Happy Birthday I

Happy Birthday to me.

This is the first time I am ‘celebrating’ birthday on my own. I am in a country neither my motherland nor my hometown. (Well, there is a difference between my motherland and my hometown, if you know me well enough to tell.) I am all alone in Coffee Club, Raffles Place, Singapore. I just had my breakfast and waiting for my 11am appointment. The time now is 9:42am. Lots of time to kill.

And what a way to start my birthday. The first significant thing that happened to me today was that I broke my mother’s watch, or my watch I should say. I sort of ‘forcefully’ made the watch mine by saying that it will be my birthday present, and since I am my mum’s only child, I am sure I am the spoilt brat, heh heh.

This is my first trip to Singapore in almost a decade. It is a wonderful country, with beautiful people and a harmonic culture all around. Funnily enough, just after spending a day here, I have decided to spend a few years of my career here. Or maybe even setting up my family here. It only took Singapore one day to convince me to do so. Well, that is if I am comparing Melbourne and KL with Singapore.

I still consider myself a frog in the bottom of the well. I have never been out of the Asia-Pacific region, therefore I can only say that currently Singapore is the place I want to work and stay. Of course Melbourne will always come first, when I retire that is, but Singapore seems to be a more ideal place to stay, to work and to study. I was told that the crime rates here are quite low. People here does not live in the fear that they encounter hooligans or beggars or drug addicts easily on a main street like Orchard Road, unlike on Swanston Street. (and Bintang Walk?)

Even when the properties are expensive and it takes a millionaire to own a car, I still find Singapore desirable. All thanks to the good planning and development of the government, and more specifically their Minister Mentor. At least the food here is cheaper than in Melbourne. The prices are the almost comparable to those in KL, with the exchange rate not taken in account. If we work here and live here, it is affordable. The public transport are by far the best I have seen. We barely survive in KL without a car, do not even think about the messy public transport system, if there is actually one; the public transport system in Melbourne is very very unreliable and extremely expensive; by far, Singapore has the more reliable, punctual and affordable public transport system. Furthermore, since Singapore is a small country, the public transport coverage are supremely extensive.

The impression of the country so far has been a positive one. I would like to explore more of this place but I have limited time. Hopefully I will get to do this again in the near future, on a fully-paid business trip, heh heh. Anyway, I have to end my blog here and I will be back soon.

Ps. Thanks to those that have extended their birthday wishes to me, I was not able to respond to you all since my phone carrier does not allow me to send SMS while having registration-free global roaming.