Traveling 101

The major reasons for Ana and Simon’s move to Singapore have been laid out in the blog so far: Ana’s job experience in Asia and Simon pursuing his MBA. Moreover, to get a feeling for the culture here in South East Asia, they had the opportunity to experience Chinese New Year’s celebration and obviously, there is also some day-to-day experiences that are just very different than life in Europe (more on that in a later blog). One other advantage of being here in Southeast Asia is also that Singapore is a hub for the region and therefore traveling is made rather easy. Being a city state, Singapore is also so small which means that once you leave Singapore Island, you are already in another country. Since Ana and Simon will be here for the full year, they do not need to rush things (some of the INSEAD students seem to travel every weekend but they are only here for four months) and took their traveling plans easy: First, settling in, getting accustomed to culture and working / studying etc. However, they did leave the Singapore twice already.

One little getaway trip was on the third weekend in Singapore. About 35 INSEAD students had decided to go to Batam, an Indonesian island off the coast of Singapore, and Ana and Simon went with the crowd. Simon had classes on Saturday until 1PM and Ana came to pick him up. The total group had organized to stay in a down-to-earth resort which had large houses that would host 6 to 8 people. Ana and Simon’s travel group for the transfer and for the night therefore consisted of six other fellow students: Two guys (American and Indian) and four girls (Korean, Bulgarian, Russian and Lebanese). Talking about international student body! With the Spanish explorer and her German husband, there were eight nationalities in one house :-)

The international crowd on a speed ferry to Batam

Unfortunately, they had picked a weekend that would be rainy. And rainy, in Singapore and around means LOTS OF RAIN. They managed to get an early ferry but the boat ride was quite bumpy due to the weather conditions. They immigrated to Indonesia (which “costs” one and a half pages in the passport!) and transferred to their resort. With the weather being rainy, there was unfortunately not much to do. Going to a supermarket to buy “supplies” for the evening was already a big event. While Batam is probably a better developed part of Indonesia (it enjoys the benefits of forming a free-trade zone with Singapore), the differences that Ana and Simon could observe on their way around the island were quite significant. Nevertheless, the Indonesians were super friendly and rather liberal (being a muslim country, buying alcohol in the supermarket was not a problem!). 

The evening was lots of fun with eating in the hotel and drinking / partying and talking around the pool. The hopes were high that the weather would be better the next day since it didn’t rain at night but the hopes were crushed when breakfast was overshadowed by more rain. Well, they left Indonesia less than 24 hours after arrival so they will not claim that they’ve “seen it all”. But it was a good first getaway, lots of fun with an international crowd and a trip that provided them with new stamps in their passports. 

The INSEAD bag also works well to transport beer

Let's (pool)party!

 

The first real chance for a longer get-away was the Chinese New Year (CNY) weekend. This time of year, about everybody is traveling and therefore, flight prices were very expensive. Ana and Simon didn’t feel like paying more than 300 EUR per person for a flight so they considered alternatives. Also, staying here for a year, they didn’t have the “pressure” of seeing the coolest places immediately. After doing some research, they decided to give the other neighboring country of Singapore a chance: Malaysia. There are affordable bus rates to go to Kuala Lumpur and the highway between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is quite well in shape. The advertised travel time was about 5 hours, even though it took the bus longer to cross the border and due to CNY, there was also a lot of traffic. However, it was quite nice to see the landscape of the tropical Malaysian peninsula and the bus was very comfortable (even though a bit too much cooled down by the AC). 

First view of the KL Tower

Ana and Simon left on Saturday morning and arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the late afternoon. The first impression of Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it is commonly called) was not much different from Singapore: Huge sky-rise buildings, air-conditioned malls and modern public transport. Still benefiting from Simon’s work project in the Middle East in 2010, they spent two nights at a Sheraton Hotel, with a great view of the KL Tower, one of the largest TV towers in the world. From there, they went to Chinatown for a dinner and a first exploration. In Chinatown, they saw a few differences between KL and Singapore. Things were a lot less organized and a bit dirty, including a rat strolling by a restaurant where they just had a beer and skipped the food. Ana was a bit uncomfortable since she was wearing a pretty dress and felt that she needed some “explorer” equipment. She had already purchased some khaki pants in Singapore and she completed her outfit with explorer shoes in KL. So Ana and Simon were ready for the next day. 

