MATT'S TOP 10 FROM SINGAPORE
Weeks 13-21: June 12, 2011 – August 13, 2011
1. My obsession continues…
Now...even I am getting tired of blogging about the bathroom situation here – so I can’t imagine how tired you are from reading about it….but this material is too good not to share.
As you all know from past posts, the bathrooms here at work (and in every other part of Singapore) are some of the grossest I’ve seen anywhere. I’m so tired of the floors being covered in pee and of the smell that comes out of these things. It’s gotten so bad at work that they actually put up signs showing people how to properly use the toilets. Here’s two pictures of the signs now up in the men’s room at work (that’s right, they have to show people how to properly ‘aim’ – and it’s not just for the guys:
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Also, believe it or not, they do clean the bathrooms here. On the back of the door (similar to the US), there’s a chart showing the time it was last cleaned, who cleaned it, and any additional comments. Click on the picture below and check out the two comments from last week – 'smelly and yellow stain.' Yeah, that's right folks - welcome to EMC Singapore…
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Here’s another favorite of mine that was hanging in a restaurant we were recently in. This one gave me a good laugh – so much so that a friend actually “borrowed” the sign for me. I’m going to hang it up in our bathroom at home when we get back to The States.
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I guess I don't know what's more disturbing - the fact that the bathrooms are so gross here...the fact that they put up signs showing people how to aim...or the fact that I'm inclined to bring my Blackberry phone/camera with me every time I go to the bathroom because I never know what type of good material I'm going to find.
2. Random Singapore Fact of the “Week”: Don’t drink the water…
Actually, I'm told that the drinking water in Singapore is some of the cleanest in the world. Because the island is so small and they lack enough clean water reservoirs to support the number of people here, Singapore buys a bunch of water from Malaysia – below is the where they get their water from.
a) Rainfall, collected in reservoirs or water catchment areas (about 20% of supply in 2010),
b) Imported water from Malaysia (about 40% of supply),
c) Reclaimed water (producing NEWater) (30% of supply), and
d) Seawater desalination (10% of supply).
Now some of you may be asking what reclaimed water is? Essentially, it’s distilled sewage water. Pretty gross, huh? More specifically, it is treated wastewater (sewage) that has been purified using dual-membrane (via microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies, in addition to conventional water treatment processes. I don’t care how many dual membranes they use, I stick to the bottled water myself – which probably ends up coming from the same source!
The only water to really stay away from is soup – what’s up with the Asian culture serving you a bowl of dirty looking water and calling it soup? Lisa wonders why she gets sick every time she eats the stuff. She doesn’t believe me when I say that they just go to the toilet ‘hole,’ heat that water up, and put it in a bowl.
3. For those who still don’t believe me…yes, the cost of booze is really high in Singapore…
Here’s a recent receipt for an after work drinking splurge for three of us (believe me, this level of consumption doesn’t happen every Friday)…but look at the freakin’ costs of the alcohol. $25 for a shot of Patron. $27 for a goose and soda…give me a break.
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Lisa and I were talking the other day about how we feel like we’re just hemorrhaging money living here. Now granted, we don’t always go out of our way to do things on ‘the cheap’ (there’s only so much local hawker food that you can eat), but it’s pretty ridiculous the amount of money we’re spending on food each week. Cost of living allowances come NO WHERE close to helping cover the living expenses in Singapore. In fact, I’d like to know where our relocation company is getting their estimates from. They must be comparing the prices of drinking dirty soup water here to eating fillet mignon at home. Look at the price of this normal size watermelon that they were selling in the supermarket. Click on the picture to enlarge the price tag – that’s right, it says $70.
4. Speaking of expensive…
You wouldn’t believe the costs of cars here in Singapore. From the Singapore ex-pat site:
“Be warned: it is very expensive to own and drive a car in Singapore. Wary of the fact that uncontrolled growth in the number of vehicles will result in traffic jams in land and road scarce Singapore, the government has implemented a range of measures to manage car ownership and usage. These include the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), Vehicle Quota System (VQS), road taxes and Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). All motor vehicles must be registered with the Land Transport Authority (LTA).”
Let’s put it this way - To buy a Honda Civic here in Singapore will cost over $100,000. Want a ‘low-end’ C Class Mercedes? Be prepared to pay well over $200K. Our daily bus and subway rides to work are starting to make more and more sense!
