Phu Quoc: Great Vietnamese getaway from Singapore

I see a lot of Vietnam tours around which usually travels long distances between Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Hue and even Cambodia. Although it worth to see all these cities, they are very tiring. Some friends ask me what would be the best relaxing, 1 week holiday route in Vietnam. I advise this the plan: Fly to Ho Chi Minh City and without staying there fly to Phu Quoc from Ho Chi Minh City.  Stay there 3-4 days, then fly back to Ho Chi Minh City and spend a few days here for sightseeing and shopping. And fly back.

This mountainous and densely forested island is the largest island of Vietnam and is a great tropical holiday paradise. Phuket must have been like this island before its natural beauty was destroyed by tourism and related developments. Phu Quoc has some of most beautiful beaches in Vietnam and offers the best seafood in the country. Phu Quoc is becoming well known so it is best to go there in the next few years before it becomes one of those many tropic resort islands. The peek season is from November to March.

Phu Quoc Island - Source : Discover Phu Quoc

The best way to arrive Phu Quoc from Ho Chi Minh City is taking the Vietnam Airlines turbo prop ATR72 aircraft to the island. This is currently the only commercial airline that fly's to the island and it takes around 50 minutes. You can also arrive Rach Gia or Ha Tien from Ho Chi Minh City by bus and then take a boat but this means a 500 km journey by bus and boat!

This island is for relaxing in the beach bungalows, eating great seafood and diving into sea or forest for adventure. Since it is quite and peaceful, it is not a so great getaway for night life. I advise people based on their shopping decision. If you want to shop in Ho Chi Minh City, you can go to Phu Quoc first and then stay in Ho Chi Minh City. But this also may means rest first and get a little bit tired later. If you are OK to carry the things you bought or do not shop a lot then you can stay in Ho Chi Minh City for 1-2 days to do the following:

1 - Saigon Sightseeing
2 - Mekong Delta Tour
3 - Chu Chu Tunnels Tour

And then you can fly to Phu Quoc. You can also spend all your days in Phu Quoc, but if you have not been in Saigon before, I suggest strongly to spend some time in the city.

China's Hawaii: Hainan Island

One of the best thing about living in Singapore is its proximity to Asia's best beaches and tourist destinations. Although many people still do not think places other than Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, several less traveled destinations in Vietnam, Cambodia and China also offers great holiday escapes from Singapore, especially if you are tired of crowding and spoiling, heavy development in popular tourist destinations like Phuket.

Hainan Island of China, Southern most past of China, is one of these destinations. It is dubbed as "Hawaii of China" and the southern city of Sanya is positioning itself as a popular tourist destination. It takes 3 hours and 25 minutes to Haikou, capital city of Hainan Island, from Singapore. Jetstar Asia operates flights to Haikou, for 330 SGD (return trip). Another option is Tiger Airways, which flies to Haikou, 5 times a week for a cheaper 242 SGD (return trip). From November 2011, Jetstar will start to operate daily flights between Singapore and Hainan Island.

Sanya is the main tourist destination so from Haikou, you need to go to Sanya. Fortunately, there is a fast train operating from Haikou International Airport to Sanya and the journey takes approximately 90 minutes and costs around 20 SGD.

Sanya offers all year around sunshine,  a lot of water sports such as snorkeling and jet-skiing, rainforest hiking, and there are many hotels you can chose among ranging from zero to five stars. Yalong Bay, a 7.5 kilometers beach located southeast of Sanya City, is one of the best tropic holiday destinations in Sanya.

The peak tourist season is from October 1st to the end February and during this season, Sanya is a popular destination for Russians and Northern Chinese to escape from freezing winter. Probably Chinese New Year is the most crowded and expensive time.

Yalong Bay

What to do in Sanya? You should go to snorkeling or skuba diving Yalong Bay area. You can also pay a visit to Yalong Bay Underwater World which offers various water sports such as parasurfing, diving and snorkeling. For thos who like hiking and mountaineering, Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park offers good experience.  

Jetstar Airways

I have travelled from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City and back to Singapore on two Jetstar Asia Airways flights last week and I would like to comment on this Australian low-cost carrier. I have obviously chosen this airlines due to its cheap price and good public image. I have paid 200 Singapore Dollars for a round trip. Jetstar Asia Airways also departs from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1, unlike its only low-cost competitor on Singapore-Ho Chi Minh City route, Tiger Airways which departs from Budget Terminal. 2 years ago I had a bad experience with a rude ground staff in Changi Budget Terminal and since then I stopped using there and Tiger Airways.

The no-frills flights and the service was OK. For a 1 hour 40 minutes flight you only need a seat and a plane taking off and landing on time and a decent service. For all extras you have to pay but the prices are not unreasonable. I paid 15 Singapore Dollars for 20 kg check-in luggage (10 Kg of hand carry is free) and 4 Singapore Dollars for seat selection. Food and beverage are reasonable priced and food is delicious. I paid 8 Dollars for a beef-rice and 6 SGD for a beer. Overall good value to price ratio.

Jetstar Airways A330

And some news for you, if you are looking for cheap flight alternatives on  Singapore-Beijing, Singapore-Melbourne or Singapore-Auckland routes. Jetstar also operates long-haul budget flights from Singapore to Melbourne and Auckland on Airbus 330 (it takes approximately twice the number of passengers compared to 180 people capacity of Airbus 320, the typical work horse of Jetstar). By November 2011, Jetstar will add a Singapore Beijing low-cost, long-haul flight. According to Jetstar, economy seats on these A330s will be 78 cm, comparable to seats on full service carriers such as Qantas and Singapore Airlines flying the same type of aircraft. So if you are looking for cheap Singapore-Beijing, Singapore-Melbourne or Singapore-Auckland flight, Jetstar offers an alternative to look at. These flights comes with in flight hot meals and beverages, in-flight entertainment units for extra 15 SGD. Jetstar has recently added the fifth additional Airbus A330 to its fleet and it is planning to compete Air Asia X on the low-cost Australia to Europe market. Great to have another low-cost alternative to fly to Europe from Singapore!

Places to see in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

I am in Ho Chi Minh City now and as a person having been here many times, it is time to write my little things to do, places to see series about Saigon. Many attractions are concentrated in District 1, officially named Saigon, so a walking tour would make you see many. But a better alternative is cyclo tour. But if you will have one, negotiate the price in advance and clearly without any ambiguity and be careful with your camera and wallet since they can be easily grasped by motorbike riding thieves.