Sunday, they went to a place outside of KL, the Batu Caves which has a series of caves and cave temples. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan which is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshiped primarily in areas with Tamil influences (Tamils are from Southern India and Sri Lanka). Well, this is obvious much different than what they know from Western Europe or North America so it was quite interesting. They went up 272 steep steps to enter the caves, with a number of altars, religious figures and monkeys (yes, real monkeys). Obviously, there were many worshipers from India and this was a totally new experience for them. Some pictures can give the reader an idea of it. 

Ana (with her explorer pants) and Simon

The inside of the Batu Caves

Steep steps

After exploring these caves, Ana and Simon went back to downtown KL with a very friendly taxi driver (who even spoke some Spanish!). He dropped them near the Petronas Towers, the landmark of Kuala Lumpur. From their completion in 1998 to 2004, the towers were the tallest building in the world and an iconic structure, representing the rise of Southeast Asia to many. There was a nice park around the building and since it was super hot and humid, Ana and Simon were also happy to find an air-conditioned mall that was open as well. In order to see most of the city, they took a “hop-on-hop-off” tour of KL and learned much more about the Malaysian capital. Without getting too much into detail here, the major points of interests is that KL was founded relatively short while ago (in the 1850s) and soon became the most important city on the Malaysian peninsula. The British, who ruled the region until 1957 erected a number of impressive colonial buildings and left their cultural mark: The major square of KL was actually a cricket square. Obviously, the Malaysians wanted to change that and independence was declared on the cricket field, transforming it to Merdeka Square (Independence Square). Well, a few pictures of the city tour are attached. 

Simon and Ana with the Petronas Towers

Ana holding the flagpole

The Malaysian answer to Big Ben (or so the tour guide said)

Finally, Ana and Simon enjoyed their highest dinner ever at the revolving restaurant in the KL Tower. At 282 meters above the ground, they enjoyed not only a very rich buffet but also awesome views of the city, including the Petronas Towers. The funny thing is that while the Petronas Towers are so tall, the visitors platform is actually 100 meters lower than the KL Tower. So the vista enjoyed from there was definitely more impressive. 

The next day, Ana and Simon would already go back after a relaxing breakfast. So traveling 101 was passed successfully with the two small trips to the vicinity of Singapore. Now, they are ready for more. Next trips will be to the South of Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon and around) as well as a weekend in Phuket / Thailand. This will for sure be captured in a future blog entry. So far, this is it from Southeast Asia.

Many hugs from Southeast Asia’s melting pot

Ana and Simon

Happy New Year

Well, a little bit late for this Blog title, you may think. Haven’t Ana and Simon celebrated their New Year still in Europe before moving all the way to Singapore? Well, they have – 2012 came to an end and 2013 was off to a good start. However, the year of the dragon had not yet ended and the year of the snake was not yet upon them. Wait a minute, year of the dragon? Is this some weird craziness? Well, technically, it isn’t. The “Western calendar” (or Gregorian calendar to be speaking more technically) follows the solar cycle and this system established many years ago, anchoring our years to the day when Jesus Christ was born (or somewhere around it). This is largely followed everywhere in the world, mostly for business and practicality reasons. Culturally, it is a whole other story. Most cultures actually follow a lunar calendar (the Islamic calendar is the best example) or a mix of lunar and solar calendar (that is, magically, called lunisolar) and thus, their New Year also is on another day then the Western calendar.  

A lot of technicalities but to make a long story short, the Lunar New Year happens in February and this is largely celebrated in Southeast Asia, especially by the (ethnic) Chinese – thus, most people say “Happy Chinese New Year”. 

...Including the Singapore Traffic Authority

Since Ana and Simon have never been to Southeast Asia, this was really a truly great cultural experience for them. First of all, already weeks before, there was a lot of decoration in red, not only across Chinatown. Red is supposed to be a good luck color and scaring away evil spirits. 

Decoration of a street in Chinatown

A nice shop in Chinatown

People on the street would be wishing each other “Happy Chinese New Year, if I don’t see you in the next days” just as you would hear that with “Merry Christmas if we will not meet before December 25^th” anywhere in the US or Europe. Suddenly, there are “CNY sales” that advertise many great discounts, e.g. some new flat screen TV for SGD 888. The number eight is the “good luck” number. So there is some suspicion coming into the game. There were also fireworks that we could see from our balcony. Chinatown is this quarter lighted up in the foreground

 

Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China where most of the people have a whole week off. Literally, hundreds of millions of people travel home for that period which slows down business in the whole region (something that Ana truly appreciated). She had three days off – Friday, Monday and Tuesday and since Simon also had Friday and Monday off, they could enjoy some time together. They traveled to Malaysia and since this country also has a sizeable (ethnic) Chinese population, the New Year celebrations continued in Kuala Lumpur (more on the trip on another blog entry). 

