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Published: February 13th 2007
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On the way to Singapore from India, we stopped in Bangkok for 2 days. It's our 5th time here and each time I come here I think I like it better. At first I thought it was a chaotic city. Now I feel that it's beautiful, clean and peaceful. In reality it's probably between the 2. There's no suicidal cars speeding through intersections honking at everything they see. You don't see men urinating on the streets every 50 metres. It's just pleasant! haha
We spent most of our day shopping at the weekend market. It has over 10 000 stalls and 200 000 people shopping at it per day. Prices are incredibly cheap and you could literally buy whatever you want. Unfortunatly everything was very asian and either didn't fit us, or simply wasn't our style. That night we woke up at 3 30am to catch our 2.5 hour flight to Singapore.
Singapore is a tiny island nation only 20km in width. It's one of the most modern places in the world. The people here are mostly rich & at least middle class. Didn't see one homeless person. It's a city that reminded me almost too much like home
in Vancouver. It reminded me about the comforts of home that I missed. Such as tap water that you can drink, sit down, flush toilets with toilet paper. And cleanliness!
This is one of the cleanest cities in the world. You really have to look hard to find even one piece of litter. They say Singapore is a "Fine City" This is mainly because it has a set of strict laws, and they are not afraid to enforce them. Littering will entitle you to a $1000 fine. Some rules are pretty silly though. Such as the famous chewing gum ban. You need a percription to chew gum here, it's available at the pharmicist!
The crime rate is low to almost non existant. This is also because of the harsh penalties. Drug offences carry a manditory death sentence. Unfortunatly the goverment is very controlling and authoratarian. Fines are given for not flushing toilets and jay walking. Although it has now stopped. They used to pay affluent, educated people to have children, while paying noneducated people to go sterile. I guess maybe that's why most of the people here seem rich! The quality of life here is high. All that
Culture in the city
Singapore has a very interesting mix of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian cultures. Like Canada there's no real Singaporeans. Most backgrounds are from elsewhere being said, unless you're blatently breaking laws left, right and centre. For some crimes, most notably illegal entry and overstaying your visa for over 90 days, Singapore imposes caning as a punishment. This is no slap on the wrist: strokes from the thick rattan cane are excruciatingly painful, take weeks to heal and scar for life. Singapore is a great place to visit. The only evidence that the people are ruled to death is the amazingly clean streets. Police are not hiding around every corner waiting to fine you.
Heading into town, we hopped on the MRT (Skytrain/subway) Inside each car we were greeted with a graphic video letting us know how to spot a terrorist. It showed to watch if anyone leaves a bag behind, and what to do if it happens. The video ends with a terrorist blowing up the train that we're on, and then showing the tracks littered with dead bodies. It was very graphic and shocking! would be similar if they played the planes crashing into the world trade centre on an airplane movie while telling you to watch your neighbors!
Like Canada, the people of Singapore all come from different backgrounds. Mostly
AIM WELL
Iff not you will be fined! from China, Malaysia and India. It's great to see evryone co exist togethor. There's a Little India, as well as a China Town. It's amazing taking a ride on the MRT (Subway) from one station that will have all Chinese people to a station of all Indians. It's almost as if moving from one country to the next. Our hotel was in Little India. I thought we left India. We can't escape it! People are friendly but of course it's just not the same. Nobody asked where we were from, noone wanted to take pictures of us, or to sign autographs. I miss India! haha it felt as if we were in a really clean sterile India. As if all of a sudden the country of India won the lottery and cleaned up!
China Town is where we usually headed to eat. The hawkers market served cheap food and we needed it. We were having a "Sticker Shock" Coming from countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia we were used to paying next to nothing for everything. here the prices are pretty much the same as home. Sometimes even more expensive. We're only here fopr 2 days but
Chinese new year
Chinese New year is huge here. Here is evidence that it is coming! We'll be in malaysia by then, it''s equally big there also it was really messing with our heads! Usually we could eat at fancy restaraunts, use the internet for hours on end, have private rooms with attached bathrooms, etc etc. Here we settled for a hostel with dorm beds. Which isn't actually that bad but it's still triple the price as our nice guesthouses we're sued to! The Chinese Hawker marts at least had meals for $5.00 which wasn't so bad at all. Chinese New Year is coming so we could see the whole city in preperation for the huge festivities!
We pretty much did a walking tour throughout the city. Stopped at Starbucks and enjoyed real coffee. And pretty much remembered waht home was like. The difference here though is the whole entire country is a giant shopping mall. At home I can think of maybe 10 shopping malls. Here in this tiny country the size of maybe less than 1/4 Vancouver Island they must have well over 100 shopping malls. Each and every one of them are packed full of locals and tourists alike. We didn't mind going in them either as it gave us a break from the opressive heat and humidity. Singapore is just 130km from
Typical sight
Anywhere around town is beautifully kept. There's plenty of British and even Portugeuse colonial buildings the equator.
The 2nd night we met some new friends who I contacted on the internet through the couchsurfing website. They were great people, gave us a little tour of the city and inside more malls. They taught us a bit more about the ways of life like how all males must join the army for 2 years at the age of 18. And how all Singaporeans loved to shop! We all went for dinner at a hawker centre, the bill came to about $75 and they paid it. Really nice of them and we really apreciate it, it just amazes me because we just me them! We also almost met another girl, she invited us to spend the night at her house. She stated she wouldn't be home but gave us directions and said her key would be in the shoe outside the door. The hospitality in Asia amazes me. Such great people. Are we missing something in Canada? I hope these people can visit us one day.
Since everything is so freakin expensive for us here. We're only spending 2 days and then heading over to Malaysia where the prices are similar to what we're used
to. For anyone on a budget like us, it's definatly worth i to stop by Singapore for a couple days. it's a beautiful place where you can come back to reality!
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biplob
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feeling home!!
Good to know that u guys are feeling home again!! I think after India...u got to go to some place like Singapore where you can purify your self!! lol!! Have fun!! call my friend Sanjeev at : 81380117 ..he is in singapore..recently moved there. cheers!