Casino Wars: RW Sentosa vs Marina Bay Sands

There aren't many things that Singapore can claim to be better than Malaysia. With the recent opening of 2 casinos however, Singaporeans can now boast of having an extra casino than us. I did not miss the opportunity to visit both while I was there, strictly for research purposes of course.

We visited Resorts World Sentosa first, by taking the RW8 bus from Vivo City. It took us directly to the entrance, the word 'CASINO' in big & shiny capital letters hanged atop it. This is a proper entrance alright...no need to keep it hidden at the top floor like in Genting Highlands.

The entrance is divided into Singaporean & non-Singaporean sections. A very stern looking Chinese man stood in front it to check the passports of every tourist wanting to enter. He gave mine a long hard look before letting me in. This procedure is definitely less embarrassing than getting pull over by the police in Genting to check for IC (happened to me numerous times).

While Genting had a fleet of shiny Myvis & Alza to be given away & displayed along the corridor in conjunction with our National Day. Singaporeans have to make do with a Lamborghini Gallardo due to the lack of a national car maker. Tourists were crazily snapping away at the car as cameras weren't allowed beyond that point.

The casino itself was very nice, although it isn't as big as I first thought. Punters were crowded around a few tables (the others were either closed or empty), placing their bets quietly. The atmosphere is akin to a library.

I grabbed a cup of drink from a waiter who was busily walking around, handing out drinks. 'Hmm...hot Chinese tea, how healthy' I thought to myself after taking a sip. Walking around exploring the place, I reached the free drinks counter which served only hot Chinese tea (again!) & plain water. 'Milo must be very expensive in Singapore'.

We left the casino moments later, having to pass through the same cumbersome security checks at the exit. The new casino certainly looked impressive, but I wonder why the designers completely ignored some basic rules in casino building like having fugly carpets or not displaying the time (they had clocks inside).

Argh, my eyes!

One uniquely Asian element remained in the design though...feng shui. Like I said in my last post about casino, I am a man of science but here are some of the alleged feng shui incorporated into the layout.

If you took the escalators from the hotel, you will have to pass through these LED screens shaped like knives to cut you into pieces.

After that, you will have to walk pass a corridor with water like reflections projected onto the ceiling to drown you. The criss cross structure resembled a net trying to capture water fishes like you...

If you made it pass all of that alive, you will still be entering a casino situated at the deepest point of the resort, so you're practically entering Hell.

The feng shui arrangements are so powerful, even this peculiar sculpture of an elephant with a pyramid situated on top, is said to be deliberately placed to trap would be punters.

Beware the money grabbing elephant!

Note: Post about Marina Bay Sands will be coming soon. (Read it here)

A Beary Good Hostel, Singapore

Finding cheap accommodation in Singapore is difficult, more so if you are a Malaysian with the unfavourable exchange rate. The last time me and my girlfriend went for a visit (Jan 2010), we ended up staying in the red light district of Geylang. However for our most recent visit (July 2010), even the hotels in Geylang proved too expensive for our budget.

The only alternative really is to look for a backpacker hostel. We found one such hostel, the punnily named, A Beary Good Hostel located in Chinatown. I was a bit hesitant though having never stayed in such places before. They also do not have any private rooms, meaning we have to sleep on bunk beds in a dorm full of strangers.

But still, we took the plunge after reading nothing but glowing reviews of it from TripAdvisor. The relatively cheap price of $20 per night made things easier as well. Booking is done online through their website by placing a 10% deposit. They accidentally charged me double that amount though but did apologised profusely for the error. To make up for it, they threw in a couple of free drinks for us upon arrival.

The hostel is located right smack in the middle of Chinatown. Just alight at the MRT Chinatown station and head towards Exit A to Pagoda Street. At the exit, look up towards the row of shophouses on your left and you will see this sign...

We got ourselves a double decker bed near the window as per our request prior to booking. The entire room has 5 double decker beds in total and is very clean but slightly cramped due to limited space. Each occupant get their own locker but we being such amateurish backpackers did not bring our own lock, so we ended up purchasing 1 from the counter for $4. Rookie mistake.

