Always Something New - SE Asia's Longest Underground Expressway Opens in Singapore

Singapore is known for rapid growth and cutting edge technology, architecture, etc. And currently - though not unusually - there are new construction projects in every direction. I heard a joke yesterday..."What is the national bird of Singapore?"..."The building crane." And it's true - they're everywhere. I'll have to get a picture posted of the Marina Bay area where they're constructing a couple of casino resorts - there are more building cranes than you can count.

One of Singapore's latest and greatest - the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) tunnel is a 12 km underground expressway. It's the longest of its kind in Southeast Asia and it opens tomorrow on our little island of Singapore.


Last weekend they had a run and lantern parade through the new tunnel for fun - and to try to break a Guinness World Record.

Food of the Day - Baby Kai-Lan

Friday night we had dinner at an Asian seafood restaurant and enjoyed an order of baby kai-lan stir-fried in a garlic sauce. This vegetable is like a large leafy brussel sprout. The texture and taste are similar but the baby kai-lan flavor is less intense and more pleasant to my palate. And what vegetable doesn't taste good stir-fried in garlic sauce?

Apartment Searching in Singapore

One of my primary tasks these first couple of weeks has been to search for an apartment for us here. Tony's parents are generously hosting us at their home in the meantime.

I'm doing my best to learn the ins and outs of the process for renting here, new terminology, practices, etc. For example (U.S. term vs. Singapore term):

Major appliances = White fixtures
Unfurnished = Partially furnished (i.e., with white fixtures (unfurnished means no furniture OR major appliances))
Nice breeze = Windy (I first read "windy" as negative and then realized that meant there was a good breeze and air circulation ;) which is very important - and rare - in this climate)

Owners, realtors, etc. are also allowed to ask lots of personal information about you that is illegal to ask in the U.S. due to anti-discrimination laws. So I'm commonly asked my nationality, marital status, professional background, whether we have children or pets, and so on when inquiring about a property. I was pretty taken aback by those questions initially, but that's just how it's done.

We just sold our condo in DC - hooray! Settlement was Wednesday. And we plan to rent here as both rental and property sales prices are even higher here than in DC (which are already too high) - plus we don't know how long we'll be here.

The majority of the population lives in high rise apartment buildings. With 4.5 million people living on 271 square miles of land, the only way to house them all is by building up (in case you're wondering, Singapore's land area is smaller than Kansas City, MO and about 4 times the size of the District of Columbia - both of which have much smaller populations).

Anyway, that's a bit about the housing search...I'm heading out shortly with our realtor (people here commonly use realtors to find rentals) for another round of apartment viewings. Wish us luck!

Food/s of the Day - Mee Goreng & Satay

I'm trying lots of new foods here. Since we shared fruits and wines from some of our previous travels, I thought I'd share some online. Sunday we went to Singapore's East Coast Park for some local food and to walk around near the water. The Malaysian food was readily available - including some of Tony's favorite "beach" foods.


We ordered mee goreng and satay. Mee goreng (as I understand) translates as fried (goreng) noodles (mee). Satay is grilled meat - in this case chicken and beef - on a stick and comes with a spicy peanut dipping sauce as well as onion and cucumber to add to the kabob stick.


Tony also had a Tiger - a local Singaporean beer.

"No cold and no danger"

Last Friday we attended our first Democrats Abroad gathering to watch Obama's speech (12 hours later on replay). It was great to get out and meet some fellow expats in Singapore. And Tony was a good sport and tagged along even though it wasn't his political scene (though if you ask me, he's getting more liberal by the day ;) ).

One man we met has lived here 7+ years, and upon hearing that we'd just arrived exclaimed, "Welcome to paradise!" He went on to say that he tells people there's "no cold and no danger" here. Those words have repeated in mind this week. The "no cold" I get - we're about 2 degrees north of the Equator and the heat and humidity rarely subside - unless you're inside and the a/c thermostat is especially low.

Hearing "no danger" struck me. As a woman in the U.S., I became accustomed to taking certain precautions when it comes to my personal safety. A woman who was also speaking with us echoed the same sentiment. She spoke of having had to always be on guard in the U.S. - particularly at night. In Singapore, she said she never worries about her personal safety as she goes about her life. She commented that while there are limits on freedom of speech here, she - as a woman - feels more free than she does in the U.S. because of the difference in personal safety.

Firearms are banned in Singapore (a "freedom" in the U.S.) - and there's a low crime rate. And women don't fear for their personal safety. I'll be contemplating this paradox between freedom and safety for a long time to come.