What Do You Know About Singapore?

For the past 3 weeks Ariel and I have been traveling through Indonesia, trekking up mountains, attending cultural dance performances and trying to communicate with the locals in their language.

We decided we needed a break so we decided to take a side trip to Singapore.

I knew nothing about Singapore but had three main preconceived notions about what it would be like:

1- Clean

2- Expensive

3- Western

It was all of those things and yet also the opposite (except the clean part.)

Let me try to explain.

Clean:

Singapore is a country/city that has a lot of cement in it. In most cities underpasses, city streets and parking lots would be littered with garbage and occasionally have unpleasant odors in the air. Not in Singapore. I was really impressed by how clean everything looked and smelled. Every time I opened a piece of candy I was careful to put the wrapper safely in my pocket and I did not even think about chewing gum (even though now one can purchase sugar free gum in the pharmacy.)

Expensive:

Yes, things in general are considerably more expensive in Singapore than let’s say Cambodia or Thailand, but on the other hand there are tons of free events that are provided for both tourists and Singaporean residents. In three day we visited a museum, attended a rock concert, strolled through the botanical gardens and went on two cultural walks in Chinatown and the Muslim quarter all for free. There are brochures, signs and information on the internet that is all user-friendly. If you put the time in and do the research, you can fill your days with different and interesting events.

Western:

Singapore has always had the reputation of being a Western-thinking country in the East. While English is one of the official languages and everyone speaks it (at least to some degree), the population is 77% Chinese, 15% Malaysian and 8% Indian. At any given moment you can hear 3 different languages, eat at half a dozen different food stalls right next to each other and see people with all different skin color.

And as a side note- if you ever have to be stuck in an airport for 10 hours, pick Singapore. It has free internet access stations everywhere, an area to relax in elongated chairs, movie showings and food courts open 24 hours. Oh, and did I forget to mention the rooftop pool and spa?