A Mind of My Own

Having my articles featured is both a bane and a boon. While I have some comments that aren’t well-thought, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any who don’t think. I have been called lame and other sorts of names.

First, my piece on listening to commuters got quite a number of comments. Wow. Only when I project a negative view then I get a response. So, shall I write more negatives views? No? Oh well.

1. Raising prices will always get complains. No matter what. It seems that the explanations have gone from being detailed, to being general. Was it detailed in the first place? Like fuel prices raising, so there is a need to maintain, etc.
2. Anyone taking the train knows that going from Boon Lay to Tampines takes more than an hour of train rides. If anyone else is able to get there in less than an hour by train, show me how.
3. If anyone can show me a way such that no one will block the doors during peak hours whereby everyone is rushing to work, show me how.
   [via Flickr]
4. If anyone is able to tell me that the waiting time for a train during non-peak hours is less than 11 minutes, let me know.
5. If everyone is able to move in when needed, why would so many others say otherwise?
6. When the train is delayed, what are the announcements? For a delay of 10 minutes and above, speculations are bound to fly around. What happened when it was delayed not due to someone jumping the tracks? The story was told after speculations flew around.

If no speculations should be flying around, then transparency should be implemented. If not, there will always be unhappiness. I didn’t say that it isn’t efficient. All I feel is that whenever there is a price increase, people expect more. This goes the same for that vacuum cleaner, or any product of service. You don’t expect that $200 shirt to have seams coming out after 2 washes, do you?

You want more people to use your services, it’s like building a good relationship.

When the MRT was first setup, I was curious about it. After a while, I noticed that it arrives according to the dictation, less than 4 minutes of waiting. Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have to wait for 7 minutes for the next train should I have the unfortunate fate of walking towards closing doors and risk losing my leg or arm.

After so many years, the fares have increased from 20 cents (I think) to 90 cents for 3 train stops. Now, I wonder if the price for 2 train stops will be $1.20 onwards since the price of oil has been rising despite the MRT not using any petrol, diesel or whatever liquid fuel for any matter. It uses electricity that is generated from the power station or somewhere.

The slogan for SMRT is Moving People, Enhancing lives. Is that what they are doing? Moving people alright but at what pace? Can we actually reach from one end of Singapore to the other end in 20 minutes using the train? No. I have tried and it took me 1.5 hours, the fastest was only 1 hour and 15 minutes. By car, it would have taken me 20 - 30 minutes provided that all the traffic lights are green and no traffic jam.

[via Flickr]

In what ways have our lives been enhanced? I see people blocking the whole stretch of the platform at popular stations like Jurong East, Outram Park, Raffles Place, City Hall, Bugis, Ang Mo Kio and Bishan. None of them will let me alight unless I’m using a long umbrella that is wet, using a large bag to barge my way through or holding a hot kettle. All these are during peak hours.

[via Flickr]

I’ve met different people in the trains such as telling others to move into the middle of the car, inconsiderate people taking up floor space, loud music that not everyone enjoys, non-existing announcements of the stops, loud or soft announcements of the stops, people eating and drinking to their hearts’ delight and many others.

I have even had elderlies rushing into the train to grab that available seat they have already marked with their eyes. Another elderly lady attempted to poke me with her umbrella despite a lot of people alighting. It’s very rare to see someone giving the seat to an elder or pregnant lady.

World class transport means that it’s supposed to be efficient. It does arrive on dictation, after 11 minutes of waiting. It shouldn’t stop violently due to some other train still at the station. Signals should be given way ahead. Or have they until the driver belated sees the red light?

If the price of the rides have to be increased, service such as waiting time should be improved. It isn’t reasonable if the price increased but the cleanliness and waiting time standards have gone down the drain.

There should also be transparency such as delays that don’t let others speculate about suicides on the tracks. Speculation is to be expected if there is train delays. Don’t just state that there will be a delay and sorry for the inconvenience caused. It can’t quench the cat’s curiosity thirst.

Finger pointing isn’t even needed. Just facts and transparency. I thought going for interviews state that as employees, we should own up to mistakes? Commuters don’t really care much about how long the inquest for such incidents will take, just that they need a solution to their transport problem.

