Weekend getaway to HK and Macau

Hello!

This post is a #throwback. The one good thing in not having lectures after wednesdays are long weekends. And long weekends are excellent traveling opportunities. So in october we waved Singapore goodbye one friday morning and took a flight to Hong Kong. The public transportation is well organized, and cheap! From the airport, we took a local bus to Kowloon (for you who don't know, not the HK island) where our hotel was.

Friday was merely sightseeing and catching up with old friends studying in Hong Kong. We had lunch in a fabulous organic restaurant called Mana - just go there, you'll love it! After our highly healthy meal we wandered around the city center and went to Victoria Peak to take the mandatory tourist pics. It is true, the Hong Kong skyline is beautiful in the night - but Singapore's is pretty during the day too ;). Late evening drinks and we were off to bed, for saturday was going to be all about hiking!

On saturday we ate way too much in the hotel breakfast buffet (who wouldn't?) and hopped on the MTR . Our destination was the Lantau island and -at least we thought so - the big buddha. At Lantau we had to take a local bus to the other side of the island, where we wandered in a little fisherman's village. Seriously, I have no idea what their problem is, but they have an issue with dried fish. And dead fish. And some were barely living! I have to say I didn't quite get the attractive part of the smelly dried fish, but there's gotta be something to it. After we had enough of our chinese experience we started our hike. With extremely good instructions: "Follow to sea shells." Hmm. Ok, got it..? :D Well, it soon came clear to us that big B is not on our hike, but the views were astonishing! Funny to imagine how in one city, there can be so much variety in terms of surroundings. I led our group up some stairs and up to a path going somewhere - I had seriously no idea, and neither did anyone else - but we hoped to find what we were looking for. And so we did, and incredibly beautiful infinity pool in the middle of the mountains! The water was extremely cold, but totally worth it, after our long hike! =)

At some point we started feeling hungry, so we headed pack to the city, got changed and went for italian. The evening continued with a french bar and…

Sunday was a bit more challenging.. :D More sightseeing, avenue of stars and dim sum made our day together with drinks at Ozone. In the evening we left to Macau, the weirdest place I've been so far.

Macau's casinos were full of crazy chinese people gambling throughout the night. The old city was actually quite pretty with the chinese-portuguese mixture, but the city was much more chinese than Hong Kong. I didn't see a single cafeteria in the city, apparently there are some though. On monday we headed back to Hong Kong by boat (costs about 15 euros!) and from there back to Singapore. The mini vacay was well needed, for we had been in Singapore for almost a month without traveling!

NUS course reflection

It's weird how fast time goes during your exchange, even though you kind of knew it will happen. I basically have 2,5 weeks left in Singapore… We had our last lectures on the 15th, so now it's time to do a bit sightseeing in SG. The best thing is to take courses with in class exams or quizzes so that you could start traveling straight away in mid november. Unfortunately I have still two exams coming up, Management and Organization and Asian Business Environments (2nd and 4th of Dec).

As I earlier wrote about the courses ( I study in the business school) it's time to reflect upon them a bit as all deadlines are met. I enrolled to 4 courses in NUS, due to the difficulty of getting desired courses. First, as you arrive here - I am quite sure you don't have all the courses you need or want - you'll need to go threw add/drop period, where you can bid for courses. If you still don't get the courses you want, the last step is to fight with the NUS Staff (ok fighting is a bit of a exaggeration, the staff was extremely helpful and easy to communicate with!). One just has to politely ask them if you could get the course and hope for the best.

The course I got that way was Service Operations Management. I think the most fun part of the course has been the group project, in which we were to choose a singaporean company and analyze their service operations. My group chose 360 Cable-ski park. We interviewed the manager and so on… As the company is about wake boarding, i don't know how much more fun a Uni project can go.. :D Also the professor was hilarious! As the lectures were mandatory, he provided good entertainment value (of course in addition to the educational aspect! ;) ). The course ended with a quiz last week, so I recommend it in terms of quality AND traveling!

Family Business was my favorite course by far. We had to in class exams, basically cases of family businesses. Readings were cases, which we discussed in class (a lot of discussion!). No textbooks. We had several guest lecturers, who are running family businesses in Singapore, which was very much to my liking. In addition we had a group project, where we looked into an asian family business. Of this course, I am totally over with too.

Management and Organization on the other hand still haunts, as my exam is in december. The tutorials of the course were every second week, consisting mostly case analyzation (we were to prepare them beforehand). Asian Business Environments also had weekly tutorials, but the material prepared were articles (ranging from 40 to 60 pages each, yap…). In every course, we had a group project, and in M&O we were to analyze some company from a certain perspective - we had ethics. In Asian Business Environments, on the other hand, the group project was analyzation of a given case. The tutorials of ABE are quite intense, and you'll want to prepare for them, as you can be asked to provide an answer about what some author thinks based on an article.

