The Most Civilized City in the World

"If we are lucky, then, the way people live in Singapore today, all of us will live a hundred years from now..." Conde Nast Traveler Russia

Hello everyone! I literally got back just yesterday from a trip to the multicultural capital, the city/country of Singapore. And I want to tell you about it within the irregular Offtopic section.
Before the trip, I had of course read a lot about Singapore, but what I saw with my own eyes still amazed me.

The Republic of Singapore is an island city and also a country. Roughly the size of Moscow, it is somehow related to Malaysia, although in fact it is a different country. The main population is Chinese and Indians. There are many Europeans.

You can get to Singa from Thailand in just 2 hours by plane, but my trip kept getting postponed for about five months. Either no time, or other plans, or no mood, or something else... In the end I did this: a month before the trip I paid for the tickets and the hotel so it would not be so easy to change my mind. And I flew out.

Singapore is also Asia, of course, but it differs from the rest of the Asian countries like night and day. There is almost perfect cleanliness everywhere (the streets are washed with detergent), everything is modern, order reigns everywhere (the laws are draconian), everyone speaks English (after Thailand this is shocking), corruption is absent in principle, and all aspects of life and everyday routine are thought out down to the smallest detail.

Singapore is not a resort. There are beaches here, but they are small and almost no one swims. It is clearly not worth coming here for a beach holiday. But there are more than enough other attractions here.

"Something like this could only have been built in Singapore," said at one time the architect who created Marina Bay Sands, probably the most famous hotel in Singa. And indeed: there are simple rectangular skyscrapers too, but builders usually try to make something unusual: towers connected by bridges, pyramids and gardens on the roofs of business centers, even ordinary residential buildings on the outskirts of the city amaze with their intricate shapes.

What forex trader does not love a casino? Whatever anyone says, there is a bit of excitement in trading. A very long time ago I happened to work in one of the major Moscow casinos (when they were still legal), so I do not expect to win. But I really love the atmosphere inherent in gambling establishments :)

So, gambling establishments are allowed in Singapore; there are two casinos, and I visited only one. Taking photos inside is generally prohibited, but I managed to take a spy photo from the third floor of the establishment:

What is striking is the number of players. And they lose not tens, but thousands of dollars there. At many tables, bets start at one hundred dollars. I think the casino earns at least a million dollars per day by the most modest estimates.

On the way out, you can take a business card for a special center where they will help you get rid of an excessive addiction to gambling:

When I was only reading on the internet about all those Singapore skyscrapers and total computerization, I imagined a city from some science fiction movie about the future, except without flying cars and robots. In reality, Singapore is very green, with a huge number of flowers, trees, and shrubs everywhere. And all of this (even outside the city limits) is carefully maintained: watered, trimmed, and protected in every possible way.

A huge number of parks, with separate paths for runners, pedestrians, and cyclists, specially equipped places for barbecues, and no cars.

Well, these are not exactly trees, but rather a marvel of engineering in one of the parks. You can climb these things and look at the park from above.

Singapore clearly suffers from gigantomania. Everything there is the biggest, the most modern, and so on. The zoo is also of some incredible size: I could not walk through all of it. I simply did not have enough strength)

There are either 3000 or 4000 species on display, but I can say for sure that it will be enough for you. There are even Russian bears. True, without balalaikas...

If you walk only through the center of Singapore among skyscrapers and pretentious shopping malls, it may seem that the city was created exclusively for oligarchs (it has the highest percentage of dollar millionaires per 1000 people). But that is not so. There are poor districts too, like Geylang, and there are districts of cultural heritage: Chinatown, Little India, and Arab Street. The most interesting is the Chinese quarter: you can buy mysterious Chinese remedies, cheap clothes, a bunch of souvenirs, and eat some outlandish nastiness, like frogs, in a street cafe.

The Indian quarter is probably the dirtiest area in the city. Indians have lived in filth all their lives and slept on the street. Therefore even the harsh Singaporean laws about littering the streets are hard for them to accept. It is worth going there to buy Indian clothes (why?) and counterfeit mobile phones.

I have not been to Arab Street, I do not like them. They might blow something up...

As I already mentioned, beach holidays are hard to come by in Singapore. It is first and foremost a port city, so the sea is polluted with fuel from ships. But the Singaporeans still decided to make their own "resort" and built the entirely artificial island of Sentosa.

There is a casino, beaches, attractions from Universal, the largest oceanarium in the world, the largest wind tunnel in the world (I highly recommend it), beaches, hotels, restaurants, and a huge amount of greenery. You can get to the island by causeway, on a special train, or by cable car.

Food deserves a separate mention. Singapore practically has no products of its own, everything is brought in from neighboring countries, so the chefs of local restaurants bend over backward to attract visitors with original and tasty dishes. I am talking about expensive restaurants, of which there are many here: there are establishments by famous chefs, and there are Michelin restaurants as well. Despite the high prices, there are more than enough people willing to eat in the evening for 200-500 dollars per person. Most likely you will have to wait until a table becomes free.

Singapore is known as the country of fines. Moreover, the police here walk around in plain clothes, and you can identify them only when they are sitting in a car. In addition to the well-known fines for chewing gum (500 dollars), crossing the road in the wrong place (500 dollars, I "crossed" about three thousand worth)) ) and smoking in the wrong places (almost everywhere), I was surprised by a 3000-dollar fine for swearing and insulting another person. So there are no drunken fights involving Russians here. And there are almost no Russians here at all. Which again leads to order. And yes, for using, selling, or possessing drugs (in any quantity) you face the death penalty.

It may seem that this is some overly harsh policy, but it is not. Yes, the laws are strict, but you feel completely safe at any time of day or night. The streets are clean and crime is practically nonexistent.

One more point is prices. Everything in Singapore is very, very expensive. Even more expensive than in Moscow. And if prices in cafes and restaurants will not surprise residents of the capital of the Russian Federation very much, the cost of housing is capable of striking the imagination. Renting a small apartment on the outskirts of the city will cost at least 2000-3000 dollars a month, and if you suddenly decide to buy housing, get ready to part with an amount of AT LEAST one million dollars.

Living permanently in Singapore legally without having a job there is quite difficult. But getting a visa for a short vacation is very simple. You will not even have to leave home: you need a passport scan, a photo, and 50 dollars. I used the company Sentosa Tour. They work clearly, I recommend them to everyone.

If you want to see how things can be in a civilized place without crime and kickbacks, if you want to add variety beyond Turkey and Egypt, feel free to go to Singapore. You will get a lot of vivid impressions and emotions.

Respectfully, Pavel TradeLikeaPro.ru