Singapore, Singapore

March 27.28, 2009

I have heard a lot about Singapore and it was all true.

First of all the City is clean – really clean. I don’t think I have ever been in a big city that was so clean. The traffic follows all the rules. There are skyscrapers everywhere and malls in between.

We stayed in Little India, which, oddly enough, is full of Indians. Singapore definitely has specific areas where different folks are expected to live. We didn’t mind since the area was teeming with life at night. It was amazing to watch the temples overflowing and the shops selling saris, tires, shoes and anything else.

Lana went to the art museum (which she said was good) and I went on a tour of the “Battlebox”. This series of tunnels and rooms was the British command centre during the siege of Singapore. There was a series of dioramas on what happened on the last day of the siege, which, for a student of history, was really fascinating.

We wandered among the high-rises and along the river. Even though we had lived in the Toronto area for many years, I felt that Singapore made me feel like a country bumpkin. I would challenge anyone who thinks that North America is the most developed area on the planet to visit somewhere like Singapore (or Kuala Lumpur).

Of course, the cost had also increased along with the buildings. Actually the cost wasn’t as bad as we feared with things (once you had done the currency conversion) costing about the same as Toronto. Still for me it was a shock since I had gotten used to the much cheaper prices in Thailand and Malaysia.

On the other hand we did splurge on food. We had Indonesian, French, Italian and Indian all in two days. Had a nice visit over dinner with an Australian maritime engineer who was in town to convert a super tanker. Nice guy.

Definitely a city to visit and be awed by.