I'll admit to knowing next to bugger all about Singapore when I arrived. Various people told me various things. I have now had 9 days in which to formulate some opinions of the place so I shall share these with you. Here is what I was told to expect, and my current reflections on these statements:
1) Singapore is clean.
Verdict: Understatement. It's the cleanest city I've ever seen. There is virtually no litter. Almost everywhere you go you can see someone sweeping the streets. You see people cleaning things that don't even need cleaning. Actually I saw a rat last night, but this seems to be highly unusual. And it was outdoors - not scurrying around the train tracks like on the tube. Anyway yes - as major metropolises go Singapore is pretty much immaculate.
2) Singapore is safe.
Verdict: Also an understatement. Not once, at any point since I got here, have I seen anyone who looked even vaguely intimidating. The most threatened I have felt since I arrived was this morning when an old lady in the underground station tried to sell me some pens and I thought she wasn't going to take no for an answer. But then she did so it was fine. (incidentally it occurred to me that if you are going to try to flog cheap biros then standing in the equivalent of Bank station at lunchtime trying to sell them to people in suits who have secretaries and unlimited access to stationery cupboards is a bad way to go). I don't know whether I feel safe here because people are nice and friendly and non-aggressive, or simply because most of them are smaller than me and I reckon I could have 'em if I needed to. Either way - it's safe as houses.
3) Singapore is efficient.
Verdict: sensing a theme yet? Stuff works here. That sounds glib but actually stop and think about it. Or rather, think about how much stuff in England just doesn't work properly. Or works but not very well. Or works but not to its capacity. Or works but is prone to meltdown at times of crisis. Or works but took a ridiculously long time and large amount of money to start working in the first place. Singapore just seems to tick along smoothly with the minimum of fuss. Everything is intuitive. The whole place stinks of people having put thought into things - a concept which I was previously unfamiliar with. And don't even get me started on the public transport. I'll give it a post of its own at some point.
4) Food in Singapore is cheap and plentiful.
Verdict: I just had a sizeable bowl of noodles and a freshly squeezed watermelon juice for £1.85. And it was tasty stuff. You can actually do cheaper than this - I just saw an Indian place doing a plate of curry for 92p and 5 samosas for 37p. And I'd reckon on it being better than you'd expect. The food thus far gets a thumbs up. With the exception of the carrot cake, which confuses the sh*t out of me: http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/fun_stuff/recipes/carrot_cake.html
5) Singapore is hot.
Verdict: the one you've all been waiting for. Yes okay I'll admit it the weather here is bloody ridiculous. And not just because when i got to work this morning I had to sit bolt upright for ten minutes so that my shirt didn't make contact with my back. It's also the rain. It's bonkers. I am a Brit abroad - when I leave the house wearing shorts and sunglasses I do not feel the compulsion to take my umbrella with me. To my cost, I am rapidly discovering. Torrential is the only word to describe it. It lasts for an hour or two and then clears up pretty quickly. I left my umbrella at the hotel today and had to impulse-buy another one at lunchtime. Reckon I'm going to have quite a collection by the time I'm done (ooh - and I think I observed some rules of brolly etiquette on the train earlier but I need to do some more research before I can publish my findings).
Conclusions
Singapore is freakishly Utopian. And I haven't even gone into how spankingly modern and high-rise it is, yet how there is more greenery and landscaped gardens than you'd have thought possible. Or how friendly and helpful the people are. Or how amazing the zoo is.
It really is a very nice place. I don't have a camera at the moment (except on my phone) so you'll just have to take my word for it for now.
(other FAQs such as work, social life etc will be dealt with in other posts. This is time-consuming you know)
P.S. names-wise ... I think my new friend Crosby Ong has just edged Wilfred Chua out of top spot.
7 comments:
expectations when heard brill was doing a blog: short, punchy and to the point, efficient, amusing and heartily amusing in places.
Actuality: really long, inefficient but still amusing (i have read them all to be fair). but seriously mate, you must be spending a fair chunk of your time on these bad boys! no spelling mistakes and clearly thought out, well-reasoned arguments. Go out and get laid by some singaporean fitty named siobhan already!
Actually Jez, he missed out the word 'as' in "it's AS safe as houses".
Anyway, i bet all you could think about was my Sky News umbrella, huh dave? Very big umbrella that.
And Dave, thanks for telling us what Singapore is actually like for the first time in about 4 posts.
Have you met up with any of the Brits out there? And what are Singapore birds like? Small i bet. And does everyone speak like Kim Jong-Il of Team America fame?
Mark Speight killed himself yesterday. You'll recognise him from pictures on the internet. Quite sad.
Good blog by the way.
Dave, it almost sounds interesting enough for a trip over there! But clearly, that can't be right - I give you a couple of weeks until you realise they've been drugging all your food and you are a big leftie-style propaganda tool. You do realise you're in danger of a caning (or perhaps even death, I've read...) if you break that brolly etiquette; you want to be careful out there...
Update on Mark Speight: he left 2 suicide notes.
Soosh needs to do some research on that 'it's AS safe as houses' nonsense... Good on ya Dave, this is a blog, written and spoken straight out of Essex!
ps. Don't listen to Jez, keep putting serious time into these 'bad boys' - you already have a number of returning visitors and commentors! I'm putting this one up for the 'Blog of 2008 Awards' if it exists!
Although following Jez on the advice about getting laid by some singaporean fitty named siobhan maybe worth pursing. Let us know how it goes!
That is so not cake.
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