Singapore

Singapore has a reputation for being sterile, boring, and expensive (not the best adjectives for boosting tourism).  But, it also has modern infrastructure, lots of expatriates, and warm weather year-round.  Overall, the city piqued my interest enough to spend a couple days there on my vacation.  Here's what I thought of it...

First impressions: Arrival at the airport was a breeze.  Passport control took about 15 seconds and the baggage claim monitor noted exactly when the first and last bags were placed on the belt.  Even the restroom encouraged people to rate its cleanliness (it was spotless, by the way).  Is this place an Asian version of Zurich?

FU sure knows how to clean a toilet!

Public Transport: I decided to take the subway to my hotel because I think it’s fun to experience public transportation around the world. Singapore over-delivers in this area as well. The map is easy to follow, trains are clean, and the other riders are quiet.  

City Life: My hotel was on Orchard Road, which has the biggest concentration of shopping malls I have ever seen in my life.  Basically every building has a mall in the first two floors and there are luxury brands everywhere.  If you combined all the Orchard Road malls into one, it would be by far the biggest mall in the world.

Two random things I noticed while exploring the city: 1) the escalators all move VERY fast, and, 2) the “up” escalator is not always on the same side.  This may not sound like a big deal, but if I see two escalators next to each other, the “up” should always be the one same side that traffic moves (right side in places like North America and central Europe; left side in UK, Australia, Japan, etc).  It’s a small point, but I hold Singapore to a higher standard of efficiency!

My first afternoon in Singapore, I had lunch in Chinatown.  It actually didn't feel very "Chinatown-ish" to me because everything was so pristine.  You can still buy plenty of cheap souvenirs and tasty restaurants, but you won't find any knock-offs.   

"Painted Ladies" of Chinatown

Downtown Singapore is really just a concentration of skyscrapers, although the adjacent bay area is much more worthwhile for tourists to see.  The amazing Marina Bay Sands is even more impressive in person (and, of course, it has a giant mall in the basement).  

Singapore waterfront

Marina Bay Sands 

Very cool double-helix bridge

Also in Marina Bay are some other tourist attractions (an art museum and an impressive urban garden). Across a double-helix bridge, there is even a cricket field that literally sits in the water.  Singapore has made great strides to reclaim land and it boasts some pretty impressive statistics about the land mass, which has grown dramatically as a result of these projects. 

By the way, there is also an "Olympic Walk", which makes me pose the logical question: Why would a city that has never hosted the games have an Olympic Walk?  Actually, I did some research and Singaporean athletes have only won a total of 4 medals in all Olympics combined!  Regardless of their Olympic success (or lack thereof), it was a good place to view the skyline.  

Singapore: Future olympic host city?

Unlike most cities across Europe, cathedrals are not among the top tourist attractions.  I actually passed a very cute looking church one afternoon and walked inside, just to find that it is now a leasing office for luxury residential units.  I took a picture of it anyhow.

Faux church in Singapore

Nightlife: I got the impression from my friends that locals and expats do not integrate very much.  We went to dinner in a mall, so I can only imagine where locals go. (Food stalls?)  All joking aside, mall restaurants don’t have the same stigma like they do in the US, since the whole city is just a giant mall.  One word of caution is that alcohol is heavily taxed, so it ends up being disproportionately expensive.

Most expensive city in the world?  I was surprised to see that Singapore has the world’s highest percentage of millionaires (1 out of every 6 households, according to Wall Street Journal).  With that information in mind, it is not surprising that Singapore was also rated the most expensive city in the world.  To be perfectly honest, I did not get that impression in my short time there.  Nothing was cheap, per se, but far from the prices I paid in places like Zurich and Tokyo. 

My friend living in Singapore said that the real expenses are in expat-quality housing and purchasing permits to own a car.  With so many multinational companies taking advantage of the country’s infrastructure and low corruption, the costs of living have definitely increased quickly and low-skilled employees are finding it harder than ever to maintain any quality of life. 

Does Singapore live up to its reputation? Overall, I did find Singapore to be sterile – especially compared to all other Asian cities.  It is also extremely efficient, which I appreciate a lot.  However, I would never say that it’s boring.  Anyone who loves shopping will be in paradise, and there are plenty of opportunities to eat and drink all types of foods.  The airport has amazing connections, including some low-cost airlines that are much better than their European counterparts.  I could have stayed busy for at least a couple extra days if only I had more time.  Basically, Singapore offers almost everything that people could want, as long as they are willing to pay for it.