After over a year on the road, it was finally time to experience truly different foreign cultures. One of the main driving forces that motivated us to take the plunge and decide to live the life we have been living, was a desire to visit exotic places with things like elephants, monkeys, ancient ruins, temples and pyramids. Sure, we had spent significant time in México, 3-months in Panamá and 2-months in Spain, but those were still western cultures and we spoke some Spanish. So, those places were not totally alien to us and we found them relatively easy to navigate. Now it was time to dive in at the deep end of the pool. For the months of January and February, 2020, we will be exploring 5 different countries in Southeast Asia! These are Asian cultures - totally different from our own. 4 out of the 5 countries have their own native language, of which we don’t speak a word, and use written characters that we can’t read. Several of these countries would not be characterized as democracies, and two of them are actually communist countries.
We didn’t plan it this way, but our first stop in SE Asia was to a country where English is the primary language, so it was a good location to ease into experiencing Asian cultures. The first country we visited was Singapore.
Singapore is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Officially, the Republic of Singapore, Singapore is very different from all of the other countries that we will be visiting in SE Asia. Indeed, in many ways, it is very different from other countries anywhere in the world. For starters, the country of Singapore is very, very young. The Republic of Singapore was founded on August 9, 1965. I am 17 days older than the country of Singapore! It is a very small country. Basically, it is a city-state. The total area of Singapore is only 280 square miles (725 sq. km). Almost all of the land mass is on a single island. Although a very small country, Singapore’s population is relatively large at approximately 5.6 million.
While most countries in SE Asia have a rich history going back thousands of years, Singapore was more or less a swamp until the British East India Company took a serious interest in the island as a trading post in the 1800’s. Ever since its founding in 1819, it has been a melting pot of cultures. People from all over the world have been coming to Singapore for a better life for over 200 years now. This influx of immigrants has created one of the most diverse populations in the world. Currently, almost 40% of Singapore’s population is made up of foreign nationals. There are 4 national languages in Singapore: Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil. Although the official language is Malay, the “lingua franca” is English.
We arrived in Singapore on a Wednesday night and left on a Saturday afternoon, so we really only had two full days to explore. We made it to our hotel around 8:00PM and immediately headed out to get some dinner. As mentioned above, Singapore is a very, very young country composed of immigrants from all over the world. Think about that. What that means is that Singapore has no traditional clothing, no traditional music, no shared history – basically, its citizens have no shared culture. So, what ties the Singaporean people together? The answer is food! Throughout Singapore you will find food centers full of small stands selling foods of all types. These are called “hawker stands”. Any kind of food you are looking for is available, but the specialties are of Chinese, Indian and Malay descent – as well as fusions of foods from all over Asia. The cost of living in Singapore is notoriously high, but the food at the hawker stands is notoriously delicious and inexpensive. So, off to a hawker stand we went.
First, we needed to find an ATM as we had no Singaporean money on us and the US dollar is not accepted. It took us a while, but we finally found a bank of three ATM’s with long lines in front of them. I joined the line, as the token Caucasian, and got some cash. Then we headed over to the “Tekka Centre” and walked through the hawker stands looking for something to eat. By now it was after 9:00PM, and our choices were a bit limited. For our first meal, we kept it simple as we were pretty tired after the long flight and the 3-hour time change. We ended up getting roast duck and rice with a tall Tiger beer. Total cost for the food was about $3.75 US (not counting the beer). It wasn’t great, but it filled our bellies and was quick. Janne also got a really, really good mango lassi. Lassis are an Indian drink composed of mostly fruit juice along with some yogurt.
The next morning, we headed out early and caught the subway to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the main highlights of the park was the National Orchid Garden. If you are an orchid fan, this is the place to be as they have over 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids on display. After the Botanic Garden, we got back on the subway and hit China Town. We visited several Buddhist temples and just wondered the streets, wide eyed, taking it all in. We visited one very large temple where they claim to have one of Buddha’s teeth.
Orchids Lilly Pads Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
We got some Thai food for lunch at a hawker center. Janne got green chicken curry and I got a noodle dish that I can’t remember or pronounce the name of. The food was very good but very, very spicy. Janne ordered mild and it was hot. I ordered medium and it was really hot - to the point where I couldn’t finish mine. Lesson learned. Next time when the cook asks you “how spicy you want?”, I should answer “mild” instead of “medium”. After we finished eating, we each bought a honeydew lassi to cool our mouths down. We could easily get hooked on these lassi drinks. They were so good and so refreshing – especially after walking miles in the 80+ degree (28c) heat with 80+ percent humidity.
We finished off the day by going to Marina Bay to check out two of Singapore’s largest tourist attractions: The Marina Bay Sands and the “Merlion”. We arrived at twilight to capture the beauty of the area at night and we were not disappointed. At the end of the night, we headed back to the hotel, stopping on the way to get a couple mango lassis.
