My new toy

The last time I was in Singapore, I got stuck over on the East Coast for about an hour because I wasn’t able to flag down a cab. Every one of them was ‘on call’. Finally, I had to have a stranger call for one for me on his cell phone.

The last time I was in Bangkok, I waited at a shopping mall for an hour to meet up with my friend DP. She was stuck in traffic, but I had no way of knowing. I borrowed a Thai girl’s cell phone to call DP, after this girl’s friend translated my request to her (one of the first Thai people that I’ve met that spoke almost no English)

So… I decided that when I got to Singapore, one of the first things I would buy is a cell phone. I wanted to get one that I could bring back to the US (my current cell phone was 5+ years old, and 2 of the buttons weren’t working very well). The phones here are pretty cool – they’re ahead of the US as far as cell phone technology, but I don’t think as far as they used to be. Still, I wanted to find something that I couldn’t get at home.

So, after quite a bit of shopping, I finally got my new toy – a Nokia N80. It’s way more phone than I need, but when in Singapore… It’s a 3G phone (3^rd Generation), which means I can do video teleconferencing with it (just need to find someone to video-conference with). It’s got 2 cameras – a 3 megapixel one on the back, and a small one on the front for teleconferencing & self-portraits. The main reason I got the phone was because of the camera – I wanted to have something to take some decent resolution pictures with, in case I was out somewhere without my camera.

It’s funny, but I’m only talking on the phone about ½ the time I’m using it. Text messaging (called SMS here) is huge! People SMS each other way more than they do voice calls.

On Friday, the 11^th, I made the move to my new apartment. I’m now at a place called Leonie View. It’s just about as far from Orchard road as the last place, but on the other side. They’re going to be tearing down the other apartment in December, and I didn’t want to pack up & move again in 5 months. But, Leonie wasn’t ready when I got here, so I had to live at the other place temporarily. It’s nice to finally get settled into my permanent home & get everything unpacked.

So, now I’m completely settled in. I’ve got my permanent address, and my home & cell phone numbers. A couple of you have asked for my snail mail address. If you want it, just send me an email & I’ll give it to you. I also will give my phone numbers out, if you want. Singapore can be called very cheaply (2 cents/minute) using Skype.

I found a web site with a few facts about Singapore. Just for fun.
Singapore – Did you know?

And, for all you Minnesotans out there – here’s a frame of reference to use. Singapore is a really small country. The entire island is just about the same size as the 494/694 loop. So, it doesn’t take much time to get anywhere here.