Singapore

It was time to head for Singapore and we were both intrigued by the numerous stories we had heard and read about the cleanest city in the world. The British were searching for a trading port and the island of Singapore was ideally located and served the British well in the 1800's. Singapore is only fifty-years old as a modern country so they have had the opportunity to start fresh with new ideas and a different way of doing things. After War War II, Singapore gained its independence and had a brief union with Malaysia but the Muslim culture of Malaysia and the Chinese culture of Singapore would cause the two nations to separate. Singapore was in a unique position as a country that had wealth and trade from day one.

The country did not look back and mandates from its citizens and visitors that they obey the law. Singapore often makes the world news for some very interesting laws. They of course have all the basics about crime, drugs and of course the unmentionable crime of chewing gum. Singapore is a very modern city and they are technology junkies, so when they installed a subway system everything was automated. This was impressive because the technology to pull this off was not easy and the system would require very little labor. It turns out that not too long after the subway was up and running somebody decided to stick gum on a pair of photocells that are used to indicate when a train had arrived in a station. The gum caused the photocell to malfunction and a train crashed. To solve this unforeseen problem Singapore made gum against the law. The city also puts little value in public rest rooms because as we all know that most public rest rooms are dirty. This is against the overall image of Singapore so they didn't build any. This created a problem for the boys after a night of drinking and elevators seemed like a good place to relieve yourself. No statistics were actually given about the number of elevators that had been used as a latrine but Singapore made it against the law to pee in an elevator. To enforce this law elevators were equipped with urine detectors. If the elevator detects urine, I am not sure if it works by sound or smell, it stops between floors trapping the offender and the elevator calls the police. This quest for being clean has also created an unusual problem for man's best friend. According to a magazine article we read, the average dog gets washed everyday in Singapore and this has created a real problem for the local veterinarian treating the numerous skin problems. Dogs were not meant to be washed everyday. Before we arrived we made sure our clothes were clean, our bags were free of gum, and that nobody handed us any packages. It was time to find out what Singapore was all about.

We left Cambodia for our flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and from there we had a 6 hour bus ride to Singapore. The city of Kuala Lumpur works very hard to keep up with the stature of Singapore and we were excited to see how nice Singapore actually was. We both liked K.L enough that we stayed for a week. From the airport we jumped on a bus to the bus station except the bus did not go to the bus station and we opted for a short taxi ride. The usual chaos that seems to characterize bus stations is the same in the polished K.L. We arrived early for our 2:30 PM VIP bus to Singapore for $6 US each. Scooter and I have a bus system now - it is my job to board the bus early for a good seat and he worries about getting our bags on the bus. We are getting the hang of this travel game - like anything it takes practice. The bus interior design was quite amazing - the outside of the bus was a deep shade of purple and the inside was a mix of red velvet walls, blue velvet seats and a pastel floral print everywhere else. The bus was setup for movies and Scooter asked the driver if he would start one up. The driver asked if we wanted it in English or Chinese. Scooter was joking and responded Chinese, so for the next two hours we watched a very bad Chinese gangster movie in Chinese.

We arrived in Singapore just after dark and the bus dropped us off in the middle of town. It appears that because bus stations are usually dirty, Singapore does not have a bus station. We planned on staying at the YMCA but when we called it was out of our budget. If you are traveling alone the YMCA is a good deal because the dorm beads are inexpensive but it is too expensive for a couple. We consulted the all knowing guidebook and jumped in a taxi. Our route to Orchard road took us down Bencoolen St. the budget backpacker area and we saw a place recommended in the guidebook. The Strand had a very nice lobby the price was $60 a night. The room was clean enough for an inexpensive city hotel with a great location only a block from Orchard and a short walk to the downtown harbor area.

We cleaned up and went looking for food. Eating salad seemed like a safe thing to do in the world's cleanest city so we set out looking for a salad bar. We decided to walk to a night life section called Boat Quay and we were both shocked to find a long row of theme bars along the river. K.L. is a Muslim country and makes it difficult for bar owners to make a living. It appeared that Singapore was all for going out at night and having a good time. They even had a Hooter's restaurant. If you have never been to Hooter's it is a US restaurant chain and the name speaks for itself as the restaurant theme. The place was packed and just about every kind of international food was being served along the river. It turns out that Salad does not fall into a particular ethnic category, so we decided to get a head start on our next travel destination and we had Indian at Khazana. After dinner we walked back to our hotel. Walking in Singapore any time of the day or night is safe.

Scooter has been haunted by the worst cough and fever for the last three weeks. He still thinks he has Malaria or something so the next day he decides to see a doctor. For the full details of his doctor's visit you can read about it at http://www.worldwander.com/norththailand. He did not have malaria but the doctor informed him that he did not have any nose hair which made it easy for him to get sick in polluted Bangkok, Thailand. I had been dealing with a sick traveler for three weeks and I was sick of it. I should of known that I would catch whatever he had because it hit me hard in Singapore and I secretly could not wait for him to get back with medicine. I was miserable.



