LITTLE DIFFERENCES & FACTS

Now that I have been here for two months I can honestly say that Singapore is a cool town BUT there are many little differences that can sometimes drive you around the bend.

FOOD MODIFICATIONS - You want salad instead of fries? You want dressing on the side? You want extra cheese? You want no nuts? It isn't going to happen in Singapore. If you try to modify your meal you will be met with blank, confused stares a little bit of sputtering and a statement like "but the menu says this, this is what the dish is". You have to order the meal as is or you are out of luck! Now obviously there is the odd restaurant or eatery that will allow you to modify but it's usually the little places that let you, most of the big or expensive places look at you like you must have lobsters crawling out of your ears to suggest a change to their glorious menu. Face it jacky boy, you gotta eat what it says on the menu.

BANKS - Unlike the rest of the modern world, if you belong to bank A, then you can only use Bank A's ATM's, no other bank will allow you to use their machines unless you are a member of their group, it's odd. I can use my Canadian Bank Card in virtually any machine here and I can use my Singapore Bank Card in virtually any machine in Canada but I can only use my Singapore Bank Card at the ATM for my bank. They don't like you to hang out with the other bank machines, they're evil, stick with us, we'll make you feel good even if you can't find one of our bank machines anywhere and are stuck with no cash.

SCHEMES - They are not called plans, they are not called deals, they are called schemes. Any every restaurant and store in Singapore has one. Save 10% if you are a member of this bank. Save 5% if you have a SingTel cell phone on you, buy 2 or more and get the 3rd one at 50% off, call now then do a backflip and swallow a Durian whole and you get it for free. It's weird, everyone has a scheme or two and business is dictated by how good the scheme is, stores with better schemes are always busier than stores with okay schemes. The ones that throw me off are the Bank Credit Card schemes, Save 10% if you have a Citybank MC! Well I have a DBS MC, sorry no good. Well I have a Citybank Visa, sorry no good. I can still pay with these cards but because I don't have the right combo, I can't take advantage of the scheme and save 10%. Whatever.

MEMBERSHIPS - Every store or restaurant has a membership. Sign up and get a free sticker and five percent off all your meals, stuff like that. Some memberships like at the apple store are cool, sign up for $60 and get unlimited free tech support for life. While other memberships like at the apple store are not so cool, get a free membership if you buy an iPod, it doesn't matter if you buy more than an ipod or even a laptop, you only get it free if you buy an iPod (see point #1 - no modifications). 

HAPPY HOUR - I've said it before and I'll say it again, booze is expensive in Singapore but luckily a lot of places have "happy hours" but they don't just last an hour, no no, these things last all afternoon. 3pm to 9pm 1-for-1 drinks (1 for 1 means two-for-one back home). 5pm to 10pm... 12noon to 8pm... the list goes on and on. A cocktail may cost you $13 but at happy hour, 2 for $13 is a lot easier to swallow.

A couple other things to note:

• If you are handing over money, use both hands, don't just hand it over with one, it's disrespectful

• Singapore is among the 20 smallest countries in the world, with a total land area of only 682.7 square kilometres. The USA is about 15,000 times bigger. 

• Don't stick chop sticks straight up in you meal, it means someone has died, also don't use your chopstick as a knife, it's low class

• The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore contains more species of trees than the entire North American continent. 

• If you see a ++ sign after a price it means plus tax and plus tip, no ++ means it's all included in the price

• The Singapore Sling was first served in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel. The ingredients are Gin, Cointreau, Cherry Brandy, Dom Benedictine, Pineapple Juice, Grenadine, Angoustura bitters and limes. 

• No Durians on the MRT (thank the maker!)

• The five stars on Singapore's flag stand for Singapore's ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.

ROCK BAND SUPERSTAR

I just had to post this pic as it makes me laugh. We had a "going away party" for one of our guys who is moving to the US and one of the events at the party was a ROCK BAND COMPETITION which I ofcourse had to enter and it was good times. Now still being fairly new to the company (today is actually my 2 month anniversary of being in Singapore), I decided to give it my all.

This is me, singing Billy Idol's "White Wedding"

I started slow but as I rolled, the laughs got bigger and ghosts of "43 LBS. OF WASTED SPACE", my old improv group, kicked in so I went whole hog. The shades went on, the collar flipped up and I sang till I was red in the face. I even broke out some moves and headlocked the drummer for the final few notes. Like I said, good times!

SUMMER PARTY

A lot of companies have summer parties and a lot of those summer parties are good parties but I think I can honestly say that I have been to the best company summer party I have ever been to. Why? Cause this year, we had our summer party at CAFE DEL MAR on Sentosa Island, this chump from Vancouver just had his first tropical company summer party and it was a blast.

It wasn't the food (which was tasty and abundant), it wasn't the booze (free flowing until late), it wasn't the music (three guys who work at the company spinning all night), it wasn't the pool (filled with dunked co-workers) and it wasn't the turnout (tons of people from the company)... it was everything.

Michelle and I were standing there at one point, sipping on some bevvies while great music filled the air, we looked around to see tons of people smiling & laughing and then walked to the beach to see the best looking sunset we've seen in Singapore so far. We looked at each other and smiled, this was a great company party.

Some things in Singapore take some getting used to, nights like this don't. It was a spectacular evening filled with laughs, views and lots of tomfoolery. Here are the pics I have so FAR but I will add more soon!

