Singapore!

As I mentioned previously, bank holidays here are grouped so you get a week or so off at a time. Early October had one such holiday, the so-called ‘Golden Week’, which starts on National Day (anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China). Most expats use the week off (which doesn’t come out of your holiday allowance) to jet off to somewhere and do a little bit of travelling. Of the people I work with we had Vietnam, Bali, Borneo, Thailand, Japan. I decided to go to Singapore to see a friend as I had never been. The flight was only 5 hours which was fantastic and was relatively cheap. I managed to do most of the touristy things – museums, Sentosa - which is an island off the coast of Singapore and you can get a cable car over. Very man made but there was a beach which was nice – Little India, Fort Canning Park, and of course one of the famous champagne brunches! My favourite thing though was the Singapore Museum – it was so interesting to see the origins from part of Malaysia to English colony to now.

So here are my observations on Singapore from an expat perspective:

1.       It’s Diet Asia.  Which isn’t a bad thing at all – it’s like Asia with all the tough bits taken out. By that I mean people drive on the ‘right’ side of the road, English is spoken everywhere, everywhere is super neat and organised and you can go on the subway without coming out feeling a bit violated.

2.       There is a lot of money. Everything seems quite extravagant, and as cost of living is so high there seems to be a lot of money around. The epitome of this is Marina Bay Sands – essentially a giant ship-like creation hoisted into the air by 3 pillars which comprise of expensive shopping malls and have a canal a la Venice running through the middle of them. You can go up there to take a look at the view but it’ll cost you.

3.       A lot of the tourist places are man-made. By that I mean somewhere like Sentosa which is like an amusement park, Gardens by the Bay which is completely man-made. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of places that have historical significance

4.       I think if I’d have gone there first, then to Shanghai, I would have hated Shanghai. It’s such a nice place, and Shanghai is such a culture shock in comparison I think I would have really struggled.

5.       Someone once told me (and I’m guessing a lot of you will figure out who this is) that Milton Keynes is like Nicole Kidman – everything’s in the right place but you still don’t fancy it. I guess that’s kind of how I feel about Singapore. Gorgeous place, really enjoyed it but don’t think I’d want to live there.

 Some pictures: