(Him: Charlie)
First time in Singapore… I have been planning to visit
Singapore on a weekend-getaway type trip, but the plan of a 3-day trip turned
into a 3-month long project assignment. How wonderful!
While the primary reason I am here is to help out the
project, I will definitely take the opportunity to explore the city, and given
the length of the stay, I will delve into the Singaporean society and the experience
life in this city state.
Expectation: Singapore has been known for its spotless garden
cityscape, tough government with strict rules and harsh punishment. Reading up
the internet before coming only made me more scared, and I actually took out a
pack of gum from my pack to avoid any potential trouble.
On arrival, the city does appear to be neat and orderly, but
it’s not excessive. Unlike HK, where greeneries are left on the mountain
slopes, the Singaporean city planners made sure trees and shrubs are ubiquitous
in the city – along city streets, surrounding properties, and even on building
walls.
The first two weeks at work has been quite busy. I am
surprised that I got my hands full only a few days into it. The joint-venture
office where I work comprises of people from three engineering companies, which
are supposedly competitors. The diversity of people in the office is just amazing,
with engineers from North America, Europe, Australia, and of course local
Singaporeans and Malaysians. We are all drawn here to work on the same project,
so it’s a beautiful experience to meet so many new friends!
My serviced apartment is in a pretty fancy neighbourhood
(River Valley, this is also where Lee Kuan Yew lives!!), but the traffic
connection is not as convenient as it should be. To get to work, I would need to take a bus.
But the problem is that not only the bus route is convoluted, the bus stops are
excessively frequent! So the short distance to and from work (4km by the
shortest route) would take over half an hour! Not impressed, so much so that I
bought a bike last Wednesday, and started to bike to work!
Having a bike allows me to venture out from my area for
further exploration, but I have to say this country is not cyclist-friendly at all! There are practically no bike
lanes in my area, so riding alongside traffic is my only choice!
One thing that constantly caught my attention is the eye-catching
architecture of private condos. You don’t really see this kind of gleaming, lavish
looking, cool residential building in Canada or HK, but they are everywhere here.
Apparently, this is one of the selling points that private developers use to attract
potential buyers. Since 80% of Singaporeans live in Housing Development Board
(HDB) buildings, private developers must work really hard to create the
aspirations for people to want to own private condos.
Interface
Tree House
Orchard Residence
Park Royal on Pickering (It’s actually a hotel)
AECOM SG Office
The other thing that is hilarious in Singapore is its unique
language, Singlish. People here all speak with the same accent, be it Chinese,
Malay and even Indians! It is just weird to hear an Indian speaking Singlish
with the sentences ending in Chinese tones such as “la and ma”. I used to think
Singlish is just English with a peculiar tone, but it turns out that it’s WAY more complicated than that. It is
actually classified as an English Creole, which has been strongly influenced by
various dialects of Chinese, Malay and even Tamil. I was astonished last week
at a meeting when I was only able to catch 70% of what the plant operator was
saying!!!
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