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica


Saigon city center offers many attractions to visit. I would take Notre-Dame Basilica and Central Post Office as my start point. You may have probably seen the photos of this large cathedral in down town Ho Chi Minh City. Built in 1880 by French, it is a great tourist attraction and a beautiful cathedral from Indochina times. A Saigon photo album is not complete with a photo taken in front of it. Surrounding area is a great place to hang around day and night. It is also walking distance to several other attractions.

All the original construction material of this church was brought from France and the outside bricks came from Marseilles. Vietnam houses the second largest catholic christian population in South East Asia after Philippines and this church is still actively used as the main church of Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon Notre Damme Basilica with Virgin Mary Statue

Just next to the cathedral, you will see the beautiful Gothic architectural masterpiece, Saigon Central Post Office. Many pass through this tourist attraction without knowing that it is designed and constructed by great French Gustave Eiffel, architect of Eiffel Tower, in Indochina past of Saigon. It is quite Saigon holiday tradition to send a Vietnam / Saigon post card from Saigon Post Office to loved ones around the world. One of those post cards I have sent to my sister is still on her fridge in Istanbul.

Saigon Central Post Office is designed and constructed by Gustave Eiffel

Saigon Zoo And Botanic Gardens
Many Saigon guides will direct you to Reunification Palace or War Remnants Museum from the Notre-Dame Basilica but I will suggest you to take Le Duan Street behind the cathedral all the way up to The Zoo. Saigon Zoo and Botanic Gardens eight oldest Zoo on the planet and a very famous place both for locals and foreigners.

First time I was there, I hand fed the elephants (do not try it yourself it is probably dangerous) and hand fed some deer which was very fun. Other than 260 species of animals and thousands of trees and plants (some of them are a century old), The Zoo also houses Saigon National Museum which keeps a lot of valuable exhibits and documents in two areas: one displays artifacts from the beginning of Vietnam to 1930, and the other displays things about culture and history of Vietnam. This is a great place to pay a visit if you are interested in the long and rich history of Vietnam.

Reunification Palace

This palace is simply known as "President Palace" in Ho Chi Minh City and it was named as Independence Palace until a North Vietnamese Army tank bulldozed through its main gate and ended the Vietnam War. Unified Vietnam renamed it to "Reunification Palace".

On the side of the current palace there was the old "Norodom Palace" built by French colonials in 1873 to be used as the official residence of the governor-general of French Indochina. After French left Vietnam in 1954, the Norodom Palace was handed over to the first president of South Vietnam. Norodom Palace was bombed by two rogue pilots of the South Vietnamese air force in an attempt to assasin the President and badly destroyed! Instead of going to a restoration, this old colonial landmark has been torn down and the structure was built in 1962.

Reunification Palace

The interesting thing about this palace is that it is like a time machine to early 70s. Things are kept so well that you really feel like it was abandoned a few days ago and you are in 1970s. There are several exhibits and photographs about the Vietnam history as well as Vietnam War era. You can read a detailed article about this tourist attraction in Reunification Palace.

The War Remnants Museum


Vietnam is still most known for Vietnam War (they call it American War here) and through some Hollywood movie masterpieces. This museum is mostly about that war and telling the story of the war from the other side. A section displays the results of air raids to Vietnamese Villages with of course full intention of "minimum civilian casuality(!)". You will say "f.ck you" when you hear "minimum civilian casuality" after seeing this part. And if you have somehow realized that South Vietnam is less "green" compared to South Thailand, the cause of this phenomenon is also displayed here: Agent Orange! Unfortunately, vegetation destruction is the least harmful thing this gas did in Vietnam.

Another section is about the life of Viet Kong during the "American War". If you have grown up in the western block of the divided world, you have seen them only a few seconds per movie without any story in the Vietnam War movies. So I was watching "Lost" when I first visited this section and I have named it as "The Others". It details the life of Viet Kong through out the war. I suggest you to read the visitors book. An old American man was writing while I was there and after he left I read what he and several people wrote. He was an American soldier in Vietnam when he was 20 and it was his first time in Saigon since 1974!

When I first came here, there was a section showing the Americans against the war in 60s and other western movements against the war. It was not there or I missed it in my second time. Outside the building there are many war relics, helicopters, bombs, planes, etc.

Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is one of the oldest buildings in Saigon and is popular place among tourists seeking Vietnamese handicrafts, textiles, souvenirs, and  local cuisine. Although it worth to see this place it is best to avoid any shopping here if you have time to pay a visit a little outside central Saigon (District 1) . It is a tiring experience to bargain here and always smiling shop owners here shamelessly deploys tricks to depart you and your money as fast as possible. Prices are always 50% - 100% over for you if you are a tourist so you need to hard bargain. But as I said for shopping, if you have choice (most tours unfortunately brings you to this tourist milking place) avoid to shop here and head to Binh Tay Market in Chinatown.

Ben Thanh Market

Binh Tay Market
This market in the Chinatown, is almost a twin of overrated Ben Thanh Market and largely overlooked by tourists. Everything you can buy in Saigon and Ben Thanh Market are sold here (actually they are largely sourced from here). It is very wise to skip the tourist trap Ben Thanh Market and come to Binh Tay if you want to make significant shopping in Saigon. If you know how to bargain and select quality products, Ho Chi Minh City offers great savings on shopping. Everything I wear in Singapore except some work clothes are from here or District 5 other bazaars with 25% of the price I can buy in Singapore.

Binh Tay Market in Ho Chi Minh City Chinatown

Phuket Kata Beach Orchidacea Resort

Phuket island is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Thailand. It is also a very popular travel destinations from Singapore. It is easy and relatively cheap to access Phuket, there are many cheap flights to Phuket from Singapore thanks to competition among low-cost carriers.

It is important to know the wet and dry seasons if you are planning to travel to Phuket for holiday. The wet season is from April to November. As its names suggests the disadvantage of this season is rain but as long as it is not monsoon season, it is still quite OK and also everything is cheaper in this period. Dry season provides long sunny days but it is more expensive relative to wet season.

