Rush Hour

So instead of writing about what I have done day by day, I figured that it might be a little more interesting if I explain Singapore experiences that I encounter (ie. subway, food, etc) and parts of the city that I explore. And then if I ever have a trip or something out of the ordinary, then I will write about that as well.

The first topic that I’ve decided to write about is the trek that I make to work daily. I will eventually get a car (Toyota Corolla!), but I have to make it without for now while the car is in process.

I try and get out by about 7.45 AM. I have about a 5 min walk from the hotel to the Somerset MRT (Mass Rapid Transit System) station. I pass mostly food shops on the way along with the Sing Tel building (largest telecommunications provider here) and a skate park right above the station.

Once I go underground at this MRT station like most I have to walk a little ways to get to where the trains actually are. Underground it is like a mall of sorts with convenient stores, all kinds of food shops and about any other store you can think of. Depending on the time I am guessing, the MRT can be less or more busy, but every time I have been over the past week it is just floods of people going in every direction. To enter the part of the station where the trains come and go I have a card that I have put some money on and keep in my wallet that I swipe in front of a reader on one of the many turn stalls and it opens. A train arrives about every 5 minutes and I guess since I am pretty close into the city the trains are completely packed already when they arrive. I just have to ride the wave of people pushing themselves onto the train everyone with their Ipods in, newspaper in hand, and a briefcase slung around their shoulder. One in every 10-15 is about my height most likely being European, Australian, American or just a really big Asian… and I usually make eye contact and we give a slight nod as to say, I know how you feel.

I only have 3 stops to go before I arrive at Raffles Place and I usually try and stay pretty to myself. I have the Shins, Norah Jones, Bright Eyes or something of the sort going in my Ipod and I try and situate the newspaper that was left for me outside my hotel room door to where I can read a portion of that day’s top story. I get off of the MRT very similar to how I got on... just riding the wave of people all trying to exit the same station.

I got lost the first day because I did not realize how crucial it was to pay attention to where you are exiting the station. Like I mentioned before, there can be full mall type areas and a long way to walk underground depending on where you are headed compared to where the train portion of the station might be. The walk to the most reasonable exit for me is a good 10 minutes walk passing 3 or 4 others where the crowd lessons and lessons with each exit that I pass. I finally emerge from the MRT at One Raffles Quay (pronounced key) and just have to go across the street to the building where I work.

There is construction just about anywhere you go in the city not excluding right next to my building. They are currently building on-ramps on either side of the road that will feed an over pass leading to a state of the art casino set to open in about a year and a half (1 of 2 casinos they are currently building in Singapore). I ride the elevators up to the 32nd floor (Bridgestone occupying about half of the floor) and hopefully make it by around 8.15 AM.