We’ve got to make one final trip to a mall – which is as appropriate a way as any to say goodbye to Singapore – to drop off our internet equipment, visit the bank and buy books for the journey back to the UK.

Then we’ll just be hanging around for a while until the landladies come and pick the keys up, and it’s off to Changi to fly back to Heathrow on Emirates.

We change at Dubai and the second leg will be on an Airbus A380 “Super Jumbo”. I’m planning on pleading with the check-in folks about Laura’s being pregnant and having a bad back for the very remote chance that they upgrade us … either way should be interesting.

So – see in England!

We’re not exactly sure where we’ll be living, I’ve got a couple of interviews lined up, but we’ll probably be staying with my parents in Somerset until we have something sorted out.

We’ll be moving fairly quickly – before the end of the month – since Laura is pregnant she won’t be able to fly safely for much longer.  Personally I think anything past 30 weeks is getting a bit close and we’ll be around 28.

Our landladies have been absolutely great after an initial freak-out that we were breaking our contract.  They’ve found another tenant for the flat who wants to move in quite soon, which has meant we’ve actualy ended up with a bit of a refund, *and* they even bought our cot and pram (which, I’m pretty certain, they have absolutely no use for).  They’ve been great, and although I doubt they read this blog, I’d like to say a big thank you anyway.

All in all, we’ve had nice little adventure in coming here – Singapore is a great place to live if you like hot weather, incredibly clean and green surroundings, and a fantastic melting pot of peoples and cultures. See you all in the UK sometime soon!

Will be taking a camcorder, so hopefully will have some nice stuff to post in 2009!

[Update 01-01-2009: Here's the Video!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We were left too stuffed for desserts, but the coffee was spot on.

The ambience of the place is fantastic and the friendly owners and staff have found the perfect balance of being on-hand and helpful while also letting you enjoy your meal and companions.

We found the food to be excellent, and I must admit that I will find it hard to order something other than the duck if (or more likely when) we go back!

The Raw Kitchen is a real hidden gem!

We had some wonderful news yesterday, following a trip to the Obstetricians and a scan that we were hugely looking forward to. It appears that we are having a little baby girl!!! The doctor was about 80% certain: baby wouldn’t fully uncross her legs (she’s a lady of course!) but nevertheless doc seemed pretty confident. In any case this will be verified at our detailed 20 week scan (when all the organs and body parts are checked) on the 28th of November. Now we can properly decide on a name and buy a few lovely things for our little one! Girls names are far easier too.

Pete brilliantly took a video of the scan yesterday, so that we could have a record. You may be able to hear our doctor’s voice in the background, as well as mine. Her name is Dr. Evelina Wong, and in addition to being highly professional, she’s a really lovely, softly-spoken lady, with a very kind disposition. I’m so glad we came across her.. Nice for baby when she first emerges into the world to see a friendly, smiling face..

So here is the video of our little one at 4 months (thanks Pete!). Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! – Laura x x x

First off, and this is worth noting, you absolutely need hard copies of any qualification certificates – Education, Degree, professional, etc – on which you are basing your application.  I stupidly did not properly sort this out before I left, so had to wait for a copy of my degree certificate to follow me out here.

The process is actually fairly simple once you have all your documents in place.  You fill out a form about yourself and the company, and then submit it along with copies of your passport and other documents at an post office. It’s worth noting that you should *keep a copy of the application form*.

Once that’s done, you will be able to check the status of the aplication online.  You will need a Singapore ID number to use the online service, so you may need your employer to do the checking for you.

After a while (actually only a couple of weeks for me) your AIP (Agreement In Principle) letter is sent out to the company.  This document will contain your new FIN (Singapore ID number for foreigners) which you need for all sorts of things like your landlord, the utility company, your broadband / tv / phone provider, etc, etc.

They can then take this along with your passport and a signed medical declaration that you don’t have HIV or hepatitis (you just need to sign this, no medical examination is required) to the Ministry of Manpower.  If you submit the documents before 2pm on any day, you will get them – along with your new Employment Pass – the same day.  The Pass is not the most grand affair in the world, and in fact informs you that it should be kept with your Passport at all times, since other than the FIN number it states, it’s other function is to allow entry to and exit from the country.

Now to the second slight hiccup in our plans.  When completing the EP application form you are required to list the details of any dependents who will be joining you (at the time only Laura – we will have 40 days after our child is born to register them) which I did.  The form did *not* explain that you also have to fill out a separate application for the dependent, so we’ve only realised this now that my pass hass arrived.  This has meant that, while I can now stay for two years, Laura’s visa will probably expire before we get her pass sorted out!  Fortunately we’re planning a few days in Malaysia, so we’ll be doing the required “leave and come back” thing but it’s all a little annoying.

There are two ways to apply for a DP – you can submit the documents by hand at the MoM, or you can do it online.  The former has a considerable delay compared to the latter (5 weeks and 7 days respectively).  However, to submit online you need a SingPass (which you can get from all Community Centres) and you have to wait a while (I’ve been told 10 days) after your get your EP before you can get one of these.

I must admit that the delays have mostly been our own fault, and so far I’ve found Singapore’s bureaucracy to be efficient, and a considerable amount of activities can be done online.  Had a one-liner been added to the EP application stating that “dependent’s passes must be applied for separately” we would have been 100% sorted by now.  Still – ever onward!

