Singapore 101: Riding in Singapore

Update: This post is the first among my Singapore 101 series where I hope to provide some basic information about various aspects of an expat lifestyle in Singapore.

It’s been around one and a half years since I started riding my Honda Phantom 200cc (motorbike) which is my first two wheeler in Singapore (overall 3rd one). Over the years, I get a lot of general questions about owning and riding a motorbike/two wheeler in Singapore. I would like to share some information which I learned after started riding here, which (I hope) will help a foreigner start riding in Singapore.

Pros & Cons

Before going to the details, here are some of the pros and cons of owning a two wheeler in Singapore.

The Good: Convenience & Cost Effectiveness - Even though Singapore boasts one of the best public transportation systems in the whole world, it can get really crowded during peak hours. During after hours, there is no public transportation at all when one has to depend on taxis which can get super expensive. Depending on the distance travelled, public transportation can sometimes get costly also. Having a two wheeler eliminates all of the above obstacles like long waiting periods for a bus or avoiding a traffic jam (which doesn’t affect a two wheeler as much as it affects a four wheeler).

The Bad: Climate - Since Singapore is a tropical country, it can rain anytime and it’s almost impossible and extremely dangerous to ride in rain. Fortunately, the rains here don’t last long.

The Ugly: Fatality - One small mistake can lead to far more serious consequences.

Getting a license

There are three classes of licenses to ride a two wheeler in Singapore.

1. Class 2B – To ride a two wheeler up to 200cc

2. Class 2A – To ride a two wheeler up to 400cc

3. Class 2 – To ride a two wheeler more than 400cc

To start with, one has to get a Class 2B license. To get a 2A license, one has to be a class 2B license holder and should not have more than 12 (traffic) demerit points for one year from the day he/she gets the 2B. (I am not sure about the details of demerit points. Also, it’s the same procedure for getting a class 2 license after getting a class 2A). To get a 2B license, one has to pass a theory exam, a test circuit (which comprises of obstacles like a narrow plank, crank course, pylon slalom, emergency braking etc) and a road test. For class 2A & 2, there is only a circuit test as you are supposed to know the basics of riding (both theory & practical road riding) already.

Before attending the test, one has to enroll in one of the three driving schools in Singapore and attend  various sessions. For example, for the 2A course, one has to attend 3 practical & 1 theory sessions. At the end of each class, the instructor has to certify the candidate is ready to attend the next class. Only after successfully completing the 3 classes that the candidate can appear for the exam. 

There is an option to convert an existing license from a person’s country of origin to an equivalent class (which I did) which will require one to write only a theory exam. For an Indian two wheeler license, up on conversion, you will receive a class 2B license. To receive class 2A & 2, one will have to go through the process described above.

p.s. Just getting a license is not enough for a person to ride a two wheeler, say a friend’s motorbike. He/she needs to have insurance for that particular vehicle.

Getting a two wheeler

One can either choose to get a brand new two wheeler or a used one depending on their specific needs. Different types of two wheelers include scramblers, sports bikes, cruisers, roasters, cubs etc. To register a two wheeler (in the case of a used one), all a person have to do is to go to the LTA office in Sing Ming Avenue with the owner (or his/her ID). It takes only around 5 minutes to complete a form and pay the fee.

General Tips & Information

Renewal of road tax & insurance, getting the vehicle inspected from an approved inspection center, routine maintenance etc are some of the other procedures which comes as a package with owning a two wheeler.

More information about owning a two wheeler can be found in the following links

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/

http://www.lta.gov.sg/

http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/onemotoring/en.html

http://www.bbdc.sg/

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php/164254-RE-quot-Help-me-choose-bike-pls!-quot

If you find a mistake in the post or if there is any critical information missing, please leave a comment.

Compassion

I watched this commercial for the first time, around a month back, when my friend shared it in Facebook. It was after my dinner on one of those hectic days, when all I wanted was to get my mind off everything else. So I was lazily browsing FB and I clicked on this video. At first, the music caught my attention. It was slow and relaxing. Slowly, the commercial got my full attention. By the time I finished watching it, I realized my eyes were filled with tears and I felt heavy at heart.

At first I told myself, “It’s just a silly commercial, you will grow over it”. But every time I watch this, it feels heavier.

Here, I am talking no more, decide for yourself!

“There are no perfect fathers, but a father will always love perfectly”

“When life is full of misery, what do we do most?”

Expedition to a Volcano

“…Isn’t like that?” my colleague asked me.

“Uh! Umm, I think so”, I replied, even though I had no clue about what he was talking.

He understood it. “Hey man, you are not listening, where are you, actually?” were his next words.

