Singapore, A Fine City

It was quite a shock arriving in Singapore from Bangkok. I thought Bangkok was nice after 4 months in India, but Singapore puts it to shame. Singapore puts most cities in the U.S. to shame, in fact, as long as we're talking about curb appeal. This is a place where the subway stations are air-conditioned and use flat-panel televisions just to display the arrival times of the next two trains. The sidewalks are walkable, and getting lost is almost impossible with the amount of pedestrian-friendly signage, not to mention the friendly locals and bus drivers who help you out if you look confused. The museums are gorgeous, with incredible lighting and fantastic displays. Litter does not exist. Neither does graffiti -- even under bridges and in pedestrian underpasses (yup, they have pedestrian underpasses). Everything in town is rediculously air-conditioned and comfortable. Even Chinatown and Little India are spic-and-span. It's almost scary. What happened to all the beggars?

How did this clean, apparently functioning, rich city come to be here in the middle of Southeast Asia? It is entirely anomalous. I do know that, for one thing, they have very strict laws against any anti-social behavior. I'm sure most people remember the American boy who was caned for spray-painting a car. And the fines for littering, spitting, or jay-walking are $300-$600. (It is not without sarcasm when locals refer to Singapore as a "fine" city.) That partially explains why it's so clean, but I don't know the history behind Singapore's rise to economic stardom. I have heard it comes at a cost in civil liberties. I suppose many people don't mind giving up some of those in exchange for food to put on the table. It will be interesting to see what happens when today's youth grow up; not having faced the difficulties of their parents' generation, will they be less willing to go without the many rights we have in the West?

Well, for us Singapore makes a fine place for a dose of developed world comforts for a few days. The tap water is potable (though I haven't pushed it too far), the streets are walkable, the language is easy (it's English), and the food is good. It comes at a cost for us, too -- we're spending almost 3 times as much per day here than we did in the rest of Southeast Asia. It's hard to pay $2 for a cup of coffee again! So, tomorrow we will head into Malaysia and take a flight over to Borneo. There, we'll climb Mt. Kinabalu (13,500 feet), hopefully see some of the last wild orangutans, and maybe learn to dive!