Singapore Island....or Pulau Ujong

   Singapore, I am not really a city person so this country was one of my least favourite places to go. Toted as "a garden city", which implies beauty; I found that if you look around it is not so clean.....okay in comparison to some Asian cities I guess the downtown is fairly clean and there are some nice parks.

   Singapore has a land mass of only 720 sq, kms. and is made up of 63 islands, with Singapore Island holding most of the 5.5 million residence (which makes it crowded). Since about 75% of the citizens there are of Chinese descent the main city is a lot like being in China. I was surprised to learn that Singapore has the worlds highest percentage of millionaires per capita and that the property was among the worlds most expensive. As I walked the streets I often thought, who would want to live here?; but that may just be me, and I do not like the hustle and bustle of a city

  Without going into too much history I can say that it seems this past British Colony grew successful as one of the worlds largest container ports and an important financial centre for Asia. Although the Malay are recognized as the indigenous peoples of this area it is the Singaporian Chinese, and perhaps to some extent the big brother to the north (China) who influence the culture most. The government has the mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking; one is not allowed to litter or discard gum in public; alcohol consumption is low among the citizenry. Although the government is strict they have for the most part turned a blind eye to the poor treatment of foreign workers; this is supposed to be improving (and many employers treat the worker well). I have close contact with domestic workers who are or were working in Singapore and have heard from several that some Singaporian Chinese abuse their workers. I went into restaurants and saw Philippine nanny's being treated like second class citizens (some work from 5am-10 pm seven days per week).; again, that is not everyone.

  Entering Singapore - "the garden city"-on the train from Malaysia I saw many poor peoples shanty huts;I guess they are not part of the millionaires club, and there was so much garbage down the embankments. The train had a squat toilet which had a hole in the floor where human excretion just falls onto the tracks (very common in Asia) , one can imagine the stench. When I arrived at the train station it was filthy.

  The next day I met a friend and we searched for anything touristy in the city. We rode the subway; which was fast, efficient, and clean, to Sentosa Island which has the theme park atmosphere with a man made beach. The view from the beach was not so special; through the haze (very muggy air) I could see many freighters, oil rigs, and oil refineries. We then took the cable car from Mount Faber to the mainland which give good views of the city.


                           

                            

                       


                           

   On my last day I walked around among the 40 floor buildings and managed to see some notable architecture; the old Victoria Theatre, the fancy Fillerton Motel, and some other nice buildings. I met another friend and we toured the Little India and the red light district where Chinese and Russian girls line up on the street about 3 metres apart; there were so many massage parlours.

                            

   When the Singapore government advertises this small island country they portray such a beautiful and clean city. If you walk down the back alley's or into the poor areas you see filthy living conditions, this can be improved by Singaporean's themselves. One of the worst problems for Singapore is the air quality when it's neighbour burns the forest. Indonesia sits to the south east of Singapore and 3 times a year the citizens will burn the farmers fields and forest to make room for crops. So much of that smoke drifts up to Singapore filling the space between the sky scrapers with toxic air.

                          


  Once again, the property in Singapore is some of the most expensive real estate in the world, who would want to live there; perhaps a proud Singaporean.