Singapore is shiny and new. There are glimmering high rises. There is relatively little litter, and they have what many believe to be the best public transportation in the world. We purchased a 2-day visitor pass for their MRT system. It cost only $24 USD
for 2 people for unlimited rides for 2-days. We took the subway many times over the next 2 days. It was super efficient and sparkling clean. There was no graffiti. There was no trash. There were no homeless. There were not people sitting on the floor instead of in seats. There was no one begging for money.
There is a reason why Singapore can provide its citizens with arguably the best public transportation system in the world as well as the safest streets in the world. Singapore has some very, very strict laws. Here are a few examples for you. They have the death penalty for several drug offenses. Singapore actually sentences more people to death per capita than almost any other country in the world – even more than Saudi Arabia. If one is convicted of a crime other than death, then they will likely face, not only jail time, but caning. I thought I knew what caning was. I knew it was a form of corporal punishment from the old days, similar to being whipped, but with a stick instead of a whip. I thought being caned consisted of being hit across the back with a thin stick called a cane. After I looked it up, I learned that caning is a much more brutal form of punishment than being whipped. If you want the gory details, you can look up “Caning in Singapore” on Wikipedia but, long story short, being sentenced to just 2 or 3 strokes can leave the offender’s bottom (not back) a bloody mess and they will be unable to sit down, or lay on their backside, for an extended period of time. The maximum penalty is 24 strokes. Most offenders fall into a state of shock after only 2-3 strokes. The pain is said to be absolutely excruciating.
Circle back to the super clean and efficient subway. What prompted me to do a Google search on caning in the first place, was a video I saw while riding on the subway. There are videos on the subways that play on a loop. Most of the videos are on the usual subjects you would expect like rules for riding and using the subway, not sitting in handicapped spots, how to react in an emergency situation, etc. There was also a video that showed a guy touching a female passenger inappropriately. In the video, he runs away. The female calls the police. The guy is captured and taken away. Then a notice comes up and states that offenders will be convicted of “Outrage of modesty” and will be “imprisoned and caned”.
Even though it was January, it was very hot and very humid in Singapore. Singapore sits only 1-degree north of the equator so you really don’t get seasons – other than the rainy season and the dry season. It’s basically hot and humid all of the time. We decided to start day two by visiting the Gardens by the Bay in the morning when it would be cooler. The Gardens by the Bay is one of the main attractions in Singapore. While the Gardens have a lot to offer, the most iconic thing at the gardens is the “Supertree Grove”. The grove is composed of several enormous sculptures that look like trees and measure between 85-170ft (25-50m) tall. There are other cool things to see in the Gardens such as two domes filled with different indoor gardens and a huge sculpture called “Planet” that looks like a human infant that is floating in the air.
Later, that same day, we wandered through the “Little India” neighborhood. Checking out temples and shops and watching the hustle and bustle of the people. We visited one temple with a 50 foot (15m) tall indoor Buddha. It was interesting to walk through Little India but, man, it was hot, and we were tired from the previous day when we had walked over 10 miles in the heat. So, we decided to stay in during the evening and enjoy some air conditioning, some appetizers and some adult beverages at the hotel restaurant/bar. Janne ordered the obligatory Singapore Sling and reports are that it was pretty good.
The next morning, we headed to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 3:00 but I wanted to get their early as Singapore’s Changi airport is a tourist destination itself. It has been voted the number one airport in the world for the last 6-years running. Before our flight out of terminal 4, we had time to go check out terminals 1 and 2 as well as “Jewel”. Jewel is basically a huge mall with a forest and a waterfall inside. Not just any waterfall – the largest indoor waterfall in the world. It is called the “Rain Vortex”. Unfortunately, we had some bad timing and, we came on a day when it was shut down for maintenance, however, even without the waterfall running, it was impressive. To the right is the Vortex when we visited and below is a picture I pulled off the internet showing when the Vortex is running.
Even though it is an airport, the prices are low – even lower than in malls in the city. Many Singaporeans make a day, or even a long weekend, out of visiting the airport. There are tons of shops and restaurants. There are indoor and outdoor gardens. There is a butterfly sanctuary. There is an outdoor pool. There are movie theaters, including IMAX, showing the latest releases. There are plenty of places offering services such as manicures/pedicures, massages, haircuts, etc. Pretty much anything you can think of is there – an Apple Store, See’s Candy, Tiffany, etc., etc. And there are some pretty cool art installations, including some that move like the one I recorded below…
If you are flying to SE Asia, it would totally be worth it to see if you can get a flight with a 3-5 hour layover in Singapore just to check out Changi Airport. The airport even offers free tours of the city if you have a layover of 5 hours or more. They will shuttle you into the city and you can enjoy some of the sights of Singapore for free and without having to stress about getting back in time for you flight!
All in all, we are glad we visited Singapore but, it is not a place we think we would want to be for an extended period of time – or even more than a few days. It is just too hot and humid for us and the cost of living (rent, utilities) is way too high. We did find the people to be nice. More than once, people stopped to help us with directions or buying subway tickets or proper etiquette in the hawker stands, without us even asking. I guess we must have looked a bit bewildered – ha ha!
Below are a couple random shots from Singapore. As always, you can find more images in the “Gallery” section of this website.
Comentários