No Urinating in Lifts - FINE $1000

Greetings Everyone:

 

After six weeks in South Africa, we finally moved on to the next region on our travel itinerary, South East Asia.  We arrived in Singapore from Johannesburg Wednesday morning after a 3 1/2 hour delay at the JHB airport; apparently, the airline caterers were on strike.  The wait was quite frustrating considering we already arrived at the airport two hours before our scheduled departure.  After five hours in an airport, one starts to get a little restless.  I'm all in support of strikes and other worker actions; I just didn't understand why they couldn't fly the plane without food.  I mean, just tell everyone to get something to eat before boarding or take food on the plane with them and I'm sure we would have all survived.  It was a 9 1/2 hour flight after all and just waiting around to take off made the flight seem that much longer.  They finally started boarding around 4:30 pm (our flight was originally supposed to depart at 1:15 p.m.) and we took off shortly thereafter landing in Singapore about 11:00 a.m. local time the next morning.  We are currently in the GMT+7 time zone, which means we are 15 hours ahead of California time and 12 hours ahead of you folks on the East Coast of the States. 

 

So what is Singapore like?  My first impressions are probably no different than everyone else's.  It's hot, humid, relatively clean and quite modern.  Beyond that, there are signs posted everywhere warning you of various laws and the accompanying fine for breaking them.  Smoking is only allowed outside and not in front of building entrances.  Littering carries a hefty fine.  Not flushing a public toilet carries a fine.  No jay-walking, no eating or drinking on the subway and no urinating in lifts (elevators).  Chewing gum is banned in the country completely and drug trafficking, as we are reminded on our immigration cards, is punishable by death.  Things are also quite expensive here, including food and especially alcohol, which (outside of Happy Hour) is even more expensive here than in the States.  And I haven't paid so much for cigarettes since we were in Toronto!  And since Customs won't allow you to bring in any unopened packs of cigarettes, I couldn't stock up before leaving South Africa. 

 

Singapore is a small island city-state of 4.8 million people located 85 miles north of the equator and connected to the Malay peninsula via bridge (so yes, technically, our Southern Hemisphere trip includes a few places slightly North of the equator).  Singapore is probably the easiest introduction to Asia for most people because it's a very modern and well-developed city, especially compared to most places in South East Asia.  In fact, according to the IMF, Singapore is the worlds fourth richest country in terms of GDP per capita.  The vast majority of the country's people are of Chinese background (~75%) with most of the remainder consisting of Malay (13%) and Indians (8%).  English is one of the official languages of Singapore and is widely spoken in the country.  By law, all signs and official notices are required to be in English.  Like many countries, Singapore also have a few ethnic neighborhoods, including Chinatown and Little India; the latter is where our hostel is located.  The city is safe, has great public transportation and even has a happening night-life, although going out is very expensive. 

 

The only other thing I want to mention now is the staring factor here in Singapore.  All you Black folks back home, we really need to get out more!!  I haven't been stared at so much and so hard since we were in Peru; it's like I'm on exhibit again.  The interesting thing is that the Indians here are the worst when it comes to staring and I can't figure out why.  Many of the Indians here are very dark skinned, from my color to even darker, so at first I thought, perhaps they are trying to figure out if I'm Indian; but a quick glance, not to mention my clothing and beard are usually pretty good indicators that I'm not.  I have seen a few other Black people since we've been here so while I'm sure we're not seen regularly, it's not like people have never seen a Black person before.  I've decided it's just a cultural issue; some people just aren't shy about staring you down.  The Chinese don't seem to stare nearly as much, or if they do, they are more discreet about it.  But even with the staring, everyone has been very nice and welcoming.  People on the street are friendly and quick to ask if you need help.  Even the police, who we finally had to ask for advice/instructions on how to catch a taxi, were very friendly and helpful.  Now that's something you don't see back home. 

 

Cheers,

Ozell