Singapore Prepaid Top-Up

There are several ways to top up our prepaid phone...one way is obviously by buying the top up card from shops such as 7-eleven.

The preferred choice of prepaid phone top up in Singapore is by electronically. That's means top up via Internet (by using credit card) or through ATM. We shall get extra bonus by performing electronic top up (not to mention saving the environment, reducing top up card production...).



Top up Bonus Comparison between Telcos


From the above table, my Starhub offers one of the best deal in prepaid phone top up (Good Choice! ).

Little India Singapore

I went to Little India last Sunday afternoon to exchange some money. I was thining of going there to have a feel of the Deepavali environment and meet a friend near by.

I planned to go to the famous Mustafa Centre to exchange money. They published their rate online. I always used it as a guide. It is real time and updating very often. Although there is a Little India MRT station, we supposed to get down at Farrer Park MRT station, which is nearer.

Farrer Park MRT Station

First I got a bit lost of direction, since this is the first time I visit Little India. They are a lot of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani around there, on every street. The feeling is like you walking in a town in India. You are the only foreigner around the area.  After looking through the map, I managed to arrive at Mustafa Centre (although through the small alley...haha...).

Famous Mustafa Centre

The crowd was huge, mostly Indian. There are some Chinese, Malay, "white people" (foreigner as well, I think, do not understand what they are saying...), middle east, etc...But really trust me, the crowd was huge, (I didn't manage to take a photo in the shopping mall because worry will get caught). The feeling is like shopping in Sungai Wang (for Malaysia), the stall is every where, you do not know what to expect around the corner although they did organized by categories. But it is simply too many things and too small place. The walk way is very small, and the goods are all around. You cannot see the exit if there is an emergency.

The money changer is located at the ground floor. Since I have some time, I try to walk around. I try to find another money changer to compare price. After a while, I a bit lost inside the Mustafa Centre, I ended up coming out from the Serangoon Plaza (actually the two malls are linked). I managed to located another money changer beside Mustafa, but the rate is worse than it (about 0.002 cent).

I changed my money and goes off. I would not enjoy shopping here although the prie may be cheaper. There are jewellry, watches, clothes, souvenirs, foods, electrical appliances, etc. But it is too clamp. I do not like the atmosphere.

I went out and heading to the City Square Mall near by and meet my friend to have a drink. The weather in Singapore is just too hot. You sweat a lot when you walk from place to place (Malaysia, you just need to drive and park in the basement car park...).

Deepavali Decoration along the road



City Square Mall

Getting my Singapore EP Pass 2 --- After report to work at Singapore

My company is a Singapore based company. With the In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter for my Employment Pass (EP), I am allowed to start work with my Short Term Visit Pass (normally 30 days as stamped in our Malaysian passport). But without a valid EP, I am not able to rent a room as in Singapore, the owner of HDB flat is only allow to rent the house for valid work permit holder (to avoid illegal foreign workers)

Hence, after the new company orientation, the HR representative shall request the issuance of EP online (because they are my sponsor for this EP). SGD30 per year shall be paid by the company to Ministry of Manpower (MOM). A Notification Letter shall be generated.

After that, I shall need to make an online appointment to visit the EP Service Centre for fingerprint and to submit:
a) Notification Letter
b) Photo as the format required
c) Medical report (if required. For me, not needed, just need declared that I am healthy...)
d) Immigration White Card (IMM27), the one that we filled when we first touched down to singapore

With all my documents ready, the only outstanding task was to take a photo, i.e. Passport size but with white background.

Since I was not very familiar with the photoshop in Singapore, I took my photo in a small studio in a shopping mall, SGD16. My colleague advised me to take it at a photo booth, which is cheaper. But to play safe (normally studio aware of the requirement of the photo format), I decided to take in the studio...

Getting my Singapore EP Pass 1 --- Before arrived at Singapore

I am thinking of posting my experience of getting my Employement Pass (EP) few months ago.

I've started my EP application way before I report in to work in my new company when I am still in Malaysia. (This is one of the way for efficient statutory application process...)

The new company's HR sent me a form from MOM (Ministry of Manpower, SG), namely Employment Pass / S Pass Application Form (Form 8). It is just a typical government form, filling up your education qualification, working experience, family members, employer's detail, etc.

In Singapore, they classified the work permit by our fixed salary, S Pass for fixed salary >SGD1,800 per month and EP for fixed salary >SGD2,500 per month (there are another 3 categories for EP based on fixed monthly salary range).

Together with my scanned pass port, degree certificates,  professional certificates (if any) and passport photo (taken within three months) were sent to my new employer. (Important: Any non-English documents are required to submit a copy of the original and an official English translation certified by our embassy)

As applicant are not required to be present in Singapore while our application is being assessed, the employer can applies the EP by manual or online. My new employer perform the application online. There is a e-Government portal for online application with administrative fee of SGD10. My supporting documents shall be requested if required. A six month validity of In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter shall be generated electronically within seven days. It shall spell out the specific supporting documents to be submitted to MOM when I come over to collect my EP.

Therefore, we can start apply our EP even when we are still serving notice period in our previous company without travelling to Singapore.

Singapore MRT service

First thing when you touch down from the air plane at Changi Airport. Go to the MRT counter at Terminal 2 to purchase a EZ-link card. It is a need for you to travel around within the island.

You can use the EZ-link card for Bus, MRT and even some of the SMRT taxi. It is cheaper to travel using the EZ-link card compared to using cash or one-off reload card.



