Today I learned how expensive it is to live in Singapore. That list you can find at the bottom of this entry. Makes me think I make Really, really good money and that I should stop complaining how expensive it is to buy in California. Anyway….back to my day.

Had a nice slow morning, it is Saturday after all. Had some breakfast and headed out to find the BattleBox. The BattleBox is a bunker from WWII and the Allied troops. Google said it was about a 25 minute walk away, and Google is good. Like it wasn’t 25 minutes of walking, it was about 15, The rest of the time was waiting for the damn walk sign to light up. And man do people give you a look if you cross with no cars coming. But since I have yet to see a police officer I figured I’d take the looks.

I Took the 50 or so steps up to the road that led to the bunker. I didn’t know much about it other than this is where the Allies made the decision to surrender to the Japanese.

You couldn’t take pictures inside (for the life of me I can’t figure out why, nothing is original) so I’ll do my best to make this the least boring explanation.

The bunker had 29 rooms all about 9 meters underground (~27 feet). The Allies cut the top of the hill off to build the bunker then put the top back on. They also had an office building and barracks on the site. The walls were about 3 feet thick with big steal doors in between each room. They even had air purification systems down there. It was designed for 90 days of bunker time and designed to withstand and air raid or a gas attack. Ok least boring!! Or so I hope.

Anyway, I ate the tour up. I learned so much!! So did this like 9 year old German kid. We were always the first two to each room and to ask questions. Our guide was great. She had more knowledge than just the tour, She was able to ask every question we threw at her.

After the bunker I decided to take a hop on hop off your again. They have a 7 route option. They do whatever it takes to upsell you. The last two routes take you to the zoo….on a shuttle. But whatever. I took the longest route and it took about 2 hours. This is where I learned all the fascinating facts about how expensive Singapore is.

The tour was great. They provided facts and historical information. I really enjoyed it. It started raining at one point but it was so sunny out I couldn’t figure out where the rain was coming from.

Anyway after the tour ended I was hot I headed back to the hotel.  It was about 4 by the time I got back. I cooled down and headed to dinner around 6. I realized this is my last night in Asia and so I opted for some Thai. I love Thai food. Hasn’t gotten old yet. But I did want olive garden and that’s not the same haha!!

After dinner I was walking back to the hotel when I saw the famous foot massage chairs through a window. I got so excited. I inquired on pricing and almost balked, but decided $60 for a 40 minute foot massage and 20 minute neck massage was worth it. And it was fabulous. So great I’m going back tomorrow for an extra long (40 minute) neck massage. You sit in the chairs and to me that’s almost more comfortable than the table because my back doesn’t have to be flat on a surface.

Headed back to the hotel, face timed with Cali and did some packing. Gonna do my massage in the morning, meet the Jungle Boys for lunch then head to the airport to go home….if I did my math right (and I’m sure I didnt) the 29th of April will be 41 hour extravaganza!! I’m looking forward to being served cold water, no humidity and my dog!!

Things I learned about owning a car:

1. Every 4 days certificates are released based on the number of cars de-certified. You have to bid for this certificate. It is not unusual for it to cost in excess of $40,000 USD, this price DOES NOT include the car.

2. Singapore has an import tarriff of 100% on every car imported.

3. They have electronic rate sections of the city. As in you have to pay a fee to drive on certain roads.

4. Singapore is the number 2 exporter of used cars, second only to Japan.

5. Reason? That certificate is only good for 10 years, then you lose it and the car must go.

6. There are no old cars in Singapore.

Things I learned about property:

1. 25% of Singapore is reclaimed land. As in they imported sand to make new land (reclaimed from the water??) This new land is what the new financial district is being built on currently. Buildings are tall, sparkly and new.

2. Because of all this importing of sand, property prices are even more expensive.

3. The government subsidized housing. Almost 85% of the population of singapore lives in government subsidized housing.

4. Airbnb is banned in Singapore. As is any less than 6 month rental.

Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s