Singapore is a happening place

We are very lucky to be in such a great city/country with so much happening all the time. There is so much to do and see that we could never get to all of it. Here are some of the random experiences, told from both perspectives, that we’ve enjoyed over the past month.

Lionel Richie in Concert

For those of you who know my love for Lionel Richie you can only imagine the excitement when we heard Lionel Richie was coming to Singapore Indoor Stadium. Raegen, though not as excited but ever so supportive boyfriend, agreed to attend the concert. (At that point we had no friends therefore he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.) The day of the concert came and it rained so hard that we had to wade through puddles to get to the venue but it turned out to be well worth it. The venue was small so the concert was with 4,000 of our expat & Singaporean friends. The funny part is that it’s not in the Asian culture to stand up, sing and dance at a concert (or anywhere for that matter). Since this wasn’t Lionel’s first rodeo, he kept encouraging everyone to get up and dance, clap their hands…you know the drill. By the end even Raegen said he had a good time. Now if I could just talk him into going to Taylor Swift with me. (Where's Guadi when I need her?)

Asia Dive Expo

We are lucky to live right next to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino. They are always hosting cool events and conferences. I have been into scuba diving since I was a teenager and it just so happened the 2014 Asia Dive Expo was happening next door at the Marina Bay Sands.  We decided to go and see what it was all about. Most of the vendors were from all over Asia and they were showcasing their dive boats, dive resorts or gear.  We walked down a random aisle and all of the sudden I saw a lady that looked a lot like Debbie who I dove with in Fremantle, Australia about 12 years ago.  I walked up to the booth and asked if her name was Debbie with Dolphin Dive Fremantle. She said yes and instantly recognized me as the guy who spent more time diving on their boat then in class (I did 60 dives in 6 months :)).  When I last dove with them they had a single small boat and shop and now they now have multiple shops in Fremantle and Exmouth with 5 boats.  It was great to see them and talk about old times and plan a trip to swim with whale sharks in Exmouth. 

DBS Corporate Dragon Boat Race

I've heard a lot of about the dragon boat races, but I have never actually seen one in person.  Since I spent too much time in a crew boat during college I always love to see any race on water and this event was no exception. Since the race was on the water right in front of our house we decided to go check it out. All of the dragon boats look like old wooden long boats, but were actually lightweight fiberglass.  As opposed to the crew team,  these teams did not bring their own boats, only a paddle and a life jacket.  The boats can have a crew of  between 10 and 50 people, one of which is the “drummer” to set the cadence and the other the “sweep,” who steers the boat and obviously the “paddlers” who do all the work.  A typical race is about 500 meters so Marina Bay is the perfect place to catch the whole race.  Beyond the actual race, the people watching was way more fun for us. We were watching all of the different warm up routines from the countries represented around the world… We saw a team shadow boxing, doing tai-chi, and even something that reminded me of the New Zealand All Blacks (Rugby Team) tribal warm up dance. It was a hot day but something cool to go check out right in our neighborhood. 

2Cellos Concert

In the words of Papa S, when asked if he wants to see any Arts and Culture related event the tempered response is “I would rather go to a goat ropin.”  This apple did not fall far from that tree, until I saw a Youtube video of 2Cellos.  I heard about this concert from a local promoter who tends to bring in cool acts.  Since I had never heard of them he just told me to Google 2Cellos' rendition of AC/DC's Thunderstruck, and it was love at first view. (Watch it- it'll change your life.) The concert was at the Star Theatre, a venue we had not yet been to, but was awesome.  2Cellos was actually much more famous then we realized since they spent almost 2 years opening for Elton John.  We knew almost every song that they covered and were suprsied how 2 guys with electric cellos could mimic a rock song that had so many different instruments as part of the song.  While I still prefer rodeos this was so cool that when we got home that night we downloaded their two albums from the iTunes store.

Until then and happy trails,

Amy & Raegen 

Magic Carpet Ride

Last Friday we attended the American Women’s Association (AWA) Spring Carpet Auction. What does a night like that entail you ask?

