Archive for January 2013

Chinese New Year – Taiwan

Well I heard from a school friend who is based on the south of Taiwan, and they invited me to spend Chinese New Year with them. What a treat that will be. I just need to book the flight and arrange the break with them – but I really hope it works out, as I would love to spend time with them both – some great friends! I never managed to visit them last time I was based in Singapore at the end of 2011, so I hope this time, it works out 🙂

Palau Ubin – Cycle Ride Next Weekend

Well it looks like I am going to be joining a couple of friends with a cycle tour of Pulau Ubin, a local Singaporean island which is a short ferry ride from Changi. I went there last time with mum, when we went walking around the island, but this time, it is going to be a cycle ride 🙂 Another opportunity to “keep fit” 🙂

Futsul Delight – 9am Sunday

What a way to spend a Sunday, playing some football (on the astroturf – so it is called Futsal) – with some great folks in the Cage just Mount Batten area. It was great fun, and I remembered to bring my footie stuff, which I forgot to bring along previously.

It was also good to sweat it out of the system, and try to keep fit. I definitely need to do more of the same, to get myself feeling fitter and more relaxed – and also get myself out and about.

I hope it turns out to be a regular event…just need to get my arse out of bed each Sunday – oh in-between going to Church!

Old tenant picked-up their furniture

I must admit, it should never be advertised as ‘fully furnished’, as the items that belonged to the previous tenant should not be listed on the property listing.  I think the landlord’s agent wasn’t that truthful, or really understood the definition or the difference – but alas, I gave the feedback 🙂

Well the agreement that I reached with the previous tenant was that they would pick-up their furniture by 15th January, having giving them about 2 and a half weeks grace period.  The challenge is that I didn’t make the purchase straightaway, as Ikea give you a date for delivery which you cannot choose – well at least if you change it, they charge you, so I had to make sure the apartment was clear of the previous furniture before I committed the purchase.  The previous tenant wanted to sell me their second-hand items – the sofa-bed, dining table, 2 dining chairs, 3 cabinets, a book case/side unit, and tv stand – for S$1k – but I said no to this.  Luckily, I didn’t make this purchase, as the items I am looking for only equate to about £$650 which is a nice saving 🙂

So before the Ikea delivery – the apartment looked a bit empty…

On the positive, I was able to use their items (dining table and sofa primarily) whilst they were in my apartment, but I also now need to make a purchase 🙂  So have already looked at the Ikea SG website, and think I know what to buy.

  • Solsta Pällbo Footstool for S$10.90
  • Bjursta Extendable Dining Table S$149.00
  • Lycksele LövÃ¥s 2 Seater Sofa-Bed S$315.00
  • Lack Side / Coffee Table S$12.90
  • Börje Dining Chair (x2) S$130.00
  • Laiva TV Bench S$25.90

All for S$643.70 exc S$65 delivery charge.  And I get a S$50 voucher for spending over S$500 🙂

I even managed to build the items myself without major issue…it finally feels like home, and I have some nice new items that make it personal to me now – perfect 🙂

Collection of my 2 Year Employment Pass

Well, as efficient as always, the Ministry of Manpower confirmed that my card was ready for pick-up on Friday, 11th January – only took a few days, having provided my biometrics on Monday.

I can now work legally for a couple of years (at least) in Singapore.  The final piece has slotted into place very nicely.  It does feel good!

Mum returns to Hong Kong

Well it’s time to say good bye to mum for the moment.  She enjoyed her holiday and I think it was good that she was able to help me settle in to my apartment – it was such a task to do on my own, that an extra pair of hands was very helpful.  Even just visiting the dozen or so apartments took it out of me.

So mum now returns to Hong Kong this afternoon before she makes her way back to the UK on 15th January.  Lets see when she returns back out 🙂  Hehe!

Getting used to the local area

After a couple of weeks, I have finally settled into my local area – I’ve found the local shopping malls, the supermarkets, the wet market, the food courts.  I just need to find out a few things to do (sports, events, photography, language courses) to keep me busy.  On a serious note, I was thinking of learning Mandarin, but I think this is going to be a bit tough going – but I think I might give it a go.

Now, I just need to start booking those little side trips again – I’m keen to start exploring more of Asia – and Singapore is an ideal base.  I want to visit Indonesia, Philippines, Burma (Myanmar), Laos and more of Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.  I better get cracking – hehe.

SingTel Installation brought forward and successful!

I received on 31st December from SingTel saying that the installation was brought forward from 8th January to 4th January – now that’s what you call service.  It was scheduled for the 2pm-4pm slot, but when I was in Ikea browsing through for Sofa’s and Dining Tables, and buying some bits and bobs for the apartment, the engineer called saying that he was keen to come earlier…So I arranged a 1pm time.  Nice!

About an hour later the installation was completed – a bit of wiring on the phone box and the phone exchange in the building hall-wall, and I had 2 phonelines (one for the broadband and one for the TV (also on broadband)), MioTV, and the 10MB broadband installed.  I just need to buy a cheap phone so at least if there are any calls, I can receive the calls and make outbound calls accordingly.

NOW, I feel at home 🙂  Good on ya SingTel, a satisfied new customer…just make sure that you services remain as efficient as the installation process.

Need my Internet – haha :)

The world is the world of the Internet, and when you remove this, it becomes a bit different and strange – actually, it is quite refreshing too – hehe.

Either way, my mum and I managed to find an ingenious and free way to get access to our emails and the Internet – free wi-fi is available through Singapore, but you need to look for it.  So we spent our time visiting a local shopping mall and some of the establishments within the mall had free wi-fi services available, so we stragetically located a seat near one wifi hotstop and relaxed, checked out emails and the latest news and events back home in the UK, and made plans for the rest of the day…and most importantly, we used someone else’s air conditoning to keep cool in the process…hehe!! Thanks to those establishments for a great service 🙂

I just need to be patience for the installation of the SingTel services – counting down to the 8th January, when the scheduled installation will occur…

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