“PLEASE be aware that Singapore is a country of strict legislation. You are expected to know the laws before arriving. The penalty of trafficking drugs is punishable by death,” the pilot announced when we began our descent after an 18-hour direct flight from New York.
Whilst I was still reeling from the severity of his words, the passenger next to me added to my chagrin, “Littering is a fine of up to S$1,000 (US$650) and no smoking in public spaces! The police wear plain clothes to catch offenders unaware. Chewing gum used to be banned too, right up till Jan 2005!”
Thank God, I had quit smoking two years ago. And what was that about chewing gum, I wondered. I felt stupid not reading up on the laws before. It was not that I did not do sufficient research on the things to do, what to see and eat. I had it all planned. After wowing all my friends and colleagues telling them how I would storm Southeast Asia all on my own, it seemed foolish now that I had overlooked the basics that could get me into serious trouble. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong.
My holiday plans were to spend an initial three days exploring Singapore and finish with a four-day-three-night-cruise on the Superstar Virgo to Phuket (Thailand) and Langkawi (Malaysia).
The biggest draw point was the advantageous exchange rate of our strong US currency in all of South East Asia. Everything would become cheaper and cheaper as I traveled, from Singapore, to Malaysia, and finally, Thailand.
Singapore was often mistaken to be part of China, or Vietnam, but really, it is an independent nation no more the size of Austin, Texas (or 682 square km), and had a population of about 4 million. Commercial skyscrapers and residential homes expounding on vertical expansion were the norm. The average household lived in 30-storey flats housing approximately 180 apartments, or pigeon holes’, as the locals coined it.
Geographically situated at the tip of Malaysia just above the equator, and surrounded by Indonesia, the climate was warm, humid, with no natural disasters, not even the tsunamis, thanks to the protective circumvention of the two neighboring countries.
I stayed in a hostel in Singapore’s Chinatown, where the rates went from S$55 (USD 35) per night for a standard double room. The location was ideal being near the Outram Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) train station, where the two (and only two!), cross-directional, train lines by-passed as they ran across the entire island.
Turned out
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