Real Estate Offers: Round 3

Foreigners are eligible to take up a 99-year tenure at Waterview in Tampines.

Waterview is located near the rapidly expanding Changi Business Park.

Here are a few more real estate offers that have been shoved into the Passengers' mailbox in the past few weeks.  Advertisers pay Singapore Post to have postmen distribute these flyers to mailboxes in a particular neighborhood or even throughout the island.  Again, none of these arrive with our address printed on them, and they show little knowledge of whether we are eligible to buy property in Singapore.  I decided to cull the pile of offers down to a trio located in the far east of Singapore near Changi Airport.

Flamingo Valley is about one MRT stop closer to Singapore's Central Business District (CBD) than Waterview.

Builders Frasers Centrepoint Homes advertises their use of the Japanese designer Miyake Masaki Associates.

The Passengers are not eligible to purchase within the Flamingo Valley development because we are not Singaporean citizens nor have we applied to become Permanent Residents, colloquial called PR. Only SCs and PRs are allowed to buy freehold properties or are eligible for the socialized flats built by the Housing Development Board (HDB).  Flamingo Valley is well placed near the enjoyable recreations of East Coast Park with its ocean views and trails for cyclists and skaters. There is also the delicious East Coast Lagoon Food Village.

Move your fabulous family-of-four to NV Residences.

NV Residences is on the other side of eastern Singapore, near Serangoon Harbour rather than East Coast Park. I don't have anything profound to say about its advertised facilities, but the models superimposed against an artist's impression of the impending development seem exceptionally fabulous.

A Wing and a Prayer

We would now like to ask all passengers to please fasten their seat belts and beg for mercy from the deity of your choosing.

The Passengers returned yesterday from a long weekend on the Indonesian island of Lombok. The Chinese New Year holiday gave us five days away from Singapore in a place south of the equator and just on the earthly side of paradise. We will post some pictures in the coming weeks. However, to get to Lombok we flew through Jakarta on Lion Air, an Indonesian carrier previously unknown to me.

A religious pick-n-mix.

I am happy to report that service on Lion Air was safe and efficient, consistent with many budget airlines, though not as shiny as AirAsia or Easyjet. The surest sign that we had left the plush world of Singapore and its pampered flagship airline: the invocation card in the seatback pocket. The card carries a list of prayers that passengers might want to say before take-off. Invocations are available for Muslims (Indonesia's largest religious group), Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucians. Our Jewish traveling companions had to make up their own divine petitions.

Something for the rest of Asia.

Click on the images of the invocation card for larger pictures of the prayers. It's  kind of like a Rosetta Stone with prayers repeated in several languages, including English. When pronouncing written Bahasa Indonesia say all the letters. It's a relatively straightforward and pleasing language. Khonghucu, the last type of prayer listed, should be translated to English as Confucianism. Notice also that no one bothered to write the Confucian prayer in Chinese characters. It's a pamphlet of reassurance with only modestly reassuring execution. The one in my seatback pocket was torn so I took it as my excuse to disobey that "Mohon kartu ini jangan di bawa pulang" badge.

Long Beach Seafood

Mmmmm. Seafood.

 A couple of weeks ago the Passengers accompanied some out-of-town visitors to Long Beach, a seafood restaurant known especially for good chili crab. The dishes did not disappoint us, and the staff at the Dempsey location were very kind to the ten-year-old member of our party. He didn't much like seafood, but he was fascinated by the fish, crabs, and bivalves awaiting their fate in bubbling fish tanks. On the way out we were handed a brochure. Click on the image to see some of the delicacies served here. Some of you might find the dishes tempting; others might think them disturbing.

Fearless beauty queen: the logical accompaniment to fresh seafood.

The front of the brochure features an award-winning spokesmodel. I am not sure how Long Beach found a person who holds fresh shellfish with such poise, but I am certain that is why she was selected. She is listed as Ms Intercontinental and Ms Kimberly Anne Byers. Wikipedia says she won that title in 1994. It remains unclear how America's pageant winner landed a gig with Long Beach, but for some reason, the restaurant has not updated their promotional material since then, despite having opened several additional locations in the last fifteen years. Some of you might find their advertising tempting; others might think it disturbing.

