A Trip to the Local Post Office

Sometimes it's the little differences that can be particularly interesting. Take a trip to the post office, for example. With Mothers Day coming, we needed to post some cards and figured we'd just bring them to the PO. Besides, the main branch near where we live was just recently upgraded, so we wanted to check it out.

The Singapore Post Office, SingPost for short, has a history that dates back to the 19th century and Sir Stamford Raffles. (This is not surprising because just about everything here has or at least claims some connection to Raffles.) It is a very modern and efficient enterprise. If you mail something before 5:00 PM anywhere on the island, it will be delivered to any address in Singapore the next working day. Sure, it's a small island, but still it generates about 2.7 million pieces of mail every day. One of the tricks of the trade is the postal code system. Each major building in Singapore has it's own six-digit postal code. And it's not just SingPost that uses this. You can hail a taxi by sending a text message from your cell phone with the postal code of your location.

Posting a letter locally costs 26¢ (US 17¢) for 20g (about 0.70 oz) or 32¢ (US 21¢) for 40g. Overseas to the USA costs $1.10 (US 74¢) for first 20g and 35¢ (US 23¢) for each addition 10g. Airmail postcards are 50¢ (US 34¢). Typical delivery time for airmail to the US is 6-8 working days; surface mail is 6-10 weeks. By comparison, it's only 3-5 days to Japan or Hong Kong for airmail.


Upon entering the Killiney branch, the first thing you notice is the lack of queues. Instead, you take a number from a machine and have a seat until your number is called. Or, if you have the need, you can shop for a new cell phone or rice cooker. The PO is also a retail center with items that go far beyond the usual philatelic novelties like commemorative editions (although they have these, too). When your number comes up on the display board, you go up to the counter and transact your business. What's a bit different is that they will sell you the stamps, but you need to affix them and then take them outside to the posting box.

And if you don't want to queue, there are also Self-service Automated Machines (SAMs) all over the island, in shopping malls and subway stations. You can buy stamps; and many will weigh your mail and calculate the postage for you. Payment is by credit card, a NETS card, or cash card. (The last two items are local EFT and stored value cards.) You can also pay bills, pick up movie tickets, and a variety of other transactions. One thing that's a bit peculiar (but perhaps consistent with the counter service) is that there is no place to actually post your letters at a SAM. You have to take them to the post office.

The entire process took about 15 minutes and we were back on our afternoon walk.

The Quick Malay Getaway

Good Friday is a public holiday in Singapore so we took the opportunity to make a quick trip up to the capital of our neighbor. Kuala Lumpur is about 220 miles from Singapore.

Although it's a 5+ hour drive, the stories (and myths) of driving a Singapore registered car in Malaysia are frequent topics of expat talk. They are similar to discussions in Texas about driving your car into Mexico - which border crossing, which route, and what destination. We opted not to add that element to our adventure, so we found a cheap airfare and made the trip by air. The other option was to take a motor coach, and there is a slow train that also makes the trip.

We got some tips on places to stay, things to do, and of course places to eat from our friends. Once we got there, we managed it all using public transportation (trains, monorails, and taxis) all of which were convenient and affordable.

Here are the photos of the some of the highlights. It was a fast trip: we arrived around 8PM on Friday and left at 8:30 AM on Sunday. We had a great time making the most of the trip and will gladly return.

Keeping It Clean

When you're out and about exploring all the interesting things here, sooner or later you get the "call of nature." What to do? Unlike many other places in this part of the world, this is not something you need to be overly concerned about. That's because there are plenty of public washrooms.

And they are clean. Among the cleanest (if not the cleanest) in Asia.

This being Singapore, this is not something that has happened by accident. The National Environment Agency, part of the Singaporean government, is responsible for keeping things clean and green. They oversee a variety of initiatives and programs ranging from the the local weather forecasting and pollution control to things like the management of the hawker centers (food courts) and public hygiene. This includes the public toilet system program, complete with a formal operating and maintenance guide.

The NEA also provides clever, catchy posters that are posted in many the toilets. Some of the points are pretty self-explanatory and common sense. However, some might require some explanation if you haven't traveled in Asia.

There are two types of toilets here, one of which is the "seat" type that is pervasive in the USA and Europe. The other is the "squat" type that you find just about everywhere in Asia. Both styles are available in just about every public toilet, so you always have a choice. Yet another way East meets West in Singapore.

Beyond the obvious difference between squatting and sitting, the techniques of using each style are different (example: you face away from the plumbing when using the seat variety and toward it when using the squat variety).

Judging from the posters, there must not be many cases of people attempting to sit on a squat toilet. But apparently, when the squat toilets are occupied, some people try to use a seat toilet using the squat methodology. The results are problematic, ranging from discourteous (dirty footprints on the seat), to the unsanitary (squat toilet have larger "target areas"), to the disgustingly disastrous (loosing ones footing).

The posters make this pretty clear.

And it is things like this -- the situations and problems of every day life that we had never thought about before -- that continue to make our experiences here so interesting and, well, educational.