Easy living

Getting around Singapore is easy, cheap and efficient, whether by bus or MRT (Mass Rapid Transport).  As well as affordable housing for all (‘HDB’ flats, Housing and Development Board), cheap and tasty food at the Hawker Centres, seemingly round every corner, there are also community centres aplenty and generally people from all walks of life gathering together.

Quick sketch on MRT, 2 stops!

The Straits Times, said by some to be censored and government controlled (it is the only paper in Singapore), is full of positivity and there is a drive, and action, to improve things.  Last week there was an article (heartening) in the paper headlined: ‘Early action to break cycle of poverty’ (intergenerational) with an initiative by the Government called ‘Kidstart’, regarding ‘…preventative work/…before a social problem gets worse or even starts’ (Garcia Goh, lead social worker, Singapore Children’s Society, Straits Times, 17th July 2017).

There are consequences for your actions, see fines for littering, eating on public transport, (feeding monkeys!) and most severely, imprisonment and strokes of the cane, for more serious offences.  Whether you agree or not with these ‘rules’, or how they are managed, Singapore feels very safe; ‘you can leave your purse and know you will get it back’, as someone remarked to me recently.  You also feel safe to walk around at night.  Convenient (a bus/MRT ride away), safe and efficient, it is ‘easy’ to live in Singapore.

I have also found people to be very friendly, kind and open.  Sketching on the streets,    school kids pass by saying positive things like: ‘that’s beautiful’, ‘amazing’.  A young Indian woman gave me a cuddle on the train saying: ‘so fast’, having watched me try to sketch people within 2 stops on the MRT.  Another guy gave me the thumbs up and a smile when I sat drawing the woman’s hands opposite (asleep, so I hope she did not mind!).

There are seats allocated for older people, pregnant women, the injured etc on both the MRT and bus and people will automatically offer up their seat (even non-allocated) if someone needs it.  ‘It is easy to be kind when life is easy’ as someone pointed out to me.  There is cheap food (Hawker centres), affordable housing (HDBs) for all Singaporeans (despite private rent generally being very high in Singapore) and help with finding work (I have heard).  Alongside positive news stories (Straits Times) and constructive initiatives, such as building more cycle paths, intervention for children at school, and uplifting signs such as ‘Let’s make Singapore our garden’, it is not difficult to understand how this might permeate into a positive, kind and caring culture.

On the busy bus – gushing with rain outside.

Last weekend we visited Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and saw a large family of monkeys, a bright and colourful Kingfisher (stunning) and turtles swimming in the reservoir.  You are never too far away from nature.  One of the monkeys, seemingly disinterested at the passersby in the park, leapt out suddenly and chased a young guy, who quickly put away a closed crisp packet he was carrying.  They also showed aggression when a couple got too close to one of the baby monkeys, but otherwise you just have to watch your bag and don’t carry food! (There are signs in the park warning of fines of 1000 Singapore Dollars for feeding the monkeys and warnings to keep 3 feet away as monkeys get nervous).

Having now been here for over 2 months, I feel pretty settled in to the way of life, getting used to the heat (humidity) and how to avoid it (unbearable in the bright sunshine) – shade and aircon!  I was even told recently by an American guy, asking me for information (which I did not know) on the ‘hop-on, hop-off buses’ in Orchard Road, that he thought I was ‘a local’.

It is perhaps worth mentioning about the helper (Chinese) we have recently got, well this is Singapore after all, with a long tradition of helpers/maids! (Despite very affordable housing, food and transport there is still a great divide between the richest and poorest).  Well, I’ll come clean, so to speak.  It is a ‘Mi Robot Vacuum’.  I am yet to decipher the spoken Chinese (having only had 3 lessons so far) but I think it says things like: ‘bag needs emptying’.  I imagine it is the equivalent of what the 1970s ‘Pong’ (the very first PC game) is to Nintendo/PlayStation games now, with regard to AI Robots of the future.  It scouts around, finds the best route and cleans like you wouldn’t believe! (Highly recommended).

