Singapore, First Impressions

I left Danny at Dulles Airport and had to run back to him in order to hand over my iPhone, which I had previously left in my pocket. I would want that iPhone back very soon when I found out that I had left my computer in my apartment. Thankfully, a nice lady on the plane ride up to New York allowed me to use your Blackberry to send Danny an email, and Danny managed to coordinate with several people in my program to bring my laptop here. Conclusion: Danny is the best boyfriend ever. Yeah, I know that I have friends who think they have the greatest boyfriend (e.g. Cat); however, it's just not true.

Anyway, from New York, the plane left to head for Frankfurt, Germany. I haven't been back on German soil in a great long while, so I was looking forward to the hour layover. I had a window seat, which made me happy, and I was flying Singapore Air, so everything was wonderful. They offer you hot towels to refresh yourself, give you fresh socks and a toothbrush to clean up, and feed you on every flight. They even have a campaign called "ice cream for everyone". It doesn't matter what class you fly, you get ice cream during the flight.

I made a commitment to try and speak as much of the native languages as possible in my various locations. In Singapore, there is no such thing as a "native" language. Mandarin, English, Tamil, and Malay are all official languages, but Cantonese, Japanese, and several other smaller dialects can be found from time to time. Anyway, in making this commitment, I started in Germany, where I have some experience with the language. At the airport, I ordered my tea in German and was apparently convincing enough that the cashier responded to me in full blown German sentences. I didn't understand a word she said, but I understood enough of the body language and I knew enough German mannerisms that I remained convincing.

The flight from Fankfurt to Singapore was interesting, to say the least. I was on the same airplane as before, even though we had to disembark at Frankfurt. I had made a friend of an ethnic Chinese kid next to me, who was studying business at Illinois State University, but lived in Indonesia, where his father owned a soy sauce factory. Anyway, the plane flew over much of Europe and then made an interesting venture over Afghanistan, India, the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar, Thailand, and then finally into Singapore. The Hindu Kush mountains are gigantic and we were flying over at night. In case you don't know, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas generate enormous winds and turbulence going over them. Singapore Air has a personal TV set for every seat that you sit in and you can choose to watch videos, play games, read the news, or even just listen to music. I choose to watch a map of the flight path. We were over Kabul when an enormous wind blast hit the plane and we dropped 3 feet in a single instance. I was certainly not packed for going to Afghanistan and a Catholic-Jew was not going to be doing well in Kabul, but thankfully, the plane made it through.

Landing in Singapore was an adventure. The island of Singapore is tiny; however, the city has managed to preserve a lot of green space. I think about New York, Philadelphia, and many European cities, and these places have developed over hundreds of years. Singapore has grown up mostly in the last 43 years, and in doing so, has not had to deal with shifting urbanizations. Give it a few more centuries and I'm sure it will have all a manner of fascinating features to it that New York does.

I came to Singapore on the same flight as two other people: Justin Litterst, and Charlie Houpert. Since the 10th grade, I have been researching Singapore on and off again. They had never done much to acquaint themselves with the city. However, in being the earliest arrivers, we did not have a place to stay, originally. Justin managed to get his father to use points to net us an extremely nice room in the Intercontinental Hotel, right in the middle of Singapore. The cab ride there was fascinating. Charlie and Justin were taking pictures and I was drinking up everything. Arriving at the Hotel was an event in itself, and the people of Singapore couldn't be more helpful.

Now, a quick aside about Singaporean taxi cab drivers:

Singaporean taxi cab drivers run the gamut of personalities. The first driver that we had took us from the airport to the hotel. This guy was loving our excitement. Charlie wanted to know the party spots and the driver continued to tell us all the wonderful places to visit while in Singapore. We also talked history and mentioned various landmarks. Upon mentioning Lee Kaun Yew, the prime minister of Singapore from 1965 until 1990 and who had near monopolistic control over the direction of the country, the cab driver very quickly shouted "Lee Kaun Yew sucks!". Who knows what his political positions where, but hearing someone so openly shout down a "fearless leader" made my libertarian heart sing.

One driver was rather stand-offish after was asked if we could pay with credit card. Others were really quiet. Some offered religious advice and told us that the fallen angels helped casino owners make money after poor souls (he also claimed to have had lost $600,000 at the casinos (Singaporean dollars are about $1 US = $1.30 Singapore)). Late Friday night, while searching for a dance club or a bar, we were told to go to Orchard Tower and the cab driver told us that it was a very nice place, but that the girls there were very expensive. No one said anything, as I was thinking "expensive" meant that the girls were demanding. Charlie finally had the gall to ask what was meant by expensive and the cab driver (in so many words) told us that there were plenty of prostitutes there. When asked how many prostitutes the cab driver responded, "Oh, about 50/50". That did it for us, and we made our way to a part of the city called Clark Quay (but pronounced "Clucky's"). Later, we read up that Orchard Tower was also known as the Four Floors of Whores, and while I'm pretty sure prostitution is illegal in Singapore, the government doesn't mind turning a blind eye when foreigners who bring in money are involved.

