Musings from Singapore: my home away from home

The entry gate to my building,
guarded by some statues.

The sculptures.

While living in Singapore, I'm staying in a serviced apartment building. I have a key card and enter a gate downstairs, proceed through the "lobby" to the elevator and then my apartment.





By lobby, I mean the open air entry way on the first floor, which doubles as a parking lot that only ever has one car in it. It's a burgundy Jaguar that never moves. There are also wicker couches and chairs (that I rarely see people sit in) and lots of sculptures. Now, the sculptures are interesting. Basically there is yard art depicting the entirety of the Kama Sutra in all its graphic detail. There's also a sculpture of a mama pig nursing her piglets. And a bunch of Buddhas. It's very...uh....different.

In the entry hallway, there is this
lovely piece of furniture.
At my apt in Seattle, I have
a similar piece of furniture in the
entry: it's a wine rack.
After realizing that wine does
not fit in this thing
I was very confused
 about its purpose.

I came home one day and the cleaning lady had
put all my shoes in the
shelves of the
little cabinet.
 It's a shoe closet!

My apartment is kinda like a very large hotel room or small condo. It's nice though: has a couch and cable tv, air conditioning in the bedroom AND living room (none of the apartments here have central AC. It's all wall mounted units in the rooms.) 

The living room. The TV is lovely.

The living room. The couch is quite comfy.

My closet. As you can see, there is
 plenty of room for the suitcase worth
 of clothing I have here. As well as the
 pile of bags and beer t-shirts I
acquired in Cambodia.

My bed, with the monogrammed
towels they deliver to me twice a week.
The odd thing: the lamp that came with the
apartment has a plug that doesnot
fit the outlet and also doesn't fit my
outlet adapter. I'm just not real sure
what that's about.

The kitchen is tiny: just a microwave, a hot plate and a mini fridge (the size of the one I had in my dorm room in college), but it comes with sheets and towels and plates and glasses and silverware, so that's good.

My kitchen. Srsly.

My fridge. Srsly.
I have to grocery shop 2-3 times a week
because my fridge cant hold a whole
week's worth of food.

But the real highlight: it comes with a maid! Twice a week (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) the cleaning lady comes to my apartment and cleans. She gives me fresh sheets and towels, she scrubs my bathroom and (this is my favorite) she WASHES MY DISHES! 

The light switch is on the OUTSIDE
of the bathroom door. Every other room has light 
switches on the
inside, but not the bathroom. 
If I were a mischievous kid in
Singapore, I would prank my family
 often with this. 
#justsaying
The other thing on the wall outside the
 bathroom is the water heater power switch. 
Rather than run the water heater 24/7, 
you only turn it on when you want it. 
Energy efficient, la.

My shower. Note the glass
wall and door.
This is an enclosed shower.
This is
not common in Singapore.

The rest of the bathroom. Pretty
basic. Except that the
modern square sink shape is lovely,
but not that effective: the faucet barely
hangs over the lip of the sink
so water runs down the back of the
sink and all over
the counter.

This Jaguar is always there. I've never seen it come
or go. I've never seen anyone get in or out of it.
I frequently see the cats napping on it.

The laundry room, in the "lobby". It's free to wash
clothes, but $5 to use the dryer.

My building has a pool. It's small, but lovely. The
chairs that surround it are comfy, but they're
more for sitting than lounging and tanning.

The pool is actually suspended above the "lobby"
and parking lot. You access the pool via walkways
off the 2nd floor and stairwell. Walking to the elevator
or stairs from the entry gate, I walk under the pool.