Singapore

We’re 3 minutes into the country and I’m sitting in a police station, my passport blocked and no less than 6 police officers trying to decide whether to let me into the country, with being locked up becoming an increasing possibility. All this because of the kukhri knife in Daniel’s bag that he was given as a gift in Nepal - you are not allowed to bring weapons into Singapore. Anne had been hauled aside next to me because of the 4 cans of undeclared beer in her luggage, which you are also not allowed to bring across from Malasia. Wow, this place is hectic. After Anne had apologised and poured the beer into a bin, avoiding a fine of between $50 and $5600(!), I was left to await my fate. Forty minutes later the police officers were still debating and phoning superiors, while I had to provide photographic evidence that the knife was a gift, details of my occupation, place of employment (twice) and other information proving I’m not a regular gangster. Eventually they decided to let me keep the knife – it met all measurement regulations – AND unblocked my passport and allowed me to enter the country. Welcome to Singapore…

Fortunately, both my family and our bus were waiting for me on the other side and we made our way to our accommodation in Chinatown. Arriving in Singapore, one cannot help but be impressed. Even if you are not a big city person, Singapore has a wow factor that can’t be ignored. The cutting-edge modern architecture and abundant skyscrapers are what first catch one’s attention, but what surprised us the most was how much vegetation and green space there was in and around the city. Almost all the tall buildings incorporate living walls and roof gardens in some form, which softens the urban cityscape.  The city is also more varied than we were expecting, with quaint, characterful streets of low-rise residential buildings dotted around in amongst the skyscrapers. 

Walking around the streets of the inner city the next morning we got a good feel of the place. The quality of the public space is exceptional – wide walkways and cycle lanes, benches, street sculptures and landscaped gardens. The place feels so clean and neat, but it wasn’t only because of the lack of litter. I realised that it is because of the lack of outdoor advertising – no billboards, no posters, no graffiti. The government really has reclaimed the public space for the public. No private interests represented whatsoever. The only commercial signs are those on buildings themselves, or if a company has sponsored a public place. No street hawkers either, except one old guy in a wheelchair selling chocolate bars whom I came across in an underpass. All this comes at a price, of course – the extreme sets of rules and highly policed environment. I don’t think we actually saw any police on the streets, but we sensed that if you put a foot wrong (literally, by jaywalking or walking on the grass, for example) they would swoop out of somewhere and pick you up or fine you. Is that the price of a clean, attractive modern city? If so, is it worth it? We think it probably is. 

The other price you pay is, well… the price! We had heard Singapore was expensive, and we were left in no doubt after our first visit to 7eleven for some groceries: milk, 2 drinks and breakfast cereal set us back R700. Apparently, Singapore is the third most expensive city in the world. Apart from making it quite tricky for budget-conscious tourists to visit, it is also exclusionary.  We were wondering whether there was any budget accommodation for the lower-level manual labourers (exclusively Indian, we observed), or whether they all lived across the bridge in much more affordable Johor Bahru, Malaysia.  On my morning run I came across a number of people sleeping on park benches on the waterfront, clearly taking a chance. However, I don’t think they actually lived on the street (that would never be allowed), but more likely they were night shift workers catching a nap before taking a bus or train back over the border to Malaysia. 

After morning birthday celebrations for Grandpa, we visited the Gardens by the Bay, one of the key tourist attractions in the City. The gardens are located on a huge strip of land between the southern shore of the island and the iconic Marina Bay Sands building (a sight in itself, with a huge, cantilevered deck and the longest infinity pool in the world, spanning three separate skyscrapers). Gardens by the Bay has a number of distinct sections and attractions, from a palm forest, to man-made ‘super-trees’, a sky walk, a children’s play garden, a kingfisher wetland and a 35m indoor waterfall surrounded by jungle in the ‘Cloud Forest’. Balking at the price tag of the paid attractions, we still had a lovely day wondering around the gardens and play parks, amazed that in the middle of one of the densest cities in the world, the skyscrapers disappear behind foliage and you can lose yourself in sprawling green space with a surprising amount of biodiversity. In the evening we went out to sample one of the ‘hawker markets’ – a more formal and regulated version of the street food markets found elsewhere in Southeast Asia. We sampled the Singaporean national dish, chicken rice, as well as prawn laksa, fried fish noodle soup, peanut beef satay and some yummy sesame dumplings – a tasty blend of Thai, Indian and Chinese flavours. As Phil Rosenthal asserts, the culture of Singapore is contained in its food.

The next day was one of the few mornings of rain on our whole trip, so we did some housekeeping and schoolwork. We spent a lovely, if very hot, afternoon exploring the Singapore Botanical Gardens – yet another vast swathe of green in the city.  We lay in the shade of fan palms on the lush green lawn in front of Singapore’s equivalent of the Kirstenbosch concert stage until the heat subsided. For our final meal we visited the historic Lau Pa Sat hawker market and almost got lost amongst the radial spread of stalls, tables and patrons. 

For our one and only splash activity in Singapore we booked tickets to the ArtScience Centre – a blending of art and science presented in three very different types of exhibitions within the iconic flower-shaped building. The first exhibition contained a series of interactive digital artworks which blended very clever algorithms with beautiful colourful artworks and thought-provoking themes. The first of these was a room containing a digital waterfall cascading down one wall and onto the floor, which flowed around you if you stood in the digital stream. Then there were flower blooms on the floor which disintegrated if you stepped on them. Finally, the butterflies on the walls emerged when people stood together in 'community' groups, but died if you touched them.  The second room was an interactive aquarium where we could all draw sea creatures on pieces of paper, which were then scanned and the creatures came to life in an animated version on the wall. It was such fun to see our artworks swimming around and interacting with each other and with us, as we reached out and ‘fed’ them or scared them away. The third room contained an interactive landscape where similarly, you could colour in birds and aeroplanes, scan them, and then fly them with the use of a tablet as they zoomed and swooshed across the massive wall.  This took place opposite a kind of interactive artwork jungle gym where you could climb in amongst a colourful flock of birds projected onto the wall.  The final room contained a walkway framed with LED strips and mirrors intended to evoke the cosmos and infinity. It is hard to describe other than a trippy sort of out-of-body experience. All of these were such unique experiences – fun and thought provoking: the next edge of art is being able to interact with it. 

The second exhibition was called ‘sensory odyssey’ and recreated seven ecosystems, from an African waterhole at night, to the Amazon rainforest, and underground soil scene and the Arctic oceans, complete with sounds and smells. Each of us enjoyed different rooms for different reasons, but the video footage was mesmerising, particularly the macro footage of insects. The final exhibition was titled ‘Sneakertopia’ and was an art celebration of sneaker culture. We were all a bit lost here, not knowing anything about sneakers, but it was presented in a fun way and now we know a little more about this subculture than we did before…

As we headed out to the airport in a four lane, one-way underground tunnel, and passed through the East Coast Park, with massive trees lining the freeway located on reclaimed land, we reflected on the modern wonder that is Singapore. I would have to say it is the most impressive city I’ve ever been in. It is also a really interesting cultural intersection, with majority South East Asian, but also Indian and European people all living and working together and operating largely in English – a true East meets West combination. Singapore has got so many things right and can serve as an example for urban design, architecture, public transport, economic growth and cultural integration. It’s just a pity it is so expensive.