During a taxi ride last week I was talking to the driver about the APEC conference, which was held in Singapore this month, to much local ballyhoo. He asked where I was from, and when he found out that I’m American he said, “You know what one thing I’d really like the U.S. to do […]
The difference between being a Permanent Resident of Singapore and being a Singapore Citizen is that citizens have the right to vote. This is to a curious extent a theoretical distinction, because many, if not most Singaporeans can’t vote. Note because of property requirements or intimidation at the polls, but because there’s nothing to vote […]
The Singapore newspaper is well written, but extremely predictable, and hence so dull it’s hardly worth opening. Things you will inevitably find in this paper: Praise to various Singaporeans for being polite; stories about high real estate values; stories about how little guys are priced out of the housing market; reviews of hawker stall fare; […]
When Lee Kwan Yu took over the government of Singapore 45-odd years ago, the Chinese population here was composed of three main groups: Hokkien, Cantonese, and Teochew. The Hokkien were locally known as “pigs,” because if they came to Singapore and did well, they tended to settle down, have eight children and plant firm roots. […]
A double delight! Thursday, August 20, saw the beginning of both the Taoist Hungry Ghost Festival and the Ramadan fast. Singaporean TV celebrates the start of Ramadan by having lots of people interviewed on the news saying that you should be mindful that not everybody does everything the same way but they’re all worthy of […]
Here are some old shophouses we visited a few months ago, in a part of the city that hasn’t been redeveloped yet. In fact, these are Chinese/Peranakan shophouses dating back to the turn of the 20th century, that are getting restored by their owners (when the owners can afford it). It’s an historical district (also […]
I learned yesterday that from its founding up to about two years ago, Singapore had a law in place that made it very easy for the government to find land for its many infrastructure and housing projects. I forget the name of it, but it was basically emminent domain – the gov’t could take any […]
Ok, here is the elevated walkway a couple of kilometers from Mt. Faber, in the Forest Walk section of the interconnected trails. It’s over a kilometer long and descends gently down a hill that’s largely covered in secondary rainforest growth. That is, if you start at the top of Mt. Faber. If you start at […]
The library system in Singapore is good, but not free. Foreigners pay $57/year for membership, and locals pay $24 (I think). You can reserve books, but it costs $1.55 per book. Late fees are fifty cents a day. You may not borrow more than 8 books at any time, or borrow more books if you […]
Some pictures are embedded in the post below. One thing you may have noticed about these postings is that I get a lot of my information about Singapore from cab drivers. No, I am not made of money, that I take cabs around all the time. We live in the far west of the island […]