Funny that school started the 2nd of August with orientation and registration and it's already been over three months since that.

And oh,

NUS ranked top Uni of Asia in the QS World University Rankings ;)

Yes, courses for both undergrad and grad -students! Courses are in english, surprise surprise, and if you study in biz school, you can take courses from the faculty freely.

Next up a bit of Hong Kong and Macau ;)

BALI BABY ;)

So after i came back from Cambodia, I had one week before Recess Week (locals study - exchangers travel surprise surprise!). I celebrated by birthday by dining in ODP, Open Door Policy, a well known restaurant in SG. I never knew I love watercress soup, but after that I sure did! Next up came the weekend with the Formula 1 races -suuuper cool! After an amazing weekend chilling at Marina Bay Sands infinity pool (google it) and the Singapore GP came the time for Bali! (We are still in september)

My week in paradise started with us, seven girls, getting comfortable in our villa in Seminyak - and yes, I am aware it is never a good idea to put 7 girls in on house for a week.. :D I am a pasta lover. In Singapore pasta is expensive. So the first thing I did was ate pasta ( heavennnnnn!!!). The days to come we spent chilling at the beach (again remember to bargain!), surfing and exploring Bali. Our favorite spot on the beach was in front of Anantara hotel; they had free wifi and it was convenient to use their luxury bathrooms during the day. :P

One day the owner of our villa J, took us to Rock bar, almost a must do in Bali. The former Carl Ritz, now Ayana Resort houses one of the coolest bars in Asia. It is build under a cliff, so as you sip your cocktail you'll see the waves break just in front of you. Also the sunset view in something people staying all around the island come to see. As you might guess, it is extremely expensive compared to Indonesian price level, but totally worth it if you go for a drink or two. The minus part was the customer service in my opinion - so don't expect them to know how to be too professional, they don't sometimes know how to use their own head. Of course their are some staff with a bit of brain activity too ;).

On our last night, we went to dine at Jimbaran, a long beach full of restaurants side by side actually on the beach. They serve outrageously good seafood - and the price is good too! So the last night we spent relaxing eating well and drinking balinese wine. I thought I would never say this, but balinese wine is actually GOOD! (!!!!!!)

Sunset at Jimbaran

And one last thing! Do your shopping at Kuta, for Seminyak is overpriced.

To Angkorwat and back

We had an e-learning week in september - such a genius idea! We theoretically have school, but in order to practice for epidemics like swine flu everything is done online - NO LECTURE NO TUTORIALS (score!). It was obvious that such an opportunity shouldn't be left unnoticed, so we decided to go for a weeks vacation (because exchange life is so hard) to Cambodia! Flights there are usually not alot more than 100€ and the country itself could be considered cheap.

So our journey began by flying to Phnom Penh. At the airport cafeteria (we needed breakfast) we met two Singaporean girls also on a mini vacay. We joined forces and shared a tuktuk to the city center and tried to navigate our way to the right bus terminal. There are multiple transport companies operations from Phnom Penh to elsewhere, and we were determined to take the best one, Giant Ibis (has wifi) to Sihanoukville. Unfortunately it was full, so we made our way to another reputable company Mekong Express. There were no free seats for Sihanoukville left that day, so we decided to change plans and accompany our new friends to Siem Reap. The bustrip takes for quite a while, so wi-fi was very welcomed!

At Siem Reap there are multiple hostels, and rooms are cheap. I shared a room with a friend, both ending up paying 7 euros/night. The Siem Reap center is full of life during evening - restaurants and bars for every liking. For many travelers -as well for us - the main thing to do are the Angkorwat temples. The sunrise is super beautiful there, but be prepared to wake up 5am! (yes i was tired.) Note that there always tons of tourists watching the sunrise, so don't expect to be alone. We also ate breakfast there (PANKAKES). You can literally spend a day at the temples, but from 6am to 11 was already enough. Remember to take something to cover your shoulders and knees if you want to access all the temples. You'll also need a tuktuk for the day (even if you like to walk, the sun will be overpowering and the distances are long). Try to bargain with the drivers, don't pay over 15USD.

Monks doing their thing

Just a bit after sunrise

After the temples, we headed to the floating village, a place only accessible by boat. We rented a boat with driver. I recommend you to stop somewhere in the village for a meal - the fish they have and cook are GOOD. They will try to take you to an orphanage so that you'll buy overpriced rice from the villagers and donate it to the children. The idea of helping children appeals to all, but the fact I personally didn't like about was how they commercialized it and made the children a tourist attraction - a normal childhood? sure!