Anyway, that ends some of the stories about Singaporean taxi cab drivers. Lessons learned where that you had to be careful with what they told you, but that they are also fountains of information.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we could only check in at 2:00 pm. We had arrived around 8:00, so we went out to find breakfast. Upon talking with some Singaporeans, I created "Jacob's Historical Tour of Singapore", where I managed to convince Charlie and Justin (God help them), to allow me to drag them to various historical locations all around Singapore. We started at the Raffles Hotel, which looked like something out of Imperial Britain. We moved down and got to see the Parliament building and landing site of Sir Thomas Raffles (often touted as the founder of modern Singapore in 1819). From there, we moved down into Chinatown, the largest of the ghetto towns in Singapore. I managed to find freshly squeezed Mango juice, which was AMAZING. Charlie tried a seafood soup that included full prawns. He asked how to eat one of these monsters, and I explained how to pull the head off the creature. I may not eat seafood, but I'm away enough of HOW TO eat these critters. Finally, we made our way up to the Singapore National Museum. It had a guided tour of the history of Singapore with a nice little headset to go at your own pace. The tour could take anyone between 2 to 4 hours. Charlie and Justin moved through a bit faster, and I followed after, listening to a great bit more.

A few asides: I learned how to say "thank you" in Mandarin, and it has proven the most useful words so far. "Hello" and "goodbye" really only get you so far, but a nice "thank you" really seems to brighten people up.

We toured a bit of Parliament which was really neat to see. Singapore has a lot of propaganda to feed its children and to make them feel as if there is "one" Singapore. The entrenched powers in Singapore are very worried about ethnic tensions, and for good reasons. The Muslim Malay are disproportionately lower, working class, while the Chinese tend to own almost everything.

After finishing up with the Museum, Charlie and Justin checked in. I followed up and managed to secure myself a key. They decided to take a nap in order to go out partying later that night and to combat the jet lag. I decided to power through the day in order to destroy any potential for jet lag in one fell swoop. My personal walks around Singapore mostly involved hunting for a payphone (eventually found one directly in the Hotel), in order to call Danny. I also got to quietly go about and people watch.

Another aside about Singapore. It has a reputation as a business center. Something like 1/3 of global trade passes through the Straights of Singapore and a good bit of that stops in Singapore at one point or another. Also, it's often ranked third, behind New York and London, as a financial center. So, you think that Singaporeans would be like New Yorkers and always be active. Well, they are a lot nicer than New Yorkers (actually, New Yorkers can be quite nice, you just have to understand that very PECULIAR culture). However, the city does not wake up until 10:00 am. Yeah, that's right: 10 o'clock ANTI-MERIDIAN. You're a city, not a late-night farming village! Today, I had one of the directors here at NUS (National University of Singapore) attempt to justify this to me since Singaporeans do not go to sleep until 10:00 pm. Really! How about that New Yorkers DONT SLEEP. Even other US cities stay active. I will say this though, when Singapore wakes up, Singapore WAKES UP! These people are active.

Anyway, I returned to the Hotel just in time for Charlie and Justin to wake up. We went out to dinner and found a nice Thia place. An interesting discussion ensued about all a manner of different things before we found ourselves looking around the city to try and find a dance club or bar. Eventually, as stated before, we ended up at Clark Quay and ended up in a bar called "Cuba". Charlie had spent a year in Costa Rica, learned how to Salsa, and wanted to Salsa, so we stayed in that bar (it also didn't have a cover charge). We met a Singaporean student about our age, although I do not know what University he attended. We waited until about the time it was going to close before a song came on that Charlie could Salsa to.

The Charlie Houpert Salsa Story

Charlie knows how to dance, and he really knows how to Salsa. However, at the bar, we had primarily been wall flowers. Justin ordered a beer that he later found out cost $14. Several women and men were dancing and one could feel Charlie scanning each one as a potential partner. A small Chinese woman with long hair, big eyes, and an absolutely tiny frame was the obvious target. When the song came on, Charlie approached her and made hand motions that clearly indicated he wanted to dance. She downed her drink and made as though this was no big thang. Clearly, she was use to be hit on. However, she was not ready for Charlie.

Upon reaching the dance floor, Charlie exploded into salsa, and the woman went through three stages. She was shocked, then she was floored, and then she was carried away in ecstasy. The dance lasted quite awhile and Charlie had a number of surprises up his sleeve. When the song ended, Charlie thanked, left, and we exited the bar. The woman's face was priceless, and I could almost hear her screaming in my head for more. If dancing were a form of war, Charlie has just used atomics.