But where to stay in Phuket? I would advise Kata Beach if you are looking for relatively a calmer, family friendly place for holiday on Phuket awat from the busy nightlife of Patong. Kata Beach is in the south west part of the island, a few minutes south of Karon Beach. There are actually 2 kata beaches, 2 kilometer long one with white sand is Kata Yai and the smaller one on the south is named Kata Noi. I like Kata because it still keeps its village feel, it feels more family-friendly, and very peaceful compared to Patong.

Phuket Kata Beach from Orchidacea Resort - Source : Asia Singapore Blog

Last time I went there I have stay in the Orchidacea Resort which sits on a hill overlooking the Kata Yai Beach. It is easy to access to nearby Kata Beach but you need to climb steps to reach your room so if you have problem to climb steps, it is not a suitable place for you. But climbing the steps worth since the view is great. Honestly we preferred this hotel when we have travelled there first time because it is high up in the hills and memories of the tsunami was fresh at that time.

The hotel is comfortable but average and overall satisfactory. And the price is just right. There is an active orchid nursery housed on the grounds of the resort and the resort takes its name from this nursery. If you stay there do not forget to visit more than one hundred varieties of orchid on display.

South end of Kata Beach has good coral reefs for snorkeling and there is also a nice Thai food restaurant. If you stay in Kata do not miss Kho Saam Haad, "Three-Beach Hill", a hilltop overlooking Kata Noi Beach, Kata Yai Beach and Karon Beach as well as the Pu Island. This hill is situated on the road between Kata and Rawai. The road to there is fairly quiet and although it is possible to walk up to this viewpoint from Nai Harn and Rawai, it's a bit of a challenge.

Images from Chinese Folklore

70 per cent of Singapore population is ethnically Chinese and when you are in Singapore, you will probably wonder the story of different images and sculptures from Chinese Folklore. First you need to realize that these images are not for decoration, they have religious importance and respect them. Here, we have written about some of the most common images of deities and historical figures from Chinese folklore, you can see in Singapore.

Three Lucky Gods (Fu Lu Shou)
You will see them nearly in all Chinese houses in Singapore. And you will see them in many Chinese shops. They are the three gods of fortune, always grouped together: The Fu Star (planet Jupiter), The Lu Star (Ursa Major) and The Shou Star (Argo Navis - alfa).

The Fu Star represents the concept of good fortune. The deity image is related to a governor of Daozhou, Yang Cheng, who risked his life by writing to emperor about people's suffering and deified after his death. He is usually depicted holding a child or surrounded by children, wears scholar dress and holds a scroll.

The Lu Star represents the concept of prosperity. It is believed that The Lu star is Zhang Xian, a government officer ived in late Shu dynasty. The word Lu actually refer to the salary of government official. The Lu star thus represents prosperity, rank, and influence. He is usually depicted in the dress of a mandarin.

The Shou star is The God of longevity. According to the Chinese folklore, The Shou Star was carried in his mother's womb for ten years before being born, and when he was finally born, he was already an old man. His high, domed forehead and warm, friendly smile makes him easily recognizable. He is depicted holding a peach. a symbol of immortality.

From Left, The Shou Star, The Lu Star and The Fu Star
Source : Oriental Wicca

Xuan Wu

The Northern Emperor or Teh Kong in Hokkien, Xuan Wu is one of the higher ranking Taoist gods and one of the more revered deities among Chinese. Xuan Wu is revered as a powerful god, he is believed to be able to control the elements (worshipped by those wishing to avoid fires), and capable of great magic. He is also the god of martial arts. 

Xuan Wu

Guan Yu
You will see the image of the great general Guan Yu frequently in Chinese dominated countries. Guan, who played a significant role in the civil war the Three Kingdoms period (which ended with the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the establishment of the state of Shu Han), was deified as early as the Sui Dynasty. He is still worshipped by many Chinese people today, especially in southern China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and their descendants overseas.[1]

He is usually depicted as a red-faced warrior with a long lush beard and holding Guan dao and popularly worshipped today among the Chinese people. In the Western World he is known as Taoist God of War. In Buddhist tradition he is worshiped as a bodhisattva and  in Taoism as a guardian deity:

Guan Yu-the great general of heaven, patron of policemen, soldiers and protectors of law, seen as the epitome of loyalty and righteosness. He was a mortal man living in the times of the 3 Kingdoms, a much romanticized period of history in China, where he was an important figure in the civil war to dispose the Han dynasty. He is portrayed as a powerful warrior with a red face (the color, not rouge) and black hair and a long beard. Though many modern artists have taken the red face away to show that he was born a mortal. He carried a guando, which is similar to a halberd, called the Green Dragon Cresent Blade (though I have also seen it called the Black Dragon Blade,) and wears a green robe with his body armor. After his defeat and death, he was apotheisized into a god. He is a Folk god, a Taoist god, a Boddhisatva, and a Confucian ideal of the virtues of honor and loyalty. He is a very popular deity, and there is a lot of information available about him, so look him up.

Source : The Chinese Way

Guan Yu holding Guan Dao

Chinese guardian lions
Known as "Foo Dogs" in the Western world were common presentations of lions in the pre-modern China. Chinese artists of those times, who have never seen a lion with their own eyes, depicted this creature based on the narratives of travelling monks who have seen these creatures in the west and used a lot of imagination. They are believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits and still can be seen at the entrance of many Chinese buildings and businesses. The lions are always in pairs, one of them is male and the other one is female. The male lion usually presses his paw onto a sphere representing the world and the female lion is usually depicted playing with a lion cub.

The male guardian lion in front of Ngee Ann City in Singapore. The female can be seen  behind.

[1] - Guan Yu

Matchbox The Concept Hostel is open

We have written last month that Singapore's first pod style flashpacker hostel, Matchbox The Concept Hostel, will be opened in August. Matchbox Hospitality officially launched this only boutique flashpacker hostel with pod-style dormitory in Singapore and Southeast Asia in August and on August 16th 2011. They were very kind to invite Asia Singapore to media open event.I will write a larger first hand review of this new hostel soon. Below is from the press release:

"Singapore, 16 August 2011 - Responding to the calls of a new generation of travellers, Matchbox The Concept Hostel appeals to flashpackers who have vastly different ‘wants’ from the typical backpacker. The only one in Singapore and Southeast Asia to feature exclusive custom-made pod-style dormitories, Matchbox is also the only hostel in the world to feature couple bunk beds within a dormitory."

