I arrived into Singapore Changi airport on Tuesday, January 16th, at about 11:40 p.m. This airport is the picture of efficiency: In the space of about 25 minutes I was off the plane, through customs, placed a phone call to my friend who had my room key, retrieved my bags and exchanged some money at the American Express currency exchange place. Pretty good 'eh?! For those of you who know me, you'll be surprised to hear that I DIDN'T get any photos of the airport to post here. Rest assured, those will come next week when I return from my Chinese New Year vacation in Hong Kong!
I got in one of the many cabs waiting outside of arrivals and made my way to 'Hall 7,' my new home for the next 8 months (unfortunately public transport stops around 11:30p.m. or so). The airport and the University campus (NTU) are literally on opposite ends of the island, so on top of being a long cab journey, there are also a plethora of additional charges after 11:30p.m. I've taken the liberty of outlining them for you below:
Kind of amazing how they've segmented 11:30-12:00. Needless to say, I had to pay an extra 50% of the fare, so that trip cost me a good S$40 or about C$32. That's not bad considering what you'd pay back in Canada for a trip the same length, but still shoddy considering the train and bus would cost about S$3.00.
After the cabbie dropped me off, I just chilled on the front steps of the residence and watched the 'Hall 7 Cheerleading Team' practice their routine while I was waiting for my friend to walk across campus to deliver my key. Now it's important to remember that by this time it was nearly 1:00a.m. Cheerleading at 1:00 in the morning?! What have I got myself into?! I've even caught them having *gasp* chess tournaments at 11:00p.m. as I'm coming home! There is simply no justification for such behaviour on a University campus; I may have to report them to the authorities! Okay, I'll stop poking fun now. I'm just used to students being slightly more 'naughty'. In their defence, winning the inter hall games (why they have a cheerleading team) guarantees them a better residence the next year, and I'm sure there is some cool perk to playing chess, I just haven't figured it out quite yet....
The next day I got up earlier than I wanted, went and signed my hall forms, paid some student fees at the Student Services Centre and then went to the "Immigration and Checkpoints Authority" to pick up my student pass (two green cards I have to carry with me all the time, as they are my official identification here). They normally take 2 days, but I giggled and fluttered my eyelashed and the man agreed to have it done my 2:00 that afternoon (okay, hell would freeze over before I ever did anything like that, but it sure sounds fun doesn't it!?). The real deal is that I needed the student pass to go to work the next day, and I told him that I had already arrived into Singapore quite late (which is the absolute truth, scouts honour) so they whipped it up real quick.
Okay kids, you're getting off easy tonight. I'm tired, so I'm going back to my room to get all hot and sweaty; it's super humid here and I don't have A/C in my dorm.
Cheerio and much love to you all!
I got in one of the many cabs waiting outside of arrivals and made my way to 'Hall 7,' my new home for the next 8 months (unfortunately public transport stops around 11:30p.m. or so). The airport and the University campus (NTU) are literally on opposite ends of the island, so on top of being a long cab journey, there are also a plethora of additional charges after 11:30p.m. I've taken the liberty of outlining them for you below:
11.30pm to 11.44pm --> 10% of metered taxi fare
11.45pm to 11.59pm --> 20% of metered taxi fare
12 midnight to 12.59am --> 35% of metered taxi fare
1.00am to 6.00am --> 50% of metered taxi fare
11.45pm to 11.59pm --> 20% of metered taxi fare
12 midnight to 12.59am --> 35% of metered taxi fare
1.00am to 6.00am --> 50% of metered taxi fare
Kind of amazing how they've segmented 11:30-12:00. Needless to say, I had to pay an extra 50% of the fare, so that trip cost me a good S$40 or about C$32. That's not bad considering what you'd pay back in Canada for a trip the same length, but still shoddy considering the train and bus would cost about S$3.00.
After the cabbie dropped me off, I just chilled on the front steps of the residence and watched the 'Hall 7 Cheerleading Team' practice their routine while I was waiting for my friend to walk across campus to deliver my key. Now it's important to remember that by this time it was nearly 1:00a.m. Cheerleading at 1:00 in the morning?! What have I got myself into?! I've even caught them having *gasp* chess tournaments at 11:00p.m. as I'm coming home! There is simply no justification for such behaviour on a University campus; I may have to report them to the authorities! Okay, I'll stop poking fun now. I'm just used to students being slightly more 'naughty'. In their defence, winning the inter hall games (why they have a cheerleading team) guarantees them a better residence the next year, and I'm sure there is some cool perk to playing chess, I just haven't figured it out quite yet....
The next day I got up earlier than I wanted, went and signed my hall forms, paid some student fees at the Student Services Centre and then went to the "Immigration and Checkpoints Authority" to pick up my student pass (two green cards I have to carry with me all the time, as they are my official identification here). They normally take 2 days, but I giggled and fluttered my eyelashed and the man agreed to have it done my 2:00 that afternoon (okay, hell would freeze over before I ever did anything like that, but it sure sounds fun doesn't it!?). The real deal is that I needed the student pass to go to work the next day, and I told him that I had already arrived into Singapore quite late (which is the absolute truth, scouts honour) so they whipped it up real quick.
Okay kids, you're getting off easy tonight. I'm tired, so I'm going back to my room to get all hot and sweaty; it's super humid here and I don't have A/C in my dorm.
Cheerio and much love to you all!
This is a picture of the covered walkways all around campus, so you don't get soaked (as bad) when the torrential rains decide to dump upon us without notice.
2 comments:
Great article.
I've never had the opportunity to be in this place but maybe someday I'll go there too. As always, I go somewhere through an online currency exchange https://conotoxia.com/ to exchange money to have it in place.
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