5. Hey idiot…stop texting and look up…
If you thought Blackberry, iPhone, Android, etc use was bad in the US, you should see it here. I must get walked into a minimum of five times a day because people are too busy looking down and their devices on the subway than looking at where they are going. Granted, I’m guilty of doing this myself – but the difference between me and the entire culture here (pretty broad statement comparing myself to an entire culture, huh J) is that I don’t walk into people as I’m typing. Maybe it’s because I have a slight height advantage and get a better view over the crowd…but it’s starting to get ridiculous. On my way home from work the other day, an elderly woman bumped into me as she was walking off the train (she must have been 70+ years old). I looked down at what she was doing and believe it or not, she was playing Angry Birds!
6. Corruption is alive and well in Malaysia…
Two weeks ago , a friend drove us to Malaysia to play some Sunday golf. Pretty good deal – 18 holes, golf, and lunch for $50. That compared to the $250 it would cost to play a similar course in Singapore. The ride to the border in Malaysia is only about 20 minutes. Coming back is another story with the amount of traffic coming into Singapore – took us over 1.5 hours of sitting in traffic, just to get across the border.
To add insult to injury, we got pulled over by the corrupt Malaysian police for going 10 km/h over the speed limit while getting of an exit ramp from the ‘freeway.’ They guy claimed to ‘estimate our speed’ and then bargained with us to get out of the ticket. After some back and forth, he ended up taking $50 SGD from us to let us go – which he promptly pocketed…ahhh, the corruption of the Malaysian police. I guess it’s still better than getting flogged in Singapore…
7. Singapore National Day
This past week here was National Day in Singapore. Essentially it’s the same as the US Fourth of July. The only difference is that the Singaporean’s drop a boat load of cash to celebrate and ‘show off’ their nation. They have this thing called the National Day Parade which they start rehearsing for months in advance. Complete with helicopter and jet flyovers, tanks, skydivers jumping from the sky, and a fireworks display that would put many in the US to shame, it’s quite the production. Here’s the view of the fireworks from our building – pretty good view!
8. Back to India…
I had the honor of going back to India again a few weeks back. This time we went to Delhi. Two quick things from this trip – first the Ambassador taxi ride from the airport. I honestly was scared for my life – and I’m not just saying this. Not only did the inside of the cab smell like raw sewage (so bad my work colleague had to say something to the driver – and it didn’t have air conditioning – so you can imagine how bad it was in the 90+ degree weather), but this guy was the WORST driver ever. He could not keep the car in a straight line and he cut a number of people off – in one situation, he ran a motorcycle off the road. This my friends is exactly what you do not want to be experiencing at 2:30AM on your way to the hotel. Here's a picture of what the Ambassador cabs look like in India...
The other interesting thing I heard is in regards to marriage in India. As I knew, many marriages are arranged marriages. One of our colleagues in our India office had just gotten married, and someone asked him if it was arranged. He responded by saying no and that instead it was a ‘love marriage.’ The term ‘love marriage’ gave me a good laugh.
Also, they have commercials on HBO in India…weird, huh?
9. Singapore Bar of the “Week”
Now this is where I would normally add one of my favorite bars of the week. For this edition, I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to give honorable mention to the bar at 'Morton’s Steakhouse.’ Similar to the US Morton's, they have a happy hour every day from 5-7. During happy hour they serve these unbelievably good complementary steak sandwiches..you pay for them in the prices of the drinks, but they are damn good.
Now for the different part – we walked by this place leaving a bar the other night, so I thought I’d put it in this section - “Buff and Rubz.” I’m trying to convince Lisa to get her next manicure here, but she’s not buying into the idea…
10. McDelivery
How cool is this? I’ve heard about this in major cities like New York back home, but to see it in person is a whole other thing. Not only does McDonald's deliver here, but they have these cool rocket looking back packs that they use to keep the food warm. Lisa is in awe when it comes to these guys. She even got her picture taken with a McDelivery guy the other day. I’m also told that Kentucky Fried Chicken delivers too…haven’t seen them out and about yet though…
Domino's does deliver just like in the US – the only problem is that they $20+ for a personal 9” size pizza…and it tastes just as gross here as it does in the US.
Until next time...hope everyone is doing well!