He was right, I was not there. Even though its almost a week since my last trip, I was finding it difficult to get back to the ‘real world’.

It all started when we (me and my better half) figured out that our ‘party stocks’ are nearing its completion. In order to stock up in ‘large volumes’, we needed access to the duty free shops in the airport. That’s when our friends Jaiwin & Aneesh told us about a trip, some of their friends were planning. “A weekend in a ‘not-so-heard-about’ place in Indonesia with a bunch of ‘not-much-known-before’ people” – that pretty much summarizes our impression about the trip. ‘Never-say-no-to-travel’ being our motto, we immediately signed up for it. It turned out to be one of the most memorable trips in our lives, both because of the place we visited and the new ‘company’ we discovered.

As the trip dates neared, I wanted to get some information about the previously unheard location - Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia. Wikitravel writes, “If a landscape was ever needed to demonstrate the meaning of the phrase desolate beauty, then this is surely it. Rugged, barren volcanic peaks, gravel plains and that sea of sand, truly unworldly” and it’s true to every single word. The main attraction is to watch the sunrise from Mount Pananjakan with the active volcanoes Mount Bromo & Mount Semeru and the Mount Batok in the back drop.

We started from Singapore around 8pm on a Friday and reached Surabaya airport around 11pm local time. Special thanks to our trip organizer - Balaji - and the location specialist – Ajay – for arranging everything. We started our journey to Mount Pananjakan right away as we wanted to be there for the sunrise. We had to change to 4x4 jeeps in between, which took us to the view point just in time for the sunrise. Even though a small crowd was already there, we managed to find a good spot at the tip of the view point.

Both the pre-dawn sky and the sunrise were breathtaking experiences

That’s us, with the mighty volcanoes in the backdrop

After the sunrise, we began our journey towards Mt. Bromo

We traveled through the Sea of Sand (literally)…

…towards the Poten Hindu temple which is the gateway towards Mt Bromo’s crater

From there, we climbed for around an hour towards the Bromo crater. This is not a place for anyone who has problems with dust. As the atmospheric temperature rises, heavy sandy winds mixed with volcanic ash makes you somehow want to get out of there.

But the raw beauty of nature makes you want to stay even more. If you are lucky enough, you can witness the mountain puffing out volcanic smoke from it’s under belly.

By the time we reached back the bottom and back to the ‘base camp’, we were extremely tired and hungry from to the lack of sleep and the trek/travel. After some ‘light refreshments’ from a nearby shop – after which, the shop was closed for the day - we started our journey back to Surabaya where our stay was arranged.

After checking in and some initial rest, we all got together at the infamous ‘room 231’ where later we all took the ‘oath of secrecy’ that whatever happened there, will be buried with us in our graves.

The next day we explored Surabaya town. We visited the Semporna museum where the major focus is given to the influence of tobacco in Indonesian culture.

We also visited an old church (I am not very sure of its significance)

After that, we pretty much walked around the town on our own, taking photos and enjoying the company of the locals. We headed back to our rooms before very late as we had an early morning flight to catch the next day. (What happened to all of us that last night also comes under our ‘oath of secrecy’ and is still a ‘highly controversial’ topic)

Next day, we boarded our flight back to Singapore, with our newly made friends, the still fresh smell of the volcanic ash and with the satisfaction of having known one of the most polite people in the whole world. No wonder, even after one week, I am unable to find my ‘balance’ with the so called ‘real world’ life!

Movie in 2 mins: “Mere brother ki Dulhan” (My brother’s fiance)

I am not a big fan of romantic comedies/musicals and I try my best to avoid one, especially the Bollywood ones. Within the first few minutes, any sane person can guess the whole story, down to the very fine details - predictability. At times, I make exceptions and watch them, usually when I am with my friends.

Last Sunday was one such occasion. I was visiting some friends and they suddenly planned for this movie - Mere brother ki Dulhan (My brother’s fiance). The moment I heard the name of the movie, I guessed the storyline. But when I found that the protagonist is played by Imran Khan, I was a bit hopeful. After all, his movies made me laugh (most of the times).

As expected, the story line was very clear within the first 10 minutes. Like the name ‘suggests’, the hero will fall in love with his brother’s fiancé. Since it’s a romantic Hindi movie, there MUST (keyword here is MUST) be a happy ending. There I was, watching a movie which I always try to avoid, because it’s just a waste of time. Even then I thought there will be something different, something which is not so obvious about the movie.

What I didn’t realize was the movie was so full of clichés and songs, even beyond my ‘wildest imaginations’. Read the following ‘quick replay’ in a ‘problem-solution’ format and decide for yourself whether any of these events sounds familiar.

