CUTTING-EDGE CONFERENCE IN SINGAPORE INFO PACK # 4 (FINAL)
Dear IT Cutting Edge Conference Participants and Guests,
YES, twelve (12) days to go …. and counting!!! The excitement level is rising fast. Some of us are already preparing things to bring on the trip . Our office staffs are also very busy preparing the conference materials, manuals, ID’s, backdrops, photo-wall, shirts, etc. Everything that is happening generate a wonderful anticipation on an event that we believe will be extra-ordinary.
Some final words ….
1. PRE-DEP BRIEFING: There will be a Pre-departure online meeting via Zoom on November 16 & 17. Kathy Merencillo will handle the meeting to coach you on immigration matters and to discuss and explain the various documents that may be required from you by airport immigration officials. Meeting ID and Passcode will be posted on the Group Page and on our website. Please do not ignore this meeting. It may spell worry free travel for you if you join the meeting or an airport nightmare experience if you don’t. Our Philippine
immigration officers are notorious for off-loading or denying flight boarding even for legitimate travelers like us. If you would not be able to make it for whatever reason, please make sure to ask our office for copies of the conference and company documents that you must have on hand should the airport officials ask for proof of your participation in the event. We will have the documents sent via email or through FB messenger
2. SINGAPORE ARRIVAL:
a. Singapore immigration requires all incoming visitors to accomplish the SINGAPORE Arrival card (SGAC) with Health Declaration online. You may fill up the form 3 days before your arrival date. To access the form, please use the link : https://eservices.ica.gov.sg/sgarrivalcard/ . You may choose to download MyICA mobile app and go to the site from there.
b. In order to track the whereabouts of each individual and the people they get in contact with during their stay in Singapore, the government requires each visitor to download and accomplish the TRACE TOGETHER App. The app can be downloaded from Apple App Store or Google Play. This form can be downloaded only on mobile phones and is not available for use on laptop computers. TraceTogether is a digital system implemented by the Government of Singapore. The main goal is quick identification of persons who may have come into close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19. As soon you have completed the form, a confirmation message will appear on your mobile phone instructing you to activate the app as soon as you are cleared by immigration to enter Singapore.
3. BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE: Your budget airline (Cebu Pacific or Air Asia) booking starts with the minimum baggage allowance of 7 kilos for hand carry alone. If you need to bring with you a check in baggage, you must pay for the check in baggage weight of your choice. You may go directly to your airlines website and order the additional baggage weight that you want.
4. SINGAPORE AIRPORT ASSISTANCE: WE don’t have anyone at the airport to meet you on arrival. Please read the previous INFO PACKS for trip instructions to the city. Let me repeat … “NO AIRPORT ASSISTANCE”. If you have any questions regarding airport related matters or travel to any parts of Singapore, you may ask the assistance of the person behind the Tourist Information Center desk.
5. TRAVEL FROM AIRPORT TO THE CONFERENCE VENUE: Please read detailed instructions on how to go to the Salvation Army from the airport on the previous Info Pack.
6. TRAVEL FROM AIRPORT TO THE GALAXY POD CAPSULE HOTEL. A big number of participants chose to stay in this capsule hotel in Clark Quay. To go to the place via MRT, please follow the instructions:
a. Follow Steps # 1 to # 7 of Travel from Airport to Conference Venue (Salvation Army) on Info Pack # 2.
b. Go to the TANAH MERA station (Green Line). From Tanah Mera transfer to the train that will go to the OUTRAM PARK Station (please check the map first before boarding the train) From OUTRAM PARK Station, proceed to the PURPLE LINE and take the train that will bring you to your final destination – CLARKE QUAY Station.
c. The CLARKE QUAY Station is right inside the big mall Clarke Quay Mall and you’ll just have to find your way out to the front area. When you reach the street location, you are two blocks away from Galaxy Pod Capsule Hotel. There are two major tour landmarks that are close to the hotel – THE BOAT QUAY and the RIVER VIEW BRIDGE. Just go to where the bridge is and you’ll easily locate the hotel. The hotel is in a backpackers area so don’t be surprised at the busyness of the street specially in the evening.
7. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
a. When riding a bus or MRT’s, lower your voice. Police may be called by train riders.
b. Queue up nicely for the subway. In fact, queue up nicely for anything that has a queue.
c. Don’t block the escalators on the right side if you’re not going to walk up or down.
d. Eating and drinking inside the public transportation is prohibited or you will be penalized. This includes chewing gum.
8. ACCOMMODATION: If you have not yet booked a place to stay in, may we remind those who are arriving late in the evening that looking for a hotel at that time will be difficult and quite challenging. So, please attend to this before your departure to Singapore to avoid any problems on your arrival. Please refer to the earlier Info pack with suggested hotel/dormitory lists. I strongly suggest that you book your hotel online (or ask our office for booking assistance) prior to arrival to ensure a headache free accommodation. You may book them using travel search applications such as AGODA, Booking.com, etc … or you may just type the name of the hotel in Google and book directly on the hotels official website.
9. HEALTH: You may bring personal medications for those on maintenance and also for emergency cases – antihistamines for allergy, paracetamols for fever and pain etc .. Our office will also bring basic medicines so in any case you feel the need to take some, please don’t hesitate to ask from any of our conference staffs. We are bringing also Covid Test kits, Blood Pressure gauge and other medical instruments etc.. in case a need arise.
10. TAP WATER . Water straight from the faucet is safe to drink in Singapore.
11. SAFEGUARD your passports to the maximum. Please have it photocopied and bring the copy with you always.
12. MEMORY CARD: With all the beautiful sights and ministry site that you will be visiting, you might need to bring an extra SD card(s) just to be sure that you don’t wind up with a camera that you could no longer use just because of lack of memory space.
13. SAFETY: PLEASE … NO LONE RANGER or solo flyer!!!! We need to be able to monitor each other’s activities and whereabouts at all time. Always go out with a group and inform others of your plans. We would like each one to assist in policing your own ranks.
14. WIFI: You will be surprised to know that there are Wifi signals available for you to use in most parts of Taiwan … from the market places to the train stations etc … But if you still want to have your own WIFI service that you could use together with the group that you are with, then we could recommend a Pocket WIFI Rentals available at the airport and connects to 5 devices (laptops or smartphones). You may also turn on your Data Roaming service (Globe) and pay P399 per day for unlimited use of the internet. You may share this service thru the hotspot feature on your phone.
15. JOSHUA RISING YOUTH GROUP: Our youth have set their itineraries and activities to start on the 24th of November. They will all be participating at the conference. The person leading the charge for our youth group is Ptr.Nicole Aguinalde. She will be assisted by some of our office staffs – Abby, Hannah, etc.. Should you want to join their ministry, please don’t hesitate to approach any of them. They will gladly share to you their goals for the youth and activities that they designed to move to their target goals.
16. GLOBAL INTERCESSORS: Our committed team of prayer warriors and intercessors will be in Singapore from the start to the end of the conference. They will provide the important and much valued prayer covering for all participants and our activities while in Singapore and in Malaysia. The team is headed by Ptra Rose Sadogio. If you are led to join the team, please feel free to approach Ptra Rose or any Global Intercessors member to express your desire to take part in their ministry.
17. ROAMING: Please have your phone activated for roaming service. Once you have it up and running, it will automatically scan the available network in the country where you are in and lock in on the chosen network. So, you will be able to communicate whether you are in Malaysia or Singapore Please take note that there are charges on all text messages sent. The cost of SMS is at P15 to P25 per text. I simple Hello message can cost you P15 right away. All incoming text messages are free though. Any mobile calls made on roaming service will incur a very high cost per minute whether it be calls made or calls received. A good cheap option is for a group to get a local SIM /mobile no. and use it for sending txt messages. The cost will then be a local cost which is so much cheaper than on roaming.
