Singapore

Singapore was only a two hour flight from Bangkok, but it seemed as if we had traveled around the entire world. The two cities could not have been more different. While Bangkok was filled with pollution, traffic, crime, and locals who spoke no English, Singapore was the cleanest city I have ever traveled to, non-existant traffic congestion due to government regulation, zero crime, and English as the national language. In a matter of hours, what was black become white, what was rough became smooth, what was hesitance became comfort. I don't know which place I found more exhilerating, but I know which one my mom preferred.
Singapore was a small Malaysion fishing village of twelve that has become a shopper's paradise. Seemingly every street is lined with designer fashion outlets, or technoworlds- where the newest gadgets reign king. It was a really fun city to explore. The cultural aspect was lacking when compared to Hong Kong or Thailand, but that is expected in a place that is home to such an eclectic mix of people.
We got most of our sightseeing out of the way by taking a half-day city tour. Again, I'm not a fan of these tours, but this one proved to be very useful. I learned some really cool things about the city that I later used to impress a kid that I'm going to school with now from Singapore. He shed some light on why Singapore appears to be so much like a Utopia. He reminded me that the locals refer to it as a "fine city." And that title refers to the severity of the punishments for breaking the code of conduct, not the elegance of the architecture.
After seeing everything from little India to Chinatown, we heading to the Raffles Hote (Above)l- home of the Long Bar and the world famous Singapore Sling. After one Singapore Sling at an outrageous price, we were content to head down to the river to continue drinking elsewhere. Put off by the sweetness of the Singapore Sling, I was drawn to beer, and polished off quite a few Tigers before and with dinner. Dad- you know what Tiger Time is all about.
We had a bunch of good times in Singapore, but nothing that most of you would be interested about, so I will leave it up to your imagination. In my next post, I will tell you about some of the things that really made me think along the way on this trip.