Asian Apartment Assessing

So if my sky writer is doing his job, you should know by now that we've signed the lease on our first Singaporean apartment. What you didn't know!? But I paid that random stranger I met on the bus in the middle of the night all that money for top notch work!

Fine, back on topic!

For the last month we've been living with the boyfriend's Singaporean parents and while they have been INCREDIBLE (Seriously, by the normal conservative standards of the previous generation that speaks volumes!) I however have lived on my own for nearly 7-years! Living with someone else (barring my boyfriend for nearly two-years now) is an adjustment I have been finding it difficult adjusting to having 'room mates'... and living with your significant other's parents makes it both difficult and a bit uncomfortable.

• You have to be on your best behaviour all the time, no walking around in your boxers (Don't lie, you know you do it when no one's home). 
• You have to always dress nicely to present your competence as an adult... how I miss my ratty and worn lounging sweat pants!
• You can't hog the bathroom or the food, I love to take hour long hot showers where I literally can just sleep standing up... nope not here! My poor back muscles are screaming in defiance at the injustice!
• You can't curse or shout whenever your pissed or hurt. Don't believe me, stub your toe on the table and try stifling that F-word in your throat as you grip you foot and smile at the parents. 
• Your decision for meal time are by group consensus and not by what your stomach wants that night. 
• All forms of PDA even up to overt flirting is now weird because honestly, who wants to get all hot and bothered in front of you 'in-laws'. 
• Find you boyfriend's mother washing your underwear and instantly you feel both embarrassment and a healthy dose of shame, not to mention your an adult, you feel bad having someone else doing your laundry. (If your mother still does your laundry after college, sorry, you're a wierdo!)

For someone who lived by himself over half a decade, such an adjustment is not easy and the desire to return to some level of freedom I enjoyed before is desperately wanted. Don't get me wrong, its an immensely rewarding experience to get to know the Singaporean parents... but literally meeting them and living with them all in the same week is like watching an antelope on the Serengeti... every second a conversation goes quiet your afraid the time has come and that antelope is about to be hit... by Hummer!

Again back on topic, I know I run off on tangents. I think its because... Oh fine, your no fun!

So to begin hunting for a new place to stay in Singapore, the first desire is to pick somewhere that a commute to work is feasible. Right now going from Tampines down to Raffles means either catching the 552 Bus, riding it for an hour, praying traffic plays nice and then walking 10-minutes to work... or catching the 91 Bus to Tampines Mall, riding the MRT to Raffles and walking 15-minutes to work... both ways are crowded and both require me to be awake much earlier than God ever intended. So it was decided to focus in every neighbourhood that was less than a 20-minute commute from our office (train/bus included).

I am not a morning person... in fact before my coffee I am a DANGER to society... the closer I am to work the better.

Narrowing down our search area, we found apartment hunting in Singapore is very similar to NYC. Realtor's have taken to social media and the Internet with a zeal, many sites specific to Singapore apartment renting or property buying are plastered all over the Internet. We focused primarily on the website Property Guru, mostly because it required all apartment rental posting to come with pictures, both of the property but also the realtor hosting it.

Our area of focus was Tanjong Pagar, an area at the heart of the Downtown Core of Singapore that is an odd mix of old style HDBs and high-rise condos. It's only a short distance from the famed and always crowded Singapore Harbour, one of the busiest seaports in the world... seriously New York Harbour, you don't even rate in the top 10 seaports in the world when you can count nearly a hundred super-freighters representing two dozen countries, each as long as the Empire Star Building is tall, clustering on the open ocean, all vying to be the next to drop their goods at the base of tower cargo cranes that rival skyscrapers in height!

Saturday is the day to show, most people are out and about so you can get a feel for the real life of your desired neighbourhood. This will give you an idea of how crowded or loud your future home could be. If I'd have known my college apartment in Philadelphia was dead on the weekdays but overwhelmed by crowds, ear-splitting club music and drunks falling over at only 4:00 PM in the afternoon, I may have looked a little farther down the road!

Generally most owners will go through a realtor when they are trying to sell their places, the hassle is easier and most buildings require it to ensure nepotism doesn't play a factor in them keeping the rents competitive. In general pick them based on the properties they have, but when you call to schedule your appointment ask if they have similar properties in the area. Most actually will have multiple apartments in the same building complex they will be happy to show.

