on the second day (walking up 12 floors) because I couldn’t take the crowds or the smell inside the elevators…
e) Food actually was not too bad. It probably helps that I like spicy things…Funniest food situation was our first day there. We decided to have a working lunch and they ordered in. They asked if we had a preference of food, and when we said no, they asked if we were ok with what I thought they were calling ‘Dough No’s.’ Having no idea what they meant, and not wanting to be rude and question it, I said I’d be ok with it. Come to find out what they were saying was ‘Dominos.’ I was pretty happy when a bunch of pizzas showed up to the conference room J
f) I’m not even going to broach the subject of the smell…
And guess where I get to go next week – back to India – this time to New Delhi. Not only do I have to leave on Sunday afternoon, but I get to spend the 4th of July there…kind of ironic, don’t you think…
As I said, I’m sure that there are very nice parts of India, but I don’t think that it’s my personal cup of tea…
3. Houston – we have a problem…
Scariest plane moment of my life – I was heading to Beijing last Monday and got caught in the middle of a lightning storm. Sitting in the window seat, and watching the lightning strikes all around was quite the eye opening experience. Throw the extreme turbulence that we were encountering on top of it, and it made for a pretty scary ride. I was near the back of the plane sitting behind a school group from Singapore that was heading to Beijing as for a school trip that was part of their summer recess. The poor girl sitting in front of me was so scared that she ended up throwing up all over the seat in front of her (I was so happy I was sitting behind her). Let me tell you how awful the smell of apple juice is after it gets thrown up.
The storm didn’t last more than 10 minutes and the girl ended up being ok – made me think twice about how much we fly though…
Speaking of flying, I finally found something that I don’t like about Singapore Air (in fact all international airlines)…double announcements. How annoying is it when you’re sitting there watching a good movie and they come over the intercom and interrupt it with an announcement – then add on top of that a second announcement followed 10 seconds later in a different language.
4. Moving on up…floors that is…
I’m finally out of my dungeon office at work as I described in my blog during week 1. They moved me a couple of weeks ago from the 4th floor to the 31st floor in our office. Smaller office, but pretty sweet views! I do miss my office company back in Hopkinton though – (Dave - have they given you another office mate yet?)
5. Where can I go to just get a GOOD burger….
Lisa and I went out with some co workers the other night and experienced authentic Chinese Steamboat (also known as hot pot in China or Shabu Shabu in Japan) . Essentially it’s just a fancy name for fondue. The meal consists of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table which you put raw meat and vegetables in to cook. Pretty decent food – but I still can’t get over the shrimp (or prawns as they’re referred to here)…full heads and everything – they kind of freak me out…
And for the record – Chinese food here is NOT the same Chinese food you get in the US. As a friend once said here - he’d give anything for some American Chinese food J
6. I almost cried when I heard Dunkin’ Donuts mentioned in a con call…
I was on a con call last week and it was 7PM Singapore time. The person I was talking to in the US was driving into work at 7AM. He proceeded to go through the drive-through at Dunkin’ Donuts and order a bagel breakfast sandwich and a iced coffee. I wanted to jump through the phone. I would kill for a Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee right about now…this Singapore stuff just isn’t cutting it…
Now that being said, Dunkin Donuts does exist here in Singapore. Lisa actually made a trip out on a Saturday morning to just go find it – unfortunately it’s not even close to being the same. Especially when you order an ice coffee and they just pour hot coffee over ice…
7. It’s only taken me two months…
I finally took some pictures of out apartment – sorry Mom – I know I told you I’d post some pictures a while ago. The place is actually pretty nice. It’s small (about 1,000 square feet in which they include the balconies in their measurements) but it’s a good size for the two of us. It has two bedrooms (although Lisa’s closet at home is bigger than our second bedroom here) and two full bathrooms. The kitchen, dining room, and living room are an open room concept. The think I like the best are our views. We overlook the shipping lanes here in Singapore and also if you’re standing on our balcony and look left, you can see the Marina Bay Sands hotel (that’s that hotel with the big boat and cool pool on top of it). Below are the pic...