The hostel offers three rooms, Sunkiss is 2 single bed mixed dormitory, Flamingo is 12 single bed Ladies’ dormitory, and Spring Mist is 18-bed mixed dormitory (2 double beds and 16 single beds). As I have written before in Singapore descent hotels prices range between expensive and very expensive, and hostels like The Matchbox are great to spend less on a bed and more on everything else. It is indeed better for young people to share a dorm with travellers from around the world even they can afford to lock themselves privately into a hotel room.

Matchbox The Concept Hostel Facade

So with its 45 SGD per night per pod, this hostel is flashpacker, affluent backpacker who is backpacking with a bigger budget. With this extra prices comes extras, a more luxury than an average space, cosy location with a soul and history, free all day breakfast, Wi-Fi, laundry facilities and custom designed pillows. Below photos would give you more idea about the hostel. What I will add for now is I especially like its location, Ang Siang Road, greeting you with its elegantly restored shophouses (Matchbox is in one of these shop houses) at the end of gentle slope of Ang Siang Hill is a very nice place to stay in Singapore.

Matchbox Lobby - Source : Hostels.com

Dormitory with pods  - Source : Hostels.com

You can access the hotel from their web site www.matchbox.sg and for reservations you can email pillowtalk@matchbox.sg.

Here are some other boutique style hostels in Singapore.

5footway.inn Project Chinatown	Wink Hostel	Bunc hostel	Adler Hostel

Back to Ho Chi Minh City

My wife and I have decided to merge this weekend with Hari Raya Puasa holiday on Tuesday and I am flying to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  I have not been there in the last 2 years but this year and in 2012, I hope I will be there more.  Ho Chi Minh City is a surprisingly entertaining place. It has higher rating in my favourite holiday destinations than Bangkok.

One of the advantages of living in Singapore is to have easy and cheap access to surrounding South East Asian gems. You can easily have a weekend escape to a tourist paradise in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Lao or Cambodia thanks to competition among the low cost airliners. If you are flexible on time, there are usually promotions and with less than 150 SGD, you can buy a return ticket. It is even cheaper nowadays thanks to relatively expensive Singapore Dollar and many coupon sites offering luxury holiday packages with ultra-low prices. For example, I have just checked one of the coupon sites serving to Singapore and the latest deal is $ 288  per pax 4D3N Garden Villa Stay at Elements Boutique Resort in Thai paradise island Koh Samui with Private Pool! The usual price according to the site is $1266. More than 350 people bought so far. Great indeed!

As I have mentioned there are many budget airliner options to holiday destinations from Singapore. Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Jet Star, Firefly to name some.  I used to fly with Tiger Airways but since I had a bad experience with one of rude ground staff in Changi Budget Terminal, I stopped taking flights from there and I started to fly with Australian low-cost carrier Jet star. 2 return tickets from Singapore Changi Airport to Ho Chi Minh City  Tan Son Nhat International Airport cost me 450 Singapore Dollars with 2x20 kg luggage (cost extra 15 SGD per ticket) and 4 seat selections (each seat selection costs 4 SGD) J

Ho Chi Minh City, City Hall

Budget airliners put price on everything extra other than a random seat in a flight but they are still much cheaper than flying with full cost carriers like Singapore Airlines or Vietnam Airlines. As usual I have checked these two for any promotion but there was not any and 2 return tickets cost 800 SGD+ for taking one of them. For 2.5 hours flight to Saigon from Singapore, paying 800 SGD is too much.

This time I have bought our travel insurance from AIA (I usually use DBS). While my wife was extending her personal health insurance, we bought our insurances from the AIA agent. My insurance for 6 days of stay in Vietnam cost me 31 SGD while my wife’s 10 days stay there costs 40 SGD. Vietnam, like many South East Asian countries does not request an insurance when you apply for visa but you should better get a travel insurance since an emergency hospitalization in this region costs surprisingly high and ruin your finances for a long period of time.

Will Singapore property prices rise or fall?

Where are property prices in Singapore heading? Will they go up or fall down later this year? When will they start to fall? In 2012, 2013? Amid string of news and events, many having potential to pull the prices down and some up, many people have different views on where the prices are heading.

There seems to be a single yet very powerful force left to support prices: Zero interest policy of "Helicopter Ben" who pours money onto every single problem. Some experts think this will be a support for prices since households and developers will have holding powers. US FED can even go for another round of QE3 which will pour more money into Asia. Although both policies of FED will most probably create the mother of all financial crisis in the mid term, they may support the prices of property in Singapore. There is a big "if" here, if Helicopter Ben can keep his promise of zero interest rate which will be not so possible if inflation picks up in USA.

On the other hand, other events have potential to put pressure on the prices. Lets look at these events:

The end of debt super cycle is approaching. Most important event looks like the potential next financial crisis: In 2008, West has decided to transfer loses to their public and let the Wall Street run the casino more with printed money. Now we see the consequences: All developed countries with too much debt are approaching the end of debt super cycle and sooner or later they will have to pay back. Singapore is not exposed to debt but is exposed to outside world so we will be greatly effected.

HDB income ceiling is increased. This actually changes many thing. But also depends on how many additional households will be eligible for public housing. Vikrant Pandey, a property analyst from UOB Kay Hian, estimates that an additional 99,161 households will be eligible for BTO and an estimated 68,700 additional households will be eligible for Executive Condominium (EC).[1] I have read a lot of experts arguing that there won't be very large number of households effected with the income ceiling but these are quite large numbers. Although many will directly get out of resale HDB flat market, any resale HDB flat price correction will remove many from mass market condo demand and prices.

New pace of BTO building is increased. HDB was building with the pace of 8,000 units per year in first 10 years of 2000s now in September 2011 alone, they will release 8,000 units! 2011 and 2012 combined is planned to be 50,000 units. The supply crunch in public housing is one of the main drivers of ultra high resale HDB and mass market condo prices. Although the effect of this supply will not be felt immediately in the supply side, it will have immediate effect on demand side. Many young couples will have a chance to grap a unit directly from HDB instead of waiting for a long time and heading to resale HDB market.

Helicopter Ben must be crazy!

