Online forums

You would think moving to a new country, it would be easy to make friends with the locals . . .

Unless you know local Singaporeans through work relationship it is difficult, I mean face it, they have their own friends, who hang out in their own groups, and to be totally honest, it would be odd if someone randomly went up to them and started chatting away.

We were told to try the online forums for Expats.  At first we thought "it's kinda like online dating", but we went ahead, and to our surprise we found an Australian couple, who had arrived here about a month after us, we found each other through the following online forum - Singapore Expats.

Smog or Haze

Yes, there are HDB Flats and Condos somewhere in the horizon.

At first I thought it was smog, but then remember that you don't get smog here in Singapore.  It is indeed smoke.

The haze is caused by fires lit to clear land for palm oil plantations on Sumatra, Indonesia.  (Indonesia is the world's top palm oil producer).

We have experienced about two days of this, it's unbearable.  The quality of the air drops significantly, wearing a face mask is suggested if you are outdoors and people with respiratory symptoms tend to be most at risk.