Day 29 - Sayonara, Singapore.

19:30
I sleep much better, waking only a couple of times, and my stomach seems to have calmed down. I’m not hungry, but deffo feel up for the day. We check out at 11, leave our bags in the reception area, and head out for Haw Par Villa, a small park in the West of the city, built by two Burmese brothers in the early part of the 20th century.

Contained within its boundaries is Hell’s Museum, an examination of the different philosophies of death in various different cultures and religions. The displays are graphic, vivid, and really quite enchanting. There’s a wall display that highlights the religious and mortal mentalities of some of the major religions of the world - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism.

What’s fascinating is to see how closely aligned these are - at least into one of two broad camps : those with linear views of life and death, and those with circular views of time. There’s definitely something appealing about the circular approach - where behaviour in the first life informs life in the second (known as Samsara).

Further into the exhibition, we encounter the 10 Courts of Taoist Hell - an incredibly graphic depiction of the punishments meted out for corporal sins. Some seem fair enough - rape or murder will get you *checks notes* thrown into a wok of boiling oil. Others, seem a tad harsh. Ingratitude? That’ll get your heart cut out. Drug addiction? You’ll be tied to a red hot pillar, and grilled alive. Dare to misuse a book, and your body will be sawn in two. At the end of all of this, your memory will be wiped, and you’ll be borne into the next life. Obviously, you won’t remember anything that’s gone before, so you won’t be able to learn from your mistakes, and be better. Seems a bit misguided.

It’s past midday, and the last thing on our Singapore list is to have some Singapore Chilli Crab. Dearly departed Anthony Bourdain recommended Keng Eng Kee, and who are we to disagree. The restaurant is basic - plastic tables with plastic seating. The smells coming from the kitchen are double naughty. I’m minded that chilli crab *might* not be the best thing for someone recently recovered form a dicky tum, but I can’t not have some. I order some Hor Fun noodles for ballast, and they’re banging. Kind of similar to the thick, rice noodles I’ve eaten recently in Thailand, and chock full of umami nomness. The crab, when it arrives, is spectacular. A whole crab, served in a tomato and chilli sauce, finished with ribbons of egg. It’s maybe not as hot as I thought it might be, but it is delicious. Felix describes the next 20 minutes as ‘feral eating’ and I can’t disagree. We crack, we slurp, we snarl. Such an incredible food experience.

We’re unsure how to fill our few remaining hours. We need to jump in a cab around 3 hours from now, at 17:00. We head down to the riverside, stop briefly at an Irish pub called Molly Malone’s (it’s the law), and take a walk along the river for an hour. It’s HOT in the sun, and we find ourselves craving shade. We head a little further over to the East of the city, and put down anchors at a cool little bar called Blu Jaz. Funky décor, laid back background music, a decent pint of Guinness - what’s not to like? We’re definitely both in ‘home’ mode now. Felix is downloading some TV/movies for his flights home, and I’m writing a shopping list for tomorrow to get ready for a weekend away.

We’re at Changi by 17:30, and I’m sitting in a bar with a beer by 18:00. Felix is flying from a different terminal, so we’ve said our goodbyes. Changi is an incredibly easy airport. We found it painless on the way into Singapore, and all evidence so far suggests the same for departures. Airport beers are a bit steep, mind. £14 for a pint = scary stuff.

So - some reflections on Singapore, as I’ve some time before boarding.

1) Remember when I said the city didn’t seem sterile? Well, I take *some* of that back. There IS a sterility to parts of the city centre, a combination I suspect of the stringent laws governing litter, chewing gum and the like, and the fact that the city centre is just WAY too expensive for all but the very wealthiest of Singaporeans. Most of the working and middle classes live to the North of the city, priced out of the downtown zones.
2) There are pockets of non-sterility though. Chinatown, Little India, and Malay Town are just three examples, but there are others. Even here though, property prices are so high that no one actually lives in them - but they at least have ethnic businesses in them.
3) Singapore is, by a country mile, the cleanest city I’ve been to. It’s genuinely shocking how clean it is. We spotted some litter at one point, and both gasped.
4) It is WICKED expensive. You can save some cash by eating at hawker markets, for sure - but do so with caution. If my experience is accurate, I definitely got some tummy grumbles as a result. Outside of the hawker markets, food and drink are more expensive than I think anywhere else I’ve been - including Las Vegas. It beats London and New York hands down.
4) The city just *works* - it’s been so carefully thought out and designed. Where in London you can feel the organic nature of the city’s development over centuries, Singapore feels rather like it’s the product of a town planning game like SimCity. It’s well thought out, transport is sensibly apportioned across the city, public services are available where you need them, when you need them… Despite being such an incredibly expensive city, Singapore regularly features in top 10 rankings for liveability as well.

Would I rush back? Probably not for a dedicated trip. If there was a stopover en route to/from Australia, where I could spend a couple of nights in Singapore to break the journey, yeah - I’d visit again… Czytaj więcej