Number of new Singapore PRs. Jump in the number of Singapore PRs was one of the main drivers of resale HDB market and current trend, cutting the approval numbers significantly, will also have significant effect. In 2010, PR approval numbers were halved to 29,000 from 59,000 of 2009 which was down from the pick of 2008, 79,000. Event during the Singapore General Election 2011 and afterwards suggests that this downward trend will continue in 2011. Only Singaporeans and Singapore PRs can buy resale HDB flats and reduced number of them means reduced demand for resale HDB flats.

New bumper supply of private property for next 3 years. 50,000 new private property units will flood the market in the next 3 years. In my opinion its effect is exaggerated, given the fact that it will barely be enough to cover the shortage. Nevertheless, this fresh supply at least will ease the supply crunch.

Will the property prices crash? Well, one thing is certain, the URA property price index is at a historical high:

"While the stock markets around the world are turning bearish, it is still anyone’s guess as to whether the Singapore property market is heading for a crash.

To argue against a crash, property bulls will cite the extremely low mortgage interest rates offered by the banks here, a possible QE3 by the US Federal Reserve, and the hot money that is still flooding into the region."
Source : Property Crash Coming? (See Graph)

Salary.sg made a prediction 3 years ago in October 2008 (see Property must crash) by superimposing the Straits Times Index (Singapore stock market) chart over the URA property index graph, and it turned out that they were correct. They do this again with fresh data and look at it in this link: Property Crash Coming? (See Graph). It tells its story.

So where are the prices heading? I think it is not time to answer this question. It is time to wait for to see where the global economic problems are heading and how the chart in salary.sg will progress. We may well end up with a sudden "bang" event like we had in 2008 with Lehman Brothers. Or West can kick the can more up to 2015 or even a little bit later. How the drama of volatile global markets end will have great effect on where the prices will end. If I were thinking to buy a private property now, I would wait and see where all this mess end at least until 2012.

[1] To buy or not to buy? That is the question. The Straits Times

See also Singapore property update for 2012

Disclaimer

This blog article is to provide general information only and should not be treated as an invitation to buy or sell any property or as sales material.  Users of this report should consider this report as a one of the many factors in making their investment decision. Users should make reference to other sources of information and specific investment advice to obtain a more objective view of the property market. Asia Singapore shall not be responsible for losses suffered.  

What is business intelligence?

What is business intelligence? When you ask this question to the World Wide Web to get a definition of business intelligence, you end up having a lot of answers from a business intelligence sales man perspective. These answers are good starting points but many lack information on what does business intelligence really mean for you?

In their great book named Adaptive Business Intelligence, Zbigniew Michalewicz, Martin Schmidt, Matthew Michalewicz, Constantin Chiriac, gives a very good definition of business intelligence and benefit perspective.

Business Intelligence systems are “software systems and services which extracts knowledge from raw data” writes say. “A business intelligence system is responsible for collecting and digesting data, and presenting knowledge in a friendly way (thus enhancing the end-user’s ability to make good decisions)”.
Writers argue that the business managers realized data raw data and information provided by traditional enterprise information systems are not very useful if the organization has necessary tools and processes to analyse them. Business Intelligence tools fill the gap between information and knowledge. Their goal is to access and retrieve data from various sources, convert raw data to information and then knowledge and provide an easy to use graphical user interface to display these knowledge.

At this point it may be confusing for you if you do not have the clear understanding of the difference between data, information and knowledge.  Data is “raw” numbers, symbols, etc. collected daily. Data is prepared into information, which is “organized data,” pre-processed, cleaned, arranged into structures, and stripped of redundancy. Knowledge on the other hand is “integrated information,” which includes facts and relationships that have been perceived, discovered, or learned.

One of the most important reasons for you to collect data, process them into information and store this information is to use it to answer questions and make decisions. And a good decision in the modern fast pace of corporate world has to satisfy two conditions to be effective: the decision needs to be right and decision needs to be on time. A timely but wrong decision does not worth so much and in many cases right but late decisions are also worthless. To have right and timely decision, you need good decision making skills and experience but also right and timely knowledge. But usually what managers have is not the knowledge, they have information and they need to spend time to convert it to knowledge before the information becomes useful for decision making. Business Intelligence system fills that gap.

So business intelligence is not an excel on steroids with better charting, reporting, slicing and dicing tool. Benefits of business intelligence goes far beyond that. A business intelligence system has an important role in the corporate MIS ecosystem: it converts information to right knowledge to enable right decisions!





By the way, the book, Adaptive Business Intelligence, actually goes beyond Business Intelligence into realm of Artificial Intelligence where the software system not only converts information into knowledge but also converts knowledge into decisions by means of Artificial Intelligence:

“Today, most business managers realize that a gap exists between having the right knowledge and making the right decision. Because this gap affects management’s ability to answer fundamental business questions (such as “What should be done to increase profits? Reduce costs? Or increase market share?”), the future of business intelligence lies in systems that can provide answers and recommendations, rather than mounds of knowledge in the form of reports. The future of business

Intelligence lies in systems that can make decisions!  … While business intelligence is often defined as “a broad category of application programs and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data,” the term Adaptive Business Intelligence can be defined as “the discipline of using prediction and optimization techniques to build self-learning ‘decisioning’ systems” (as the above diagram shows). Adaptive Business Intelligence systems include elements of data mining, predictive modeling, forecasting, optimization, and adaptability, and are used by business managers to make better decisions.”
Source : Adaptive Business Intelligence - Chapter 1

It may sound futuristic but these systems exist and are successfully used by several companies. For example one such application type, Advanced Planning and Scheduling, is in the market for nearly 2 decades and used by many enterprises to drive their decision making processes.  For example, 3 writers of this book, Zbigniew Michalewicz, Matthew Michalewicz and Constantin Chiriac runs a company named SolveIT Software in Australian company which provides supply & demand optimisation based on Advanced planning & scheduling, Supply chain network optimisation, Demand planning & forecasting and Predictive modelling.

Singapore Employment Pass criteria is stricter now

Last Sunday in his National Day Rally 2011 speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has told that Singapore Employment Pass criteria will become stricter for mid-level white collar workers. He has mentioned that Ministry Of Manpower (MOM) will soon announce the details. Singapore Employment is a Singapore work permit issued to white collar foreign employees which enables them to work in Singapore. Unlike S-Pass, Employment Pass is not subject to any quota system which limits the number of Employment Passes that can be employed in a company. There were around 142,000 Employment Pass holders as of December 2010. These foreign professionals are directly competing for the jobs with locals and many Singaporeans openly express their intake should be slowed.