Now that sounds odd, if you've seen one HDB apartment, you've seen them all. But remember Singaporeans love to buy over rent, which means that as owner they have say in how all of these decade old units are not only decorated but also how they are renovated. The first apartment we saw had a wall between the kitchen and living room. But the next apartment did fit within the same space and shape, but that wall between the kitchen and living room had been torn out and a breakfast counter now acted as a barrier. Another two floors down had redone the kitchen counters with green tiles, the one next door went with stainless steel tops.

Secondary to this, almost all rental apartments in Singapore tend to come fully furnished. The owners know that most people who are renting tend to be working and juts starting out in the world, they have few belongings. Its common for all the basic furniture and major appliances to be installed on arrival. Think of it like how a hotel room is built, nothing fancy but still you will have a couch, television, washer, kitchen table, a bed and wardrobe for each room. If your buying, sorry they expect if you can afford property, you can afford your own couch! This means that the décor and furnishing of the place must also be considered when moving in. I loved a 18th floor apartment in a particular HDB near Duxom Park but the fact that owner refused to remove the ancient and truly gaudy Chinese-style wooden furniture and furnish with a television that wasn't made in the 1980s was the reason we turned it down.

The range of rents you can find will run the gamete and are largely predictable. The fancy condo built less than a year ago, with its own small backyard, a sky garden on the room, private courtyard and garage, even a private hall for functions, along with complimentary bomb shelter/pantry, was of course rated at a price that visibly made us choke. The cheap HDB flat built around the time my grandparents were newly weds and still hosting all the original décor, was straggly cheap... and stomach turning in its filth.

Be clear with the realtors, most are willing to negotiate the rent down if you are willing to offer incentive. Move in right away, but only if you drop S$200 from the rent. Like we'd pay the full rent, but wanted the couch, television and beds replaced with more modern versions. Haggling will be difficult and somewhat exasperating but we managed to chop a good chunk off our rent and get a say in how it was furnished because since the renovations were completed the day before, it lacked furniture when we viewed it.

Once the bid and the your haggled stipulations for moving in have been presented to the owner, they can decide whether or not they'll take your offer. This offer is going to include a check for your first month's rent, plus a security deposit that is usually one months rent and a realtor fee, which is usually another month's rent. So expect whatever price you agree on, the first time out of the gate you'll be paying three to four times that amount, so brace your bank accounts accordingly.

Once the offer is accepted, its time to sign the contract, where your stipulations for moving in are legally documented. Do no skimp on any details and make sure the owner is held accountable for all damages within the first day of moving in. We found while out future home was ideal, the handles on the kitchen windows were broken, a mirror was cracked and two tiles in the bathroom were wobbly. Yes, wobbly is the technical term! These damages must be fixed before you move in and any one's you missed need to be documented the first day in order to avoid a hefty chunk of your security deposit being sucked up when you move out.

There are also some stipulations that have to be made clear on the contract when you move in, in order to save yourself from 'breaking' your lease later on:

• Expatriate renters can use the Overseas Clause to break a lease without penalty. If you are posted back to your home country or another, you are only required to give two-weeks notice and your lease will be shortened accordingly to end as soon as possible. Just provide you FIN or Passport number to secure this.
• If ANY of the persons on the lease are Singaporean, the Overseas Clause not only doesn't apply, it voids an early lease break for the whole apartment.
• Rent periods tend to be 12-months to 18-months, not by year. 
• Non-Singaporeans can not own property in an HDB. Only Singaporeans can buy an HDB unit. This is the reason the Overseas Clause applies to expatriates and not Singaporeans, we can break contracts early but can never own.
• Subletting is illegal and strictly enforced. Even to family this is unacceptable unless their names are on the lease.
• Most buildings come with WiFi and it is average in speed. Enough to browse the Internet but if you want to use some serious power, like online gaming or HD television, you'll have to invest in something more powerful.
• Unlike in the States, water, gas and heat is not included in your rent. They will be billed to you same as electricity. 
• You are expecting to service all appliances and amenities in your apartment. No building repairman, unless the damage is to the building itself, then alert the owner for assistance. Remember your air conditioner WILL need to be serviced every three-months, if it doesn't the build up of bacteria, dust and oils can make you sick or worse, start a fire!

