I walked out of Singapore airport wearing a t-shirt and some khakis – to my surprise, I was hit with a thick cloud of disgustingly hot, heavy and humid air. It was 11pm. Lila said it would be hot and humid…but I guess it’s one of those things you have to experience to understand what is meant by “hot and humid”. It’s nothing like humidity in NYC, which now I think is rather pleasant. Driving down the Esplanade to Lila’s apartment, it feels like Vegas on the water. There are many grandiose hotels, with their big and inviting lights, palm trees and fountains. Not to mention at the end there is an enormous newly built casino (cost: $1 billion) waiting to take away all your money.
Calling all shoppers..welcome to your paradise. Every corner of this place…there is a mall. Especially on Orchard Street, I’ve never seen so many malls jam packed on 1 street. These are humungous, modern malls with funky designs, high ceilings, and long and wide walkways just like the sidewalks. One of the shopping centers, Mustafa is a 24 hour mall. Think Century 21, a supermarket and Costco all combined to form a megastore. It’s a labyrinth of goods, don’t bother trying to get out the same way you came in… if any have you have been to Furniture Land South in NC, then you know what I’m talking about.
I met a retired police officer who explained why gum is illegal in Singapore. Apparently folks used to chew gum and stick it on train doors, consequently jamming train doors and causing delays. For the record, you can’t buy gum anywhere here but you can chew it..just don’t stick it anywhere other than a garbage can. Also, you have to keep your car tires clean so that they won’t make the road dirty..or else you get fined. By the way, I thought Tokyo was the cleanest city I’ve ever seen. I was wrong. I strolled down the sidewalks closely examining the ground for any litter, but all I saw were leaves. Leaves from the many trees that line the streets. It’s a true delight to walk through the streets, seeing the tall trees with thick leaves sway above your head; they form a canopy over the road, good for keeping shade from the sun. One interesting building is the Supreme Court. It is this weird glass structure with a giant saucer on the top of it. It looks rather strange and you’d never think it was a courthouse – but the reason it is glass is to symbolize the transparency of their legal system. I guess that’s kind of cool, not sure about the saucer though.
This is the first place in the world to implement a city toll to control road traffic (sometimes folks pay $500 USD in tolls a month to drive around) thus making it one of the most expensive places in the world to own a car. Not only is there a high import tax on cars, but residents cannot own a car that is older than 10 years. Therefore, there is no such thing as 5pm traffic here (wouldn’t that be nice in the States). Singapore ranks #2 only to Japan on exporting used cars. But the public transportation is highly efficient and is easy to use.
So this city/state/country all in one, Singapore is a town of mainly expats, something like 50%. I stayed with my friend Lila who got transferred to the Singapore office of BNY last year. The nightlife here is really fun. The first night out was at Boat Quay (quay is pronounced “key”, which I learned the hard way in NZ); it’s like NYC’s South Street Seaport but much nicer. We ended up watching the opening match of the World Cup whilst smoking hookah and enjoying Tiger beer. Another lively place was Arab St – it’s a cobblestone road filled with hole in the wall eateries and bars. After having a couple of drinks @ Blue Jaz, we strolled to Robertson Quay to watch the big USA vs UK match. In the middle of a circle of bars is a big open area that was filled with tables and chairs for the game. Imagine watching a game at 2am...amongst hundreds of people from around the world…outdoors…dripping in sweat…it was awesome. It was 2 of us against all of Lila’s Brit friends. Talk about feeling patriotic, when we tied the game, the 20 something folks cheering for the US in the sea of Brit’s at the bar, went ballistic and of course the Brits just sat there in shock. After watching this game, I was now hooked. Though I am an ardent and diehard fan of baseball, soccer has a certain appeal. The fact that soccer is a much quicker, action packed and truly global game made it thrilling to watch.
After a few days of sightseeing and partying in Singapore…I’m ready for Hong Kong.
No comments:
Post a Comment