arewethereyet

16 – 24 September 2009
Singapore. It has changed since we last spent time in the city. That was almost 10 years ago. The buildings have multiplied and grown taller. Orchard Road seems to have more glitz and glamour. One thing that hasn’t changed is the manicured, disciplined order that makes Singapore unique amongst the disorder of greater Asia.

As with other places, it is always the people we meet that give us the greatest insight into each town, country, culture.

We met Malay workers traveling between countries to set up the F1 circuits and Abbott from the Phillipines who creates illustrations for the gaming industry. Incredibly talented guy – we are thinking of him as floods have just hit his hometown of Manila. Thank you to Mr Wong for connecting us with another overlanding family www.cape2cape.co.za. We hope to see you in Chiang Mai later in the year.

We also met our first expat family in Singapore – Kirsten, Peter, Hesper, Indigo & Daisy – thank you for your hospitality !

Apparently Singapore is the 3rd most expensive city for expats to set up camp. Their costs backed up our research. House rental $6,500 – 26,000 per month. School for 3 children $30,000 per year. Certificate of entitlement to own a car $20,000. A car purchased for $70,000 had $40,000 worth of government taxes. These costs only took a dip late last year when at least 40,000 expats lost their jobs in the recession. During this time the COE dropped to $200. On Wednesday we need to purchase a temporary vehicle permit and 3rd party insurance for the van just to drive from the wharf to the causeway which links to Malaysia. Every car on the road must be officially accounted for.

The school costs relate to International Schools – this is by no means the most expensive. There aren’t enough state schools to handle the number of children in Singapore. As a result, the average class size is 40-45 students and kids often go to school for 1/2 day to enable all children to have access to a classroom. It’s no surprise that Singapore has so many out of school tutorial/education centres. The kids get minimal 1 to 1 contact, if any.

Singapore must be another food capital of the world. Pig organ soup, frog porridge, fantastic Indian fare, durian & mushroom ice cream, chicken, duck, pork & seafood prepared in every possible way. One of our taxi drivers said the food can get so hot here that it burns your stomach. We stopped at one Indian food stall and asked for our meal without hot spice. “No hot, no worries” came the reply. After one bite I felt as if my tongue was about to catch fire.

Over the last week we have indulged in a city with a non stop pace – the zoo, the amazing Science Centre, movies, pools, museum, Chinese relexology, Ayurvedic massage and shopping shopping shopping. Consumerism at its best.

On Wednesday (23rd) we picked up the van from the wharf. The front of the van had been looted. Unfortunately, we must have forgotten to put one of the bags behind the locked door and a computer & ipod disappeared. The girls bits and pieces were also taken including Kaia’s teddy & Lulu’s keyrings she had started collecting. Big lesson for the rest of the trip – check once, twice and check again. Good to see the grills and locks worked for the back section. Kai drove the van straight off the wharf without any customs checks or delays. It was 6pm before Kai was back so we decided to stay one more night at Fernloft Lavender for departure early in the morning.

We didn’t get out of the city until afternoon. Clearing border control took a matter of minutes as did our clearance through through to Malaysia. During my first ever trip to Singapore, I remember walking between border controls with a heavy pack. An experience I was happy not to repeat.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Trip Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.