And with that all hammer down, we've signed our contract and are set to move in next week! Ang Moh finally has some property to call his own! I think I'll raise some rabbits... yes that seems appropriate... fine I'll just get a mint plant for the kitchen window!

Quasimodo Has Escaped the Bell Tower!

It has happened! I have escaped the bounds of this Tampines apartment and managed a daring escape through the streets of Singapore, down into glowing boardwalks that ring the shores of VivoCity,  looking out onto the gleaming beaches of Sentosa, for a night out on the town... Fine, it was dinner with friends in a hotpot restaurant at VivoCity but still, I got to take the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) for the first time!

First thing to note about the MRT, every station has been strategically placed inside, beside, atop or underneath a mall or shopping center of sorts. So when leaving or coming, you have to brave the crowds of both shoppers, transients and everyday populous going about their day. At first it can be worrying trying to get up onto the platform for the East-West Line at Tampines Station, getting lost in the torrent of bodies as they surge in every direction, trying not to worry that every backpack, shoulder or elbow is going to smack you as it passes.

Yet the system has been designed to be as seamless as possible, so that riders can get through as fast as possible with as little Human supervision needed. The turnstilles are automated, only needing a 'credit-card' like pass to be passed over the reader, you don't even have to take them out of your wallet as you pass through. These cards are so much more economical and efficent than the paper/cardboard MTA cards like in New York, even transit tokens like in Philadelphia .. seriously SEPTA you're the last in the United States to still use that dated system and all your stations smell like pee so we know you're not using the taxpayer dollars for janitors.

Eventually however we get up atop the platform and the first thing you see coming up the escalator is the giant fans. These massive propellers are what provides air-conditioning to the otherwise open air station, swinging with four great blades that each have to be 10-feet long. Just standing under one in the hot and humid air, gives you a nice chill that otherwise would leave you sweating to dehydration.

Overall the stations appear clean, save for the little dirt or grim that daily foot-traffic inevitably creates. Singapore has incredibly strict litter laws, even new laws passed on smoking in non-smoking zones are intense. Between S$500 to S$1000 if you're caught on either!

Yeah, a lot of people have commented when I say that one, that it's so draconian and unfair to charge so much for simply littering or happening to smoke too close to a building. But you have to remember Singapore is an island, independent and significantly smaller than its much more massive neighbors. It is just a bit smaller than New York City, that's Singapore's 710 km² against NYC's 1,213 km² (that's with Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island). Also you have to remember that New York, with its 8.3-million people, has the entire United States to support it... Singapore's 5.3-million just has itself.

They are strict with their laws because the nation can't afford to waste important and finite resources on otherwise trivial things like people being too lazy to pick up after themselves. Take one stroll down a street or through a park in Singapore and you very rarely find trash lying about... walk three-feet in NYC and I guarantee you'll trip over ten empty plastic bottles, an overturned trash can and at least one piece of furniture... walk into a Manhattan subway station outside the tourist areas (like Harlem or East Village) and be ready for your nostrils to be assaulted by the smell of urine, gasoline and milk so bad its a day or so away from being good cheese. And to point out, such laws are rarely broken because after so long with it, most Singaporeans have a very clear image that you'd have to be outright stupid to do something like litter when trash bins line almost every avenue and street.

Oh and for you smokers out there, the weather is 80F and sunny all year round, so you literally won't be left out in the cold!

Back onto topic and into the MRT station, the next thing that will catch your attention is the gates that line the platform, a chin-high glass barrier of sorts that separate the waiting commuters from the incoming trains. Now in NYC, all the MTA gives you is a painted yellow line down the ledge of the platform, with a warning if you cross this barely-there line you're pretty much playing with fire when the train rolls into the station. To say it is cheap negligence is an understatement when you see these high-tech glass barriers and automated gates that open and close, to allow the commuters to board the trains in what many would consider a minor 'suburban' station. You quickly realized how criminally cheap the MTA is, how many people each year are killed, victims of accidents, fate or stupidity when they are struck by oncoming trains in the subway... how much an investment  now could protect the most predictable problem trains have faced since the beginning of their invention...  Human bodies do not fare well against a 25-mph train... they are obliterated when you add in how fast the express trains run.