Before we get to the moral of the story, we’ll give you a little background on the AWA. When we arrived I was told to join the AWA as it’s a great group of 1,100 women. The group has various committees to suit anyone’s interests. Committees range from tennis, to quilting, to beading, to local tours. On the application they ask the question "how do you want to be involved?" Of course ‘type A Amy' checked the all of the above box. Flash forward a few weeks where I interviewed for a board position and six days later was asked to join the board to serve in the role of the Social Chair. My first board meeting was this past Tuesday.

So back to the carpet auction. The event is hosted by Hedger’s Carpets and includes an evening of wine, food and fine carpets. We decided to attend as a chance to meet new people and maybe find something to cover of our hard marble floors. We also talked another couple from our building into joining us. Upon arrival we scoped out the carpets and marked a few we liked, one of which we both loved.  We are not rug connoisseurs so we were surprised to see the majority of the rugs weren’t Persian (as that’s all we knew,) but from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and India. The owner of Hedger’s was the auctioneer and had a great comedic personality. He had a way with the crowd (which was about 40 people) and he also had the talent of quietly ignoring obnoxious, intoxicated bidders and their self-determined ‘great bids.’

As the night progressed, Raegen found himself as the new owner of quite a few carpets, including the one we really liked. His last bid was on a rug that was not so pretty. (As Mama S likes to say “but their mama thinks they’re pretty.”) Needless to say when the rugs arrived on Monday, the ugly one was still ugly but the others were fantastic. 

You might ask yourself what is the moral of the story? As the Dutch proverb says, “even if a monkey wears a golden ring, it is and remains an ugly thing.”  Obviously this story has a happy ending as we are able to exchange the not too pretty carpet for one that better suits our taste.

Happy Trails,

Amy & Raegen 

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

On February 3^rd we parted ways with our shipment of items from the United States. (See "Your life in a box.") Three months later on May 12th our shipment arrived in its new home in Singapore. You might ask yourself, why did it take so long since everyone else seemed to receive their items in six weeks? We thought the same thing.

Regardless, we’re happy the container didn’t fall off the ship in the middle of the ocean. According to CNN, on any given day there are 5 to 6 million containers being transported on the open sea. There are varying stats out there but it seems that somewhere between 2,000 and 10,000 containers are lost at sea every year. 

The shipment didn't look like much compared to when it was laid out in our garage three months ago. Although I would liken the excitement to being a kid on Christmas morning.  It was an urban treasure hunt going through the boxes and discovering what was in there; an actual bedspread! Pillows! Wine glasses! A toolbox! Crockpot! Zebra rug!?

There are certainly things we were hoping we packed but we did not. There are also things we packed that we’ll be bringing back home in July. (Multiple pairs of jeans? Those are not something you need large quantities of here.) Now that everything is unpacked, with closet space to spare, it feels just a little more like home.

Happy Trails, 

Amy & Raegen 

Jolly 'ol Jakarta

Who says business travel is not sexy? There are loads of benefits like nice dinners, stress free flights, wonderful hotels, not to mention flights miles and hotel points.  Any of you that know me, know that I always say it's not bad but ultimately it is another uncomfortable bed with a windowless conference room, many times without air conditioning.  This statement served true for nearly 7 years on the road… and then I went to Jakarta.

My first trip to Jakarta was during a business internship in 2002, I remember thinking (and telling many people) that it is closer to a cavern where organic waste could be stored (make your own interpretation).  While it has been 12 years since that last experience not too much has changed. 

Before I get into some of the joys of Indonesian business travel I want to let our readers know that I know there are worst places in the world to travel. But don’t let this blog swing your opinion of Singapore or other Southeast Asian countries as Jakarta is in its category of its own.

What follows are some of the interesting observations that I have seen on two recent trips to Jakarta.

·         Upon entering in the country you have to buy a visa on arrival for $25 USD, if you give them anything but USD they get you on the exchange rate.  You then get in another line to get your passport checked.  It would be more efficient if you just handed them your passport with $25 USD in it, but that would make for a bad perception, so you wait in 2 lines.

·         Like most places it is total chaos when you get out of the airport.  EVERY traveler to Jakarta has said that you only get into one cab company, the ones with the birds; blue bird, silver bird, black bird, etc.  I never really asked too many questions as to why, I just do as I'm told.

