I tried to read up a bit on Singapore before leaving and collect a good bundle of interesting facts. I definitely plan to be one of those annoying tourists loudly spouting off factoids while gesturing obnoxiously and getting in the way of all the locals. Since I know my colleagues at WFC love their trivia, I’ll share a few of the things I found most titillating:
- So what’s the weather like over there?
- Are you totally going to be eating Singapore Mei fun noodles All The Time?
- You’re going to a place where they cane people for chewing gum. Really?
- Indeed, Singapore is a place where the rule of law is hard and strong. Naturally, there’s some pretty interesting history behind that:
- So why is it called the City of the Lion, or the Lion City?
Currently, 89 degrees Fahrenheit with a chance of rain and 77% humidity. Get this: It hasn’t dipped below 66 degrees in Singapore since they started recording temperatures. Dude.
In fact, Singapore Mei fun noodles, which can be found at nearly any Chinese restaurant in New York, cannot be found in Singapore. Like Chow mein and the burrito, they are an American creation. I can’t Wait to try all of the food that Is available in Singapore, however, because it’s pretty much going to be Awesome. There are about 12,000 food stands in Singapore, known as hawker stands. In the 1970s, the government brought the hawkers off the street and into centers with proper sanitation, refrigeration and running water. All in the name of tidiness. But, see, it also makes trying lots of dishes at once much easier to tackle. Enough on this for now, though, because I’m going to write about hawker food in detail later.
To set the record straight: they don’t cane people for chewing gum. They do cane for some nonviolent offenses, such as vandalism, overstaying one’s visa or illegal immigration. There are fines for chewing gum, though there are certain forms of sugarless gum that are now legal with a prescription from one’s doctor. Wikipedia says that judicial caning was introduced to Singapore by the British when they controlled Singapore as part of their colonial empire. So really, it’s all the Brits’ fault.
Singapore had a ton of problems on the eve of its independence in 1965. Most people thought it wouldn’t last on its own. The country’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, took aim at vice — his own father had been an inveterate gambler. He banned casinos, put high taxes on tobacco and alcohol, and targeted drug traffickers. And it worked — maybe too well. Lee’s eldest son is now prime minister and, under him, Singapore is trying to reshape its image, embrace the arts and lure more tourists.
So I won’t be bringing my Trident Watermelon Twist with me, but Singapore is changing rapidly. Bars are open until 4am. Bar-top dancing and bungee jumping are no longer prohibited. I love places in transition, and I hope to be able to witness that in the City of the Lion.
The name “Singapura” is derived from the Malay words singa (lion) and pura (city), Wikipedia says. According to the Malay Annals, this name was given by a 14th century Sumatran Malay prince named Sang Nila Utama, who, on alighting the island after a thunderstorm, spotted an auspicious beast on shore that his chief minister identified as a lion (Asiatic Lion). However, recent studies of Singapore indicate that lions have never lived there, and the beast seen by Sang Nila Utama was likely a tiger.