The blanket provided was quite thin but luckily the air conditioning wasn't very cold at night. During our stay, all beds were occupied, mostly by mat sallehs but we did meet a young couple from Hong Kong who traveled to Singapore together with the guy's mum.

The lounge area is a cosy area with some books, DVDs, a PS3 and a Wii. However, the most popular devices by far were the 3 netbooks with Internet access, although typing on the tiny keyboard was pure torture. WiFi is also available FOC as well.

Glad to report that the toilets & shower facilities were all clean too. Yeah, simple things like clean toilets impressed the heck out of us Malaysians.

Breakfast is included as well, consisting of unlimited slices of plain bread & hot coffee or tea. For Malaysian travelers who insist on having some local fare in the morning, there is a huge bag of cereal clearly bought from a Tesco somewhere in Johor.

All in all, our 2 night stay at the hostel was very pleasant & comfortable. On top of that, you get to meet travelers from all over the world, plus the staff are incredibly friendly & helpful too. This is definitely a place I would recommend for those seeking a place to stay in Singapore on a shoestring budget. Heck, even if you aren't on a tight budget, you can still check this place out for the experience. Save those extra $$$ for the casinos ;)

Flying Low Cost From KLIA

Flying low cost in Malaysia usually means having to endure some slight discomfort while waiting for departure at the LCCT. However, plans are underway to construct a new mega low cost terminal (KLIA 2) that will make the current one look like a Tesco hypermart.

Once completed in 2012, the terminal will look something like these graphical renditions....damn cun I tell you!

But meanwhile, budget travelers are still going to end up stuck inside the factory-like environment of the LCCT. That is, if you insist on choosing Air Asia...

For our most recent trip to flood prone Singapore, we chose to fly with JetStar instead (my apologies Datuk Tony) because their fares were the cheapest around (when compared with both Air Asia & Tiger Airways). The best thing about them is that, we get to depart from KLIA.

So instead of dreary surroundings, we got shiny marble floors & carpeted waiting areas. There is also a Jungle Boardwalk that will let foreign tourists & city folks like me, experience being in the heart of a tropical rainforest.

Rainforest inside an airport. Or is it the other way round?

This almost made me forget I had a plane to catch

Are we really that near to the Equator?

Last but not least, a skybridge to our plane ;)

Back Up & Running

Hello world,

I has been a long time since I last blogged. Holy cow, my last post was dated more than a year ago. That was way back during my internship period in Miri before I seemingly just vanished. I have an explanation of course, I always do.

While undergoing my internship, I was completely consumed by work. I was giving my all to the company, leaving little time to blog properly. Being a perfectionist, I could not let myself churn out inferior blog posts (some people call that laziness but I beg to differ).

After finishing my industrial attachment, I transfered my single minded focus towards my final year studies & thesis. Sometimes, spending hours couped up inside the lab conducting experiments. By then, I had practically abandoned my blog & went into self-imposed exile.

Okay, there might be slight exaggeration on what actual happened but that's the way I would like to remember it.

But after staying away for so long, I had this sudden urge to revive 'Signs of Life'. My fingers are getting itchy. My girlfriend active blogging might have something to do with it as well (visit her blog here).

So, I hereby officially declared my blog to be up & running again. For now ;)

Of Oil, Seahorses & Crocs

Last week, my girlfriend visited me here in Miri bringing some much needed warmth from Semenanjung. I gladly became her tour guide for her short stay in Miri.

Our 1^st stop is the Petroleum Science Museum situated on top of the curiously named Canada Hill. This is where it all started, where oil was first found back during the days of the White Rajah.

Situated in front of the museum is a structure almost a century old, Well No 1 affectionately known as ‘The Grand Old Lady’, ignoring the obvious phallic symbolism behind the tall erection.

Exploration & production of oil moved offshore after the oil on top of the hill has been sucked dry. A few production platforms can actually be seen from the top of the hill, churning out thousands of barrels of oil per day that earned Miri the unofficial nickname of Oil Town.

