Kevin chose a great apartment and location for us to live in Singapore. We are in walking distance to Orchard Road, which is a popular area for lots of shopping and restaurants. I think Kevin did a great job picking out a place without me being there in person. He has been told that he is a very brave man. No problem. Piece of cake. Kevin knows what I like and what I don't like. So, while I was still in Greenville, he looked at quite a few apartments with a realtor. He sent me many pictures and video of the places so I could choose among them. We decided on the building with the red stripe. I typed in a red font to match it. :-)
We are on the 4th floor in a building with 17 floors. There is an infinity pool on the 2nd floor, a children's play area with a neat rubbery padded ground, and a small fitness gym. There is a really nice guard who likes to give us Chinese food recommendations. He told us about carrot cake (which is not a sweet dessert like we would expect) and where to find the best Chicken Rice. Once we try these, I will tell you all about it.
The lift (elevator) system here is unique and quite secure. There are two personal lifts for the building. They are operated by the use of a smart card that gives a tenant access into the lift and only to their apartment. Then they press their apartment number. The lift has two doors that open on either side depending which side the apartment is on. The lift opens into a private entry right outside the main door, which the same card is needed to open that door. So, when someone wants to come and visit us, they can't get into the personal lift without calling us first using the video phone in the lobby. They enter our apartment number to ring us, we answer and see their distorted face on our screen, and then we can choose to let them in by pressing two buttons. They can now use the personal lift which will open up in our private entry. Oh, there is another door in our entry. This door is the general door that anyone, like delivery people, can use just like a front door. They use the service lift to access this area. Wow! TMI. (I can hear the snoring now.) Here's Gracie waiting by the lift for her papa to come home.
I have been exploring different routes while walking Gracie to familiarize myself with the surrounding area. The streets are very busy, which is a huge difference compared to our quiet neighborhood in Greenville. There are taxis, trucks, scooters, buses, and many cars. And some are head turning, super luxury cars flying around here like they are on the autobahn. We have seen cars that you would expect to see in Monte Carlo, such as Lamborghini, Bentley and Ferrari. The cost of an average Honda or Toyota in Singapore is about S$100,000.00 due to high taxation on cars to prevent overcrowding on the streets. You would think that the majority of the population would be riding bikes and scooters at that price. Here are some incredible neighboring apartment buildings and a beautiful side road I have been walking Gracie on.