Saw this bunch having a good old scrap out of the spare bedroom window.  They made enough racket to actually wake me up – no mean feat as Laura will tell you!

These are Javan Myna birds, not the Hill Mynas that can imitate human voices, and are *everywhere* in Singapore.  In fact Wikipedia has it that one is allowed to kill these birds legally.  Although considered a pest by many, in fact I’ve heard them referred to as “the garbage bird” I find them much more pleasant than London’s equivalent.

So  – somewhere between a Seagull and a Trafalgar Square Pigeon – here you have the Javan Mynas generally kicking ass.

In Singapore, it’s perfectly acceptable for *anyone* to ask how much you paid for *anything*, including quite large things like your apartment.  Given that rent is always a negotiation, this is somewhat embarrassing to my temperament since it would seem to be a reflection of one’s ability to haggle.

Perhaps I’m just oversensitive :)

Mad as a box of Frogs

And pretty cheap too!

Now THAT is what I call branding

I guess quite a few people who read this might already know that, but for those who don’t I thought I’d share the news :) We’re really excited about our family growing, and its a daily joy counting the days and gradually watching Laura’s tummy grow! 

Laura’s about 14 weeks pregnant now and baby is 13 weeks old (did you know that there’s some confusion about exactly how you count that? Different places use different systems) and we’re due middle of April 2009. About 6 months to go!

Given that this blog is about living in Singapore, I’ll write about what the pre-natal care has been like so far, so there’ll be more posts on the subject soon.

In the meanwhile, here are some pics (taken last week) of our baby. We still don’t know the sex, that we’ll find out when we have our detailed scan at 20 weeks. Exciting!

I’m in much the same situation here – it’s about half an hour to walk and 25 minutes by bus.  However the problem here is that after walking for more than about 10 minutes you get very sweaty, and it’s not a nice way to arrive at the office every day.

It’s a shame because I find walking to work a great way to get some gentle exercise.  Fortunately since we live in a Condo, we have a pool right on our doorstep!

[EDIT : It's a bougainvillea, as you'll see in the comments ... thanks Sue and Samir! I got one of these for Laura's birthday]

These are all over Singapore

Aside form the very typical Singaporean boast of the “largest manmade waterfall in the world” the park contains some real wonders, set out along very easy-to-follow lines.  Sometimes that’s by region, and sometimes by order; for example “African Plains” is one area while “Parrot Paradise” covers a form of bird found in many places.

They also have a regular set of “shows”, including watching birds being fed and also some set in an anphitheatre.  We caught an excellent one – supposedly for children – that demonstrated some of the intelligence and playfullness of a series of parrots.

All in all a really nice day out, and I’d definitely rate it above the Night Safari.

We’ve uploaded some pictures of the birds.

We went to the Cinema – The Picture House, which is part of the Cathay Cineplex – and the air conditioning was so strong, coupled with sitting still for two hours, that we relished the baking 11pm heat as we left.  This pleasure was soon curtailed by another freakishly-strong-ac-setup in the taxi on the way home, but I guess since it makes you appreciate the heat which sometimes feels stifling it’s no bad thing.

We went to see “Welcome to the Sticks” (Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis) a not-too-taxing french comedy about a confirmed southerner having to move to … “The North”.  Given that Les Ch’tis (the name of the people and the language from the region) are thought to be rough, uncultured, french-fry-eating, alcoholic simpletons who exist in a near-frozen wasteland I sort of felt like the protagonist had in fact landed himself in the UK, and felt right at home.

The vast majority of people live in HDBs – which are apartment blocks built by the Housing Development Board.  The better off, not all of whom are expats, tend to live in Condos, that is smaller plusher blocks with a lot of their own private facilities such as a swimming pool, tennis courts … and in our case something laughably known as a “putting green”.

Speaking of our case – we’ve put up some pictures of our flat on flickr.

Between us we will have been up and down the UK, and also Spain, Italy, The Netherlands and even flew to Alderney (a Channel Island) in the space of about four months; catching up with friends and family and seeing some sights.  We even took a ride on the London Eye to wave goodbye to The Big Smoke.  Actually it was quite a lot of fun (it probably helped that it was our wedding anniversary).

We have arranged a meeting with a lot of our friends a couple of days before we leave – which should be great fun – but such things are always a case of giving each person 5 minutes of your time so that you see everybody.  It’s been really lovely to catch up with individuals and smaller groups as we’ve gone along.

I was offered a job working for a local startup company, whose business is in rich media and financial reporting.  Since I’m working for a local company, and haven’t been sent to Singapore by a large corporate, I don’t get all the package benefits that such people do (accommodation paid for, flights ‘home’, etc).

That being said, my wages should be fine for us to have a good life on, and if L should do some work (currently she’s thinking about retraining) it would just be a bonus.  Also we’ll be keeping our flat in London, and renting it out, so all in all we’re in a fairly stable position (credit crunch notwithstanding).

The other option for us would have taken quite a bit of doing.  The most likely route would have been to start getting work for financial organisations here in London, instead of mostly media ones, and then work on a posting out to Singapore from there working for the same company.  This could have taken years and would not have been much fun – so all in all we’re pretty happy with the way things have worked out.

Oh yes, I also get some stock options in the startup so if things do go well and the company floats then we might do very well indeed!