Pictures

It is definitely time that I uploaded some pictures to show you what Singapore is like... actually, most of these are taken from my two trips here, as I'm not in the habbit of taking my camera to work with me every day - that is all rather dull, but you get the idea:

 

This is the view out of my room window. Well the room I stayed in when I visited, but close enough!

 

This is City district of Singapore - the Formula 1 circuit uses the bridge in the foreground

 

Work - nuff said (but quite a cool building)
 

A courtyard at Raffles Hotel - (I only go there just after I've been paid!)

 

Some imaginative sandcastles along the East Coast Park - about 15 mins from where I live

The Merlion - Singapore's mascot. A weird combination of mermaid and lion...

 

Elephants at Singapore zoo (this is their show, but you can also go for a short ride on them)

 

I got lucky with some timing at the Botanical Gardens...

 

And a really arty shot (also from the Botanical Gardens) to finish with!! 

I hope that R n I can show you around these places at some point!

 

'Western' Food

When I was first looking into moving to Singapore I came across an expats website which said 'for those of you who miss home cooking, not to worry - there is a Western kitchen in every food court and a Western restaurant on every other block'. What they don't really tell you is that the 'Western' food bears about as much resemblance to British food as sweet and sour battered chicken balls does to Chinese food.


My latest experience of Singapore's attempt at Western food was the worst of the 4 or so that I've had. I found a stall in a food court which claimed it was a chippy - so I ordered fish and chips (obviously). I got battered fish balls and, er, battered chips. The battered fish was reasonable, the battered chips - quite a strange experience. If you ever get offered battered chips I would find a way to politely decline!


It seems to me that the stereotype of Western food is battered. I have also had battered pork, and battered chicken twice. With the cooking always done in deep fat... I think the concept of going out for a 'Western' every day is fatally flawed, or just fatal. 



I have to admit that I rarely miss British food. Part of this is that 'Western' is rather more expensive than local food. I can get a perfectly good lunch for about $4 (which is under £2), whereas I can get a perfectly poor Western for about $7... still that won't stop me eating them from time to time!





 

Feeling Conspicuous

The average Singaporean is about 5ft5, which means that I overshadow the average Singaporean by some 8 inches. I cannot deny that this is at times useful - I can navigate my way through a crowd with significant ease, it is easier to intimidate the locals when I am loitering on dark street corners - actually, I have yet to try this in earnest - I'm still waiting for my light-weight hoodie to make it over!


However, I do at times feel, as the locals put it, rather too 'long' for Singapore. Take the buses for example - the ground floor is generally ok, but my knees don't fit in between the seats at all really. If there's space I'll sprawl over both seats, but it doesn't go down all that well at rush hour! The trouble really begins upstairs - my guess is the seat pitch is reduced, cos whilst I can just about squeeze into a seat downstairs, upstairs there is no chance at all! Then there is the headroom - the roof comes up to about my shoulder when I stand up. Consequence - when walking all I can see is my shoes - which means I walk into people, sometimes they end up bouncing along as a result! Even if that doesn't happen they aren't hugely impressed when some lumbering, often sweaty Brit bashes them.


However, the place where I feel most conspicuous is the markets. Singapore has markets in the centre of its publically constructed tower blocks. These markets are home to the true Singaporeans, and are far off the beaten tracks of western tourists, and for that matter, the ex-pats who tend to live in private apartments. Two instances come particularly to mind, both when I was visiting previously.


The first time I was walking through the market with a camera - a Singaporean grandad saw me, and then his jaw just sort of dropped open, and his eyes followed me all the way round the market. 


The second time I was just stood still! An old lady who can't have been more than about 4ft6 and had a marked hunch was walking towards me so that she could see about what I see on the top deck of a bus. Evidently my shoes came into view. She stopped, and with great effort, started to look up. The process of straightening the hunch took several seconds, and by the time she could see my face she had an expression similar to mine when I see a new type of alien. There will no doubt be those who say I should have been out of her way well before then, but I disagree - it was worth it just for the look on her face! (and btw - I did then get out of the way - she had a walking stick)

A tale of two visas

When RR had her masters converted into a PhD, she had to get her visa extended. The formal way to do this is to go to your college, who then take away your passport, arrange all the papers, send off your passport, and about 4 months later you get your passport back with the extended visa. So what happens if you can't be without your passport for 4 months because your are going home in two months, and your visa expires in 5?

