Singapore 2.0
Singapore – Most admired city (by me)
I am fortunate to return to Singapore to gain a better understanding of this wonderful city and its people. But first let me tell you how I arrived here from Rochester NY. Travel hacking led me to the website, points.me. There I found a a flight from NYC to Singapore business class for under $400 and 90,000 Chase Sapphire points. But it was grueling. Three days of travel, and waiting in airports for numerous hours before boarding fabulous Singapore Air for my last leg. The lay flat bed was comfortable allowing sleep on my back or either side without trouble. The staff was attentive and pleasant and the gourmet food was delicious. Singapore Air business class is superior to that of BA, AA, Brussel Air and UA. I understand Emirates is equal or maybe better.
The airport could easily be added to their city attractions, it was efficient and beautiful as seen in the blog featured image. Everywhere you look, their attention to detail and good design is evident. My Moxy hotel in Brooklyn, was tiny, where I stubbed by feet several times. Compare this to the Holiday Inn Express in Singapore. Smaller room, 4 steps from bed to bathroom, and never stubbed my feet throughout my 2 day stay and a nice desk to compose this blog.
As mentioned in my earlier blog, Singapore is inhabited by 4 or more different cultures who are congenial to each other, the Malays, Chinese, Hindus and several other smaller religious groups. The government dictates that each building’s residents must maintain the cultural diversity of the area it’s in, thus if a Hindu sells his apartment, it must be to a Hindu, unless the surrounding Hindu population grows unexpectedly, the government can fine tune the process to maintain the desired mix.
As we know, their laws are very strict and penalties could be quite severe, but people here seem to be thriving and happy. My taxi driver was married had two kids and lived comfortably in one of the government subsidized apartments. They were also able to go on out-of-country vacations occasionally.
Let’s Copenhagen with Singapore, both countries are small, but that’s where the comparison ends. Copenhagen is a homogeneous population with a socialist (government provides most needs) and Singapore with very strict laws, and people appreciate the laws which reduce chaos
Their happy residents are not inconvenienced by freedoms they may never want or need nor are they so proud to declare “no one is going to tell me what to do”, yet gladly accept social services such as Medicare and social security. Why can’t we all accept the necessities societies dictate and improve our world.