Today in its press release, MOM released the details in its newsroom by the name "Enhanced Employment Pass Framework". New assessment criteria to take effect from January 2012:

MOM will tighten the educational qualifications requirements for Employment Pass Q1 "so that only those from good quality institutions will be eligible". The minimum salary requirement for this pass type is also increased to 3,000 SGD per month from 2,800 SGD per month. Older applicants will have to command even higher salaries to qualify for Employment Pass Q1. This seems to prevent

Minimum salary to qualify for Employment Pass P2 is also raised from $4,000 to $4,500 while the criteria did not change for the P1 pass which was recently raised to 8,000 SGD per month from 7,000 SGD per month.

Minimum fixed monthly
Work Pass Type	Type of Applicants	Before Jan 2012	After Jan 2012
Employment Pass P1	Professional, Managerial, Executive or Specialist jobs	8000	8000
Employment Pass P2	Professional, Managerial, Executive or Specialist jobs	4000	4500
Employment Pass Q1	Professional, Managerial, Executive or Specialist jobs	2800	3000

All new Employment Pass applications will be subject to these new Employment Pass critera from 1 January 2012. How will these measures effect existing Employment Pass holders? For them, MOM announced transitional measures and it will phase in the new requirements over the next 1-2 years (depending on when their current passes expire).

"Existing EP holders whose passes expire:

Before 1 January 2012: receive a one-time renewal of up to two years based on the pre-July 2011 EP criteria.

Between 1 January 2012 and 30 June 2012 (both dates inclusive): receive a one-time renewal of up to one year on the existing EP criteria.

On or after 1 July 2012: The new EP criteria shall apply.

11. Existing EP holders who change employers after 1 January 2012 will have their applications considered under the new EP criteria."
Source : MOM - Enhancements to the Employment Pass Framework

The news for changes, as expected, echoed back in completely opposite ways from the different ways in the opposite sides of the force. Local employers will welcome it while local employers will feel it as a blow:

"DBS economist Irvin Seah said the policy change could encourage companies to have a closer look at and hire more Singaporeans. Business development manager Peter Toh, 45, said the changes would help to a certain extent. A formetr assistant general manager at a company in Hong Kong, he wanted to switch to the service industry but was unsuccessful even after sending more than 100 applications. Much still depends on individual employers and whether they are willing to hire older applicants, noted Mr. Toh, who is now with an accounting firm."
Source : The Straits Times - New rules offer hope to Singapore executives

And the employer side:

"Mr. Lawrence Leow, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) expects salary costs to "easily go up 2 to 3 per cent over a period of time" noting that Singaporeans will also expect a corresponding pay rise. The local service sector is expected to be most affected by the latest round of tightening measures, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also Manpower Minister, said yesterday."
Source : The Straits Times - SMEs feeling the heat of wave of changes


See Also : Singapore work pass salaries, foreigner intake and rents in 2011

Room for rent in Singapore

I see many are looking for a flat to rent in Singapore with a rental price below 1,000 SGD per month. Unfortunately, this is not possible for the last 4-5 years and currently the only rental unit type which goes below 1,000 SGD per month is a room. Fortunately, renting out a room for extra income is a quite common practice in Singapore.

Nowadays rooms are also relatively expensive and in great demand. Jut look at an advertisement board near an MRT station and you will see agents are looking landlords to rent out rooms more than tenants for available rooms (see our article room for rent in Singapore more demand).

The price range depends of the room type (common or master room) and size, room’s accessories (air conditioner, furnished, etc.), flat type (HDB or condominium) and last but not the least, location. So not surprisingly the cheapest available rooms for rent are common room of HDB units without air conditioning or furniture away from the city centre. And the most expensive ones (can go up to 2,000+ SGD per month!) are master room units in central condominiums with full accessories.

If you want to rent an HDB room, be sure that there is no legal restriction on the rental in the flat. Owners of 1 or 2 room flats are not allowed to rent their rooms. So avoid rents where landlord lives in the living room and rents out the only bedroom, it is not legal. Housing Development Board (HDB) only lets room rental in 3-room or bigger flats. The landlord needs no prior approval from HDB for renting the room to you but he needs to register within 7 days after rental starts. Also depending on the flat size, there are ceilings to maximum number of occupants allowed in each flat. So be cautious about very cheap rooms for rent in Singapore. They may have some issues for eligibility like above.

Agents are also involved in room rentals in Singapore and they expect you pay half of one month rent as a commission. But there are many web sites where you can directly contact the owner and bypass a property agent. My advice is to use for an agent if you are in hurry, they really shorten the search period but you do not need one so much if you have time to look for on your own.

There are no fixed rules for room rental arrangements in Singapore. Many even do not prepare any written document and things are usually handled verbally. But make sure that the rents you pay are documented. You try to make it a bank transfer. If the owner does not want it (many old folks do not like to use bank) at least take a signed paper from the owner and encourage him/her to keep a book.

The room may be rented out by the owner of the unit or sublet by the master tenant of the unit. It may look like second case is more preferable because it is more flexibility and many owners put more restrictions on you (i.e. cooking) then master tenants. But prefer to rent from an owner since you will probably not see the tenancy agreement of the apartment and subletting may not be allowed.

You can rent with all utilities included or excluded. If they are included, talk the utility usage in advance to prevent later arguments. Aircon is especially important; many owners do not like you to use it all day. Openly agree on its usage before going into agreement.

Talk about early termination conditions and if there is something written between you and the owner, include early termination conditions in it. For example request 1 month notice if your owner wants you out. Also try to agree that deposit will be used as rent in this last month so you do not bother about getting deposit back.

Notice : If you are looking for cheap short term rentals rooms and apartments in Singapore, you can check out our article here.

A VIP Bus Trip From Bangkok To Phuket

A while ago, I was on holiday in Thailand and our plan was to stay in Bangkok for 4 days and then go to Phuket to spend 4 more days there before taking our flight from Phuket to Bangkok. Original plan was to fly to Phuket from Bangkok and buy the ticket while we were in Bangkok. But when there, I have decided thatI want to see the rural Thailand from the window of its famous first class train compartment!