GIO'S MOVIE ROUND-UP: JUNE '09

Only saw four movies this month, one a week though, better than a punch in the soul...

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS IN 3-D
Funny, definitely a cartoon for adults but nowhere near the high quality of a Pixar production. If Pixar is the top fraternity in School, Dreamworks is the one with the best parties. MONSTERS is a fun movie, with great character moments and a lot of laughs, it's just not as high "quality" as a Pixar flick in that I mean the overall Art Design, the animation and the modeling. I still like it but I never "look forward" to a Dreamworks Animated Picture, I do look forward to a Pixar Picture... unless it's CARS, yeesh, not even being a "Pixar" flick can save that train wreck. Anyway, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS is good fun.
GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP

DRAG ME TO HELL
Awesome... Alison Lohemann is the new Bruce Campbell, minus the chin and the snappy one-liners but other than that, it's a return to form for Sam Raimi and a hell of a good time. It's scary, it's funny, it's cheesy, it's gory, it's campy and it's all wrapped up in this over-the-top yet simple story that has you entertained from beginning to end. A creepy old gypsy lays a curse on a young woman and she has three days to lift it before she is literally "dragged to hell"... c'mon, it doesn't get better than this (okay maybe if it had zombies, or starred Bruce Campbell but still). This is Raimi at his best, forget Spider-men, big budgets and cutting edge effects, he can still deliver top grade entertainment for a fraction of the cost. Whomever said you can't go home again, was wrong.
GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST
Obviously this was Michelle's choice as she is a big Matthew McConoughey fan but I have to admit, I laughed throughout it. Now don't get me wrong, this movie is full of little issues and it's a blatant rip off of A CHRISTMAS CAROL but it's cute, it's clever and there is some actual chemistry between McConaughey and co-star Jennifer Garner which you don't often see in rom-coms. Michael Douglas steals the show though, great bit part!
GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Okay, Michael Bay has to stop. Each one of his films has less and less story and more and more mindless rigmarole and this latest TRANSFORMERS flick has gone too far, what a mess. Sure there is lots of cool action but no matter how cool it looks, the sheer amount of stupid jokes, stereotypical characters, useless humans, look-a-like robots, paper thin story, quick edits, and seizure level shakycam take away from all that cool action. All the things that were wrong with the first TRANSFORMERS film weren't corrected, they were just amplified here and that's a shame, it may hurt the franchise more than help it. Don't let the box office take fool you, this is an inferior film compared to the original.
GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS DOWN

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Sorry we couldn't be there in person to celebrate with you Canada, just know that tonight we will be drinking beer in your honor! Now... if only we could find Poutine in Singapore, that would be awesome!

BUGIS

Today we toured one of Singapore's biggest shopping areas... BUGIS!

Bugis Street was renowned internationally from the 50's to the 80's for its nightly gathering of transwomen, a phenomenon which made it one of Singapore's top tourist destinations during that period. Today, Bugis Street is now a wide, cobblestone avenue sandwiched between the buildings of the Bugis Junction shopping complex. The lane presently touted as "Bugis Street" by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board is billed as "the largest street-shopping location in Singapore". It's filled with clothing stalls, fruit stalls, watch stalls, food stalls, trinket stalls and juice stalls, pretty much any stall you can think of, it will most likely be in Bugis. 

One thing you really notice about it however is the smell. It's something you will never experience in Vancouver because we rarely have the reason for this smell anywhere in our city... DURIAN. Bugis has Durian everywhere, fresh Durian, dry Durian, Durian Juice and Durian treats, it's everywhere and you can never really live in Asia until you try Durian because the people here, love love love it. The smell however makes trying this fruit a difficult proposition, it's strong, pungent and not at all appetizing (although apparently 1/4 of the globe disagrees with me), to me it smells like overripe cantaloupe that's been marinating in sewage and than been stepped on by sweaty feet.

Now Michelle has had Durian before and she doesn't like it but she doesn't hate it. She says that is doesn't taste as bad as it smells and for her, it tastes like Sour Cream & Onion chips... a fruit that tastes like Sour Cream & Onion chips??? Hmm...

So I tried it, and it's awful. I can see where Michelle gets the SC&O chip flavor but to me, it's soft, gooey and rancid but I tried it because I had to and now I never, ever, ever have to try it again. That chapter is closed, that mystery is solved, that game is over, that train has sailed. 

I don't like Durian one bit but Bugis is pretty COOL!!!

RIVER BOATS & CLUBBING

Pretty full weekend in Singapore. First off, we went for the official SINGAPORE RIVER TOUR that takes a mighty impressive 30 minutes. Still it was cool to see some of the city from a different point of view, plus we got to see the Harbor Police on maneuvers through the inlet. They were in full gear, firing off flares and chasing boats, it was kind of cool. The BOAT TOUR was cool too although in the end, both Michelle and I had some heat exhaustion from the sun. It's pretty hot here if I haven't said that before.

Next up we hit the KNIGHT & DAY, no not the popular Canadian Eatery but a club here in Singapore for a co-workers "going away party". The drinks were flowing and you know I was having a GOOD TIME if I actually made it onto the dance floor. Michelle was impressed! She wasn't so impressed when she tweaked her knee, but sometimes you gotta pay the price when you want to dance, just ask Kevin Bacon!