Moving IN Singapore

We’re moving from our current townhouse to a smaller condo. It may be smaller in size but we’re movin’ up for sure! It’s fully renovated and gorgeous and comes with ZERO stairs! We currently have 6 levels in our tall, skinny house and I’ve had my fill of them.

We’re moving for a few reasons. There are only three of us living in Singapore now so we don’t need 3400 square feet and 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Our LL tried to raise the rent on us by 35% and also just did an overall lousy job of taking care of the place. Getting anything repaired was a constant source of frustration.

I’ll post about our new place once we’re in and it looks all pretty but I wanted to list a few things we’ve had to take care of in hopes that it might help someone else going through a local move in Singapore.

*Choose a moving service if  you plan to use one. We are SO fortunate that our company is moving us since it was classified as a forced move due to the rent increase and his decision later to sell the place. We also arranged for them to bring boxes and packing supplies ahead of time so we could pack up some things that we didn’t want them to mess with.

*Start getting rid of items you don’t need, or as in our case can’t fit, in the new place as soon as you can.

*Switched over electricity, cable, internet

*Put the gas and water for the new place in our name. (our agent took care of that for us)

*Change address with bank, cell phone, MOM (actually our company took care of this for us)

*Coordinate aircon servicing (usually mandatory) and pest control services (we just do this because I’m a bug freak) for the new place.

*Gather all documentations you’ll need for handover of the current location. Your agent should be able to help you with this and should be present at the handover. This is critical. My friend, Leone, has written a very helpful post about her “learning” experience. engaging your own professional property agent.

*Arrange for cleaning service or schedule in time to clean your current place before the handover. You might also want to hire a handyman to come in and patch up holes and minor fix ups.

*Buy a few of those big Ikea blue bags. If you’re lucky like us, you’ll have the place for a little while before your move out and they are AWESOME for moving little things over on your own and for hauling laundry since we’re having to do that at the new place.

*Be prepared to write your FIN numbers (what we call our green card) and passport numbers a million times!

This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch but maybe it’ll get the juices flowing. If anyone in Singapore has experience with moving locally, feel free to comment with any helpful tips you might have. Luckily, most things on the list can be taken care of with a phone call. How that phone call goes, though, is anyone’s guess. Sometimes it’s frustrating and sometimes it’s just funny! Here is how Tommy’s phone call with our cell phone provide went when he called to cancel our son’s cell number after moving back to the US.  He said they tried like crazy to get me to keep it.  It got funny. (my husband’s words are in bold)

Mr Stunz I can have it canceled in 24 hours but I have to ask why.

Because it was my son’s number and he has moved back to the US.

But there a 30% discount and if you cancel it you will lose the discount.

On my other lines?!?

No just this one.

Yeah but if I cancel this one I owe nothing and 30% of nothing is nothing right?

Yes but what if you need an extra line.

Why would I need an extra line.  There are three of us here and we all have our own number.

Do you ever have guests?

Yes. And we have a top up phone for them to use.

Top up rates are higher.

We use less that $23 a month on the top up phone. And his line cost me $23 a month.

But Mr Stunz

JUST CANCEL THE LINE!

Ok we can do that for you in 24 hours. Is there anything else I can help you with.

No you have already helped me enough.  Have a nice day. Bye.

Okay thank you Mr. Stunz. bye bye.

No matter where you live in this big ol’ world, moving is a pain. The pain is compounded in a foreign country where we’re not used to the system but it’s all part of the adventure. We are so excited to get settled in our new place!! No pain, no gain!!

“Hollyday” in Cambodia Part 2

Tori needed another stamp in her passport so we decided to go to Cambodia while she was on this side of the world. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Really, over the last two years of living in Singapore we have traveled a lot and Tori hardly ever gets to go anywhere so we cooked up a mother/daughter weekend trip before she left to go back to Texas. She’s already gone now so I thought it would be good to write this post and reminisce. We had a great time and I loved having her all to myself.

For those wanting to go to Cambodia and really experience Cambodia this post might not be so helpful for you because we only had time to visit Phnom Penh and sightseeing wasn’t as much on our agenda as was spending time at an orphanage and with our friends from Texas who are working there. We didn’t see any temples. We only visited Tuol Sleng, the school that the Khmer Rouge took over for a horrific torture chamber during the genocide. And we only shopped a little at the Russian Market. But our shopping afforded me some classy “Samsnite” luggage. I’m so happy to have found this. Saying “Samsnite” just makes every part of  me smile.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - No talking. No smiling.

