The plan was to spend four days in Phuket after our trip to Myanmar. We would then fly to Bali via a long eight-hour layover in Singapore. But after already having five full days of sun and sea worshipping (and hearing more and more stories about the party vibe of Phuket), we decided to phuk et and changed our flight, spending just one night at a Phuket airport hotel before heading to Singapore for 3 days. Though accustomed to three-days ("long weekends") back from our working days, it seemed incredibly quick now that we're spoiled long-term travelers.
Here's what we learned.
Quick history on Singapore: 76% of the country/sovereign island city-state descended from China. It was once occupied by the Brits (who wasn't?), but during WWII was conquered by the Japanese empire who pwnd it until 1945. After that point, Brits regained control and slowly released it until Singapore became part of Malaysia in the 60s. Well, it was a rocky marriage and just two years later, in 1965, Malaysia divorced Singapore. In a real sort of "it's you, it's not me," moment.
As a result, Singapore was feelin' itself and became independent, but at that time was suffering an economic crisis flush with unemployment and homelessness. Singapore decided to reinvent itself, and through a variety of programs, became one of the most prosperous countries by the rad 90s.
All of that development had Singapore thriving in manufacturing, shipping, and its new hobby--finance. What's more, the country was growing. With modern buildings like the Marina Bay Sands, Guoco Tower, and the Interlace, there is a lot to admire along the skyline of Singapore.
The city has so many artfully designed buildings that marry form with function, it was named one of the top cities in the world for architecture enthusiasts.
Not only is Singapore growing up, but it's also growing out. With years of reclamation efforts, Singapore's land area has expanded by 25% over the last 200 years. The Telok Ayer ("bay water") subway station is thus named because this area that is now really an inland stop was once coastal. The Singapore City Gallery shows this growth in action, as an interactive model displays the urban sprawl's growth plan over the next decades. (Our guide mentions, however, that reclaimed land development is a relatively slow process, as it must go barren for up to 20 years before anything can be built on reclaimed land.)
And, if you look closely, you'll see the results of one of Singapore's latest efforts: to become the greenest city in the world. Skyscrapers leave intermediate floors empty of paid tenants and instead fill them with open-air gardens and running tracks. Others allow vines to grow down their sides.
And nowhere in Singapore is this Garden City moniker more evident than two of its expansive green-dedicated spaces.
We visited Gardens by the Bay on a hot and humid morning after we first walked a mile to the Singapore Flyer only to discover it was broken down (and apparently had been for some time).
This expansive (101 hectares big, whatever that means) urban garden has jogging trails, impressively tall structures covered in vines, and indoor (yay, AC!) cloud and flower forests complete with waterfalls. We spent a few hours here soaking up the lush greenery, fresh air, and cool breeze.
There are numerous other green spaces within the city, but the other one I chose to visit was the MacRitchie Reservoir. Why?
On our last day on the island, Heather and I spent some time apart and I braved public transit on my own and landed near the Reservoir (she relaxed poolside writing our fantastic Laos blog). There, I pieced together a run/hike. It was supposed to be eight miles, but in my error, the route ended up as nine when I had to backtrack due to the one-way nature of tree-top walk (which I wouldn't have had to do had I run counter-clockwise).
It was another hot day, but the park itself had a lot of shade to protect visitors from the UV and heat. Greenery was abundant as was wildlife as I not only saw monkeys but plenty of insects and birds on my hustle through the trails.
Places like this made Singapore feel different from any other skyscraper-clad city. Though NYC has Central Park, Chicago the lakeshore path, and 47% of Greater London is actually green, I don't know that I felt like I was in a jungle (that wasn't concrete) in any other major metropolis in the world. It was wild.
As mentioned, a huge percentage of Singapore is ethnically Chinese. This is on account of the immigration history of Singapore. We got an education on this and much more on our tour of Chinatown on our first night in Singapore. (Aside: walking tours of Singapore are super expensive. We ended up doing a free, tips-only tour, but in doing research, they averaged around $60/pp, which is more expensive than we've seen in any other city.)
Our guide, Wei was wonderful (way better than anybody we got at Intrepid) and offered a personal touch to the tour. His grandfather was an immigrant to Singapore and suffered quite a traumatic trip. As the story goes, at age fourteen Wei's grandpa boarded a boat from China to Singapore in search for a better life. His passage was paid for by a contract to work as an indentured servant for upwards of 10 years (after which he would basically start over at $0). But, he learned aboard the boat, passage paid was for 1/3 a ticket, meaning that he got 1/3 a seat and 1/3 food on the long journey, sharing the other 2/3 with two other passengers. Conditions were so bad that many passengers died along the way. To combat this, the Singapore government put into place a minimum survival rate in order for boats to dock penalty-free.
However, in a tale of unintended consequences, the boat operators did the math and realized that the penalty was higher than the value of survivors, so they would do daily counts on number of passengers left alive on a ship, and if the number fell below 80% (the minimum survival rate), they would sink the ship instead, killing all on board. Grandpa Wei knew this, so you can imagine his fear on the long journey. Obviously, he made it, otherwise, we wouldn't have enjoyed the tour, but I can't imagine being on that harrowing journey (yes, even after visiting Sihanoukville).
Over the course of the tour, we sauntered through Chinatown and neighboring hoods, taking in the food (of Hawker courts), smells (of durian fruit, yech), the bustle of residents, and scenery. Though Singapore does have its share of modern architecture, it also retains a lot of personality through kept-up historical buildings. Vivid window shudders hang over narrow streets, splashing color throughout otherwise reserved passages.
