What I love about Singapore

I was taken aback last week when someone who I think of as having a showbiz kind of lifestyle thought my work sounded 'glam'. This was partly due to the fact that I was in Singapore again for a couple of weeks. Third time this year (I know yawn, yawn) . A few things started telling me I'm there too much. For one I was being offered free beer from the managers of two pllaces I go to often when I'm there. This was at Brewerkz, which is a microbrewery owned by an Aussie, which goes down a treat with the ex-pats, tourist and a few of the locals. The other was Cafe Iguana, which is a mexican resturaunt. As if that's not enough, when one of the waiters knocks my remaining 1/4 pint over me, the manager comes over and apologises to me, using my surname and brings me a jug of beer. I can only imagine he got my name from my credit card on a previous visit, but that's customer service for you in a place where almost everyone is transient. The fact that the stains didn't come out in the washing is another matter !

Anyway - What I Love about Singapore

The temperature is almost always 32 degrees all year round
When you walk outside during the day for the first 5 minutes it's like being wrapped in a huge warm duvet
They have a micro brewery called Brewerkz
Everyone speaks English
You can take pictures like the one above and get it published in 3 calendars
The food is great and pretty inexpensive
The girls in Singapore still think boob tubes and mini ra-ra skirts are still fashionable
They drive on the proper (left hand) side of the road
Chart CDs (official ones) are only 5 quid each
The mains sockets are UK 3 pin ones
Taxis are cheap, and there are over 10,000 of them
It is one of the safest places on earth. A female can walk around alone at 3am without fear. It is a very rules and laws based society - fines for many minor offences like not flushing a public toilet, spitting in public, picking flowers etc. They also use the cane as punishment in conjunction with prison. This is one way they keep the crime figures down.

What I hate about Singapore

The humidity is almost always 96 degrees all year round
When you walk outside during the day, after the first 5 minutes it feels like you are starting to melt from the inside out
It is a 14 hour flight from London, that's after the 5 hours to get from Edinburgh and wait in Heathrow
The rules thing can be a bit oppressive at times. While walking in Orchard road one busy Saturday afternoon, my hand accidently brushhed against a womans leg as she passed me and in a panic, all I could think of was the previous day's paper article about a guy getting 6 lashes of the cane for touching a girls bum as he passed on his bicycle. Thankfully she just walked on.