Well, the alternative option is to go to an immigration centre. The closest one to us was at Liverpool. You are given an appointment time, however there is a surcharge for going in person. Upon arrival you will be hearded like cattle into a waiting room far too small. Then they will process the application without hardly a word. It's as if applying for the VISA is designed to put you off ever wanting to get one in the first place.


When I was interviewed for my post for Singapore it was late October. They said they would apply for my work permit in December, to which I raised my eyebrows. I thought - that's not enough time. Turns out my employer was correct. It took all of one day for my employment pass to be granted in principle. Today, I turned up at the E-pass centre, was greated by a person who checked me in, and then showed me to a waiting area that would put most hotels to shame. A few minutes later my fingerprints were taken, my photo scanned, and I was on my way again. Easy as could be!

Starting Work

I've started quite a few jobs in my time. Sounds a strange thing for someone who has only been employed by two companies, but as an engineer, starting on a new project is almost like starting a new job. However this time it did feel somewhat different. For a start, my company are sponsoring my work permit - if they don't like me, then the government I think can kick me out. Also, I had very little idea what work would be like - would engineering be the same around the world, or would I have to learn a whole new way of working.

Arriving I didn't get off to the best start - the receptionist had to ask me a mere 3 times to repeat what I had said - evidently the Brummie/Anglian accent isn't understood all that well in Singapore at 8.30 on Monday mornings. Still, eventually we managed to agree that I was starting work, and that I should go straight to the conference room for a briefing. At the conference room there was one more person also being briefed - one of 4 new starts in the Singapore office that Monday. If I'm honest, the briefings in Birmingham and Singapore are all very much the same.

I then got shown around the third floor, while the other newbies got taken up to the slightly plusher office on the 33rd floor. It has always been thus - transportation staff get the low floors, building design staff the high floors. Mind you, it's a lot faller to fall from the 33rd floor.

After about an hour and a half of admin type work, I got on with some project work. Truth is, so far, engineering is pretty much the same in principle. In Singapore I still have drawings to look at, reports to read and write, risk assessments to complete... all the same lah.

Where there is a difference is in the ambition of the schemes. In the UK you are lucky to work on anything new at all. Almost all the work is refburb, or upgrade, or rather, how can we get away without having to upgrade, refurb etc. Here, ambition is everywhere. If you need to fit in quad track railways on top of 10 lanes of road you find a way to do it. I won't come cheap, and it certainly comes challenging!

Moving Over

In my final week of work in the UK, with numb fingers from the bitter cold, I picked up a pile of drawings that I had to mark up. The set of about 10 drawings showed defects on 2 bridges in north Walsall, and I had to change them from 'defect sketches' to 'repair sketches'. What this entails is changing labels like '5mm crack in brickwork' to 'stitch repair to 5mm crack in brickwork'. Very tedious - typically I change about 15 notes on each drawing, even more tedious given that these were the 7th and 8th bridges where I had done the same thing for in 3 months! The really sad thing is that I first drew up the repair sketches a year ago - in which time not very much has happened.

Then, after I finished work, I spent 5 minutes putting on jumpers, coats, gloves and hats, and second pairs of socks, all to go to a shop 5 minutes away, and then spend another 5 mins taking all those clothes off. I think it's safe to say I was about ready to go somewhere with a warmer climate, and a new challenge in terms of a job.

Luckily, towards the end of November last year I arranged a new job, in the nice warm climate of Singapore. So, for the first time in my life I bought a one way air ticket from LHR to SIN, indulging myself with Singapore Airlines, mainly to protect my cello; cello didn't quite want to have to change planes halfway. In the two months prior to moving RR and I managed to pack up a whole house with 3 years of accumaltion, a new owner for my car, a new sofa to make it legal for me to rent my home, and then a group of 3 tenants willing to pay to live in my home. It all fell quite remarkably into place in the last two weeks, TNT's refusal to collect my last few boxes and and failed burglary attempts aside. (Just to clarify, that's people failed to burgle my empty home, not any attempt by myself to burgle anyone elses home.)

So - here I am, just moved into my room in RR's mothers. It's about 30 degrees outside, and all I really have is a suitcase and a cello, but I''m sure that things will work out. Start work on Monday - will let you know how that goes.