End Story

The second day involved us going down "Bugis Street", checking out of the Hotel, and moving our way into the Visitor's Lodge at NUS, where we will be staying the rest of the time here in Singapore. We recently finished a campus tour that ended with dinner, and now reading time for our classes that begin at 9:00 tomorrow (much to the chagrin of the Singaporeans).

Bugis street is amazing. Going down "Malay Street" is an enclosed glass dome of an outdoor market. That way, you get to explore all the joys of an outdoor mall with all the comforts of air conditioning. We tried some local cuisine and then moved onto Bugis Street proper, where Justin and Charlie hunted for watches and Justin additionally searched for a cigarette lighter. Funny enough, many people smoke in Singapore, but the places that you can do so legally are few and far between. NUS is a completely non-smoking campus, even outside, and so Justin has been illegally sneaking a few puffs from time to time.

Bugis street threw us out onto an even greater open air market, where we walked a ways until coming across a giant Buddha statue with a piggy bank slot in the belly. People came up to the Buddha, put in some money, prayed, and then would rub various parts of the Buddha. We watched this with some fascination before a Singaporean came up to us and agreed to answer questions we have. Singapore does not have a social welfare system, at least not in the traditional Bismarkian sense. This does not mean the Singaporeans do not get medical care, to the contrary. Medical care in Singapore is often personally provided and paid for by the people who demand it, and if someone falls on hard times, family, friends, and local religious organizations step in. This particular Buddhist temple and Chinese fraternal society were raising money to continue to support their efforts in aiding the poor. It was a great free market sight to behold. Finally, Justin, Charlie, and I ran into the Buddhist temple that was nearby, surrounded by modern high rise apartments and outdoor shopping street vendors.

Justin and Charlie attempted to light incense like many of the people there, but picked up two pieces of incense instead of three. They were told that two was improper today because two were to be offered to the goddess while three was proper for today because that was death. No additional explanation was given; however, this Friday is Visek Day, which is the Buddhist celebration of Buddha's Birthday, and apparently something like Christmas and Easter rolled into one. I managed to observe an awful lot, and really look forward to learning even more.

Coming to NUS has been extremely isolating. Charlie and a few others that we managed to meet up with yesterday attempted to go out Saturday night, but that ended in failure. Getting back to the city center is more difficult.

Another note on Taxis

Taxis in Singapore line up in a queue at various carved out portions of the sidewalk and people line up in a queue to take a taxi. Unlike New York or most American cities, you cannot hail a taxi and you really have to find a taxi stop area in order to get one. In some sense, this is a nice way to distribute fares since taxis can always find a place to gather people and people always know a place to get a taxi. In another way, taxis and people have less control over who they take and where they are able to choose to operate, as wherever the person wants to go is where the taxi must go, even it if means going far out of the city proper.

End Another note on Taxis

Anyway, NUS is isolating. While it's great to see everyone, I already miss being in the Intercontinental Hotel, where I could go out into the city whenever. I've already managed to memorize a good bit of the city layout and was very comfortable moving about. Singapore has almost no crime, which is really funny because there are city signs posted by the government saying "Low Crime Doesn't Mean No Crime", warning people to still be vigilant. Vigilant with what, I don't know, no one here is allowed to own a gun and few people could probably protect themselves. Singaporeans benefit greatly from cultural barriers, high traffic, and numerous other factors that mitigate their poor freedoms in protection.

So far, meeting up with some NUS students has proven problematics. Some of them seem hostile, and even some of the staff are suddenly rather unforgiving. Everything is done in English at the university, but people get very angry when Mandarin is not spoken (yet these are probably some of the best English speakers in Singapore). However, several nice administrators have presented themselves and many students have been very kind. Although, to compound the troubles, we were told that there was a world-class gym that we would have access to, and that has not materialized. There is a nice pool, but I don't know how much use that I'll get out of it. We are in class from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. Being on the equator, that means the sun comes up at 6 and goes down at 6. Stupidly, Singapore chooses to go on daylight savings time, so I get some extra sun and will hopefully be able to tan. How am I suppose to experience Singapore when I'm isolated on this Campus and have that much class time? Thank God for Justin and his father finding us that hotel, I feel that our best learning experiences will have to come through that day and a half we had out there.

Conclusions

Funny enough, that isn't nearly all the exciting and adventurous things that happened. I will attempt to keep this blog update and hopefully I'll be able to write shorter commentary in greater spurts. I will have many more stories that simply won't be able to be posted here, but I hope to be able to share many of these adventures with my friends on returning to the States.

I have a strong and growing suspicion that Singapore does not appreciate what made it wealthy. People seem to focus about what the government did, and less on what it did not do. They seem to correlate things rather than search for underlying causes. As a libertarian, this is disheartening. I don't know enough yet to say what the future prospects for freedom are in Singapore, but I hope that my suspicion is wrong and that many Singaporeans appreciate what freedom and capitalism (but I repeat myself) can and do do.