Lots of Food and Japanese Racing Queens

 This week has been tiring but exciting. I'm slowly getting used to all the new things at work and after 2 weeks I'm finally able to remember some of my collegue's names. This is partly due to the fact that the previous intern had her last week and I was invited to a couple of super delicious farewell dinners. On Wednesday we had Chinese food. About 8 different dishes were ordered and placed in the middle of the table for everyone to take. This way I couldn't just try one new dish but many different ones... and they all were great! The next day our boss invited us for a Korean BBQ which was really good as well.

The calories were burnt on Friday when the interns got to support our sales team at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2013. One would have thought that the main attraction were the tuned cars but no matter where I looked people where taking pictures of a bunch of "less is more"-dressed Japanese models. I couldn't see any different to many Chinese or Singaporean models but I was told that the Japanese girls are even cuter than other Asians. Since we didn't have any half-naked models at our booth we tried to get attention by handing out balloons to families which was heaps of fun. But the most fun part was dressing up as our mascot "uncle Bob". The costume was super hot and I could barely see anything but people loved him and I had my (or uncle Bob's) 30 minutes of fame. We could even get some attention from the guys usually busy with taking pictures of those Japanese models. I was approximately photographed 200 times during those 30 minutes, while I was slowly melting underneath that costume. But it was super fun and I would definitaly do it again!

The First Week

My first week in SIngapore has been really exciting. Monday was my first day at work and we got a small introduction from the HR department. So far everyone seems nice and my colleagues are very friendly. We already got a lot of work to do so I don't think that my internship will get boring.

I also went to the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) to get my Training Employment Pass (TEP). The process was pretty easy. On Monday I made an online appointment for the following day. All the documents I needed to bring were my passport, the in-pricinple-approval letter (filled out and signed), a photo with a white background, my credit card and the letter I got when I made the online appointment. It took about 1 hour till everything was completed and I was told that I could pick up my TEP in 4 days. So I went back there on Saturday and within 5 minutes I got my brand new TEP card.

Luckily this week wasn't just about work and administration. Almost every evening I went out with the other interns to have dinner together. We usually have hawker food which is cheap and delicious. My favourite dish - Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles -  only costs about 3-4 SGD (2-2,30 Euros). On Friday we went to the monthly Helipad party at the Swiss Hotel. The lift took us to the 70th floor from were we had to take the stairs up to the helipad on top of the hotel. The view was just breathtaking (I'll post pictures later)! On Saturday I went sightseeing with two other new interns. We went to Chinatown, Little India and Orchard Rd before our feet told us to take the MRT to Paya Lebar, where many of the interns live. The day ended there with a nice BBQ and heaps of chocolate biscuits :-)

Indian Temple close to Bugis

Marina Bay

At the Swiss Hotel Helipad Party

View from the Helipad

Singapore Accommodation Hunt

On Thursday Sairozi and I left beautiful Phuket for Singapore. I had arranged our accommodation in advance as the hostel we stayed at offer promotion deals if you book early enough. The place is called footprints hostel and is conveniently located in Little India. The staff is friendly, breakfast is included and the showers are great. Just the rooms are  little small but since we're just staying there for sleeping that's ok. Staying in a hostel for a couple of nights is alright, but for a duration of 3 months I do prefer not sharing a room with 7 (snorring) guys. That's why I spent my day checking out rooms.

I had been looking for places on the internet and the most useful page I found was www.easyroommate.com.sg. There also is a facebook group called FindYourRoomInSG where people post their available rooms. Even though I found many interesting offers, the rent was super high. Prices start at about 700SD and can be as much as 1500SD for a single room! As I didn't want to spend more than 800SD that limited the choice. Luckily already the first viewing for a room I had this morning was great and the flatmates seemed really friendly as well. After checking out a second place I decided in favour of room no. 1 and tomorrow I'll move to my new home for the next 3 months :D

The first 2 days of my stay in Singapore have been pretty successful (apart from a fight between me, my chopsticks and the noodle soup... Anna - noodle soup 0:1) and I hope it continues this way. Monday will be the first day of my internship and I'm really excited about it... hopefully everything will go well!

A Day at the Beach... Pictures

Back to Paradise

We arrived at the bus terminal 2 in Phuket at around 7am. From there we took the pink bus to terminal 1 where the local buses to Patong depart. 40 Baht and a 45 minute drive (including a 5 minute stop where our driver left the bus to buy some grilled chicken) later we were at Patong beach. This is the most crowded and busy beach in Phuket with the infamous Bangla Road and its crazy nightlife. We chose a hostel at the far end of Patong at the road to Karon beach. It's called Areeya Guesthouse and small rooms currently cost 500 Baht/night (12,5 Euro) and big rooms 800 Baht (20 Euro). March is the end of the high season and prices for accommodation are slowly getting cheaper. In December/January the same rooms that cost 650 Baht (16 Euro) during the low season from April/May to September can cost 1000 Baht (25 Euro) or more! If one is staying longer it's possible to get a discount. The price of our big room was reduced to 600 Baht/night (15 Euro) when we booked and paid for 14 days in advance. So far we can really recommend this place. We have lots of space, a TV, aircon, hot water, wifi and a small kitchen with a fridge.

