Singapore

In planning for the trip, I'd seen Singapore described as "Disneyland with the Death Penalty" and a "shopping mall with a foreign policy," both of which miss the spirit of Singapore. There's no shortage of severity

"urinating in lifts" is very specific as prohibitions go

No fines for durians? Honor system?

or glitz,

Who doesn't want to ride in a gondola in the mall

 

but there's so much more than that.



The first thing that struck us both was how multicultural Singapore is, and how much personality the country/city has.

Just outside Little India

A funky street in the Malay quarter (Kampong Glam)

A monument to the nation's ethnic and cultural diversity

And art.


I think of it as a school-marm state (rather than a nanny state). Sure, it's drastic in its laws, and hilariously overreactive: someone literally gummed up the metro system back in the day, so they banned gum. You people can't handle gum, so no gum for you! Part of me admires that. There's a lot of for-your-own-good lecturing: the severe laws aren't arbitrary; the purpose is explained to you.



We were lucky to be in Singapore on a Saturday, as we were able to join a fantastic walking tour that helped us appreciate the hidden culture and history of the city.

One of our tour guide's props for showing the city's history

Long hair was banned in Singapore until not too long ago. Even rock bands couldn't get in.

He provides books in a lock-bag on his bike, should you want to learn more.

He started with Singapore's early history, including its indirect namesake, the civet cat. Legend has it that the founder of the city saw a powerful animal pass by and asked what it was. His entourage told him it was a lion--a singa--and so the city was named for a symbol of power. Only there are no lions in Singapore; it was most likely a civet cat.
 
 I wonder whether the authors of the glib monikers I wrote about at the beginning of this post know much about Singapore's history. About how the sewers ran red during the air raids, because people hid in them but they weren't deep enough. About how tens, even hundreds of people crammed into small rooms and houses, and even into the sixties, human waste was put out in buckets and had to be collected.

During the occupation, Japan introduced a currency that became known as the banana note. Rabid inflation ensued.

Water was scarce during the war. This is perhaps the last original well in the city.

 I wonder if they know about how the nation responded to a recession by attributing it to the subway system, which pierced the belly of the fish (look at the shape of the Singapore River; the city was built around the belly for prosperity). The country had to counter feng shui with feng shui, and minted octagonal coins--something people would carry around with them--to reverse the ill fortune. It worked.

We stopped at a temple built by early Chinese migrants, where they could express their gratitude for surviving the arduous multi-week journey by sea. I thought I should quit complaining about the not-uncomfortable 24-hour travel by air.

Miniature of the temple, inside the temple

 We stopped at some hawker centers (Singapore moved its food trucks inside; we had breakfast at one) and bakeries, explored the central business district, and went to the top of the Pinnacle building: an example of Singapore's high-end public housing, available to everyone who fits the social ideal of one-man, one-woman.

We could see Indonesia from the roof.

Our second day, we headed to the botanic garden. We were especially excited for the orchid garden.

The Barack and Michelle Obama orchid

The William Catherine orchid, named after His and Her Royal Highness

and then to Gardens by the Bay, which we didn't love as much, but it had its charms.

To top off the afternoon, we explored Kampong Glam, we're we had a Turkish lunch (when in Rome?) and went to the museum. We headed back to our hotel to clean up and get our stuff, just in time for our first torrential downpour of the trip (we won the lottery the day before--overcast but no rain, and probably as cool as it gets in Singapore). The Singapore airport was the nicest we'd ever seen. A woman in the ladies' room was taking pictures of how nice it was. We had dinner there (in the airport, not the ladies' room) and got on our way to Kuching.