Do I See Good Wife Cakes? Why, Yes I Do

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Flying over Singapore, seeing the containerships and oil tankers parked in the Singapore Strait, waiting for their turn to dock, and my heart starts to lift. Singapore has that effect on me.

Flying out of Ko Samui is pretty easy. It’s a small airport, about the size of a regional airport in the US, but it is beautifully appointed. Silk Air and Bangkok Airways have free wifi – and the free use of computers – for their customers, along with complimentary sandwiches, pizza, and muffins. Airports in the US could learn a thing or two.

However, due to weight restrictions I was forced to check my bag. I hate checking bags, and make a point of only taking what I can fit into a carry-on. But, if you have to check a bag, Singapore is probably the least objectionable airport to have as your destination. It is, without question, the most efficient airport for arriving foreigners I’ve ever encountered.

It took maybe forty-five seconds to get through immigration. They scan your passport, briskly stamp it and your immigration card, offer you a piece of candy, and you’re on your way. My bag was on the luggage carousel about two minutes after I got there. Customs was so easy I barely noticed it. Your put your bag into some sort of scanner, and if it checks OK you’re good to go.



From the time I got off the plane, I was asked if I had been in Africa in the past week, went to the rest room, cleared customs and immigration, changed money and got into a cab, all in about forty minutes. I’ve spent longer than that waiting in line for immigration in Miami - and I’m a US citizen.

Some people, mostly people who have never been to Singapore, say Singapore is too rigid, has too many rules and draconian punishments. And yes, Singapore has a lot of rules. You can be fined for spitting in public, for not flushing a public toilet, for bringing durian on a bus or subway. Your immigration card carries the warning that the punishment for illegal drugs is death. (And they mean it.) But notice that these rules are all meant to make a crowded city-state easier to live in. And the harsh treatment of drug use was to counter the rampant heroin abuse that had been encouraged by the English while Singapore was a colony.

The upside to this is that Singapore is clean, safe, and it works. Unlike in Thailand, I can walk around in this steamy tropical place and not get bitten by mosquitoes, or any other bug that wants to snack on me. I think any mosquito that dared to bite a human in Singapore would be fined S$500 and sentenced to twelve lashes of the cane.

This time around I am staying south of the Singapore River, right on the edge of Chinatown. I headed to the tourist information center in Chinatown because I wanted a better map of the city than the one I had. Singapore changes so much and so quickly that if your map is even only a couple of years old it is woefully out of date.

I walked down South Bridge Road, managing to walk past Smith Street – also known as Food Street – by sheer will power. Um, well, I did have a coffee and a Good Wife cake, but that doesn’t really count. Note that if you order kopi – coffee – you will get black coffee with sugar. And you will be asked if you want white coffee, which is black coffee whose beans have been roasted with palm oil, and served with condensed milk.

As I walked by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, I stopped to give a donation, light some incense, and send some kind thoughts into the world. I heard some marvelous chanting, so I went in to see what was happening. I fully expected it to be a recording, but it turned out to be a Maitreya Buddha Ceremony in progress, with monks chanting, lead in their prayers by the Abbott and founder of the temple, Venerable Shi Fa Zhao. It was pretty wonderful, and I was lucky to have stumbled across it. The only downside was the western tourist getting in everyone’s way to film the people at prayer. Imagine Chinese tourists coming into a Christian church to film people taking communion, or saying confession, it was like that. I was embarrassed. You can read a more complete history of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple here: http://www.btrts.org.sg/history-of-btrtm

Singapore continues to delight me, and I have more exploring to do.

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Photos

Ringing the bell
Monk at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Death for drugs
You have been warned.

zero dengue
Mosquitoes don't stand a chance.

incense burner
Burning incense at the entrance to the temple

One of many
There are a thousand Buddhas in the temple. This is one of them.

Comments

[Tammy]

nice!
It sounds wonderful, love reading about all of your adventures. It's too bad we don't have more laws in the US to make our country "work"!

[Kuan Yin]

The most interesting regulation
There is a statute on the books - Section 354 of the Penal Code - which makes "Outrage of Modesty" a crime. This can apply in a number of cases, such as being groped in the subway or on a public bus. It is considered a gender-neutral crime under the law, but it is most often men who are convicted. And yes, it comes with jail time!