·         There are very few traffic lights, but the ones I did see were more of a recommendation then actually used to control traffic.

·         Combat driving is common in most parts of Asia, but I have never been in a country where the proximity sensors constantly go off while you are driving in slow traffic since all of the cars are so close and people and motorcycles are in-between all of the cars.

Kids playing soccer in between freeway overpasses

·         The pollution is not as noticeable as China or Vietnam, but with less than 30 minutes in the taxi I can feel it at the back of my throat and taste it.

Skyline of Jakarta from my room

·         They have a “private” bus lane that cars and motorcycles are not allowed to drive in.  Needless to say you see loads of non-buses in there (remember rules are more recommendations.)  The most amazing is part is that the buses are not normal city buses, they are closer the spaceship looking buses at Washington Dulles airport with huge wheels.  I saw why they had these large tires after I saw it jump the curb to get out of the bus lane in order to make a turn.

Police escort for our conference bus

·         This is a typical tropical environment that is always hot and humid, but there are signs for Starbucks at least every half mile. 

·         It makes you feel very safe when you arrive at the hotel and you are stopped a checkpoint and the cab immediately pops the trunk so the security guards can look in the trunk for bombs/weapons. Once you get to the front door you must put your bags through an x-ray machine and you walk through a metal detector, much like going to the airport.

Welcome to the hotel!

Despite all of these insights, if you ever get to go to the financial district area of the city it is much cleaner and has a lot of nice things to see.  The next work trip is to Japan and I’m looking forward to a metal detector-free hotel.

Until then,

Amy & Raegen 

Why One Degree North?

In the beginning we came up with a long list of names for our blog.  Over a glass of wine on New Year’s Eve with two of our favorite people, the name One Degree North rose to the top. We figured it was better suited than “Slumming in Singapore,” “Excuse me have you seen my wine?,” “I miss home,” “Hot, humid and sweaty- Amy and Raegen’s blog.” The only disappointment was that we couldn't use '1° North' as the little degree symbol couldn't be used as part of the website url.

Why One Degree North? Many people don’t realize that Singapore is only about 90 miles north of the equator (i.e. a little over one degree of latitude north of the equator, 1°17 N to be exact.) this is why it’s basically a jungle environment. (For a more details Singapore geography lesson, see two tickets to paradise)

Map courtesy of Maps of the World

It rains almost every day in Singapore and the island has lush vegetation and insects just like any other tropical environment. Singapore is an anomaly as it has a metropolitan area (i.e. no jungle) but so much of the island is still jungle with big lizards, monkeys, snakes, etc. The government does a good job of maintaining the large parks and nature reserves where the wildlife lives. 

Map courtesy of Our little urban eden

Urban jungle

In the urban jungle....Is this the most ridiculous sign you've ever seen? 

Dengue fever is a big problem throughout Southeast Asia with all of the mosquitoes (aka mozzies.) The government takes this very seriously.  Nearly every public place posts signs to reduce dengue. They don't allow standing water (without small fish that eat the mosquito eggs) and buildings are set up with fogging systems to keep mosquitoes away. We won’t go into the debate over on the health effects of fogging vs. getting dengue but the good news is we’re not going to live here forever, especially considering bugs love to bite Amy!

Some of you has asked when is the best time to visit Singapore? Well it’s always hot and humid here.  Raegen recently read a book that stated there are two seasons in Singapore- the wet season and the wetter season.  Locals claim that it is warmer or cooler or drier but it's consistently hot and humid and some parts of the year you get more rain.  The temperature is routinely 75-88 degrees Fahrenheit with a record low of 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks Wikipedia

The sunrise and sunset times don’t vary either.  We consistently see 12 hours of sunlight (give or take a few minutes) each day.  The joys of living almost on the equator!

Sunrise from the patio of our new house #nofilter (stay tuned for that blog post!)

So you now know the story behind 'One Degree North.'  Singapore is little over one degree north in latitude, it is hot and humid with some rain, the daylight is consistent and mosquitoes are bad in the jungle.  What’s not to love?  Come on over and check it out for yourself!

Until then,

Amy & Raegen