ON SINGAPORE

ON SINGAPORE
Singapore is a fabulous place to live, for those of us who are married with children. The weather is warm and predictable all year round, streets are safe, the taxes are low, the schools are top notch and society is fairly harmonious. Singaporeans seem to work more reasonable hours than their counterparts in Hong Kong, Tokyo, London or New York. That being said, there are artificial elements that make the city-state more difficult for the young, single oriented folk, like myself.

The city-state has developed a culture of fear amongst its constituents, to the point that authority figures cannot necessarily be seen all the time, but people follow the rules. Example - people DO NOT jaywalk, chew gum, eat/drink on the train, etc. These are rules that have been enforced over time and ingrained in the local's minds that they should be followed. The government seems to simply use the local news as a propoganda machine to push its agenda from time to time (including crazy stories of drug dealers and alleged terrorists from neighboring states).

The state has imposed heavy fees for smoking and drinking alcohol of any kind, making even a common beer cost more in Singapore than in Europe and most of North America (beers are in line with fancy New York bar prices, with cocktails and more complex formulations running even higher). While this encourages good behavior amongst the citizens, it takes quite a bit away from traditional night life. The Clarke Quay area, which is the official club/bar district in Singapore, seems more like "Adventure Land" in Disney World than the Village in New York City, or Lan Kwai Fung in Hong Kong. I guess the grit of a dirty, semi-dangerous city takes away from the nightlife experience, at least for me... It will be interesting to see whether the introduction of the Sands Casinos over the next few years changes this dynamic at all - my money is not on that happening.

The result is a mixed bag. Singapore is a rich state with fairly happy citizens, that is a light unto the rest of Asia. However, it has not been able to best the West in all ways, particularly creativity. As a result of the autocratic governmental system and the subsequent education system, students lack the creativity developed in countries like the U.S. and France, where students are given much more lax academic programs, with a focus on the creative side. As a result, Singapore is now building creativity into their academic program, and making it a key initiative in the country. I have no doubt they'll figure out a way to meet this goal to some extent, but it will be difficult to mimic the west on this one...

On to the positives... Singapore works. Everything functions with near-German precision, coupled with a Chinese hospitality that one would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The trains, cabs, and buses work like clock-work, picking you up on time and delivering you on time. This is the only place in the universe where cab drivers do not expect a tip, and will round down the price to the nearest dollar for you. There is no traffic here, when you compare the city to London, New York, Los Angeles or others. Tips are not expected or required, but the service level would make high-quality American service look poor. People are generally friendly, and are eager to help you get around. English, or rather Singlish, is used everywhere. The sidewalks, parks and roads are nearly spotless, and cleaned so often you couldn't imagine them ever being dirty. Despite heavy construction all over the place, there are minimal delays to cars and pedestrians. Fairly harmonious place...

I loved living in Singapore for the 8 months that I did. I could not handle the weather at all, having been roughly between 78-90 Fahrenheit each day, with high humidity. Regardless of shape or athleticism, people walking more than 5 blocks in this weather, at nearly any point during the day, break a serious sweat. Air conditioning is quite common as a result, as is the use of public and private transportation (cabs). One note on this cab issue - very easy to use, fairly cheap, and highly recommended by the government, due to the high expense of buying a car ownership permit, which lasts for 10 years or the life of the car, whichever is shorter. Thus, Singapore has avoided a lot of the smog that other cities have built up.

The Singapore port is one of the most fascinating sites in the world and one of the crowning achievements of this city-state. Beautiful to see in action, the hi-tech port is the largest handler of shipping tonnage on the planet. It is a bastion to Singaporean efficiency, found elsewhere in such diverse places as the post office, the government offices, and the airport. The post office and government offices have complex queue systems resulting in short, clear wait times that one would wish for nearly everywhere else in the world. The airport is easily the most efficient i have ever been to in my life, with almost no lines at any point, strong security, good shopping and easy access to essentials (internet, etc) while waiting to board the plane. Oh, and when you land, immigration is never more than 8 people away, and usually takes 10 minutes max to get through. Following immigration, bags are usually nearly all off the plane by the time you get to the baggage claim. What a contrast to O'Hare, Laguardia, JFK, CDG, Heathrow, etc. In fact, many larger airports are relying on expertise from Singapore to teach them how to make their operations more efficient.

All in all, it was a great place to hang my hat for 8 months. Definitely visit and see the sites. It's an enigma and should be treasured as such... I might write a bit more on this subject at another point, but for now, i'll go to bed (1:42 am is about the time for me to hit the sack these days)...