Entrance to the strikingly designed museum is free but sadly many of the exhibits are in bad conditions.

After the short history lesson on oil & how it catalyzes the growth of the city, we visited another symbol of Miri - the Seahorse. While not as famous as their feline friends of Kuching, the mascot of the city can be found everywhere - in the middle of a roundabout, on key chains, on the signboard of a food court etc.

Perhaps the largest of them all is the Seahorse Lighthouse, which took us a couple of wrong turns before finally finding the place.

How a city known more for its oil came to be associated with the sea creature is unknown, but statues of seahorses in the middle of a busy roundabout are definitely more aesthetically pleasing than a monument of oil barrels.

The next day, we went to Brunei, a country so boring it deserves a blog post of its own.

On the 3^rd day & running out of places of attraction to go, we decided to visit Miri’s Crocodile Farm. Entrance fee is quite steep at RM 10 & since it’s a Monday, the place is eerily deserted. There is a mini zoo if crocodiles aren’t exactly your cup of tea.

Not much to see though except for some bored looking monkeys, a sleeping leopard cat, a hungry & desperate stork chewing on rocks, a pair of stressed out sun bears and what the sign claimed to be the world’s most dangerous bird, the Cassowary.

The desperate stork

But the star attraction is of course the crocs. We climb up the wooden platform, built using planks with gaps in between so you can have a good look of your killer in the unfortunate incident of one of the planks giving way, to have a better view.

Crocodiles aren’t very animated or active creatures, preferring to lie around for hours on end under the sun. Having been around since the time of dinosaurs, I believed such behavior to be the pinnacle of evolution.

It’s supposed to be feeding time at 11.30am but perhaps due to the global economic slowdown, there isn’t any chicken throwing feeding frenzy that day. I am sure the crocs aren’t happy with such cost cutting measures. Somebody bail out these poor crocodile farmers please…

Just before the exit is the obligatory souvenir shop, for those who preferred their crocodiles dead and in a variety of colours.

Before flying back to KL, she bought some black pepper & rattan baskets as souvenirs from exotic Sarawak. That concludes our little tour of Miri city and it will be a couple of months before we see each other again.

There Is Something About Miri

Kolok Mee

Miri people have an unhealthy obsession with kolok mee. There are stalls selling the exact kind of noodles EVERYWHERE!

Kolok mee is actually like wantan noodles tossed in oil, top with minced pork & char siew. Unlike wantan mee though, it does not have soy sauce so it looks pale in comparison.

It's simple & cheap, you can get a bowl at around RM2.30. But I find it bland & oily. The popularity of this noodle really baffles me.

Maybe it's an acquired taste. Maybe it will slowly fall in love with it. Maybe I will even crave it when I went back to KL. But right now...I am just not that into it.

This is kinda cute

Pimp My 4WD

I had this impression that many people in Sabah & Sarawak drove 4WD because of the bad condition of their roads. But I found out that it's only partially true here in Miri.

You are more likely to find Myvis & SLKs (Small Little Kancils) on the roads than pick up trucks. That being said, pick up trucks are a common sight around town.

And they are not ordinary 4WDs mind you. The 4WDs here are usually extensively modified with large chrome grilles & bling bling wheels. They make the Kelisa-with-oversized-exhaust-pipes owners in Semenanjung look like wussies.

The roads in Miri aren't that bad either. In fact, I am surprised the pick up truck isn't as popular in KL, it will be perfect for navigating our pot hole filled roads.

This is just desperate

1Malaysia

Aah..this is the latest buzz word coined by our beloved & highly respected PM. I can probably imagine the reaction of the people here in this part of Malaysia to be...

"Har? What is that guy on the TV talking about?"

People here in Miri learn to coexist in harmony with each other. Not far from our office, a church stood side by side a mosque sharing a common perimeter fence.

Some Chinese can speak Iban, while the Ibans can speak Foochow.

Just last week, while I was 'enjoying' my non-halal kolok mee in a Chinese kopitiam, I saw a Muslim family sit a few tables away ordering food from a Muslim operated stall situated in the same shop.