Russian Market

Russian Market

Russian Market

My prized "Samsnite" luggage from the Russian Market

But our appetite for Cambodia and it’s beautiful people was definitely fulfilled during our one day that we spent at the orphanage that our home church supports, one that we supported as well for a few years until our monetary sponsorship turned towards the Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa. Although we aren’t sponsoring Hope For Cambodia Orphanage with our money, it’s ministry has always held a piece of our heart. It was so fulfilling to get to visit and play with kids and rock babies. The piece of our heart that we left at the orphanage was much bigger than when we arrived. Oddly enough, though, we took a large piece of them away with us so our heart was even bigger than before. Funny how that works, eh?

We bought several jump ropes in Singapore to take with us. They loved them!

We did really enjoy riding in Tuk Tuk’s. What fun!! We were amazed at how trustworthy and loyal the drivers were and how they worked together and didn’t try to steal someone else’s customer. We hired one particular driver for a full day for $20 USD, at the recommendation of our friends since he speaks really good English, and he was always waiting and watching for us right where he said he would be.

Our Texan/Cambodian Tuk Tuk caravan.

The best Tuk Tuk driver in Phnom Penh. He spoke good English!

We found Phnom Penh to be very much like Saigon but with way fewer moto’s on the roads. The traffic was still crazy but could never compete with the craziness of Saigon. Rules? Who needs rules? It’s basically a free for all and may the most confident man win. Or maybe it’s the one with the biggest car and the loudest horn.

We won. Well, we lived, so we won.

We also loved hanging out with our friends from Texas!! Tamara and Lauren were great hosts and we even got to meet up with the Culverhouses and McCowns for dinner.

Dinner at Boat Noodles

Our hotel was nice! The Pavilion. It was in a good location and near to food and boutique shopping. Walking distance for those of us used to walking in Singapore but we noticed that hardly anyone walked anywhere. They were either on a moto or in a car or tuk tuk. Tuk Tuk’s are cheap so we just rode in them wherever we needed to go.

Tori stepped on a frog on the sidewalk outside of our room, smooshed it ALL over her foot and flip flop but other than that, we had no unclean issues. Our room was very clean and the service was great. We loved that sex trafficking was absolutely not tolerated and the security there was really tight. We felt very safe which was important to be since it was just Tori and I. No visitors allowed without approval and no one can stay there under the age of 16. If/WHEN we go back with Anna, we’ll stay in their sister hotel, The Kabiki, around the corner. Same type of hotel with same policies but family friendly.

Pho 24 was really close to our hotel so we were glad we got to eat there. It was good! Just like in Vietnam. We didn’t find too many food options that were traditionally Cambodian. I ate Lok Lak which is a Cambodian beef dish but other than that, we ate Western food and Vietnamese. And a lot of ice cream to beat the heat. We were very cautious of eating uncooked foods and fresh veggies/fruits without thick skins and we brushed our teeth with bottled water.

We also drove by the house that is being built for the owner of Tiger Beer. It’s insanely huge! Guess he’s doin’ alright!! It’s right in the middle of town and such a stark contrast to how the local people live.

We really loved the vibe and the people in Cambodia. It is just amazing how far they’ve progressed after their recent horrific past. There’s still a long way to go and there are parts of it that are still very “broken” but they’re on their way. Next time we go back, if we can pull ourselves away from the orphanage, we’ll scoot over to Siem Riep, see the temples, and enjoy more of the local culture and history of Cambodia. Go there. Support tourism. There are also plenty of shops that fight against sex trafficking by hiring form sex slaves. Find those places and give them your business. You can buy a cake or cupcake from a shop called Blooms, get a $3 pedi at Daughters, have a nice cup of coffee or fruit juice and a sandwich at Jars of Clay. The list is endless. There’s a lot of good being done in Cambodia and a lot of good left to do.

Cambodia has enhanced my soul. I’ll be back.

A few boring trip details:
We flew Silk Air and have no complaints. The flight time was 1.5 hours.

PP airport was easy to navigate. When we left, there were some nice shops and a few places to eat while you wait to board.

You need $20 USD for entry visa and $25 USD for exit. Although there was no one around that asked for our $25 when we left. Not sure why but we weren’t going to go beg someone to take our money.

We had the hotel arrange transport which we would do again but if you know where you’re going and know the system and how much it should cost, a tuk tuk would be fine as long as you don’t have a lot of luggage.