Redang Island - Second Visit

Last weekend I went to Redang Island again, stayed in the same hotel, Laguna Redang, just like I did back in 2007. The water is still as clear as ever and the snorkelling was even better.














The fish population is doubled and they are now more shameless compared to 2 years ago – considering I got chased by a big trigger fish for at least 5 times! Not sure whether it wanted some food from me or simply just wanna chew me up, but it surely scarred the shit out of me! Not far from there, 3 little Blacktip sharks were patrolling the reefs.

The transport, 9 hour bus trip from Singapore was hell!

In the future, if I wanna visit this island again, I would definitely take Star Cruise Virgo from Singapore. Departing from Singapore every Wednesday, the cruise will take you to Redang in style (if you chose the cabin or balcony room) or in Leonardo Dicaprio's Titanic style (the starter room without window at all).














Either way, the cruise has so much to offer for you rather then just staying inside the room. You will arrive in Redang the following day, spend the whole day on the island and board back on the cruise in the afternoon to start the journey back to Singapore.

The down side of this option is you can not spend a night in the island itself though.

Turkey - Istanbul

I love Istanbul! This city has an amazing load of ancient sites and cultures. If you have an opportunity even just for a stop over in Istanbul, jump to it!

I personally like the train/tram network in Istanbul. Announcement on the train is in Turkish first, follows by English, and then... they also announce the nearest places of interest! Now isn’t that smart & tourist friendly? The train connects Ataturk airport to the city centre. Most of the stops are situated within walking distance of the place of interest, so you really don’t need to walk around figuring out your way. Download the train network map from here.














The highlight of Istanbul includes:

• Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) (nearest stop: Sirkeci)
• Hagia Sophia
• Grand Bazaar (nearest stop: Sirkeci)
• Topkapı Palace (nearest stop: Sirkeci)
• Spice Bazaar (nearest stop: Eminonu)
• Bosphorus cruise

All of these places are on a single train line, the Zeytinburnu – Kabatas Tramway. That should be enough to fill 1 or 2 days stop over in Istanbul.

For the Bosphorus cruise, the most common starting point is in Eminonu, right in front of Spice Bazaar.














You can choose to take the private tour operated boat or the public ferry. The private boat tour sails on the Asian side all the way to the end of Bosphorus and sails on the European side on the way back (or vice versa). The whole cruise takes about 1 to 1.5 hour. You can easily buy the ticket for this cruise in front of Eminou, from a sales guy and bargain the price a bit. I got mine for 20 Lira / person.














The public ferry is actually a public transport from 1 port to another port, so you must plan where you wanna go first. It does not operate on Sunday and most public holiday. For price comparison, for almost the same distance, you can cover only with 6 Lira. The only thing you need to worry about is the ferry time schedule. Download the ferry time schedule from here.

Redang Island - Malaysia

I have been to Thailand, Australia, Indonesia (yes folks… Bali is part of Indonesia), and I found Redang Island in Malaysia is the best so far. Crystal clear water, picture perfect view right from the doorstep of your hotel. All of that does not charged in USD, but only in Malaysian Ringgit!














The downside is the transportation. By bus, it takes about 8 hours from Singapore to the ferry port. From there, it takes another 1 hour ride to the island itself.

Air Asia connects Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (KL), and takes another flight from KL to Kuala Terengganu. From Terengganu, you still need to take taxi to ferry port and 1 hour ferry ride. Actually there’s another small airline, Berjaya Air that flies directly from Singapore to Redang Island. But honestly, I am not that adventurous to try, so I chose bus when I visited the island.

To save the hassle, Five Star Tour has package tours (hotel + bus + ferry) from Singapore to Redang island. The best hotel in the island is unarguably, the Laguna Redang.

Batam & Bintan Island

Batam & Bintan are Indonesian islands, each reachable by 1 hour ferry ride from Singapore. Check either Batam Fast or Penguin Ferry for detailed schedule & price. Bintan can be said as a “resort” island, build to suck Singapore Dollars as a short holiday destination for Singaporeans. 90% of the island operates and will charge you in Singapore Dollars instead of Indonesian Rupiah! Batam, on the other end, is not yet evolve like Bintan – I don’t know how long they can last, at the moment Indonesian Rupiah is still somehow wanted in the island.

I found Batam offers more things to do rather then Bintan. My favorite massage place is Sport Massage. Their price tag start from IDR 200,000 (+ SGD 30) for 2 hours, compare to Bintan’s SGD 100 for 1 hour! Another upper scale spa is Devata Spa in I-Hotel. Staff in both places speaks fluent Indonesian but very minimum English. So… good luck!














For golfers, Turi Beach Resort maybe a better choice of hotel. This hotel also has stunning café on the pier above the sea water. Arriving in Batam for the first timer, may be tricky. First you better check whether you do not need a visa or can obtain “visa on arrival” to enter Indonesia. If you need to obtain a visa on your arrival, you better bring USD 10 notes with you, as the immigration booth exchange rate is almost can be described as a rip-off.

Second problem after immigration is transportation. If you arrive in Batam Centre ferry terminal, heads straight away to the second floor, and find a connecting bridge to Mega Mall - shopping mall accross the terminal. It is a good idea to book your return ticket with the ferry operator as you will pass the counter anyway. Taking taxi from the shopping mall is much safer and the price is sort of fixed. FYI, no metered taxi in Batam.

Working in Singapore

As one of the economic power house in south East Asia, and with so many MNC setting up their regional office, Singapore attracts so many job seeker (including me). Not to mention the island’s welcoming approach to foreign workers. For those who are thinking to work in Singapore, I hope my personal experience when I moved in to Singapore can be useful.














1. Visa
Most nationalities can stay in Singapore for 30 days without specific visa. For detail list, please check ICA (Immigration and Check point Authority). Hopefully you can find an employer who is willing to deal with your Employment Pass (EP) within that period. Alternatively, you may want to apply for EPEC. Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate allows you to stay in Singapore up to 360 days (if granted). If you still can not get a single job offer within 1 year, I suggest you to pack all your belongings and go back to your home planet.

2. Permanent Residency (PR)
You can apply for PR after you started to work in Singapore for about 6 months.

3. Accommodation
Accommodation / property price is ridiculously high in Singapore, even when you compare it with Tokyo or Sydney's standard. Get ready to pay 50% of your monthly rental fee as an “agent fee” to your property agent when if you are using one. For me, I prefer to find accommodation from some website like Shareaccomodation and make sure you find direct owner or “No agent” sign.

4. Finding jobs
The most effective way is from Saturday’s newspaper, The Strait Times. Alternatively, you may try your luck in jobsdb or jobstreet.

5. Bank Account
Opening Bank Account Without EP or Permanent Resident Visa, you CAN NOT open any bank account. Even EPEC can not be used for this.

6. Living cost
If you are not fussy about oily food, a decent meal ranging from SGD3 up to… well you decide your own the upper limit then. Train (MRT) cost about SGD 3 from one tip of the island to the other end (Yes, Singapore is that short).