Guess where I've been rocking it up lately? Only in the world's second most competitive country. Ranked so by the Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, coming second only to Switzerland (the report was written by the World Economic Forum, based in Geneva... not implying anything... just saying...). The taxi driver told us all of this while we were pulling out of the airport. Sing, Sing, Singapore.
And what a city? Wowee! at first you can't help but be struck with how glorious and green it is and how the ecological environment contrasts with the skyscrapers, the traffic and the teched-up citizens. In two words it is efficiency and cleanliness. Everything works like clockwork, there is no chaos, no disruption, no surprises. The streets are so clean that even chewing gum is banned (a stark contrast to Tunis where you are encouraged to chew gum to protect your taste-buds from exhaust fumes, or London, where some days you can just chew on the smog).
The first few days I didn't get much time to look around, I was there for work afterall. On one morning, I took a run outside. It was something. 94% humidity and 30°C heat, at 5:30am. My breath was so shallow and the air was so thick, it felt like I was running on the moon. I have never sweat like that. It was the slowest and yet most glorious 8km of my life. My trainers are still wet and stinky. And what with it being the second most competitive city in the world, I wasn't the only one out running at that time (although I was quite possibly the slowest).
Another evening, we went down to the Marina. The seafood was delicious, if pretty expensive, but if I keep comparing everywhere to Tunisia, I'll feel like I'm being ripped off the world over. I had scallops which were the size of scones and too too many Singapore Slings. A Singapore Sling is a gin based cocktail, with cherry brandy, grenadine, club soda and pineapple juice. They usually garnish it with a pineapple and a maraschino cherry. They are very drinkable. Very.
Then a client who had been working in Singapore for several years offered to take us down to see the Merlion. Liking Mermaids and Lions, I knew this would be good. Singapore, comes from the word Singapura meaning Lion City. The Merlion is a mascot for the city and his fishy tail represents the fishing industry from which the city was originally built up. I took a bad boy selfie at the Merlion. That is real sweat. Water from inside my cells. On my face. Yum.
The sight here was amazing. Blew. Me. Away. The huge skyscrapers wrapped around the glistening water. There was a casino the spanned across the top of six giant buildings. The scale is out of this world. All of this has been built within the last 20 years. Maybe it was too much New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but I had an overwhelming urge to grab the railings and shout at the top of my lungs "Look what we did!! Look what Humans can do if they all work together to achieve a common goal". I didn't, but I couldn't believe no one else was shouting in awe. But everyone just stood nicely taking pictures.
Let's all conform.
On the final day, we wrapped up our meeting early. It became clear that we would have from 2pm until our flight at 2:20am free to explore the city, to say hello and goodbye. I looked at my colleague with a sparkle in my eye and said "Universal Studios Singapore, dare we?". He gazed back blankly. Sometimes it is necessary for me to appreciate that not all children grew up tearing around theme parks, collecting fast-pass tickets for their family of seven, optimising show and parade times and devising fun games to play in long, boring queues. Some children grew up on the mean streets of Niamey, and after a week of tense meetings, they are really just looking for a bed and some re-coup time. After complaining to my travel companion that he was being a complete "Singa-bore" (came up with that one by myself, you can use it if you like), I hit the streets solo to find out what the city was really all about.
One of the most striking parts of the city (and this was largely because I turned the wrong way out of the hotel and ended up in the Muslim district) was the peaceful co-existence of all of the religions. Mosques sat alongside Hindu and Buddhist temples, there were churches and gudwaras a plenty. In Chinatown I hit up some pork dumplings in chilli oil (swine-loading in prep for the return to Tunisia) and a Hindu Temple. It was so beautiful. It reminded me so much of my trip to India in 2009. Hinduism is a religion I hold a lot of closeness to, I studied it extensively at school and many of my best friends are Hindu. I love the humility and the purity. It also felt nice to take my shoes off on the cool marble, as I had been walking for hours. Here are some pictures.
From here, I walked to Mount Faber (yes, a Mountain!) and climbed right to the top (in my worn ballerina pumps) and caught a cable car (Asia's first cable car) to Sentosa Island. This is where Universal Studios is. There are also a number of other amusement parks and rides and other adventures to be had, but I just limited myself to the cable car today. A quick cocktail, and a little read of my book, and it was time to head back for some speedy-Gonzales shopping at the harbour mall (In Europe, volume control is to applied to music devices - I snapped up a quick mp3 player for when I like to listen LOUD) and then a cab back to the hotel to meet my colleague for flight time.
It was a brilliant city, and a place that I never expected to go, nor had a desire to go, but Singapore really impressed me. And who knows? Maybe one day I'll go back...
(Now don't even pretend like you don't want to see more pictures)
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