Singapore is like a teenager
Singapore is like a teenager, struggling to find its own way. After 40 years of independence from the British, it's still trying decide what to be. A small island, surrounded by over 50 small islands, it struggles under draconian rules. If you try and import chewing gum for re-sale, the fine is $50,000. Drop litter, jay-walk and dozens of other petty laws carry heavy fines or forced labour jobs cleaning the streets wearing "convict" clothes. 4 million people need more space so land-reclamation, using rocks and soil imported from Indonesia, is on-going. They have even narrowed the Singapore river to create more roads. No wonder the Singaporeans drive over the bridge to Malaysia for "sin and shopping". It is also a city of contrasts, Chinatown, Little India, Arab Street, and then Orchard Road, Mecca for designer clothes at designer prices, housing prices of over $800.000 for a small condo, cars at $100.000, street markets with knock-off label goods, shop houses, two story buildings with stores below and accommodations above, edge to edge with over 150 high-rise buildings housing the head offices of international banks.
During my four day stay, I hardly could get a feel of what Singapore is all about.
I did get to go to Raffles and have a Singapore Sling at the long bar, mostly unchanged since the days of Noel Coward and Earnest Hemmingway. although I could not reconcile it with the reggae band playing Bob Marley songs and the floor covered in peanut shells, it was an interesting experience!
Now I am back in Chaing Mai and it feels like coming home. More on that later. Barbara
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