Singapore: Contrasts and Confluences
Singapore is a study in contrasts and confluences.
- It achieves progressive ideals through draconian measures. Subsidized housing and education, minimum basic income, racial equality, cleanliness and order are offset by extreme limits on free speech, and nose-bleed-inducing fines and jail time for the smallest offences (for example, owning anything related to vaping results in a $700 fine for first time offences, and 3 months rehab for a second, even though tobacco is legal.)
- It is illegal to criticize any religion or race, even online (the government is watching). This leads to racial harmony but also a careful packaging of history. The Japanese occupation during WWII is frequently glossed over, and our taxi driver did not want to discuss the split from Malaysia in 1967.
- The government bulldozed its many kampongs, small fishing villages, in the 60s and 70s to make room for massive land expansion and public housing in new high rises, destroying an entire way of life. What is now left of the founding cultures of Singapore - Indian, Malaysian, Chinese - is being preserved in recognition of the value to tourism.
- Every street scene combines blindingly brilliant chrome and glass high-rises with colonial architecture and low buildings with brightly coloured wooden shutters.
- Hawker markets and sidewalk restaurants feature Indian tandoori, Malaysian noodles, Thai soup. Starbucks and McDonalds and even Tim Horton’s are ubiquitous, existing side by side with an indescribable variety of foods, sweets, and drinks.
- English is dominant, but we hear every other language on the street.
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed being back 40 years after our first visit. We’ve cycled and walked, explored interesting neighbourhoods, admired the efficient public transit system, enjoyed great food, toasted loved ones with a G&T at the long bar at Raffles, and marvelled at the seemingly infinite number of malls connected via a maze of underground pathways. In contrast to the frenetic chaos of Manila, it is a carefully planned city of order. Both are wonderful, but vastly different. Our next stop, Tarempa in the Anambas Islands, will be another extreme contrast: four days on a tiny Indonesian island with pristine, undeveloped beaches.
Our adventure continues…
Jen & Terry xoxoxo