Around Chinese New Year, there would also be a number of lion dances. The lion dance will be conducted by Chinese Martial Art Schools (it does require a high sense of coordination) and follow a rather stringent choreography. There would be lion dances at malls, at Ana & Simon’s apartment and also at INSEAD. The first day after the “week off” for many Chinese employees, there would also be red envelops with money and movie tickets distributed at Mercer’s Singapore office. 

Lion dance at our apartment building

The lion in front of our reception

So less than two months after Christmas, Ana and Simon could enjoy another major celebration and quite enjoyed it. They truly hope that you enjoy the pictures posted here. The new year is the year of the Snake.

Many greetings, hugs and Happy Chinese New Year from Temasek

Ana and Simon

  

For further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_dance

The dog is kind of the mascot of our building - hanging out next to the lion

Lion dance at INSEAD

The lion tamer coming with two lions

Ana's first month at Mercer Singapore

After working for three years and a half at Mercer in Munich, Ana was ready for the new experience and a different mindset to accept the challenge working in Asia! She already knew some of the Singapore colleagues through joint project work (over the phone / e-mails) and thus, the transition was very easy. Her first day working at Mercer Singapore was also Simon’s first day at INSEAD (see previous blog entry). She had already set up all her papers the Friday before (you can tell that she has been living in Germany for quite some time!) and therefore, she could already start working at 100% on her first day. Everything went quite easy: She met her new team and got her laptop, Blackberry, etc and went out for lunch with her manager.

How is working in Singapore, having worked the past few years in Germany? You can tell that Singapore is one of the main financial centers of the world – everything moves fast, is very international and efficient. The people (colleagues and clients alike) seem to have a young mindset. The fast moving environment keeps positive stress up high so most people really go the extra-mile and want to achieve something in short timeframes.

Mercer’s office had just moved to a newly developed area, close to the seafront. It is located at the extension of downtown in a very modern building and Mercer’s sister companies are also located here – that includes Oliver Wyman. Simon thus made it to the building a few times as well. There are a number of restaurants and food stalls in the area so going for a bite to eat is never a problem – if Ana can deal with rush hour around noon (very German lunch time!). At night, one of the streets transforms into a Satay street with a dozen of foodcarts selling Satay (you know, these seasoned, skewered and grilled meat sticks) and it is a lot of fun for locals and tourists alike. 

Ana pointing at the part of the CDB where she works

Besides the generally fast working environment, Ana also needs to get accustomed to another thing: To work in Singapore, she needs to be officially licensed – in order to comply with the regulators. To obtain the financial advisor license, she needs to pass exams that cover the specifications of the Singaporean Financial Regulation, as well as insurance market practices. How many exams? She has been told 4, but she just found out that 4 are only the beginning; therefore it is likely that she may have to take another 3 so in total 7! That actually leads to the fact that her non-working time is not free-time –  It is study time. However, she passed the first two exams (the last one actually on the day of this blog publishing) that she took in her first try.. Preparing for the exams  she spends more time with Simon at INSEAD because as a partner of an MBA student, she is also entitled to use all the campus facilities. So while Simon studies for midterm exams, writes papers or completes projects with his group, Ana gets to spend time with him on the weekends and holidays.

However, what does Ana do at work? Actually, she continues working on International accounts providing consulting advice on health and benefit related topics but this time she has a stronger focus on Asia; and she also has the opportunity to get involve in broader HR topics.

All in all, the transition to Singapore has worked out well and it is providing the level of experience and exposure that Ana was looking for. So all is good and very exciting!

And besides the fact that the life is much more hectic than in Munich, Ana and Simon do manage to travel at least a little bit in the region.

More about this the next time.

Many hugs from the tip of the Malayan peninsula

Ana and Simon

INSEAD – or Simon back to school

You all know by now that Ana and Simon have settled in Singapore but maybe, somebody is not really sure why. Well, the major reason was to get some Asia exposure and while it worked well that Ana could transfer with Mercer for a year to their Singapore office (more on that soon), there was the question what Simon needed to do in order to go to Southeast Asia. It came in handy that he was thinking of doing an MBA and – now INSEAD plays an integral part – there was just one very good business school where he could combine the education and the location.

