First Day

Living/Dining area

After checking into our service apartment (more pictures here) and unpacking we take stock and decide what needs we have. The apartment is like a gloriied but spartan hotel room with stiff, uncomfortable furniture. Not much we can do about that. The bed is king-sized and firm but not unreasonably so. However, the tiny kitchen is barely stocked with essentials and I find only one paring knife, one chef's knife, a soup ladle and a mediocre spatula for cooking utensils. Not even a large spoon to stir or serve anything with! And John decides we need some plastic glassware as well. Plus of course we need to locate groceries and see if there is anyway to make use of this old phone we kept from our last visit to Hong Kong. But the very first thing we have to do is find a money-changer.

Entrance to Chinatown

Our helpful "concierge" points in a general direction and we head off. Just a couple of blocks over and we find ourselves in Chinatown where there are heaps of money-changers as well as a variety of local shops. This area naturally reminds us very much of Hong Kong. John negotiates between a few of the money-changers to get the best exchange rate and then we find a bits and pieces shop where we pick up a few household necessities including some additional kitchen utensils. In our wanderings we stumble upon a stand selling telephone sim cards, prepaid calling cards and other phone accessories. He's a very nice man and John buys a phone charger and a sim card from him so we can at least have temporary phone service. We find out we can use this to call the U.S. for about 8-cents (SGD) or a bit over 6-cents (USD) per minute. This seems quite reasonable since my mother was recently quoted  by AT&T for calls to Singapore from the U.S. at a rate of 45-cents per minute!! What explains this huge difference? We think its greedy telecoms in the U.S. but can't say for sure...

Street view in Chinatown

Herbal shop

Finding a grocery store is another matter. We had been told we could find one in a nearby shopping mall but it turns out to be more like a convenience shop. However, we come across another ex-pat couple in that shop and ask them if they know where we can find a true grocery store. They weren't quite sure how to direct us in that area but were very helpful in explaining two of the main chains available in Singapore. One is called Cold Storage and carries more western-style brands while another called Fairplay cater to more local tastes. So we head back to our flat and use the internet to locate a Cold Storage nearby. Sure enough another block over from Chinatown we find one and set off in that direction. It's located in the basement level of another shopping mall (a typical arrangement in Asia). I find all of the items on my list but am aghast yet not surprised to find prices roughly 25 - 30% more than I would pay in the U.S. At some point I'm going to have to locate a "wet" market where fresh produce can usually be had at a fraction of the cost in these retail chains and that should help with the budget.

In the end, we are feeling like our first day is quite successful.  But now it's late afternoon and jet-lag is definitely catching up so it's time for a nap! When we awake it's approaching dinner-time and I announce that despite the fact we've just bought food I'm in no mood for cooking so we head over to Clarke Quay, a nearby area along the riverfront with a plethora of bars and restaurants to choose from. We end up at a Thai place and enjoy a simple meal of Green Papaya Salad, Green Chicken Curry with steamed rice and a Mixed Vegetable dish. MMM!! Now this part of living in Asia we definitely enjoy!