As Patong beach is really crowded Sairozi and I prefer to go swimming at Karon beach. It's only a 10 minute motorcycle ride from our hostel and one of the largest beaches in Phuket. Another 10 minutes from Karon is Kata beach and even further down the road is the beautful Nai Harn beach. From there it's only 5 minutes to Promthep Cape, where one has an amazing view, especially at sunset. Exploring these beaches has been our favourite activity since we came to Phuket and so far we don't seem to get tired of it :)

Patong Beach

Karon Beach

Nai Harn Beach

Promthep Cape

Apart from swimming and hanging out at the beach we haven't been up to much so far. Especially since I caught a little cold (with 35 degrees outside temperature!). At least that's a reason for me to stay in the room and keep working on one last paper for university that I had planned to have finished by the end of February. Well, tomorrow... maybe... ;)

Hello Bangkok!

Before my internship in Singapore starts Sairozi and I still got 2,5 weeks to travel and Bangkok is the ideal starting point for exploring Southeast Asia. First of all flights from Europe are relatively cheap. Some special offers take you there for under 500 Euro, but anything less than 600 Euro still is a pretty good deal. Bangkok/Thailand is located right in the middle of Southeast Asia and it's fairly easy to hop on a bus/train/plane to its neighbouring countries. Plus Thai food is super delicious, it's a shopping heaven (or hell - whatever you prefer) and accommodation is widley available and cheap... so there are lots of reasons for going to Bangkok.

Unfortunately these weren't the reasons why we spend 4 days in this city. Right before I left Germany I got tooth ache and my farewell gift was a nice little root canal treatment... hurray! Since it couldn't be finished in Germany as there wasn't enough time left I went to see a specialist at Bumrungrad International Hospital. Before I went there I did some online research and asked friends in Bangkok about good dental clinics there and this was the one recommended by most of them. Apparently it's one of the best hospitals in Bangkok and the dentist seemed very professional as well.

Apart from visiting hospitals I also did some fun stuff in Bangkok. On Saturday we went to Chatuchak weekend market. It's probably the world's biggest open air market and even though we've been there before we still got lost cause it's just HUGE! After some serious shopping we got back to our hostel. We stayed at De Talak Hostel which is located only 5 minutes from the Queen Sirikit Convention Center Station (MRT). The hostel had a nice common area, staff was friendly, the rooms were clean and ours had a great view. But the best thing about it was the free ice cream provided by the hostel! With 240 Baht/person in a 6 bed dorm it wasn't the cheapest place but still affordable and it offered good value for the money.

common area at De Talak Hostel

After 4 days in Bangkok we left the city for Phuket. We took the local bus (number 511) from Sukhumvit to the Southern Bus Terminal (~21 Baht, 1,5-2 hour bus ride) were we bought our ticket to Phuket (another 12 hours). Most buses leave in the early morning or in the evening between 17.30-20.00. There are VIP buses for over 1000 Baht (25 Euro) per person as well as cheaper options. We took a first class aircon bus for 690 Baht. When we went downstairs to wait for our bus someone called me and when I turned around another "Kuwi" from my university sat behind me waiting for her bus. It's amazing that no matter where I am in the world I still meet people from my university!

another "Kuwi" in Bangkok

Visa Regulations

I never had any problems with getting a visa before, but Singapore made things quite difficult. The two most common visas for interns are the "Work Holiday Pass" (WHP) and the "Training Employment Pass" (TEP).

The easiest option is the WHP as it allows you to stay and work in Singapore for 6 months. Until recently pretty much all German university students could apply for this pass, but from December 2012 the eligibility criteria have changed so that only students from certain universities may get the WHP. These are the selection criteria of the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (as of 16/03/2013):

"University undergraduates and graduates aged 18 to 25 years old of all nationalities studying in selected universities in the eight countries/territories: Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States.
The universities must be ranked among the top 200 in any of the following international rankings within the past five years:
- Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities 
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings"

Unfortunately my German university was not ranked among the top 200, when I applied less than a month after the new regulations were in place. Therefore, my WHP application was rejected.

Luckily, the company I will do my internship with was really supportive and they suggested to apply for the TEP. This visa means a lot more paperwork for the company as they were the ones applying for me. It also means that my internship will only be 3 months as that's the maximum duration the TEP is valid for it's not extendable.

The selection criteria are either a monthly salary of at least 3000 S-Dollar or the internship must be part of the study programme of an accepted institution. As my University requires me to do an internship either in Germany or abroad I was granted the visa even though I do not meet the salary criteria. To see all requirements please visit the website of the Ministry of Manpower.