Just Another Millenial Travel Blog

Made it to Singapore – a small step for mankind a big step for HLG. Driving from Changi to my hotel in Orchard Road I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of the avenue and its flora. So clean, so perfectly organised.

Isn‘t that miraculous for a nation that is younger than my parents (they were born in 1961; Singapore came involuntarily to birth in 1965)? To the extent of my knowledge Singapore was poor, economically starving and did not want to become independent. Due to the great statesmanship of Leen Kuan Yew and the willpower, persistence and hard work of the Singaporean we are now doing trips to this small island (its the economy stupid!). I highly recommend this documentary: https://youtu.be/whRN-CJZDr0?si=MxmD8X3802BbIJ8S

So back to my first impressions of this tiger state: regarding ethnicity and religion Singapore is, pretty obvious a melting pot/salad bowl that seems to be united by a strong pride for the building of its nation since 1965. I like the tonal sound of Singlish. Living in Switzerland I am used to a perfectly clean and organised environment and Singapore is at least (if not better) as than Switzerland in doing so. I do have the impression that religion and family values are held high as both is pretty visible in the streets (many churches, in generell Christianity seems to be more popular than I expected). Also elderly people seem to be better integrated than often in my perception in the West (isn’t respect for the elderly also one crucial aspect of Confucianism?). You need the malls to escape from the humid climate from time to time, even tough I can handle it much better than I expected. I am definitely above average tall (1.77m) for this country and always have to bend over to wash my hands in public toilets. You can clearly feel the Britishness and the past that Singapore had with the UK (they have M&S, a Mountbatten road and left-hand traffic – I instantly felt like home).

So summary of my first impressions: it is love at first sign, this place feels for now like a utopia and I deeply respect what was created in Singapore during the last 50 years. It wouldn’t be me if it wouldn’t be a multilayered experience (haven’t we all waited for the plot twist). As you might have already recognised I am not a massive lady of leisure. And even though it worked to swipe away my doubts I cannot swipe away my personality. Apart from missing e-mails (I know, notorious) I was also feeling to have a too light and too surface experience here. On my way to the Merlion I was seeing all the skyscrapers of the banks and became a bit jealous of the people who are there late night on Friday working and thought (and still think) that this is the real deal. As in my everyday life in Switzerland I do not do much apart from working and working on my private study projects (hunting license, Mandarin, English improvement, assessing career opportunities), reading and trying to do sports I normally do not experience that much what classic leisure time looks like. After starting thinking about work visas I stepped into the Gardens by the Bay. Not the part with the Supertree Grove (that is also recommendable) but just the park area. Nobody was there basically (and in every other city as a woman alone I would have left immediately, but its Singpore) so I kept walking. It was pretty calm, I smelled water, the trees and it felt so peaceful and for one moment I could let loose all the ambition and just enjoy nature (I know its superficial but almost all nature we experience today was formed by human beings – other discussion). These couple of minutes (you can see the area also in the title picture of the post) felt so good and grounding.

As I am tomorrow at this time will already be on my way to Beijing I do not have to worry about a lack of challenge anymore. Thanks Singapore for giving me such an amazing start in my adventure east. Will be back for sure – and definitely longer for the next time!

And tomorrow I will of course have almost another full day to explore.

Had an amazing frog porridge (big recommendation) at Geylang (which is the red light district but also great for food):

Drinking a Singapore Sling at Raffles hotel (and meeting there a British girlie from London who was also solo travelling and having a very nice chitchat about London and the UK):

7-Eleven (as I am product manager for exactly this category in Switzerland I was super excited and my expectations were not disappointed):

The view from my hotel room:

Being a tourist: