All things domestic

Greetings all,
Well Kafil and I have moved into our house it is a spacious 3 bedroom terrace house in the suburbs. We had advice from a former expat that Bedok is a great area, with landed property(ie house) at less exorbitant rents. It is great for us childless expat couples as it does not have the premium rent of a place near one of the highly sought after international schools. It is about 15 minutes by MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) from town and only 4 stops from Changi airport.

Maria Avenue, is in the artistically named Opera Estate, and our part of the street is a cul de sac, which means no through traffic. Very different from being on the bus route in Charles Street.
The house has floor tiles and polished floors throughout, it is has air conditioning in 5 rooms and fans as well. Except the kitchen, unfortunately as this is seen as the maids area so no cooling or dishwasher. We will put a fan in the kitchen at our own cost, as the landlord has already installed a new oven and an extra a/c unit in the study. The kitchen has beautiful timber cabinetry which is new, and brand new stove top and oven. Most Singaporeans apparently do not cook much, they work long hours and tend to go out to eat most days hence we had to request an oven.

The house is lovely and light with a pretty bay window in the lounge dining area. The walls are solid concrete so we need to get a handyman in to hang our pictures up. I will post photos when
all is complete here.

We have a small courtyard type front yard with ample room for our barbecue a small one we bought over from Oz. Not having a car is not an issue as the Gas man, delivers a new bottle within 1/2 an hour of being called, for a very reasonable price.

Costs of living here varies immensely, it is expensive for lots of daily items, however if you do not demand brands and products from Australia fresh produce is not too pricey. Meat and fruit and vegetables are priced by the100 grams which is a little confusing at first. The MRT service is first class and Melbourne could really learn from the locals about how to run a transport system. It only costs 66cents per journey from one ticketed entry point to another. The train stations and trains are immaculately clean as no food drink or cigarettes are allowed. In the major underground stations there is a labyrinth of tunnels escalators and travellators, you can go from one station to another without seeing above ground for kilometres.

Today I felt it was time for a hair cut and I ventured into a stylish looking salon, under the HDB flats. ( Housing Devt Board High rise complexes with out the facilities of private apartments and condos) The HDB blocks, are self contained and have their own fresh food market, hawker centre ( cheap self service food from a variety of Asian flavourings) hardware shops, bakery etc.

I walked into the salon, (to the amazement of the 3 trendy youth working there) (not any other expats in the concourse) and braved it for a hair cut. It costs $5 extra for a hair wash and I thouht hang the expense. I was surprised when there was no evidence of a basin. The apprentice (I guess) put a plastic bag over my shoulders covered by a small hand towel. She then proceeded to wash my hair using the contents of a squeezy bottle!!! I was a little taken aback.
She then massaged and lathered my head and hair for ages, it felt very good, however the sight of me sitting with big peaks of shampoo being sculpted into my hair was not a good look.

Following the extensive head massage lathering, I was taken to a fully reclined hair wash chair were my hair was rinsed off before the cut, the hairstylist then took over. She was very thorough and seemed to cut each hair individually . When she had mostly finished she took me back to the basin to rinse out all the stray hairs. She then continued to snip and comb until she was satisfied with the result. My hair looked great very nicely styled and shaped, I will probably never replicate the look my self. All this for just $ 20.00 Sing, which is $16 Aus.!!! I will definitely go back.
Hope all is well and your not freezing
in the Aussie winter.

Love and Best Wishes
Kerri - Some random Bot Gardens
shots - the gazebo and Swan Lake!