I bought a Street Directory book (which comes with a CD) and a Bus Travelling Guide for SGD12.90 and SGD2.50 respectively. It is not a must especially for the Bus Travelling Guide because you can get your reference from the SMRT or Transitlink web site. But the small Street Directory book does come in handy when you need to go to some place by foot, you can refer it there and then (if you do not have a GPS phone).

You do not really need the Bus Travelling Guide because on every bus stop there actually has a notice board that shows all the routes for the bus which passes by this bus stop. So you can know where you are going. Rule of thumb is that if you do not sure, just travel back to a MRT station and uses the MRT to commute to a place that you are familiar, because the route of the SMRT is published everywhere.




  The Bus Travelling Guide book is helpful only when your route in the bus is very long, you might miss the bus stop if you are not familiar. The bus conductor shall not annouced the bus stop name like the SMRT announcing the station name along the way. So you might loss count the number of stop the bus passes by (no stop if no passenger).



Singapore MRT Route Map



I normally shall use the journey planner to plan my journey to a new place where I never go before. You can know your fares also. From 3rd of July 2010, Singapore introduced a new fares system called Distance Fares, which suppose to be cheaper. My own experience is that if you are travelling in short distance without changing your mode of transport (meaning from MRT to bus or bus to MRT), the charges shall be more compared to the previous fare. But if you are travelling far and changing your mode of transport along the way, the overall Distance Fares is actually lower. Here is the Distance Fares Calculator to plan your journey.

I can says that the public commute system in Singapore is much more advance and comfortable as compared to Malaysia. The waiting time between each train is minimum in Singapore, no misses as Malaysia's KTM. The bus transport in Malaysia is no where near Singapore (although Singapore's also has its own flaws). Not enough numbers and limited route. Hence, in Malaysia, it is still very difficult to travel around without car. In Singapore, we able to reach our required destination by public transport.

Anyhow, I still miss driving around in Malaysia =p

Singapore Prepaid Phone

I heard from my friend which is working in Singapore that normally we can get a cooperate rate when subscribing to a Postpaid line. It may has a discount up to 20% of your monthly bill. But I did not have the employee pass when I first touched down to Singapore, therefore I planed to get a Prepaid SIM card first.

M1, Singtel and Starhub

There are three major telcos in Singapore, namely Singtel, Starhub and M1. I have made a comparison between the rate of each telco in their Prepaid offers.



Comparison Table between the Three Telcos

From a glance through the table, Singtel seems to be the choice since it has the lowest initial cost (as I planned to change to Postpaid when I get the employee pass). And the ratio of S$10/S$8, 1.25 seems to be higher than S$18/S$15, 1.20. But wait........ we should add the free local SMS into calculation, obviously Starhub is much superior with ratio of 1.40.

Both M1 and Singtel have the same calling rate, but M1 is rejected because the global call is at per min block. Although it seems again that Singtel is having a cheaper rate compared to Starhub......but Starhub charges is cheaper if you pass one minute and it is on per second billing. As a result, I've chosen Starhub!



My Starhub Prepaid Card



Mid Autumn Celebration in Singapore

I went to the Chinese Garden Mid Autumn Festival decoration event last Sunday (26th Sept). It was the last day of the event. It has been opened to public for visit since two weeks ago and there was a fire work event on the 15th in the eighth month of lunar calendar (22nd Sept).

Main Entrace

The Mid Autumn Festival atmosphere was much reduced on that day. The weather was hot (reached there around 5pm). Not many people walking around. I think mainly are foreigners like me. I heard about this event from a leaflet sent to my door step. With this leaflet I can exchange for a free lantern, and by the entrace you can get a token for free moon cake.

The garden is not very big. Not much decoration, may be have been taken down. I heard from my local friends, the Mid Autumn Lantern Festival is a yearly event in Chinese Garden, in 2008, the theme is Hello Kitty. In my opinion, this year the event is too near to the Singapore F1 race, thus, not many advertisement and emphasis on it. Below are some photos taken:





Pagoda

Chinese Zodiac Garden

Lake

Children Play Area

Exit to Chinese Garden MRT Station

I didn't stay until dark to see the light deco, it simply too hot...

There is a Japanese Garden adjacent to it, I shall visit it next time...I went back after bought a drink from a vending machine for SGD1.70...expesive...(Note: there is a drink seller just before MRT station, selling drinks at SGD1.00...)

BTW, saw someone playing cards under bamboo tree's shade...hahaha....

Initial Preparation to Work in Singapore 3 --- Travelling Over and Local Transport

Next, plan your Travelling:
It is always cheaper to book your return ticket from Singapore to Malaysia in Ringgit Malaysia. If possible, plan and book it together with your Malaysia to Singapore ticket. We should try to travel a few day earlier to Singapore and if possible even travel one months earlier to have a look around and make sure the accommodation that we found is suitable as described in the web site or photos.

Lastly, plan your Local Transport Route:
The rented place should not be too far from our working place. Without our own car, travelling early morning to work via public transport might be a nightmare. We need to wake up early and rush with the huge number of people (You shall know what I meant, ). We can buy a Street Directory and Bus Travelling Guide (only SGD2.50) as I did or just login to their web site for direction. Prepare few alternative route, especially for bus because it may be too full to get in. It is best to stay near by a SMRT station (expensive rental) or within walking distance (I am talking about walking distance of 15 to 20 minutes).

Hope these help!