No New Yorker wants to remember the horrifying picture of Ki-Suk Han mere seconds before the Q-train killed him, all because a drunken argument that ended with a homeless man by the name of Naeem Davis shoving Han off the platform and into the path of the incoming subway train. Or barely a month or so later when a mentally disturbed Erika Menedez shoved Indian-immigrant and long time New York resident Sunando Sen onto the tracks of the oncoming Queens #7 train, all because "he looked Muslim".

But I digress on another tangent, one that would flare in the face of any MTA-riding New Yorker when they stand on the platform at any MRT station. As the train rolls in and the glass doors that separate the commuters and their vehicle slide back silently, the rush of people again seems to overpower us. It is a miracle we find seats though honestly inside this giant machine its surprisingly easy. MRT trains are like the 'caterpillar' design, meaning that other than metal hings that move and mold as the cars coast around corners, the interior is just on long, cavernous hall with seats lining the sides, hanging straps for those standing and the occasional metal pillar for groups to cluster around. I have quickly vowed that if I can, I would love to one day sit at the front or back of one of these endless cars and watch as the white, blue halls before me warp and twist like some haunted fun-house. However given the high usage rates since owning a car in Singapore is very difficult, this is going to probably only happen if I get on at the end of the line AND at the very least, at 5:00 AM in the morning... yes, there is a 5:00 AM now!

We arrive in VivoCity (a slight detour to meet with a friend in Tanjong Pagar) and again we find ourselves climbing the endless escalators upward. Seriously, up three stories into the ground level, with another two stories of mall over us (seeing a theme here with Singapore transit), it creates a endless rising feeling, as if you are about to step off and right into the clouds.

VivoCity is probably one of the largest malls in Singapore and before you think of it, other than the food court, you could actually convince yourself you're standing in any mall back in America. The stores are almost identical, from GAP to Forever 21 and the prices are none too different from home. The way I understand it a lot of foreign travelers love to stop in cities like New York for the clothes shopping but seriously, I could not find any notable difference between the stores in Singapore and the ones back home like Oxford Valley or Neshaminy Mall.

Though some of their confectionary imports would be... odd... to some westerners. Exhibit B... see attached picture to your left.

I mean other than the high prevalence of Asia dining establishments and some weird choices of window display, again see Exhibit B, an American let lose in this mall without knowing he's in Singapore probably wouldn't register anything... yeah, I know, I nearly didn't register it!

Well more for next time, Ang Moh out!

I've Landed... in Deutschland

So this post is delayed, more or less because I don't have data enabled on any of my mobile devices while traveling abroad and can't find a decent Wifi hotspot because I'm too damn cheap to pay $4 for only an hour.

I have landed... in Frankfurt!

Yep, there are no direct, non-stop flights to Singapore, well there are but again, too damn cheap to take them. So that means a stop-over in Germany for two-hours while they clean/fumigate the plane before letting us re-board and continue on.

Right now I've been in flight for around ten-hours and boy are my arms tired... no seriously, I somehow managed to prop myself in the corner of my seat at just the perfect angle to make everything in my body twist and contort like a yoga instructor. I feel like I have the bones of a 70-year old, and considering my grandmother just hit 75 and still swims daily I should probably now shut up.

Thoughts so far, I am happily impressed with Singapore Airlines. How do I describe it to those who have never flown abroad one of her planes before, imagine you are in a fancy hotel lobby, the kind you see in a Mad Men-esque episode, where you feel you have to dress in a suit and carry a drink to look far more proper and poised when you know your lying through your teeth. Now put that Mad Men hotel lobby on a plane and that's what you feel like on Singapore Airlines. By far one of the nicest flights I've been on, considering I'm just an economy-class passenger... for the third time, I'm cheap!

Everything they have is adjustable to your needs, like when that person sitting in front of you inevitably leans their seat back, the television screen can tilt up, the tray table doesn't end up in your chest and the headrest can mold to any odd angle you try to work your neck in. All the stewards and stewardesses talk in whispers, not too quiet to hear but as if they don't want to startle you as they ghost about the cabin in their silent slippers. Even the glare of the overhead lights in an otherwise darken night cabin somehow seemed subdued.