Locals fishing and chilling

The Floating Village

From Siem Reap we continued to Sihanoukville - our planned starting destination - by minibus. Wifi was once again promised, which didn't work for long. IF you are TALL, it might be slightly uncomfy, for the transports aren't always designed for westerns... Anyhow, we spent three days in Sihanoukville, eating well in our hotel breakfast buffée and the seaside restaurants. Here is were we had to study a bit, so alot of Sihanoukvilles treasures are yet to be discovered by us. For our last night we went back to Phnom Penh. Our hotel (I DO RECOMMEND IT) was extremely good and cheap compared to the quality. The Teahouse Hotel was new and the staff were customer oriented. As a nice surprise, our room was upgraded, as they had ran out of the standard rooms.

TeaHouse Hotel

One thing to take into consideration when you travel to Cambodia is the rainy season. We were there during that time, which was actually quite nice. It was hot but not exhausting, and yes we did get tanned! And oh, like in most parts of Asia, the drivers are all insane!

Our driver blocked the road... No idea what was his master plan

ASIA TRAVELLLLLING

SO. Now that I'm over talking about Uni, I can concentrate on topics I consider more fun. Like traveling. Time goes unbelievably quickly! I've already been in Singapore for two (2) months! Even though I must confess, three weeks of that time I've been traveling abroad..

One thing good to remember is that the prepaid card you have for your phone doesn't work abroad. It might be good to carry your finnish sim with you abroad, so you can reach people. It is convenient assuming you aren't traveling all by yourself.

#throwback

I started my "see asia" travels with Tioman, a small island in eastern Malaysia. It's a super cute island, where you can do snorkeling, diving and tanning, for example. It's beaches are actually small, so  - walks on the beach and stuff, you know - don't exactly work. We did a day trip on a small boat around the island, stopping in a few places to do snorkeling (saw some awesome fishies and corals - and a shark!!!!), eat and to check out a cute waterfall. If you are not a BIG crew, i mean BIG CREW, don't spend more than one weekend at the island. You might get bored xD. It's more of a backpackers place, and so, is not the cleanest.
Also REMEMBER to check the room out before you actually take it !!!!! The negative part of the island is that most of the hostels/hotels have a bug problem... So if you have a room there, i do recommend you to pack all your stuff in plastic bags (minigrips of 6L, can be bought from IKEA) and don't keep your bags on the floor. Or you might end up having a bug problem back home in Singapore (we have heard of such cases).
You can't really walk through the island, for it is all jungle and mountainy. It's a nice weekend getaway though, and doesn't cost almost ANYTHING. The bus trip there takes about 4-5 hours, changing the bus in Malaysia. You should take a morning bus, leaving 6AM or so, because the ferries from Mersing to the island don't operate during the evenings due to the tides. There are several bus companies, but we took the public transport from close to Little India. Back and forth, our bus trips cost in total about 10 to 15 euros. Not BAAAD!

From Mersing

Boat trip around Tioma

The "Waterfall"

Our driver.. found it more relaxing just to chill in the front

Children playing at Tioman

One of our snorkeling sites

Next up was KL. To Kuala Lumpur we also did a one-weekend-trip. The perfect amount of time to spend there. In KL, you can do a lot of shopping, at least Clinique's lotions were a lot cheaper than in Finland! Stay at Chinatown, you'll get a good price for your stay there. Again, bug alert! We stayed in Swiss Inn, which was an excellent choice, cheap and good quality (bug-free). It's in the heart of Chinatown, so the little shops on the street, or market area if you like to call it so, was right in front of us. Remember to bargain, BIG TIME. You can find nice stuff there, just remember the quality is what it is. Take a transport from your hotel to Batu Caves, remember to ask the driver to wait for you. It's hard to get a taxi back, and they'll charge you overprice. Check out the Petronas and do some shopping in the city center. Get drinks at the Trader's hotel Sky bar. You'll get a cool view to Petronas, the drinks not being too expensive. If it's sunny, take your swimwear with you, they also have a pool to cool down at the bar. If you actually want to go up the Petronas, go early enough. They have a limited amount of people going up there per day. Another option would be the Menara tower, the seventh tallest communication tower. If you like walking, KL is actually ok for that. I liked exploring the city by foot and walking from tower to tower. From chinatown we also went jogging one morning to checkout the National Mosque on the opposite side of the river.

To KL you can always fly (quite cheap), but you can also go by bus (even cheaper). In all, the buss trip will be around the same duration as the flight taking into account checkins, security checks, boardings, the flight itself, and then getting to the city from the airport, as the airport isn't exactly close to KL. We did the trip by bus. The seats are normally comfy and you can do studying on the way, or read, or sleep. It's a nice way of seeing a little of Malaysia besides KL.

Oh, and one thing; Embrace yourself, for the smell of durian cannot be avoided in Chinatown. If your not completely bonkers, you'll find it appalling.