Being in a modern big city provides all the comforts of home and we decided to stay a week. New Delhi, India was 49 degrees Celsius or 120 degrees Fahrenheit, they decided to blow a nuclear bomb and Indonesia was rioting which eliminated our trip to Bali. Singapore would simply have to entertain us for the next seven days. We were scheduled to meet my sisters in South Africa in two weeks but checking e-mail revealed that my brother-in-law had broken his leg and we would need to move our South Africa trip back by six weeks. This meant we had more time on our hands and we would need to get our tickets changed. Delta airlines has a city office and they had no problem changing our Delta tickets but we were flying from Paris to Johannesburg via Air France. This was also a Delta award ticket but it seemed the French were not real big on cooperating because the Delta city office was having problems changing it. Scooter ended up calling Delta in the United States and after 30 minutes of being on hold, he was able to speak to someone with the know how and we changed our tickets to leave from Rome, Italy and fly back to Helsinki, Finland in late August. I do not want to know what that phone call cost but it was worth it because the new routing worked out better than we originally planned because we would be able to fly to Northern Europe.

I laid in bed sick while Scooter dealt with all the ticket stuff and the computer mall. Scooter likes to go to computer stores more than most women like to window shop for new clothes. Same rules apply- he looks alot more than he buys. Scooter couldn't wait when he found out Singapore has it's very own mall filled with nothing but computer stores. The Funan Computer Center is a six story indoor computer mall and they say, if you can't find it at the Funan Computer Center it doesn't exist. Scooter was even able to find an external microphone for his laptop that uses batteries instead of power from the microphone jack. Don't ask me- that is the way he explained it. The time in Singapore would be put to good use. We had a lot of work to do in travel writing and updating the web site. Scooter was also determined to finish his Tech writing class. Scooter went to school at the University of Florida and studied Electrical Engineering. It turns out that Tech writing was his Achilles hill because that is the only class he did not finish and what is left for him to graduate. The class had a very tough attendance requirement and Scooter liked to take classes without actually attending them. He was always working on some project or doing something that kept him out of town which made it impossible to pass Tech writing. He signed up for it by correspondence numerous times but Tech writing by correspondence is a lot of work. He now has no excuses because we took a year off and he had all the time in the world. Except, three months into our trip, he had only completed two assignments. He stayed focused in Singapore and finished four more assignments and completed rough drafts of the final two papers. We mailed them from the Singapore airport and when he gets those graded he will mail in the final two papers.

Since we had extra time in our schedule we planned on going to Nepal for two weeks via a short flight from New Delhi and a trek in the Himalayas. It has to be cooler in the mountains. We were both nervous about being in climbing shape because our three day trek in Northern Thailand kicked our butts. We are in good walking shape and could walk all day but as native Florida flatlanders we just have never had a reason to develop climbing muscles. Our plan for Singapore was to eliminate elevators and spend a couple hours everyday running stairs in the park. Singapore has done a great job of mixing the outdoors, parks, and modern buildings. Everything is green and clean.

Today we decide to go shopping and to drop off our laundry. Laundry turns out to be another one of those things that are not clean, so it is difficult to find a place that can do laundry in one day. The hotel prices are outrageous and it turns out they ship all the clothes to laundry facilities in Malaysia. Scooter was actually quoted in a couple of places that it would take a week to do laundry. Our hotel was in backpacker section and it turned out that a small grocery had a couple of washer and dryers in the back. Scooter took the clothes down to wash them but returned fifteen minutes later. Apparently the washers were full and the clothes needed to be moved to the dryer. The gentleman working there told Scooter to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Scooter started moving the clothes from each washer to a corresponding dryer when the gentleman told him to put everything in one dryer. The gentleman did not speak English and apparently there was a communication problem because on seeing all the clothes in one dryer the gentleman went nuts. It turns out that the clothes in each washer belonged to different people and Scooter had just mixed all the socks, underwear, shirts and pants. He was politely asked to leave and he felt the request was permanent. We loaded up our laundry bag and jumped on the Subway for Orchard Road and a one day laundry. Orchard road is the premier shopping district in Singapore and is in the league of 5th Avenue, Rodeo Drive etc..... not a bad place to do laundry. The subway in Singapore is an excellent mode of transport and will take you to almost any part of the island. They apparently were worried about making tape against the law because they added long rows of glass doors that only open when the train arrives. This keeps everyone away from the photocells and the need for anymore silly laws. It is Saturday and the shopping malls and streets are jammed with well dressed, polite Singaporeans. The city is beautiful, clean and cosmopolitan. It is populated by both Asians and foreigners. There seems to be many people from around the world living and working here.