Singapore is said to be going through a recession and like England when the chips are down, there is a general backlash against foreigners: ‘there are too many here’ as one woman said to me!  There is a laid back vibe here, with a strong tradition of everyone mixing together happily, but I have heard stories (a small element) of ‘racism’, including where competition is fierce for jobs.  The understanding is that the government wants to be welcoming and open but has listened to these concerns.  A lot of jobs are now for ‘Singaporeans only’ and there are quotas for companies in employing those from outside.

Of those I’ve met, most (like myself) are ‘foreign’ in Singapore, many originally from say India or Malaysia, or the Philippines. Most of the labourers (building work, cutting the branches of trees, gardening) who work hard all day in the blistering sunshine are here from Bangladesh or Malaysia (I have been told) and even my hairdresser commutes back to Malaysia at weekends, where the lifestyle and housing is cheaper (and of course where it is ‘home’ too).  One older man whose family, ‘way back’, were from China, but whose family has lived for generations in Singapore, considers himself ‘global’.  He remembers Singapore before 1965 (year of Independence) after which it was cleaned up.  I think he preferred it more ‘grimy’, less sanitised.  ‘There are not many places like this left’ (in Singapore), said a fellow sketcher who was drawing the rather mouldy walls in a back street! (1920s houses).  Singapore is indeed spotless.

We did venture back in time a bit, however, when we ventured out from the city state of Singapore, paying just 3 Singapore dollars (under £2), to take a boat from Changi Village to the island of Palau Ubin, where I was surprised by the hush that descended, suddenly realising how noisy and busy is life in the city.

Palau Ubin is ‘how Singapore used to be’ (no Starbucks or MacDonalds therefore!).  We had a coconut ice-cream and fresh coconut juice from one of the huts there and hired a bike to cycle round the island which takes around 3/4 of an hour (with some hills) all told.  We looked out for wild boars (don’t approach and back off slowly) and monkeys (we didnt see any) who are also just looking for food (so keep your bag close, they have been known to run off with them).  The huts round the island are named after Malaysian birds and we saw one tropical bird.  We had more luck with seeing wildlife at Bukit Timah but it was lovely to visit and the journey across the sea (the sea breeze) was relaxing too.

Looking out to Palau Ubin island from Changi Village

 

Things I love about Singapore

It is a good 6 weeks since my first impressions of Singapore were of ‘a stunning city, even in the dark’ (our taxi ride from the airport to our first place of stay in central Singapore).

My other impressions went as follows:

The next few days were spent marvelling at the beauty of this city, it is perhaps difficult to say a city is beautiful, as in the countryside is beautiful, a town is beautiful, but it really is. It has been designed according to a ‘master plan’ (overheard on a local Asian radio station this week) and has been designed to be visually pleasing, from the greenery that pours forth from a hotel to the design of the high-rise buildings. It is visually stunning and clean! Even where rubbish is piled, it is swept and piled neatly.

It has been quite a difference too stepping outside into oven temperatures, that envelope you, best in shorts and a T-shirt and best to only walk so far in a day. It is true that the locals cope with the heat by staying in the air-con!

And there is always a cooling shopping centre to enter…

We have seen giant snails and black birds with long orange beaks.

An exciting, vibrant city.

You do still see these rather un-shy birds a lot! Since moving to the East and being here a little longer, I have also seen stray cats (they must find it hard to find food where there is not an overspilling of bins) but learned that often in the communities around HDB flats (Housing and Development Board), i.e.: public and affordable housing, many cats are loved and looked after.  This was vouched for by the number of photos of resident cats on the mobile phone of a fellow ‘crazy cat lady’ at one of these HDB blocks.  We met at ‘The Projector’ cinema watching ‘Kedi’ (Turkish for ‘cat’, a documentary about cats in Istanbul).

This leads me on to cinemas in Singapore.  There are quite a few, but really ‘The Projector’ is the only arty one, showing films such as the cat documentary (‘Kedi’) and ‘The Red Turtle’, an engaging animation (Studio Ghibli), and ‘Your Name’ (Anime), which I also went to see. It is open in the day time and nights at weekends, but late nights only in the week, and the films are limited with some re-runs such as ‘Hot Fuzz’ coming up later in July.  However, they do have film festivals, such as the Mexican one recently, and there are other films out there to look out for, The ArtScience Museum had a FREE run of Anime (i.e.: Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation) films recently.

