Long, Long Way from Home

TCC Bugis Junction: latitude 1° 18' 0" north of the equator and longitude 103° 51' 21" east of the prime meridian

I’m still flabbergasted by the all the bright lights Singapore.  Thank goodness, on my second day of this world trip I bumped into fellow Melburnian Tim Long! I hadn’t spoken to anyone until I bumped into him, so I think I’ve been talking at the speed of light to make up for a day’s silence.

I found that have a similar hobby – the search for free wireless. My trick is to get a pre-paid simcard and sign up for iCell Wireless, available all around Singapore. That means handing over my passport details though, which makes me think “Mulder told me to trust no one!” (nod to Jade Gulliver) but that’s how it’s done.

Once you have the sim, logging in then costs an OJ from McDonald’s (S2.60 SGD), coffee from Starbuck’s (an expensive S4.80 considering most meals average at S5.00) or free at the National Library. If you’re sneaky you can also go to The Coffee Connoisseur at any mall, link in, then go roaming.

Being a long, long way from home is fine, but not having Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, Words With Friends or admittedly Grindr on tap has been difficult for me. When I first logged in, I did the dance of joy (hello again Jade Gulliver).

Having said that, I could gone for global roaming with Optus, but I double checked my data usage and worked out it would have cost an unfriendly $11,000.00 AUD per month. I wouldn’t pay that, not by a long shot!