All these factors determine why we are taking the public transport. Increasing the taxi fares don’t help because everyone is trying to earn more money. Everyone is out to win, not lose. While the buses have less graffiti, the waiting time still needs to be improved.

Taxis are there to provide a more personalised transport mode. Buses are there to provide a general mode, albeit more than the train. Trains are there to get us to the general area. Changing between trains and buses are common, it’s how much of a hassle.

If you have to change from bus to train to bus just to get from Seng Kang to Tampines or Bedok, what mode of transport would you choose? How long do you think the public transport will take? 20 minutes? 50 minutes or even an hour?

Are the commuters’ voices being heard in the first place? Are the ones stating all the changes and implementing them taking the public transport at the same time as those commuting to work? Do they even know?

Usually, I prefer 3D2N trips as it allows me to have a goo rest on the 1st day of arrival. However, Batam isn’t really a place where you would like to stay for more than 2 days. It’s mostly known for its massage services, just like Thailand. Batam was hot and sexy.

We boarded the ferry at 10am and reached Batam at around 11am. It was still 10am, Batam time. It doesn’t matter how early we reached the place. The hotel rooms weren’t ready. We reached the hotel, Pacific Palace, at 12 noon but were told that the rooms weren’t ready. So, we had to walk around to entertain ourselves until 1pm. By a stroke of luck, one of the rooms was ready just before we decided our next course of action.

Thus, we dumped our bags into the room and went out. However, we realised that we had left out something during our haste for lunch. Thus, we went back to take it. On our way out, the receptionist or some manager looked for DD. Thankfully, we went back because the manager actually went to the room to look for us.

Since we had the keys, DD and I decided to check out the rooms. We chose the room on the left and scared the lights out of the guy who was attempting to do something with the lights. So sorry. Then we went to check out the other room. Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone to frighten.

Since I felt that the 2nd room was better, I chose that room and left with the other choice to the other couple. I was right in choosing that room. The overall displeasure about that hotel is that it had no bath tub. It’s a 4-star hotel but no bath tubs for deluxe, superior and executive rooms. What sort of designer decided it to be that way?

The toilet was large, larger than the ones in Hard Rock Hotel Bali and Ritz Carlton Bali. So I can’t get it out of my mind that it doesn’t have any bath tubs except for Junior and Classic suites.

We went for a massage at Miracle Aesthetic Clinic which had quite a professional decoration. However, I found it odd that their jacuzzi had this vacuum like object that had a pipe to emit the jets. It felt that the bath tub had shrunk due to that extra object. The staff was rather nice to switch off the aircon after discovering that I was cold.

While the massage was average, the jacuzzi was superb. 2 hours of Strawberry spa includes body massage, body scrub, steam, jacuzzi and some refreshments. The package cost Rp 300, 000 excluding tax. Sweet deal, right?

Thus, our 1st day in Batam ended with dinner at some food court. I can’t remember the place but I think it was in Nagoya, with more than 10 stalls selling seafood. Apparently, Bali and Batam are known for their seafood.

The next morning, which is this morning, the couple that got the 2nd room, reported that their bathroom had flooded. The pipe was clogged. The 1st couple joked about letting the water level rise so that they had a standing bath tub. However, in reality, the shower door had opening between the fixed glass and the door. It wouldn’t have really flooded that high.

Naturally, we went to the Mega Mall opposite the ferry terminal before departing for Singapore. I bought nothing except J. Co donuts that Kris had introduced. It does taste different from those bought in the cake shops. The donut was light and easily bitten into. However, my favourite snack still isn’t donut as I am not fond of sweet stuff.

I won’t be booking Pacific Palace but will book another hotel for my next trip to Batam. There’s another option, I can just go for a 1-day trip in Batam. Another lesson lesson learnt, any change in the package meant more money for the locals as they would state a charge of a certain amount per person before you take up their service. The utter horrors of holidays that I dislike very much.

Having had the privilege to travel a few times, I must say, my favourite trip is to Australia. I went there during the Chinese New Year. Of course I visited my relatives before that. It was a package tour but ended up half free and easy.