Starting problem: Hero’s brother wants hero’s help to get married and settle down.

Solution: Hero goes on ‘bride-hunting’ for his brother, ends up at his old acquaintance (heroine – who rocks in looks and character). Their families also agree on the alliance.

New problem: Heroine wants to enjoy the last few hours, how can she?

Solution: Hero saves the hour and they have a great time together.

New problem: They fall in love (Aha!). Now, how will they make hero’s brother call off the wedding without embarrassing themselves?

Solution: Get hero’s brother’s old girl friend to flirt with hero. Seeing this, hero’s brother gets jealous and decides to run away with his old girl friend.

New problem: How will the family avoid the embarrassment?

Solution: Family asks our hero to marry the heroine.

And this whole thing goes with a north Indian wedding setting in its backdrop, with a song every 5 minutes (literally).

And so the Bollywood proved me wrong, again. I thought no one will watch the same old ‘winning Indian romantic movie formula’ after some time. After this movie I said to myself, that time has yet to come.

p.s. I didn’t give a spoiler warning as there is nothing ‘unpredictable’ to spoil.

Sabah: An experiment from God

According to the popular travel guide Lonely Planet, Sabah is the result of an experiment from God. It goes on like this, “After the first six days of work (creation), instead of resting, He wanted to see what happens if He takes an island, covered it with impenetrable jungle, add lot of new life forms and turned the temperature up to 40 deg C. The result is the ‘tropical Eden’ of Sabah”. In my opinion, to His test tube He also added some kind of “over-sizing” portion so that everything is either the biggest or the largest in the area.

Mt. Kinabalu – one of the tallest mountains in Southeast Asia is located in Sabah. On the other side of the state are the seductive blue coral reefs of Sipadan, also called ‘The Diver’s Mecca’. One of the world’s incredible cave systems and karst formations can be found in Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, the other state of Borneo (UNESCO world heritage site). Borneo is also home to the largest flower in the world – Rafflesia, the largest living arboreal animals – Orangutan and the list goes on and on.

Even though, I wanted to visit Sabah for the above stated reasons, none of the above was the actual reason I made my first visit to Kota Kinabalu last week. Two of my ‘self-proclaimed mountaineer’ friends were visiting the place for the sole purpose of ‘conquering Mt Kinabalu’ and exploring the Mulu caves (around 10days). Being a travel enthusiast, I immediately agreed on meeting them. Since everything was last minute, I couldn’t cater time for conquering the mountain or exploring the caves or diving with the sharks (yeah, sharks are the major attraction of Sipadan). So I decided to use this trip as a survey trip for planning the future expeditions. Also, this trip was different from my usual trips as I concentrated on ‘less traveled paths’ and of course, spending time with my friends and concentrating more on my photography skills.

Our stay - Hotel Jesselton, KK. Jesselton was the name of KK during the colonial period. Located at Gaya St. – still cobbled, another remnant of colonial rule

 Night markets of KK - Great place to spend time after dinner if you are a shopaholic, especially because there is a lot of room for bargaining.

 Handicrafts market in KK - It was too late by the time we reached there and most of the shops were closed. These shops will give you a peak in to the rich culture Borneo has to offer.

‘Street dining’ in KK – One can discover the local cuisines in its authentic form here

 We started our jungle/river boat ride from here. Located near a tropical reserve, this place is home to some of the unique species of flora and fauna.

The boat ride through the calm river during sunset was so relaxing

A lot of tourists – especially those from non-tropical countries seemed very curious about wild monkeys and got very agitated whenever one was sighted.

 A ‘family reunion’

 King of the trees -
During our jungle trek near the Mt. Kinabalu national park, the local guide pointed out this particular tree to be known as the king of trees

 Hanging Bridge Canopy walk – The view down below is overwhelming, but I wouldn’t recommend this for those who are afraid of heights and also afraid of walking on a ‘rope’.

 Nature at its best - After the trek we visited the poring hot springs. I have no idea why they call it hot springs when the water is cold and chilly. All my tiredness from the trek just vanished after a bath in the ‘natural’ pool.

 Mount Kinabalu hiding behind the clouds. A view from Pine Resorts near the national park

By the time we returned, the clouds were up on us and the air was chilly. Our guide had a hard time driving through the S-shaped roads.

 Sunday market in Gaya St. I found all sorts of interesting things in these shops. Both visitors and locals were shopping with equal enthusiasm

For Sale - A kitty in a pet stall in the market

Even though I spent around 3 days there, I parted with the feeling that I hadn’t even 'scratched the surface' of all the things I could do there – all the surprises Borneo holds. As my return flight was taking off, I was busy making a mental note of all the things I should do during my next visit.