Entrance to Batu Caves. Not seen in the picture, there is a giant golden budha on the right side.

Watch out for the monkeys! They'll steel it from you!

Central KL, between Petronas and Trader's hotel

Menara Tower

View to the city

Next up in the blog Cambodia and Bali... ;)

Living in central SG

Many coming to Singapore might be weighing the options of living on campus and renting a condo from the city center with friends. Living on campus is of course a lot cheaper and you have all the facilities you need available. The negative part is that it'll take a long time to get to the city. I made the decision to live in the city -YOLO. My condo is located between Orchard road (the street of multiple shopping centers and an endless amount of shops) and Clark Quay ( the nro.1 clubbing area). So even if I say it myself: not bad at all! And the condos in Singapore aren't all that bad; they normally include swimming pools and gyms. Mine has also tennis and squash courts. So if you prefer living in the heart of the city you should consider a condo. You'll share it with about 5 other people, but hey, that'll just be your SG family. The best case scenario you will have a blast - I got lucky. It's also nice to live in a condo for pre-drinks! ;)

Aspen Heights condo pool area

I personally love living in the heart of the city. It's only a quick walk home from most of the clubs during nights (that's when you really appreciate it!) or a 5min cab drive. As i earlier said, the MRT's and busses are fairly well organized. It's quite humid during the days, but if you can stand the heat I recommend you to go for a run to Fort Canning park and continue to the riverside from Clark Quay to Marina Bay. I wouldn't say that its a boring jogging route ! =) Getting back to SG nightlife, wednesdays are called ladies' nights - I you don't belong to the right gender, this isn't your lucky day. Some clubs have really nice offers for girls! (read free drinks all night) Singapore has many pretty nice rooftop bars too. If you happen to be here during the national day Ku De Ta or 1-Altitude offer a nice view to the fireworks.

the walk down to Marina Bay

1-Altitude view

School? Yes, no, maybe so

Next up the mandatory (and mostly boring) part of an exchange blog: School. Yes, we actually do ho to school. Some days. The best tip I got was that courses aren't exactly all super exiting, so don't worry about your courses. In Sg most of the courses you choose before hand will change, so rather than stressing wether you get organizational effectiveness or human resource management, focus on the timetables. It actually isn't even easy to get the desired courses in NUS. Ou, I hope that I mentiones that I study in NUS (National University of Singapore), in Biz school - as we like to call it.

Surprisingly most of my courses have turned out interesting ( maybe cause I study accounting everything else seems extremely interesting...) I am doing 4 courses, technically the required amount is 5. I've played my cards right, cause I have classes only monday -wednesday - including both lectures and tutorials. Remember to check the tutorial timetables before deciding on a course! Two of my courses have a final exam, two don't. Try to maximize no final exam courses - vacation earlier ( mid november)! So you should spend some extra time in the beginning in sg to figure out your timetables, you'll thank tourself later.

Briefly about the courses (the unofficial guide for exchangers)

BSP2005 Asian Business Environments

The course consists of mass lectures ans tutorials (mandatory conversation of cases). Lecture attendance: don't have to. The lectures are put in ivle, schools into/weboodi or something like that in the form of a webcast. You do one group case study and participate during tutorials. There's also one written work ahead, don't know the details yet. Just as the name says, it takes a look in different business environments in Asia. Interesting topic, in reality: could be more interesting. Has a final exam (faillll)

DSC3203 Service Operations Management

Only lectures and a group assignmemt (real life cas:  required to study a Singaporean company and look into their operations. Mandatory attendance. Super funny professor! Oh yes - and one big quiz! So there's no final exam (traveltraveltravel). I recommend you to choose an interesting company - we took a cableski park, so I've really got no chooce but to try their services out (how unfortunate ;) ).
I like the course super much! Partly thanks to the great peofessor!

BSP3513  Family Business

My other favourite course. No final exam, one bigger group assignment. Mandatory attendance during lectures, no tutorials. A great professor, who actually does like Finland! There is a midterm exam, actually next week, but as we don't have any books, it will consist of minicases. During lectures we look into various family business cases, aldo Ahlström from Finland. For these discussions we read the cases beforehand and answer prestated questions. This course is highly recommended! (By me myself and i)

MNO1001x Management nd Organization

A basic level course consisting of lwctures and tutorials. Lectures not mandatory (mass lectures) but tutorials are. During tutorials cases are discussed. There is also one big group assignment and a final exam. The tutorial instructors are mainly great and have a great sense of humor.

The one funny thing about many asians during school is their way of studying. Singaporeans do have a high workethic, but hey, taking notes of what i say during lectures..? A bit overboard don't you think? Even though i have to admit that my opinions are highly intellectual - without question. xD A friend suggested that I try talking total bullshit just for my own anmusement, might even try it!