There is actually no direct train service going all the way down to to Phuket. The train you would take from main Hua Lamphong Train Station goes up to Surat Thani. From there you take a bus.But overnight train is far more comfortable than overnight buses. So train was our first choice (well in fact my first choice since my wife tried hard to ensure that we should fly).If you want to take the train to Phuket you should booking  several days in advance, which is unfortunately is not my habit. So I have gone to Hua Lamphong station a day before our trip!

I do not know how I fell into this scam. First I was warned: if you go to Hua Lampong, only buy ticket from the main ticket counters and avoid every con artists in between. It is difficu;t but achievable. Second, I have been in Bangkok several times to know that those “helpful” people with identity cards from TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) may not be from TAT and those bus operators selling so called VIP (Very Important Person) tickets to Phuket are in fact selling VIP (Very Inferior Product) tickets. I have avoided at least 4 people trying to distract me from train ticket counters to private bus operators but when I have found out that first and second class train tickets were sold out, I fell into one of them and ended up in this private bus operator office full of foreigners.

One of the most important tip I give to people going for a holiday in Thailand is that if you do not see any local in a restaurant or travel agent, but instead the place is full of foreigners – run! Well, the private bus operator’s offce were full of foreigners waiting for the fantastic advanture to Phuket without a single Thai among them but this also did not woke me up. Man I must admit, these con artists are real “artists” and master of conviction. In 10 minutes, the guy on the other side of the desk convinced me that all other offices around are there to milk tourists and I was lucky to find the only “honest” business in the train station. “Look, I know this trick, they change bus in between but we are not one of them. I assure you you will depart with this bus, end there with this bus” told the guy when I asked if the bus is direct or not. Such a liar! Only miling you once is more than enough for him!

Your 12++ and + hours journey with one of these businesses starts with a real VIP bus. And do not worry, it will most probably end in the right destination. When and how is a big question. Somewhere deep in Thailand’s rural south and far far away from Phuket, when we were all rushed out of the bus to have a 15 minute break, our VIP bus vanished in a split second living a pyramid of our luggages behind. Then downgrade started. We all were sorted out by destination. Yes, the bus was a direct service from Bangkok to Phuket for us but it was a direct service from Bangkok to Ko Samui for another couple and direct from Bangkok to Krabi for another, etc, The guys handling this ensures to give you papers written all in Thai and collect them to release something important for you so that you end up with no paper at all. They of course know little English or pretend to do so. We have changed 3 vehicles from there to Phuket. The last one was so bad that it looked like they have glued it together to keep it one piece.

Very Inferior Product (VIP) Bus Service from Bangkok to Phuket

Our 16+ hour journey eventually ended up in an office full of thai girls trying hard to sell us an accommodation. These guys usually take you to Phuket in a very unconvenient time to sell you over expensive hotel tickets. Lonely Planet saved us here once again, although I was planning to book a place on arrival, I avoided their office, took a taxi to Phuket city to rest and call some hotels.

Anyway, there is absolutely nothing interesting to see between Bangkok and Phuket when you go by bus. So your first choice should be taking a flight from Bangkok to Phuket and second choice should be taking train and third choice should be taking a public bus  from southern bus terminal in Bangkok. Avoid private buses. Actually the most fun way to go to Phuket is probably taking a car to cover 850 km. Well, fly to Phuket. You can do more fun things on the island with the time you lose on your way.

Eventually we have decided the calm and nice beach of Kata Yai in the south west Phuket and decided on to stay Orchidacea Resort on the hill overlooking Kata beach. The price was good since it is a little away (but still in walking distance) from the beach and we have also wanted to be a little away from the beach up in the hills. You probably guess why.

Luckily once we were there the rest was a great holiday in Phuket Kata Beach Orchidacea Resort.

NDP Rally 2011, impact on the property market

Yesterday in NDP Rally 2011 speech, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced two important policies which will have effect on broad Singapore property market, from re-sale HDB flats to private condominiums, and from flats for sale to flats for rent. The first one is that income ceiling for the primary market HDB units increased from 8,000 SGD to 10,000 SGD. Second, HDB will release 25,000 more units in 2012, on the top of 25,000 units to be released this year in 2011. Employment Pass issues of mid-level foreigners, major tenants of rental units, will be tightened further.

There are 2 markets for HDB units, primary market where Singaporeans can buy new flats directly from HDB and secondary market where Singapore residents (Singaporeans and Singapore PRs) can buy second hand HDB from HDB owners. To be eligible to buy new HDB flat, there is an income ceiling based on flat size, but if a household earns more than 8,000 SGD per month, they are not eligible for any type of unit. Last 10 years’ economic growth plus increased marriage age brought many above the threshold and these couples had to look for a unit in resale HDB market or private property market.

We have also seen a supply crunch in the years between 2000 and 2010, where HDB built on average 5,000 new units per year. This had a double impact on the resale HDB market. First, there are not enough resale HDB flats to satisfy demand for them since less are built 5 years back (an HDB flat can enter resale market at earliest 5 years after completion due to minimum occupancy rules). Second long waiting times for new HDB units made many new HDB eligible couples to buy from resale market. Decreased demand, increased supply resulted in current ultra-high public housing prices. This also had directly and indirectly effects on the mass market primary property market.

More HDB flats are welcomed news but it will take some time these released units be built and several years they enter the resale market. So the effect on supply crunch will not be immediate. But it will have immediate effect on the demand side. According to Ministry of Development blog, 23% of demand for resale HDB flats comes from first time buyers.  There are several reasons other than difficulty of getting a new HDB flat for these people to buy more expensive resale flats instead of new HDBs such as the location of these flats. But many probably do so because they are not eligible to buy a new HDB flat or frustrated with long waiting time. These measures will channel their demand back to new HDB flats from resale flats (although there will still be demand from many first timers who are earning more than 10,000 SGD but less than the number to make a private property affordable).

But some think, impact will be limited on resale HDB flat:

“As for the HDB market, Credo’s Mr. Ong expects the higher HDB income ceiling to draw some demand away from resale flats, but he does not think impact will be major.”[1]

He has a point since we are at one of the worst years in terms of HDB resale supply crunch due to the number of units completed in 2006 (five years before 2011). Still this new announcements combined with the tightening on Singapore PR approvals (20% of the demand for resale HDB flats) can alone have an effect on the resale market, more than a property broker want to see or share :) We later this year will have the number of PR approvals to have a better picture.

