At last! I finally found the time to blog about my one-week experience in Singapore :)
To start, let me give you a glimpse where I live :)
I live at Maysprings Condominium. It is located on the North area of Singapore, Bukit Panjang. The name says it all, it's the Bukid Area of Singapore. This is where my Auntie Let and Uncle Philip stays. I am staying with them. They used to stay at Holland Road but then they decided to buy a unit here instead because the old condominium was too big for them.
Here is the view from our floor. We're at the 19th floor by the way. Part of the facilities of the condominium is a swimming pool, a clubhouse and a tennis court. They also have a gym but I haven't tried them yet.
When night time falls, which is usually at 8:00pm (7:00pm here is like 5:00pm in the Philippines), the view from our floor is really nice. The lights from the cars passing by and the lights on the pool and the trees give me a serene feeling.
The interior of the house is also gorgeous. This is how it looks like :) (See picture below)
Uncle Philip bought this 3D TV which is about 42". Too bad, I haven't been able to try the 3D feature yet.
They really have a nice house plus the kitchen is so neat :)
Moving on, really, the cost of living here in Singapore is quite expensive compared to the Philippines. Perhaps because I would usually convert the Singapore prices to Philippine prices whenever I would go to the grocery or just buy a top-up card. Eventually, I would end up buying nothing.
Anyhow, for those who would want to try their luck here in Singapore, you may find this helpful, hopefully. Am sharing this out of experience and of course, from the tips that I got from fellow travelers. I hope you would get something from it :)
First is transportation. Transportation is very convenient here in Singapore. The first thing that you have to do is to buy your EZ LINK card.
The card costs $12 with a $7 stored value. The $5 is the actual cost of the card which is non-refundable. You may purchase 'credits' or it's usually referred to here as 'top-up' at General Ticketing Machines at all SMRT Stations and Add Value Machines. The EZ Link Card can be used both on the bus and the MRT/LRT.
Note: Always check the remaining credits of your card. There are cases when the card is not accepted by the machine in the bus or the train if the value is $2 below.
Also, buses have designated numbers here. The numbers reflect the route of the bus. To better guide you, you can use STREET DIRECTORY for the directions (http://www.streetdirectory.com/) and I would also personally advise that you get a copy of the SMRT map, in this way, you can check the line that you should take. You may also check the map here -- http://www.smrt.com.sg/trains/network_map.asp
Second is the purchasing a prepaid sim. The most popular telecommunication company is SINGTEL (am using SINGTEL). The sim card would cost from $28-$50 with a pre-loaded phone credit. I bought the $50 sim and it has a $50 stored value plus a $10 bonus. International text would usually cost 18 cents per message, so it's quite cheap. Singtel also has a lot of freebies like when you top-up a $20 card, you'd get a $3 bonus. Also, incoming calls are not for free here in Singapore however Singtel offers a 10 or 20 day free incoming call if you top-up a particular amount.
As for me, I still have $46 as of today but I decided to buy the $20 top-up in case I ran out of credits. The $20 top-up card looks like this :)
Note: As soon as you get off Changi Airport, look for a store where you can buy a prepaid sim. It would be better if you have exchanged your money to Singapore dollars by then. They would also ask for your passport when you buy the prepaid sim.
Third is the board and lodging. I am lucky that I was temporarily adopted by auntie and uncle, everything is for free. However, if you will try to maximize the one month social visit pass, make sure that you have enough money with you. The usual rate for room rent is about $350-500 then you have to add up your meals per day. A decent meal may cost about $5-10 but a $2 meal is also available. Make sure that you have at least $1000 for you to survive in a month. Good thing if you have friends who can adopt you for the mean time while you're looking for a job.
I think that's all for now. I have to explore Singapore still. I am enjoying the place and am trying to see how it feels like to live here. I also experienced getting lost but GPS is good companion. If you can have a phone that has GPS then you're good to go.
Thank you for reading my blog :)
To start, let me give you a glimpse where I live :)
I live at Maysprings Condominium. It is located on the North area of Singapore, Bukit Panjang. The name says it all, it's the Bukid Area of Singapore. This is where my Auntie Let and Uncle Philip stays. I am staying with them. They used to stay at Holland Road but then they decided to buy a unit here instead because the old condominium was too big for them.
Here is the view from our floor. We're at the 19th floor by the way. Part of the facilities of the condominium is a swimming pool, a clubhouse and a tennis court. They also have a gym but I haven't tried them yet.
When night time falls, which is usually at 8:00pm (7:00pm here is like 5:00pm in the Philippines), the view from our floor is really nice. The lights from the cars passing by and the lights on the pool and the trees give me a serene feeling.
The interior of the house is also gorgeous. This is how it looks like :) (See picture below)
Uncle Philip bought this 3D TV which is about 42". Too bad, I haven't been able to try the 3D feature yet.
They really have a nice house plus the kitchen is so neat :)
Moving on, really, the cost of living here in Singapore is quite expensive compared to the Philippines. Perhaps because I would usually convert the Singapore prices to Philippine prices whenever I would go to the grocery or just buy a top-up card. Eventually, I would end up buying nothing.
Anyhow, for those who would want to try their luck here in Singapore, you may find this helpful, hopefully. Am sharing this out of experience and of course, from the tips that I got from fellow travelers. I hope you would get something from it :)
The card costs $12 with a $7 stored value. The $5 is the actual cost of the card which is non-refundable. You may purchase 'credits' or it's usually referred to here as 'top-up' at General Ticketing Machines at all SMRT Stations and Add Value Machines. The EZ Link Card can be used both on the bus and the MRT/LRT.
Note: Always check the remaining credits of your card. There are cases when the card is not accepted by the machine in the bus or the train if the value is $2 below.
Also, buses have designated numbers here. The numbers reflect the route of the bus. To better guide you, you can use STREET DIRECTORY for the directions (http://www.streetdirectory.com/) and I would also personally advise that you get a copy of the SMRT map, in this way, you can check the line that you should take. You may also check the map here -- http://www.smrt.com.sg/trains/network_map.asp
Second is the purchasing a prepaid sim. The most popular telecommunication company is SINGTEL (am using SINGTEL). The sim card would cost from $28-$50 with a pre-loaded phone credit. I bought the $50 sim and it has a $50 stored value plus a $10 bonus. International text would usually cost 18 cents per message, so it's quite cheap. Singtel also has a lot of freebies like when you top-up a $20 card, you'd get a $3 bonus. Also, incoming calls are not for free here in Singapore however Singtel offers a 10 or 20 day free incoming call if you top-up a particular amount.
As for me, I still have $46 as of today but I decided to buy the $20 top-up in case I ran out of credits. The $20 top-up card looks like this :)
Note: As soon as you get off Changi Airport, look for a store where you can buy a prepaid sim. It would be better if you have exchanged your money to Singapore dollars by then. They would also ask for your passport when you buy the prepaid sim.
Third is the board and lodging. I am lucky that I was temporarily adopted by auntie and uncle, everything is for free. However, if you will try to maximize the one month social visit pass, make sure that you have enough money with you. The usual rate for room rent is about $350-500 then you have to add up your meals per day. A decent meal may cost about $5-10 but a $2 meal is also available. Make sure that you have at least $1000 for you to survive in a month. Good thing if you have friends who can adopt you for the mean time while you're looking for a job.
I think that's all for now. I have to explore Singapore still. I am enjoying the place and am trying to see how it feels like to live here. I also experienced getting lost but GPS is good companion. If you can have a phone that has GPS then you're good to go.
Thank you for reading my blog :)
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