‘The Straits Times’ ran the headline this week about the dropping number of cinema-goers in Singapore.  I enjoy reading The Straits Times, I find it is a cross between National and local news.  As well as main features/headlines on World News, it has positive local news stories and a desire to improve things – the news story today features a move to make designated smoking areas in Orchard Road ‘smoke free’ in future:

“Some people will find it a strong measure, but this shows the commitment of the Government for the nation to adopt a smoke-free lifestyle” (D K Thomas Abraham, Sata CommHealth chief executive and an anti-smoking advocate).

‘Verbal warnings’ will be given for the first 3 months it is implemented and as reported too in the article: ‘Ms Niki Chua, 32, said the ban will mean the shopping belt will look cleaner. “Some people smoke outside and throw (their cigarette butts) on the plants,” she added’.

I enjoy watching Asia News too, with its sunny presenters, which is also a cross between National and local news. This is not surprising, Singapore seems vast, but it takes just 25 minutes to drive from one end to the other (without traffic!), so a taxi driver told me.

The same taxi driver also told me of his friend who received a 300 Singapore dollar fine for littering when he threw rubbish into a bin, ‘but missed’.  If my recall of what he said is right, the next fine is something like 500 Singapore dollars, the third offence, 1000 SD with Community Service.  To paraphrase him, he said: ‘you see them (the offenders) sweeping up with the hi-viz on…to show what hard work it is to clean up in this heat’.

(Incidentally, I was surprised then that I haven’t seen a lot of police around, thinking maybe CCTV played a part?  Apparently, they are more likely to be going past you in Bermuda shorts, than an official uniform).

Well, harsh or not, whatever your take on it, it does seem to be working.  Butt (pardon the pun), as Niki Chua says (see above) you do see cigarette ends gathered around certain areas, only so noticeable in light of the contrasting cleanliness.  The consumption of food or drink on public transport is also strictly forbidden, with voice-overs on the MRT/notices on buses as reminders.

Public transport is therefore super clean, it is also cheap and ultra-efficient, whether that be the modern MRT (underground) or bus service; you just top up a card electronically and use this to go via either mode of transport.  In fact, it is also the best way to escape the heat, as both are air-conditioned.  When it is 33 degrees (‘feels like’ 39 degrees), recommended even for a few stops!

Lastly, Hawker Centres have tasty and very affordable food and are constantly busy with throngs of people from all walks of life  My favourite at the moment has been the Thai food at our local Hawker Centre, Tom Yam Fried Rice (with 3 prawns – I know because I have had it 4 times already!), cooked fresh and delicious, all for 5.5 Singapore dollars (around £3) and as good as any restaurant food, if not better!

The fresh juices in the Hawker Centres are fantastic too, my favourite being apple, orange and ginger but what I got the other day was apple, cucumber and celery.  I do not think that the stall holder’s main language is English but the misunderstanding went something like this: I asked for no. 25, he repeated back the fruits for 34, to which I said yes, apparently.  It was still a nice, cool, refreshing drink.

Most everyone speaks English in Singapore, and those who have grown up in Singapore for sure (having to learn too the language of their ‘official ethnic group’) but there is a mix of languages and cultures, including Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian, what is commonly described on the internet as ‘East meets West’.  There is also pride in speaking ‘Singlish’, of being identifiably Singaporean, to quote the tour guide at The Discovery Centre, where we looked at the history of Singapore.

So then, things I love about Singapore: the food! The efficiency, cleanliness and ample green spaces, a sense of kindness and helpfulness within the culture – there is a friendly, safe vibe here – and the general intent by the government it feels to make things better.  Just before leaving the UK, a shop assistant had enthused about Singapore (he had stayed here with relatives).  I now know what he means when he said: ‘…it just feels like everyone there (Singapore) is part of it/working together’.