That's I guess that the theme is in this hotel lobby-like plane, everything is subdued and just seems to glide along like a perfectly choreographed production.

I was fortunate to get a seat by the window, don't ask how I used my ninja skills because I honestly just picked a row the day before take off that had the least number of people in it. The odds were in my favor because from my window, the center seat in our row was empty and the row seat was held by a small man who was easy to dive over when I inevitably had to use the bathroom 11-times during the voyage... Hey! I drink like a fish and pee like a race horse... Wow, that sounds terrible.

So right now its waiting out the final 45-minutes left until the second round take off of my plane. I don't know how my boyfriend is doing, due in part because he booked his ticket much earlier than me and instead of taking Singapore Airlines the whole way, he instead is taking the Virgin Air route to London, then transferring to a Singapore Airlines flight back home. Ironically he left two-hours before me but will be arriving an hour after me, the perks of being on the same plane the whole time means your lay-over time is far, far shorter.

Well time to see how deep I can get into my next book while I wait for them to mop out the carnage of my last flight. Keep you update, landing will be at 6:50 AM Singapore Time, which will be 6:50 PM East Coast Time.

American Departure

At 8:50 PM, the Ang Moh vaulted through JFK airport security, only being stopped by the TSA three times (new personal best!) and boarded his plane for Singapore Airlines.

He wishes everyone reading a heartfelt goodbye and well wishes! 21-hours until D-Day... or S-Day... you know what I mean... just go with it!

Goodbye to the Big Apple

So today was our last day in New York City, in our fourth story walk-up on Ninth Avenue, right in the loud, flashy and always active core of Hell's Kitchen (for our non-New Yorkers that's the neighborhood west of Time Square with tons of great restaurants and crappy off Broadway plays.) Almost a year and a half ago we arrive two recent graduates, one with a high-scale consulting job and one wondering if he'd have to shelve his communications degree and go back to waiting tables, seriously I was applying to major corporations and the corner bistro in the same day!

19-months later I'm an experience Advertising Operations Manager (I'm the one the programs those annoying ads that follow you around on the internet and smartphone, let the hate mail flow!), who spends weekdays working in the cool shadow of the Empire State Building, summer weekends lunching in Central Park and winter nights hanging out in warm Korean ramen restaurants in K-Town.

What am I going to miss that only New York can offer? So many things you can never find anywhere else. You only have to wander off the tourist-saturated avenues, out to the west and east sides of the city where only Manhattanites dwell, these fashionable creatures who wear over-sized sunglasses, designer cloths yet swear and drink like sailors, gossip like the girls on Sex and City and believe they are as politically savvy as the diplomats over at the UN building.

Fine, I'll stop painting this elaborate picture of this rare species and start listing what I am going to miss and will be trying to find in Singapore everyday I'm there.

1. Watching big, strong and obviously uncomfortable straight guys walking their girlfriends small, tea-cup sized dogs... with no girlfriends around.
2. Hobos on the subway who wear only blankets... only blankets!
3. An old man, dressed in a bikini, with a foam statue of liberty hat, walking passed unmoved but amused cops. Seriously look!
4. A yoga studio on every corner... only matched by a Starbucks and doggy daycares every 20-feet.
5. Roller disco in walkways of Central Park.
6. Medically trained, Jewish ordained, dermatologists who advertise only on the subway.
7. Discovering your ability to parkour when trying to catch a taxi with grocery bags.
8. Rats who are more vicious and aggressive than military train dogs.
9. Tattoo parlors below psychics, offering two-for-one discount deals.
10. Paying insane prices for mac & cheese or fish tacos (tuna on tortilla chips).

Oh, there are a million other things, my favorite whiskey bar, the Big Apple Meat Market with its nearly expired discount steaks, MOMA with its questionable "art exhibits" of contemporary art/porn collections, even the clouds of pigeons that every person loves to set off when they dine on stale bread at any intersection.

But now it's Singapore where I'm going to have hundreds of new things to learn to love, find with bemused annoyance and big huffs of exasperation.