Higher income ceiling for executive condominiums will reduce some demand for mass market private property units. According to Business Times, “Jones LaSalle head of Research and consultancy for Singapore Chua Yang Liang estimates that annual new housing demand in the private market could drop as much as 5-15 per cent, or about 700 – 2,000 units”[1]

And the rental side: rents are one of the main supporters of property prices since investors usually count on the cash flow from rent to pay the mortgages. In this current zero interest rate environment, monthly mortgage rates are down and rents are up due to demand from foreigners working here, so the cash flow from a property investment is in the positive region.

In Singapore, where majority of its residents own their flat, major bulk of rental demand comes from foreigners on various employment passes. Private properties are demanded by expat packages and higher end employment pass holders (i.e. P1 and P2) while public housing flats are popular for rent among S-Pass and Employment Pass Q1 holders. So support on the rental prices heavily depend on the number of foreigners chasing for rental units. Since this year growth will be half of last year at best and these further tightening on mid-level employment pass criteria will reduce the demand for rentals. Couple this with the bumper supply on its way to private property rental market; there are few things to support the current very high rentals. And as you may have recognized, I am not factoring in any downturn in economy (although there is a panic in the market now after free money from QE2 disappeared), it is still a few weeks early to talk about permanent downturn in economy. In fact West is probably crazy enough to continue to kick the can a few years more by a QE3 or even QE4. But still, it is pretty obvious that 2011 – 2012 will not be like 2009-2010 period in terms of economy.

Does this mean a fall in rentals of condo units? There will eventually be a fall in my opinion but not a crash. This is because the fresh foreigner demand vanished due to tightening will probably be replaced by the demand from people already in here but downgraded to HDB flats due to high private property prices. And people sharing units due to high rents will probably move to their private flats if the prices fall.
 
[1] – More Qualify for new flats, ECs as government raises income ceiling, The Business Times   

Further tightening on Singapore Employment Pass Says PM Lee

In  his National Day Rally 2011 speech, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has shared that Singapore government is progressively tightening up on foreign workers. He has announced that Singapore Ministry Of Manpower (MOM) will further tighten measures on the middle range of foreign workers. Middle range of foreign workers are those with Employment Pass and their competition on the white collar jobs with Singaporeans was one of the hottest topics in Singapore. Mr. Lee has said that the tightening on mid level foreign workers will include "raising the salary thresholds for Employment Passes and tightening the educational qualifications". He has told that he will be announced by MOM soon.

Singapore work pass salary threshold is the minimum monthly fixed salary that can be paid to a foreign worker. The minimum salary depends on the employment pass type. If this new measures are implemented in 2011, it will be the second time minimum salary threshold increased in this year. They have recently been increased in July 2011; "from 1,800 SGD to 2,000 SGD for S-Pass holders, 2,500 to 2,800 for Employment Pass Q1 holders, 3,500 SGD to 4,500 SGD for Employment Pass P2 holders and from 7,000 SGD to 8,000 SGD for Employment Pass P1 holders". Source : Singapore work pass salaries, foreigner intake and rents in 2011

These measures address one of the primary concerns of white collar Singaporean workers who seem increasingly uncomfortable and vocal about the influx of foreign workers. Many I know are not against foreign work force, the concern is more about the speed and volume of the foreign influx. And also there is a common view that the quality of these foreign workers are not well monitored. Tighter educational qualifications will address both of this issues.

However, PM cautioned that "tightening on foreign workers does not necessarily mean Singaporeans will automatically get better jobs or higher pay, as  Singaporeans are also competing with workers all over the world":

"Slowing down the inflow of foreign workers may also mean that Singapore will face lower economic growth. There would be lesser vibrancy in our economy and society and fewer opportunities for our people. Hence, Singapore will need to strike the right balance between managing influx of foreign workers and bringing in enough talent to grow the economy."

Source: Singaporeans First Jobs

Singapore has to keep a right balance of foreign workers influx since skilled worker migration is one of the engines of growth of the strong economy of Singapore. But to much reliance on the increase of working population as a source of growth also drags the prosperity creating source of growth down: productivity growth. Recently Singapore government increased its effort on balancing the influx of foreigners as well as increasing the productivity of Singaporeans.

See also : Singapore employment pass criteria is stricter now

HDB Income Ceiling Will Be Raised More HDB Will Be Built

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has just given his most important speech in 2011, his National Day Rally speech. This is the first rally since the last  GE 2011. He has announced that the income ceiling for BTO flats will be raised from $8,000 to $10,000 (On Monday, Minister of National Development Khaw Boon Wan announced that the ceiling is effective from August 15th 2011).


HDB will increase income ceiling first time in nearly 2 decades from 8,000 SGD to 12,000 SGD for BTO flats and 10,000 SGD to 12,000 SGD for the executive condominiums. 


He has also announced that next year in 2012, HDB will also release another 25,000 units on the top of 25,000 which will be released this year in 2011:


"PM Lee first hinted at an increase in the income ceiling in May during the General Elections when housing emerged as a top issue. 


In his speech, PM Lee noted that the ratio of applicants to flats at BTO projects have started to come down. 


Since taking over the portfolio for national development after the General Elections, Minister Khaw Boon Wan has increased the BTO supply this year to 25,000 flats and conducted large scale BTO launches to increase the chances of flat selection for applicants.


PM Lee also announced that the supply of rental flats will be increased by 7,000 in the next two years. The Government will delay the demolition of some En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme blocks for the flats to be used as temporary rental units."
Source : Income ceiling for BTO raised to $10,000, more rental flats in the pipeline.


Last few years, supply crunch in HDB flats as well as rising incomes of newly wed Singapore couples made many Singaporean couples to look for HDB flats in secondary market (called HDB resale market). They form a significant part of demand for resale HDB flats whose price has risen to very expensive levels thanks to increased demand from Singaporeans and increased number of PRs. Although these 50,000 new BTO flats will start to enter into resale market at earliest in 2015-2016 to ease the supply crunch, they will probably take significant demand out of the market as more young couples will be able to grap a unit directly from HDB primary market.