However, it wasn’t that bad because we had a guide who drove us around according to the itinerary. In fact, I still remember this couple, there were only 3 couples. This particular couple caught SH and my eyes because of their odd pairing.

They didn’t look married. They didn’t behaved married. They behaved as if they were brother and sister. We just couldn’t make out what sort of relationship they had. The guy wasn’t that great in English and there was this one time, it rained heavily on our way back. One of us wanted to buy something and the guide recommended 7-Eleven. And so, we went there to make some purchases.

Before we alighted, the guide was telling us a whole lot of information and we weren’t used to the accent yet. This guy (from the odd couple) kept nodding and agreeing. At the end, he asked, “Ee kong simi?” (What did she say?)

We couldn’t keep our laughter in. I guess face was the issue here. It’s one of my favourite trips as it was rather relaxed and we had someone to drive us around. The only thing was that I got sick of was seeing kangaroos and koala bears from day one to day six. I did like feeding them though.

[via Flickr]

We can get from one corner of the island square to the other corner in 20 minutes, max. That’s if you “travel at 120km/h without stopping, and assuming you drive in a straight line, and don’t encounter any traffic lights, you CAN make it in 20 minutes”. I have timed the traveling a few times and have yet to discover the magic 20 minutes.

Oh wait, I live in the wrong corner, that’s why. And I get fined and receive demerit points for speeding at 120km/h too. There is no way I can travel at that speed because of the speed bumps, traffic lights and tiny winding roads. Remember, speed limits are abundant.

Trust me, I don’t know if the 20 minutes include the police escorting your car, all traffic lights are green or something. The bus is supposed to reach virtually every corner of Singapore too. Oh. But what about those bungalows? Hang on, they have cars.

At this rate, I’ll never get to any corner in 20 minutes. Unless I can fly.

I love holidays. December is the busiest time at the airport because almost everyone is traveling some where. Some for honeymoons, some for leisure and others for returning home for the holiday. Christmas and New Year are both hot periods for traveling.

With Chinese New Year following soon after, it’s always a time for holiday travels. One of my holiday destinations is to visit the Disneyland. Florida’s Disneyland is said to be one of the largest theme park. I like to visit Movie World, Sea World and other theme parks. With so many Worlds to visit, we can’t forget the tickets, can we? Sea World Tickets, Movie World Tickets and many other tickets to places we want to visit.

It’s always wiser to buy tickets at a cheaper rate than to buy at the counter itself. Besides Disneyland, there’s this theme park in Orlando that offers the fun that we want too. Not to forget, my favourite marine animal at the park, dolphins. Lovely and clever, they learn things fast and are fun-loving.

By evening, I was starting to wind down. I stole a 30-minute nap at home which helped me to last till 1am. That was how late it was. I had to keep my hair styling appointment. The 8 course dinner was served quite timely. However, by the 5th dish, everyone was full and the food started to get wasted. The photo montage showed the bride’s and groom’s lives, a few photos of me were also included. Good friend with the bride, so I was rather honoured to be included too.

I was to be the receptionist with HF and we were, unfortunately, late to take up our places. Touching up sure took up a lot of time. The guests had arrived and we started taking down their attendance. I was starting to get tired. By 8.25pm, we left the reception table as 98% of the guests have arrived.

We took our seats at the designated table and the dinner commenced. The bride and groom started their walk in after the photo montage. Dinner was served. Throughout the courses, I was thinking if the whole event could end soon. My urge to sleep was stronger than the urge to eat even though I hadn’t eaten much that day.

I was so relieved when dessert was served. The guests started leaving and the rest of the sisters who haven’t left stayed to take whatever “revenge” the brothers came up with. 3 bottles of red wine and 1 jug of beer were all we got. One of the brothers wanted to serve Martell. Were we that torturing in the morning? No, right? We gave them drinks to soothe the spicy throats, ok?

At least we cleared that part and took a few group photographs. The wedding was finally over. Looking back, I feel a sense of nostalgia, we used to be able to gather together and chat about anything. Four of us try to gather together to have dinner or travel. I missed that time we went for a cruise.