Coming in from the door…
Living Room...
View from Living Room back to kitchen and door...
Master Bedroom...
Bedroom #2 (currently the 'luggage room')...
Lisa's Bathroom...
Views From Our Balcony...
8. Singapore Fact of the Week
This one is for you Gram – comment I got on the phone the other day: “Where is Singapore anyway?”
Singapore lies a little north of the equator at the southernmost tip of Malaysia. It’s the second smallest country in Asia. Let’s put it this way, New York City (approx 305 sq miles) is considerably larger than the entire country of Singapore (225 sq miles).
These pictures are courtesy of ‘Maps of The World:’
As far as planes ride times are concerned:
Singapore-Boston: ~22 Hours
Singapore-Sydney: ~7 Hours
Singapore-Beijing: ~5.5 Hours
For a description of the geography, land, Wikipedia says the following:
Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, widely known as Singapore Island but also as Pulau Ujong. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north, and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 166 m (545 ft).
There are ongoing land reclamation projects, which have increased its land area from 581.5 km2 (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 704 km2 (272 sq mi) today; it may grow by another 100 km2 (40 sq mi) by 2030. Some projects involve merging smaller islands through land reclamation to form larger, more functional islands, as with Jurong Island. About 23% of Singapore's land area consists of forest and nature reserves. Urbanization has eliminated most primary rainforest, with Bukit Timah Nature Reserve the only significant remaining forest.
9. Good morning to you…
Here’s a good one for you. As mentioned in the past, I used have about a 35 minute and 42 second commute to work every morning. (Since Lisa has gotten here, we end up switching subways in order to get closer to work….but that’s a topic for another day).
Anyway it’s a 15 minute walk from our apartment (in an underground mall) to the subway station – a 42 second subway ride – and then another 20 minute walk in an underground mall. “As the crow flies” I can walk to work in 25 minutes…any guesses why I don’t do it??? That’s right – the heat.
What I’m beginning to realize is that whereas it is a bit cooler in these underground malls, it’s not that much better. Come to find out, they really don’t put the AC on the “appropriate” temperature until around 8:30 or 9:00 – long after my 7:00 walks to work. Either way, it is still a little cooler than being outside. Here’s the kicker though – the smell. Early in the morning is when the restaurants in these malls are prepping their food for the days. Now, I like most people, like some occasional garlic every now and then. However, this smell is literally so bad that it causes you think about every breath you’re taking and whether you really want to do it or not. It’s not like the nice smelling garlic that you may be thinking of when you’ve just roasted some in the oven or cracked a piece to put in pan on the stove. No – this ‘garlic smell’ is like a mix between swamp water and rotting garbage. Add it on top of the stifling humidity and you have what I get to enjoy EVERY day on the way to work at 7:00 in the morning (before food and coffee). I signed up for this why???? Gotta love life in Asia!
10. Speaking of smells…
Oh man – I’ve heard about it…I’ve been warned…but all the warnings in the world couldn’t have prepared me for the ‘experience’ of it. The dreaded durian. Let’s go to my good friends at Wikipedia for a definition of what a durian is:
“Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the ‘king of fruits’, the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odor, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odor, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine and gym socks. The odor has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia.
Here’s a little homework assignment for all of you. I want you all to go outside and run 5 miles. Afterwards, take off your socks and put them in the bottom of your garbage can and let them sit overnight. When you get up in the morning, take them out and that’s pretty much the equivalent of the smell of this ‘fruit.’ Funny enough, most hotels ban them from their restaurants/premises, and there’s even signs on the subway
banning the fruit. Below is the subway sign that’s right outside the train we take each day…
My one and ONLY experience with it this week was one I will never forget. King of fruits my arse. More like the King of the Stink…
For those that have been reading these little blogs of mine, we know have the smell ‘quinfecta’ – Bathrooms at work, Garlic in the malls in the morning, India, Beijing, and the durian. Can’t wait to see what’s next to add to my library of smells...
Until next time, I hope everone is doing well...
Happy 4th from the other side of the world!!!
Happy 4th from the other side of the world!!!
