12 Sad Truths About Staying On The Extreme Ends In Singapore

Extreme Easties and Westies, we’re all in this together

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Neither extreme end is as packed as the Bishan area, but the 40km distance between an extreme Eastie and and extreme Westie can seriously be a pain in the you-know-where. Quite literally, especially after a 3 hour train ride.

Having spent the entirety of my 20-year existence on this earth residing on the extreme end of the island known as Changi, my life habits are very different from my lucky friends who live centrally. These are just 12 of daily woes of an extreme-ender they’ll never understand.

1. Having to post parcels because nobody wants to do a Carousell meetup with you at Pasir Ris MRT.

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And they say e-commerce is supposed to be more convenient.

2. Not understanding how people who live in central areas usually refuse to travel to you because you’re ‘too far’, but it’s okay for you to travel to them

But then you surrender to the inevitable fact that you’re just too inaccessible to everyone and every journey home involves you willing yourself to crawl back to the depths from whence you came. #foreveralone.

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3. Overloading your schedule every time you go out, because it takes 2 hours to get home anyway

You city folk won’t get it, but when the trip home takes so long, you tend to want to fill your day with activities. Way. Too. Many. Activities.

4. Having to wake up at 5am to get to school at 8am.

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Morning Routine:
5am: Wake up and hope your body doesn’t already give up on the arduous journey ahead
5:15am: Get showered, dressed, and made up
6am: Leave the house and hope the train doesn’t break down
6-8am: Pray for two hours that the train doesn’t break down, and get helplessly anxious when it starts to slow.
8:16am: Reach school, and get marked absent for being one minute late #life.

And sometimes, the journey to class is longer than class itself. Travelling from your house in Pasir Ris to Dover for an hour and half, just to attend an hour long lecture. Just mark me absent already.

5. Your SO is on the other side of the island and your relationship becomes long distance

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You never get midnight kisses, and sending bae home always ends up with you missing the last train or bus. Forking out a minimum of $20 to get home by taxi after midnight also becomes a common trend. Price of dating someone who lives on the other extreme end of Singapore: bankruptcy by transport.

6. When you forget your earpiece and you can’t go back home to get it because you’ll be disgustingly late if you do

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And you’re cursed to endure the rest of the journey with only the sounds of crying babies sounding like the spawn of Satan, loud aunties and getai-blasting uncles till the doors at your destination finally open.

7. People complain when group meetings are at 8am, but they live two MRT stops away and you live 22 stops away.

It’s especially infuriating when they live two stops away and are still late.

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8. Going to the other side of Singapore and feeling like you’ve entered Malaysia

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Most times, when visiting a friend on the other extreme end, it feels like a cultural exchange programme.

9. Having to listen to the same joke about how pitiful you are living so far away for the 2348th time

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I get it, I’m sad and pathetic for living so far away from civilisation. I can’t be the very best at Pokemon Go because I have no happening Poke Stops near me. I need to wake up so much earlier than everyone else. For the nth time, I live near Lakeside MRT, not at the literal side of the lake. Ugh.

10. Looking fresh when you leave the house, but by the time you get to your destination:

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Yep, Singapore’s heat and humidity – especially on public transport at peak hours when your Amazonian Clay foundation melts off your face – does not make you look cute.

11. When the last MRT stop on the green line doesn’t go far enough to reach your house so you have to take another bus that comes at 20 minute intervals.

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Or, well, you know when you miss the last bus – just take a 1 hour walk home in stilettos while still half drunk. No problem at all.

12. Having to leave a gathering at 11pm if you want to catch the last train/bus home

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Continuation of our fate from #11. The world hates us extreme end-ers. I hope you didn’t miss your bus reading this article.

Easties and Westies – Go the Distance

Despite the crazy long travel times, there’s no place we’d rather be than tucked in our lovely corners of Singapore. Living in the best parts (debatable) of Singapore comes at a price. Like Hercules sings:

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So spur on, Extreme End-ers, put those latecomers who live in Bishan to the pits of shame, and enjoy the long travel times by indulging in a book (or our website) – it makes for great alone time that you can’t get anywhere else.