Asia living

Brian and I are now settled in Singapore. I started my job at Interbrand (global brand consultancy firm) in January, and Brian is at ABB. I can’t believe we have been in Asia for over 8 months now! Time is just flying by. (Perhaps it passes even quicker because there are no distinct seasons here. It’s summer, summer, and more summer with perhaps a tad bit more rain!)

Life here is interesting. We’re not typical expats on a plush package with pool, maid, etc. We’re living in a local building that’s quite basic, though our flat was renovated – it used to be a really small 3 bedroom apartment, but is now an open concept 1 bedroom place. We have 3 neighbours on our floor – a Chinese grandma who likes to sing and doesn’t speak English, an apartment full of women who work at the hospital down the road, and a group of guys – one is a Malaysian who is very nice, and brought us goodies at Chinese New Years. People are still surprised to see me in the elevators, and ask how long I’ve been here – we’re the only white people in the building, so we stick out!

Our neighbourhood is quite green, and there are also lots of old Chinese shop style homes. Quite beautiful. We went to a gallery around the corner which was having a showing of Aboriginal art from Oz – it’s in a restored shophouse, and has the traditional fish pond on the ground floor (usually the houses have an area in the middle that’s open to the sky, with a fish pond). The paintings were all around the ground floor, but it got quite crowded with everyone trying to edge around the pond. Unfortunately before we arrived a French lady got too enthralled with one of the paintings, and when she went for a closer look she had an unexpected swim! And not a fun swim, lots of scrapes and bruises resulted. You could tell the fish didn’t enjoy it either – they stuck to the far wall of the pond for the rest of the night. But the paintings were fantastic. We ended up buying one – our first proper piece of art! With a story attached, which makes it even more fun.

What else do we do for fun? Well, eating and shopping are the national pastimes in Singapore. We enjoy the former immensely, and do the latter only occasionally. Food favorites include mee goreng (fried noodle), satay, beef kway teow, chili crab, black pepper beef, etc. Food is cheap, great and not particularly healthy. Eating at home is more expensive and difficult (no oven, which is typical – just a small toaster oven). Locals generally eat in hawker centres (outdoor food courts, usually located at the base of the apartment complexes). We have a food center near us in the Malaysian railway station which is great – the railway station while in Singapore is legally on Malaysian land. Love eating satay there outside in the evenings (evenings are the best time of day here – fantastic temperature and breeze.)

Malaysia is just over the causeway, so an easy holiday destination. We took the train a few weeks ago to Taman Negara, a national park in the center of peninsular Malaysia with a huge, old rainforest. We went with our friend Heather from Toronto – she was in the neighbourhood after traveling around Asia for the last 5 months. It was really nice to spend time with someone from home! And she was a trooper taking an uncomfortable night train to the middle of nowhere, then spending the weekend hiking in the hot, very sweaty jungle! We didn’t get a glimpse of one of the 100 tigers that reside in the jungle, but we did see lots of small very cool creepy crawlies. The boat ride out of the jungle back to town was 2 hours of nice scenery – the last half hour of which I was cursing since I desperately had to find a bathroom! The boat driver didn’t understand English and was determined to get to town without stopping. Painful. Brian and I had a first class compartment for the overnight train ride back to Singapore which was lovely – had a shower on the train, and went straight to work upon arrival.

We’ve also done the beach thing in Malaysia. Over Chinese New Year we spent 4 wonderful nights on Sibu island. Lots of lazing on the beach, eating great meals, and a little bit of diving. The waves were crazy high since it was the end of the Monsoon. We also spent a weekend diving off of Pulau Island, where Brian was certified. We’re now planning to go diving in Bali in September – hopefully see the Mola Mola fish, the world’s largest known bony fish, reaching up to 11 feet.

Our big vacation this year will be in Bhutan, in October. We need to start training now – we’ll be doing a 9 day hike in the mountains. High altitude, and really tough. And very expensive, but will be totally worth it. We’ll get to see a festival, visit the dzongs (monasteries), and walk with the yaks in remote countryside. I loved Nepal, so can only imagine what Bhutan will be like. We’ll be doing the “popular” trekking route, which sees less than 25 groups a year, apparently. Not quite the trekking highway in Nepal. Hopefully everything will work out ok, e.g. no crazy weather, violence erupting, etc. So far we’ve been very very lucky – went to Africa before all hell went loose in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. And decided not to go to Myanmar as planned in May due to the heat – not knowing a massive cyclone would hit of course.

What else do we do for fun here? Go for walks – I go out with a few girlfriends to the parks in Singapore. Nice to enjoy the steamy greenery, and try and stay away from the darn monkeys (had a tug of war session with one of them when it tried to steal my water bottle). Brian is playing touch rugby. We’ve made some friends and go out for dinners, etc. And Brian and I hang out together, enjoying each others company. Though my dear husband is in Indonesia right now on business. He spent a week in Thailand, came home for one evening, and then left for Indonesia for 1 ½ weeks. I head to Vietnam in a couple of weeks for 1 ½ weeks for business, so not much time together right now.

But that is the great thing about working here really. We’re not just working in Singapore, we’re working across Asia. I’ve had meetings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and soon Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. So much to learn, it’s exciting. And there are lots of job opportunities, if anyone wants to join us! 

There are of course some things that irritate us about Singapore. While I truly appreciate the cleanliness and order, it is a very planned city. Spontaneity is not part of its DNA. But while there are many “rules”, people can be pretty inconsiderate. It’s a “me, me, me” culture, in many ways. Riding the MRT (subway) is sometimes a full contact sport. Brian has tried out his rugby moves a few times while getting off the subway – people don’t only not let you off, but they try and walk thru you so they can get on first and get a seat. And they’re shocked when you put a shoulder down and charge them  My adrenalin gets pumping quite often. And people are slow slow walkers. Too busy in la la land, or texting. Drives me crazy! Service is notoriously bad. Go see any restaurant review online and most likely it’ll be people (locals and expats) complaining about how bad the service is. They have perfected the art of avoiding eye contact.

We celebrated our one year anniversary back in April. Wild to think how much has happened over the last year! And who knows what we’ll be doing next year. Well, most likely living in Singapore and at the same jobs. But there’ll be many adventures I’m sure. So much to explore! And hopefully we’ll have more visitors (hint, hint)…

I’ve put up some pictures on Facebook, and will get Brian to post on Picasso when he’s back in town. Please send us updates when you get a chance – we love to hear from everyone. Missing our friends and family.

Anne.