SINGAPURA. acclimatizating back into western life.

---

the plane landed in Singapore at 12:45am this morning. i dont know how common it is here, but the other passengers and myself were greeted by about 15 scary, bald, security guys with huugee guns as we came off the plane...? a lovely welcome to Singapore?! i was amused and tried to take a photo, before being told in no uncertain terms to delete it. haha naughty naughty.

we sped though immigration, customs, baggage and i was then ushered into a line to get a taxi (it took literally 4 seconds until one came!!) The taxi actually had seatbelts, and the driver spoke English!!
this may seem standard to you but coming from Indo, its crazily luxurious. it was 1:30am by this stage but the city was lit up like day light so i could see.. well roads which weren't packed to their capacity with bikes, kaki-limas, and burnt out buses, rubbish, skinny cats and old ladies begging on the roads. instead traffic moves swiftly in the form of fancy cars, everything immaculately manicured and squeaky clean, green and lush. i couldn't smell the all too familiar wrench of pollution, smog, dirty water. it dawned on me, Singapore is not like any other Asian city, although its situated in the heart of Asia. chewing gum and bungee jumping used to be illegal here! 15% of the population are Expats, the majority of people are are mixture of Malay, indo, chinese, indian - and most of them live in housing commission flats. Bahasa Indo and English are the main languages spoken, although the indo sounds heaps different to what im used to. the city is mainly made up of expats and business people, but if you go 10 mins in either direction you can find a more rural, rich Asian culture again. affluence and safety seem to be the preoccupation here, however theres more to singapore than eating amazing food and shopping..

i was greeted at my aunty's house by a bottle of champagne, which is always good after a long flight and no champagne for months! sal, andy and caitlin live in a great 'condo' - theres a pool and heaps of other families. its so much hotter than Bali and even Yogya - the humidity is a killer. they have 'humidifiers' all over the house which take the water out of the air and are become full every 2 hours.
yesterday we ate brunch at an expat hotspot - andy and sal apologised because it was so western and my brain semi-exploded because it was a carbon copy of Merricks General. same menu, same produce, same philosophy. just when i thought i could become considered a hardcore Asian who ate rice in the mornings! the food was great, and the coffee was even better.
we then went to the Islamic area of singapore, kampung glam. there was a beautiful old mosque on Arab St and the surrounding area of shops selling hijabs and cigarettes reminded me of yogya. we accidentally stumbled across a festival celebrating Malay culture. last night we went to little India for dinner! so good. we found this huge warehouse called Mustafas which sells anything you could ever think of really cheap. it was still packed at 10pm.

i love singapore already for its mix of culture, it has something for everyone. shops which mimic rodeo drive, little india, the MRT which is like the London Underground, changi, the colonial district, chinatown..
its the hub of Asia which tries to represent all minority groups, all coexisting peacefully, accepting the demands of modernity and the west. its a pretty awesome way to re-accustom myself slowly back into a western mindset.

home next Sunday.
xx

---

Comments

[hayley]

Omg alice..was little india the most scariest experience you've had yet? i went there and boy was i scared!! haha mustafas! i remember that place so so well!! xx