It is only a 60 minute flight from Borneo, but this could be thousands of miles away. There are temples here but these are mostly constructed with steel and glass and dedicated by the followers of Money. The laid back nature and general green-ness of Kuching and Sarawak is in stark contrast to the clean, authoritarian, money-making glamour of the city/island/country that is Singapore.
In the centre, around the Central Business District (CBD) and the rejuvenated quays (read: shops, restaurants, bars) it is attractive; in a new, disinfected, clinical un-littered way (I am sure my mum would appreciate that part of it), however after even just a couple of days here it is a little unsettling, partly because of this.
It is a ‘1984’ society, and I will definitely be posting this after I have left this place. Conformity at all costs, even perhaps the ultimate one. A couple of weeks ago a British freelance journalist was arrested here after simply writing an article on the use of the death penalty here. Not sure what has happened to him since (sorry, that means I am not sure, as I haven’t checked the news; I am not suggesting that he has been disappeared or anything – it’s not Chile or the USA after all).
Even Little India and the Chinatown(s) here are clean and un-littered, if still mad busy and cluttered. The signage here ‘advertising’ the fines are fun, if a little intimidating: $500 for drinking or eating on the train or platform, $1000 for smoking; $500 for stepping over the yellow line on the station; $1000 for riding your bike in an underpass, etc. The number of closed-circuit cameras at the train (MRT) stations are incredible, that said sadly probably not dissimilar to England. Policeman are noticeable, if only by their absence. One suspects that there are plenty about, but that they are asked not to wear their uniforms unless for a special occasion.
Talking of special occasions, I have timed my visit perfectly to miss several big events. On Monday it is the National Day, celebrating 45 years of Singapore’s existence. There are flags and new stages, and even stadia, everywhere in readiness for the event. The ubiquitous posters extol ‘Live Our Dreams, Lift Our Flag’ or even ‘Live Our Dreams, Lift Our Productivity’…. if that doesn’t make you think of 1984, then you haven’t read it. There is no ‘I’ in Singapore. How this squares with the massive financial centre here and the money that has built this place…. err okay, it just doesn’t.
The inaugural Youth Olympic Games then start a few days later, which is big news here, and then the Singapore Grand Prix is only a couple of weeks away too. So I am leaving before it all gets too gooey on the TV (it is already too sugary to watch in a (you guessed it) 1984 Newspeak way). I suspect that there is never any criticism on the TV here. Or indeed any news that hasn’t been rubber stamped first. Cue: big false smile.
I stayed in an area called Geylang. I had read the guidebooks and ‘TripAdvisor’ and knew what to expect. Okay in the day, whilst a little lively and sleazy in the night time. Not the end of the world to get a hotel you can afford. To be honest, not as bad as I thought it may be, just a couple of times you get asked ‘Do you want a girl?’, and at the end of the day just say ‘No’ (or ‘yes’ if you are inclined). There is no danger associated with the area. Prostitution is illegal here, but it is one of the few activities which doesn’t have much associated signage and a fine associated with it. The hotel next to mine proudly displayed its room rates as $45 a night, $10 an hour, $15 for two. Though perhaps I am reading the wrong thing into this and there is just a local need for emergency napping.
One good thing about the place is the appetite for beer, including local good ones. Yes!, there are local breweries that don’t just make Heineken, Carlsberg, or Guinness. Proper ales, stouts and pilsners. It is just a shame about the prices. The prices are heavily influenced by taxes of course, but also by the money in the place. The bars on the Boat Quay are mostly horrendously dear, backing on to the CBD. But you can get a bargain if you are happy to drink Tsingtao or Chiang in a restaurant. The price of a beer can vary from $2 to $15. To complicate things further some places don’t give their prices with the taxes included. So you can get a ‘++’ (or ‘plus plus’) on top of your bill, which adds 10% then 7% to your bill! Be very careful! Or maybe just shrug and hand them your credit card. Incidentally on Boat Quay there is a ‘London Pub’, which charges silly money for pint but which was always packed with ex-pats when I walked straight passed which purported to sell ‘Draught Old Speckled Hen’ and adjacent to this was Harry’s Bar, which apparently was a favourite hang-out of Nick Leeson before he took down Baring’s Bank. On reflection, that should have been seen as an emergency flare with respect to banking activities shouldn’t it?
I found a place called the RedDot, which was advertised as a brew-pub, though of course didn’t brew any beer in house. That said, definitely worth a visit and I tried five of their eight beers, all of which were eminently drinkable if a tad on the expensive side of stupid. The biggest problem with the place if you looking downstream of the Singapore River and inland is that next door is the Manchester United Café. How many people are they alienating as potential customers?
Like Borneo, England is big over here. You see more locals wearing England shirts than you ever do in the UK. Of course, Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelski and Arsenal are popular too. Didn’t see any Aston Villa or Everton shirts.
Up there with the temples to Money making are the cathedrals of Shopping. You can virtually cross parts of the city in air conditioned frigidity through mall after mall. Sure they sell the same stuff next door? I popped to an IT mall called the Funan Digital City just between St Andrews Cathedral (a real one, not a mall) and the Singapore River. After a couple of hours checking out the deals I plumbed for a netbook with a 2year extended warranty. Hate having to buy a PC thing but wanted the ability to do stuff on the hoof with pictures, internet and writing. So a dirty job done. Four hours later I was back in the place as the power pack didn’t work. Grrr hate PC’s.
An incredible sight at the moment in the city is the Marina Park development. It comprises three hotel towers, which are topped by an apparent cruise liner, called the Skypark. I went down there, but decided not to go up to the Skypark in the end – it was $20 and you had to walk around and get out. There was a ‘no loitering’ condition, which meant no sitting down AND the cafes, bars and restaurants were not yet open. So I went off to the adjoining shopping mall (where else?), which was another crazy place with a water feature down the centre of it, which had gondoliers taking customers up and down the mall. Trafford Centre, eat your heart out.
A positive side effects of being a minted city is that you can do things that can’t be done in the average place, such as liberally sprinkle top sculptures around so amongst others I got to see a great Salvador Dali and Henry Moore while I was here (Newton and the Lovers respectively).
On my last afternoon after walking from the Marina Park I found the not to be missed Brewerkz microbrewery on Robertson Quay. Great beer with an interesting price structure - as the cost goes up as the day goes on from as little as $4.50 a pint between 11-3pm, rising progressively up to $15 a pint between 8-11pm. Drink early and run. Finished my Iain Banks novel ‘Transition’ and passed it on to a guy at the next table called Buzz (my second Buzz this holiday, with Toy Story 3 in Dubai!). He had to be American, and was from Chicago way; he was working as an art teacher in Singapore and had done for 13 years. Hope he enjoys the book, I found it a good read, but didn’t want to carry the weight around (I left a Terry Pratchett with an English teacher in Kuching for the same reason).
After a quick squizz at the Raffles Hotel I popped into an adjacent bar called Lot, Stock and Barrel and started writing this up on my new netbook. I then went back to Geylang to pick up my stored luggage and to get a bite to eat at a restaurant called ‘Liverpool’, before heading to Changi airport for my flight to Sumatra and my first visit to Indonesia.
No comments:
Post a Comment