We also got a lesson on the way Singaporeans live today. A surprise to us is that almost 80% of the residents live in government housing projects. But these aren't akin to American projects. They are well-established communities with a forced diversity (no more than 80% Chinese), and regulated proximity to amenities, multi-religion worship centers, and transit. What's more, Singaporeans must purchase their home from the government, because the government decided (rightfully so) that renters don't care for a home the same way as buyers do.
Overall, we got a lot out of the tour, learning more about Singapore in a few hours than we could have from a museum or book. If you're ever slingin' in Singapore, check out Indie.
We can't say no to theme parks. And when we discovered that Singapore had a Universal Studios, we had to do it (and of course, bought the Express Pass to avoid being a sucker in lines).
We had a total blast, but truth be told, Universal Studios Singapore fell to the bottom of our RTW theme park rating. It was not as good as the Disneys anywhere, or the US-based Universals, and also failed to live up to the Asian Universal standards set by USJ in Osaka. People were pushing and cutting in the disorganized entry line. Barely anybody was dressed up cutely (god, we miss Japan), and there was this whole locker scam.
Some of the rides required locker use but were only free for 45 minutes. You could have nothing on your person, including cash, so when you went back to get your belongings and it was more than 45 minutes, you basically had to borrow the cash from the locker attendant just to unlock your locker, and then pay him back. It was an operational nightmare and actually deterred us from riding those rides more than once (despite our purchase of the unlimited express pass).
That said, you can't really complain about a sunny day riding roller coasters. Some highlights:
Finding another Asian Garrett's right outside the park
Partaking in Shrek's Far Far Away which was replaced by Harry Potter in other Universals
Riding new-to-us rides, like the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase
The unlimited express pass which enabled us to never stand in line anywhere
Rock-climbing in a theme park
Being prepared for the Jurassic Park water ride (because vending machine ponchos were a rip-off at $5)
Feeling like a giant by washing my hands in the kiddy sink
Because of the speed with which we were able to move through the park, we finished our day by mid-afternoon and had some time left over for some more touring. So we grabbed the train back downtown and headed for the G-Max Reverse Bungy, upon which we were hoping to be flung into the air.
However, on arrival, we discovered that this has been shut down for some time (thwart me twice, Singapore). The other attraction there was the swing, so we settled for that.
It was incredible. I sat in the right seat to be the one release the swing, so at the top, I feigned a countdown from five and let it go at three. Muwahaha. Satisfying belly flips, beautiful city views, and mischevious fun tricking the locals riding with us--I couldn't have asked for more.
(Special shout-out to Ken from G-Max, who after my apologetic email asking him if I could purchase the GoPro video after-the-fact so I could use it in this blog, sent me the video for free.)
Last year November, Heather and I visited the idyllic coastal town of Manzanita. Great hikes, stunning rock formations, peaceful ocean whispers, welcoming candy shops, and a winery with an open fire pit for roasting gourmet marshmallows. A perfect trip.
Six months later, I took my college friends there. Our whale watching tour was canceled the day-of. Our hike poured on us. I tore a pair of Aviator Nation pants on a stick. The welcoming locals I had endeared to in my previous trip now seemed a little rougher than I remembered. Our Airbnb had ants all over the kitchen. The winery was too cold to sit outside and we ended up indoors, marshmallow-less.
Now, I still had a wonderful time with my friends (it's hard not to with this group of women), but I had seen Manzanita in a totally different light.
Our first day in Singapore we were lamenting not spending more than three days there. We fell in love. We talked about getting banking jobs there. It was sick. But the second day, it was like the Manzanita fog cleared. The ferris wheel was busted, it was humid, some of the "modern" buildings looked a little less than, it poured on our walk though Little India. And we learned more of the dark side of a culture that has been so carefully crafted.
With tight management on many aspects of Singapore's development, individual freedoms often come second. Some surprises (caveat, we were there for only three days, so bear with my ignorance on some of the finer details):
It's illegal to sell gum (ok, we knew this going in, but, it is still kind of surprising)
It's illegal for a man to be gay (but not for a woman) with penalties including jail time and caning
The City Gallery is full of propaganda touting the awesomeness of Singapore; however, when local authors published more neutral or opposing accounts (available to read and purchase at a nearby coffee shop) they were sued by the government
Land reclamation efforts aren't universally beneficial, resulting in the loss of livelihood for impacted fishing communities, loss of biodiversity from overtaken seabeds, and negative impact on the coastal ecosystems from the sources of the land (places like Cambodia have recently permanently banned sand exports due to damaged ecosystems)
There is evidence that much of Singapore's development is sourced from underpaid migrant labor
No place is perfect, and the more we travel to places that sacrifice individual liberties for community benefit (like Japan), the more we feel there is a better balance to be had in the West. The trouble is, how is a balance like that struck with the right tradeoffs?
For a drink with so many ingredients, including savory, sweet, sour, bitters, and even some garnish, we feel it represents this developed island country well. In a mix of the best of the rest, here are a few more highlights of our trip.
Multiple Merlions
Mint Museum of toys
Call-back to Japan with a Donki grocery store
Tasteful sculptures and murals throughout the city
Subway veggie pattie (different from that of the US as it seems potato-based instead of mushroom)
Enjoying a pepper-crab dinner with my friend Fei
Delightful cocktail bar complete with fun coasters
Excitement for the Lunar New Year
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