It would take too long to discuss all the reasons for doing this now but just to explain it as briefly as possible: an MBA is a postgraduate degree (Master of Business Administration) that is supposed to prepare people in management to holistically cope with the challenges of broader organizations. While Simon studied Business Administration in Germany, the German university education and an MBA are almost the opposite – at the Tübingen University, he learned all the theory (that is hardly ever used to this extent in “real life”) whereas an MBA takes the theory for granted and investigates different management situations and how they are being affected – the studies are far less theoretical and largely based on case studies. That being said, there were five major reasons for Simon in his motivation for pursuing the MBA:

• The school should be one of the top ones, with a very broad and well-established network of alumni
• The student body should be as diverse as possible
• He wanted to really learn something meaningful that will help him in his future career – but only a one year program!
• It should be based in Asia
• He was looking forward for a change of pace after 5 years working in management consulting at Oliver Wyman

These reasons only left one choice: INSEAD. So he applied, got accepted, Ana worked everything out with Mercer and now they are here (it was almost that simple).

Anyway, this part is actually about Simon going back to school. So once Ana and Simon had decided on the apartment and had done an extensive trip to IKEA (fortunately, open on a Sunday), January 7^th was the first day of orientation week. It takes Simon about 30 minutes to get to the campus and once he got there, everything was following a well-organized schedule.

The main building on INSEAD's Asia campus

The first few days were mainly to get to know the classmates. At the two campuses (one is in Fontainebleau / France, the other one here), there are about 500 students that will jointly graduate in December 2013. These 500 are from 65 countries! That is very impressive and exactly one of the reasons why Simon decided to go for INSEAD. There is a (bit blurry) photo from the first day to get a feeling where the students are coming from.

The biggest nationality is Indian, followed by American and French. Surprisingly, the biggest per-capita nationalities are Lebanon, Singapore and Portugal. It was quite interesting that there are more Portuguese than Spaniards and more Dutch than Germans. 

There are three “sections” (read classes) in Singapore, each around 70 students. Most of the activities are done in classes and every class is again divided into groups. These groups are working together on a variety of case studies as well as homework assignments and even exams. Simon is very happy with his group, it is a pretty awesome compilation of people, very international yet the cultural differences are not that big… Well, but you shouldn’t only talk about the nationality – everyone who goes to INSEAD will have a somewhat international profile. So there is David, a Chinese-American who has worked for the last 18 months at Mercer (Ana’s company, that is right!) in Singapore. Valerie, a French Canadian who had project work in Jakarta, Indonesia. Neha, from India, living for more than 5 years in Singapore and Charles, French, who worked for LVMH (yes, the company that markets these nice handbags with the LV J) in New York. Part of the “team building” was an awesome project where Simon’s group helped a social institution building a playground for the kids that they took care of. The group did really well, bonded and was awarded with the universal price for good performance: Alcohol ;-)

 The orientation week cumulated with a super nice beach party on Saturday. It was crazy – just ten days had passed since Simon and Ana had transferred to Singapore and then, they found themselves partying at a beach club, barefoot in the sand – on January 12^th! Who wouldn’t want to kill them for that now ;-)

Last week was “Lowland Week”, one of the so-called National Weeks where students from one country or region (in that case: Belgium and the Netherlands) were getting together to organize a number of awareness events that would help their fellow students to get to know their home region. It was awesome. A lot of things in orange (for the Dutch), Belgian waffles for breakfast and one night a delicious beer tasting. 

The “Heart of Europe” week is coming up in May and the Germans (plus the Swiss and the Austrians) will make sure that this week will be at least as cool!

However, being back to school also means that Simon needs to get back into study mood. And actually, he doesn’t have too much time for that. Only three “full weeks” have passed and he already had one paper, three group projects and two midterm exams. But no need to feel sorry for him – that’s what he wanted in the first place. Also, INSEAD requires a third language (besides English and one other language spoken fluently) in order to graduate. Since Simon took nine years of French in school and he was really good at it, he decided to go for Spanish. Wait a minute??? Well, he decided to go for Spanish because his French has deteriorated quite a bit since high school and due to some obvious choices in life, he felt more confident in Spanish now. So he passed that exam - first important exam: CHECK! 

So all in all, the experience is great. Many inspiring people, a lot to learn, both on and off the class room and all in an awesome location. Simon and Ana will make sure that you also learn something about Singapore. But more on that later!

Tomorrow is exam day (Microeconomics midterm quiz) so that should be all for now!

All the best from the Straits of Malacca!

Ana and Simon