I must be the only one who noticed it as the other patrons continued enjoying their breakfast without batting an eye.

1Malaysia? People here have been living as one all along.

That Sinking Feeling

The tranquil surroundings of the training ground

" Intern will most likely be required to commute to our offshore facilities "

I was quite excited when I found out about this in my confirmation letter. After all, not everybody gets the chance to commute to an offshore platform in the middle of the sea.

The closest I have been to it is in PetroSains, but instead of fighting for tickets with hyperactive schoolkids for entry to the platform, this time I am going to the real thing.

And because of that, I need to clear 1 last hurdle before I am deem worthy.....the Basic Offshore Safety Emergency Training

The 3 day training is conducted at SMTC's training ground not far from our office. We get a rough idea of what to expect from our conversation with colleagues who had done it all before.

Of course, they told us it's going to be a fun & enjoyable ride. Yeah, right...




First thing that you will notice after stepping into the training ground is the large swimming pool. You see that 2 storey high platform in the pic, that's where we are supposed to jump from as part of the training.

But for the 1st day, we did not do any water related activities. Instead, we learn all about FIRE & FIREFIGHTING. For the practical training, each of us took turns to enter into a Smoke Room, which if you haven't realised already, is a room completely filled with smoke.

The Smoke Room is actually the little container
beneath the helicopter

Don't be fooled by the small size of the room. It's very dark inside, you won't be able to see a thing. The trick here is to keep your right hand in constant contact with the wall & sooner or later you will reach the exit.

Then we moved on to extinguishing a fire with, well a fire extinguisher. This is the same thing a bomba will demonstrate to you during one of those dreaded fire drills. Somehow, I haven't tried doing it before because I was *cough* too shy to volunteer every time they came to my school.

There is no exception here though, so everybody has to do it ala Burning Flame.

On the 2nd day, we did our Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET). And yes, it is really as scary as it sounds.




For the HUET, we are supposed to use this thingy called the Emergency Breathing System (EBS). This thing is suppose to help us breathe 'normally' when we went underwater. We had to breathe through our mouth instead of nose, it is quite a challenge and definitely not 'normal'.

Now is a good time to start panicking

Then, we got into a fake helicopter & where they slowly dunk us into the water. Once the water reaches chest level, we all deployed our EBS. Before long the whole heli went underwater & PANIC kicks in!

I unbuckled my belts quicker than you can say 'Houdini' & immediately drag myself out of the damned thing thru the window.

Ever wonder what it feels like to be inside a spinning
washing machine?

It's very scary, more so for a non swimmer like me. I am not even using the EBS correctly, just virtually holding my breath & clinging on for dear life.

The worst part is we had to get back in for another 2 rounds. For the 2 rounds, the heli was capsizing & we were being turned upside down. It's even scarier as we remained underwater for a longer period of time.

Can't believe the company actually paid RM1000+ for us to undergo this kind of torture. It's like volunteering ourselves for waterboarding.

The whole heli sinks faster than the global economy

The 3rd & final day is also spent mostly in the pool. This time we had our lifejacket on & had to do all the survival techniques such as chain swimming, huddling & the survival circle. I actually enjoyed this part, with the lifejacket on you felt like you are lying on top of a giant water bed.

Doing the survival circle

And finally before we can get the safety endorsement, we had to jump from 8 metres into the pool! Suddenly the platform looks so much higher than the one I remember seeing during the 1st day.

Looking down to the wavy waters underneath will make you develop vertigo instantly. But there's no turning back from there.

When it's my turn to jump, I strode up to the platform & stood at the very edge of it. One hand covered my nose while another held on to my lifejacket. Then, I took 1 look below to make sure there's no obstacles. Took a step forward & just plunged downwards.

The most important thing here is to cross your legs, or else there will be no more happy hours for you according to my trainer.

With that, I concluded my BOSET Training. I got my safety endorsement, a certificate & a car sticker that reads...

I SURVIVED SMTC!