Exams Success

"Let's try APR Formulae for 800, Alex."

The good news came in last week that Passenger H passed her CFA Level 1 exam. It's a reward well earned because for several weeks our apartment looked like this, but perseverance paid off. Of course, as Jonas Salk said, "the reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more." Studying for CFA Level 2 begins soon.

Inculcating the Needy

 

Chinese New Year begins this week, and Singapore will enjoy what counts for a long public holiday (Thursday and Friday).  The Passengers are going to Lombok for some tropical relaxation in Indonesia.  We will be sure to put up a couple of pictures.

As in many cultures, new-year festivities are a chance for new and better beginnings. Chinese traditions associated with the lunar new year include spending time with family, carrying out a massive cleaning of the home, and giving to charity. We received the above solicitation for donations to the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society tucked inside our gas/electric/water bill from SP Services.

THKMS is a major good-works organization here. They run their own hospital and retirement homes.  We walked past one on Saturday while exploring the old Peranakan neighborhoods around East Coast Road. Donations to the charity are not only tax deductible, but the Inland Revenue of Singapore will automatically factor in the donation when they prepare your annual tax assessment.  Sometimes it helps to think of this island as a family business rather than a city-state.

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society's appeal for donations.

Be sure to read the above appeal for donations written in English (Click the picture for a larger image.). It's a great example of written English as practiced in Singapore. It is generally technically correct, though occasionally a few articles and nouns get omitted where they would not be used in Chinese syntax. It reads very differently from copy written for British or American non-profits. Sometimes Chinese terms like "ancestor village" receive rather awkward direct translations. Other times older English usage has remained from colonial times: "Granny Yang is at peace too with her present lot..."

When Freshening Can't Wait

Sometimes you end up having a drink at Harry's.

 One can find a Harry's (sound alert) bar just about anywhere in Singapore. I can assure you that almost every new mall, office building, or retail development that opened in the last four years has one of these corporate watering holes. The drinks are just on the wrong side of overpriced. The house wine is usually undrinkable. Harry's Premium Lager is a weak, stale brew. Yet multiple locations regularly host quality live music, and they will most likely have a television tuned to the F1 race, cricket test, or tennis final that you want to see.

Quick! Call the Freshening Singapore Hotline. We haven't a moment to lose.

More importantly, I had to show you all this towelette packet from the Harry's underneath the Esplanade theatres.  It came with some very specific instructions. However, if a freshening emergency does arise, you can call their hotline.

The parent company Harry's Holdings Ltd also operates a boutique hotel, a nightclub, and three restaurants.  They also have a catering business and the license for the Gymboree franchise in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Keeping it Clean Online in Southeast Asia

MICA Minster Lui Tuck Yew. (Image: Straits Times)

The Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts in Singapore said today that the internet is too expansive for the Singaporean government to block viewers from accessing all undesirable content online.  However, internet service providers (ISPs) in Singapore are required by the MICA to exclude users from 100 websites as "a symbolic statement of our community's stand on harmful and undesirable content on the Internet."  The ministry uses censorship in pursuit of its rather milquetoast stated goals "to nurture, amongst Singaporeans, a deep passion for the country, and to inspire Singaporeans to explore, take pride in, and celebrate our identity."  Of course, these measures don't come close to censorship practices in China, where the government recently boasted that in 2010  they blocked 60,000 websites filled with obscenity and pornography, a category that includes political satire.

Men in Jakarta, Indonesia, checking their smartphones. (Image: Yahoo! News file photo)

In similar news, the majority Muslim nation of Indonesia announced today that it has won concessions from with the makers of Blackberry smartphones to keep pornography off the popular handheld devices.  The Communication and Information Technology Minister in that country has given Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion two weeks to placate the ministry.   The Minster baldly stated, "If in the next two weeks, RIM fails to comply with the order by January 21, we will revoke its permit." The encrypted and unfettered connectivity provided by RIM's addictive business gadget drew scrutiny in 2010 from Indonesia and the governments of Saudi Arabia, India, and the UAE.