Singapore

Per usual, cities/countries I have no expectations for often surprise me. Singapore wasn't really a choice. One of my three airlines for my flight deal is Singapore Air. I was passing through it no matter what, so I figured I'd give the city-state a full day of my time.

Now there's no denying Singapore has both Orwelian and Huxleyian attributes. Felt threatened by the very clear promise of death penalty for drugs. "Well gosh, I don't think I have any." But your heart still beats a bit faster at Immigration. Security cameras are everywhere. Fines for littering (seems to be encouraged here as I type this in India), food on the subway, smoking, and seemingly everything else are made prominent. The entire city seems to be based on shopping and consumption at various levels. Life is clean and safe to the point of being sterile.

But, after some crazy weeks in Cambodia and Thailand, a day of Singapore is what I needed. Cleanliness, order, English as the official language. I was offered a mint at passport control. My airport bathroom asked me to rate it as I left, using a computerized system of five smiley faces. The restaurants all had a ranking of how they measured up to health inspections. They have the money to blast you with AC in every enclosed space. I could walk the streets late at night with impunity without having to put on my best Marlo Stanfield face, etc. This was a new Asia from my experiences thus far.

I slept in too late to pop into Malaysia. But with my one afternoon, I at least got a good feel for Singapore. I walked down to Chinatown (far less chaotic than Chicago and NYC even), saw the Buddha tooth temple, the Merlion, a huge mall, and an incredibly impressive botanical garden.

Part of some kids' project.

The Marina Sands resort figures prominently in my pictures and the skyline. I looked into treating myself with a night there but the cheapest room was north of $430. Serena and Tara, girls I met at my delightful-in-its-own-right guesthouse, had the same idea and went for it. My second night I was sitting amongst the crowd awaiting the awkward, hilarious light show outside the mega hotel. Out of the corner of my eye some not unattractive ladies sit down next to me. Sure enough, in a city of 4 million, there are the two people I semi know. Lucky for me, as I proceeded to have dinner with them and their local friend John.

The food in Singapore is amazing! John ordered for us at a quintessential Hawker Centre and we had a feast. Singapore is a fusion of Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian, etc. cultures and they all brought their best cuisine. Everything I ate and drank in my day and a half there was amazing (including, not proud to say, Popeye's....hey, needed a taste of home).

The point is, I could have stayed a day longer. Thoroughly enjoyed the nice respite from the chaos (enjoyable chaos, but chaos) of some of the travel I've sandwiched around it. I thankfully caught my 6:30am flight by the skin of my teeth (originally 7:30am and no one deemed it necessary to notify me of the change). Now I'm in India. Keep this post in mind, because the contrast between life here and in Singapore is extreme.