18. INFO PACKS: Please make sure that you read and re-read the earlier info packs sent to you. We noticed that there are some participants who kept on asking questions on the conference that were fully explained already on those information materials.
19. WEATHER: The weather forecast in Singapore on the days of our conference will be sunny with occasional rains in the afternoon. The temperature range is 30 – 32 degrees Celsius.
20. T-SHIRTS: Our staffs have taken your individual sizes and will distribute the shirts at registration time. The T-shirts are given FREE to all registered conference participants. – one per participant. Please don’t wear it right away. We will have our Group Picture time on the afternoon of November 25 and we would like everyone to wear them for the pictorial.
21. ACCESS PART 2: Our designated IT Trainers and Evaluators will meet with the ACCESS 2 trainees to discuss the group arrangements and the itinerary for the Access program in Malaysia.. Those who are not part of the training group have the full freedom to determine where they would like to go and what they would like to do after the conference.
22. COURTESY: May we remind you that the teams and staffs who will be assisting you will be doing it from the generosity of their own hearts. The best response that you could give is to show gratitude and appreciation. Please take note that a good number of you will be there to be trained and evaluated and not the other way around. Our field team and conference staffs will expect courtesy and humility from all
23. CHECK FLIGHT TIMES : We had instances in the past where some of our missionaries missed their flights due to confusion in flight times. Those who have flights in the early morning, need to know that you must be at the airport the day before your flight time. If you go to the airport on the date listed on your booking, the possibility is that you have made a mistake and the flight might have left already early in the morning of that date. You will need pay for a new ticket, which is always expensive, in order to get a flight back.
24. BAGGAGE WEIGHT: Please weigh your baggage’s before heading to the airport. You need to make sure that you don’t go beyond the baggage weight limit that you paid for. The cost of extra weight when paid in the airport is a lot more expensive than on an online payment.
25. HOTEL CHECK IN and CHECK OUT: I noticed that some hotels in Singapore have a check in time of 3pm!!! That means they will allow you to use the room ONLY starting at that time. Check out normally is at 12pm but some hotels require you to leave your room at around 11:30 am. PLEASE check out the times so that you won’t be billed extra .
26. HOTEL DEPOSITS: Some of hotels ask for a certain amount for deposit. They ask for it as a guarantee that should something is stolen or destroyed in the room they will be able to demand it from your deposit. Most often, the excitement going back home makes you check out without asking for the deposit to be returned, I noticed that most of hotels don’t remind their guests of their deposits unless it is demanded from them. They must have a good reason for it.
27. TOUR OPTIONS: Here is a short list of places to go to in Singapore if you only have a few hours to go around the city . It will only take a day for you to see these famous important sites.
a. MERLION PARK
b. MARINA BAY
c. PROMENADE
d. GARDEN BY THE BAY
e. CHINA TOWN (CHINA PLACE)
f. LITTLE INDIA. (INDIAN PLACE)
g. KAMPONG GLAM (MALAY PLACE)
h. BUGIS (SHOPPING)
i. ORCHARD ROAD (HIGH END SHOPPING)
There are train stations close to all these go to places making it easy for anyone to tour Singapore in a day or two. If you have extra days to spend then visits to theme parks would be a wonderful treat :
a. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
b. SENTOSA
c. SINGAPORE ZOO
There are so much more places to visit. All in all, SINGAPORE is a city that has so much to offer for visitors like us. And all it takes is for us to get to know how to move around the city via the MRT. A lot more exciting and beautiful places to visit outside the city will be presented at the conference.
This is the FINAL INFO PACK You may want to print out all info packs (#’s 1-4) and bring with you as reference in case you need guidance. We pray for God’s favor and protection for all the conference participants.
Please pray for the success of our SINGAPORE conference. Let’s believe that GOD will do something amazing and unforgettable at our conference. Let’s all join hands in our commitment to honor and glorify the LORD before all men in all the nations of the world. May there be nothing but praises and thanksgiving to our Master and King all throughout the conference.
See you in Singapore !!!
Blessings,
Ptr. Gani Sison