The Singapore Experience

I'm supposed to post this last night, but could not re-connect after a sequence of disconnections...

Well, as a norm, during the first few weeks of shifting to a new working environment, it will either be freaking free or freaking busy. For me, it was the latter. So, patience my dear readers as the next few entries will only consists of me babbling and mumbling about (text-based entry) without much pictures to see. Just to share some experiences I had here...

Food
Nothing much special here, except that if compared to Malaysia, we can easily find Japanese and Korean food stalls (yes! stalls, not restaurants). One of the more commonly found dish will be Mini Wok Noodle; where you get a bowl of 'kon lou' mee with mushroom toppings and a mini wok with various food items inside (fish ball, pork, pig liver, vege, and so on :: items differ for different stalls). If I am to compare the price here with Malaysia dollar to dollar, its practically cheaper here as we can still get noodles and rice for $2.50. For a stingy person like me, I will always convert before purchasing. Each meal will not only make my heart ache a little, but it also improve my mathematical skills. :P

Transportation
Two thumbs up is not enough to show my appreciation and respect to the transportation system here. Not only is it clean, cheap, its efficient and its frequent. I would rather take public transportation here than to drive around, serious! Else, I can always walk around. Pedestrian walkways and crossings are ample, even cabs are aplenty (and they will take you to wherever you wanna go). Talking bout MRTs, the only annoying thing is that announcements are aplenty, reminding you to:
1. Look out for suspicious items
2. Attend to your belongings
3. Mind the platform gap
4. Eating and drinkin is prohibited
5. Blah Blah Blah
(please be reminded that the reminders are announced in 4 different languages)

In MRTs, there will be 3 major activities going on, mainly:
1. Sleeping
2. Reading
3. Listening to whatever (earphones, headphones attached)

Language
Initially, I was kinda worried as I dun converse well in Mandarin and I don't even know Hokkien. These are the 2 main languages spoken other than English. However, I was quite taken aback when a vast majority of people that I've encountered actually speaks in Cantonese. Not a few, but A LOT! Too much influence from Malaysians?

Shopping malls
There's just too many of them, and it comes in all sizes :: Super large to Minis... Currently I've been to Raffles link, Sim Lim, Marina Square, Bugis Junction, Raffles City, Suntec City, IMM, and a few mini ones. And wadaya know, its all well connected, you just just travel from one shop to another seamlessly! BTW, just to inform everyone that the Great Singapore Sale (GSS 2006) is currently ongoing. I got myself a Neeon-5G(will blog bout it later) for half the price, because I'm a tourist. :). Sames promotion goes to IPod Nano (1G), going off @ 50% for tourists... Cool huh?

Well, I guess that's all I have for today. For more updates, do stay in tune. Cheers from Jed in Singapore.