Sunday, March 05, 2006
I know that this post is going to contradict what I had said before or at least sort of, but I think that the need for a car here is not so much of a luxury but more of a necessity/ practicality. This place is really not like Singapore whereby the public transport comes max every 15 minutes. Here, the peak hour waiting time for public transport is 15 to 25 minutes. The waiting time for off-peak period is 30 minutes to an hour. The only saving grace is that you're able to check the arrival times of the transport and plan your route online (they'll give you the timings and what mode of public transport to take).
But that does not take away the fact that you'll probably take over an hour to get anywhere further and that you got to time your return journey so that you wouldn't have to wait like an hour just to get the transport back. Buying things too can be a bitch if you don't have a car. Apart from having to content with the higher prices that you've got to pay away from the semi-rural area, you also can't buy heavier and bulkier items. That means that no cheap the things are, you can't buy lots of it cos you're probably unable to carry all that back. When I mean lower prices I mean some things are like 60% to 70% cheaper.
An example has to be the fruits. A box of apples would cost probably about $16 in the more rural parts, but in my area, a box would set you back say $40 at the very least. But come on, who in the world can lug a whole box of apples like the distance from say the causeway to the city? We do have a farmers market but the problem with it is that it happens fortnightly and it's not very near my place too.
I was seriously giving thought to getting a bicycle but the thought of riding it to school across all the hills is quite a turn off. The prices of bikes too aren't exactly low. The cheapest bikes you can get are those in the shopping centres and they cost around $150 (cheapest) and that's assuming you know how to assemble it. When I mean assemble, I really mean assemble (you got to assemble even the gears, washers in the handle bars etc). And if you want to assemble on your own, you'll have the problem of transporting the huge box back. Thankfully, assembly cost is about $16.
That's the bikes from shopping centres. Than comes the bikes you can get from the bike shops. Those that are considered cheap will set you back over $300. The cheapest road bikes there would cost close to a grand. To think that there are so many road bikes around still.
O yar, a problem that arises out of the infrequent transport is that you'll always run the risk of being late for classes. That's because, the chances that the bus is too pack till it wouldn't stop or take any more passengers in is really high. I must thank my lucky stars that so far, I've been able to board the buses. When the next bus comes, you'll probably either not be able to board it or be late. You might think that you can always take the earlier buses. True, but that means that you'll reach school over an hour early.
Now, that isn't very fun. It also doesn't help that the uni has several campuses and they aren't very near. The nearest is over 30km away. Imagine having to cross campuses for your lessons. Yes, some courses are across campuses and you got to shuttle from one to another. There's a shuttle bus that cost $3 one way but think it comes once every two hours and takes 45 minutes to reach. No wonder the course advisor was asking if I drove,
he spoke at 9:32 am
Friday, March 03, 2006
Having been here for more than a month made me realise that we Singaporeans are actually very fortunate. I mean no matter how much people say how bad our government is, I really still think that our government is doing a great job by keeping our costs etc down.
Things that we take for granted in Singapore is really not the case here. For example, compared to the Singapore unis, the ccas and activities here are more fun filled. I mean we've got activities like hot air balloon, sky diving, sand boarding etc. You look at the uni life section and you tell yourself, hey, I don't get those "cool" activities in Singapore. But there's one thing that the unis here don't tell you, that there's a cost to those activities. I do expect a cost to those activities, but not prices like $250, $270 and $205 a trip respectively. Be prepared to add another $10-$30 if you're not a member of the sports club (the membership is $60 a year).
You've to even pay to go for the trials for some of the sports. Take for example triathlon, you've to pay $20 just to try it out once. I was thinking that maybe I can learn rowing here, afterall, it's a very western uni sport and since I'm here, why not try it. But I was totally put off by the price, it cost $120. Want to be part of a running group? Be prepared to pay $70. As students, we have to pay to use the pools (or just to enter the compound) etc too. The yearly pass to use the aquatic complex is $315 and the yearly pass to use the pool, gym and cardio is $395.
In Singapore, the Government would always say that the youths should engage in like sports etc to keep them off from crime etc. Here, I think in order to participate in sports, you've got to rob. What amazes me is that there's a lot of Aussies who go for all these activities. I really wonder where these people get the money from. A number of them drive too. Yes, cost of cars here maybe low, but maintain it is a different story. The prices of petrol here is not that cheap too. And considering the distance that you're likely to cover, I'll say that each week, you'll probably spend about $60 on petrol alone. That's exclusive of the taxes etc. So I've no idea how the hell the Aussies manage it.
O yes, the above prices are all in Aussie dollar.
he spoke at 1:29 pm
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
You think that expensive textbook is a bitch. Wait till you meet rude people selling you those textbooks. I mean harlow, we all there to buy next books and not steal them. If you put the books at the bottom shelf in a section with hardly any space for you to see it, it's really not my fault that I can't find it right? O yea, forgot to add that the books are at the back of the shelf behind a high stack of books. You don't expect me tocrawl on my knees just to find it right?
An interesting thing happened on my way back. It's with regards to fako accents. Here's what happened. I was sitting behind these two girls who were obviously Singaporeans. They were initially speaking in the Singaporean accent (yes, we do have one for those who think that we don't). Then, when the bus got more crowded with Asian students, they started speaking in fake Aussie accents. It's again one of those who can't seem to differentiate between American and Aussie accents. I think that this is one of the good things that came out of our American media culture; to make these people look like total fools. Ok, that's mean, but yea. After all the fake accent, one of the girls got a phone call.Think must be from her parents, she suddenly had to speak in Cantoneseand wasn't very happy about it I guess. Cause when she hung up, she literally slammed her clam shell.
he spoke at 3:33 pm
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sometimes I really wonder how people think or should I say how they say things without thinking through. Here's an example. During lecture today, one of the journ seniors sitting behind me commented that he's skeptical of the course because it has the words mass communication in it (the lecture was a journ lecture). He appeared to me that he's pretty skeptical of the concept of mass communication. Somehow or other, he does not realise that journalism is part of or should I say under mass communication. Here we have a bloke who wants to be a journalist, but does not believe in mass communication. Go figure that out.
Weather over here is getting weirder and weirder. One moment it's shining brightly, next moment it's pouring. The nights are getting colder too. Autumn's approaching and really wonder how drastic the drop will be.
My laptop's driving me nuts at times too. Sometimes the spacebar is so insensitive that I've got to literally hit it quite hard just to get it to work. And thanks to the stupid Internet Security, my laptop has got problems shutting down properly. Arghz. The pain of technology. Another lament on the camera shops here. Even the pro shops do not sell dry boxes! I've really no idea where I can get them. It's so irritating especially when this is place is quite a fungus breeding ground.
he spoke at 1:38 pm