SINGAPORE

No gum! That's pretty much what I knew about Singapore before I got here (last night). That and I'd heard it was very clean, ridiculously clean. I tore out Singapore from my Lonely Planet, so I had no idea where to stay, but as luck would have it (shout out to Uncle Marc!) I have a relative who knows the area. I ended up at sleepy sam's (no caps) where I'm writing you on the free (!) internet and where I will sleep tonight on a mattress in an air-conditioned all-girls room (!!!!!!!!). The air conditioning was particularly exciting for me when I arrived. But since being here, I've met SO MANY other solo girl travelers that the air conditioning is playing second fiddle to pleasant company. Now that I know they're out there, it's like I've got an international posse. Better watch out, we can take you! And we'll have a life-changing experience while we do it.

Oh, and it's true about the cleanliness. It is so clean here I think the government must have a horde of nightmen who come out and scrub the streets at night. They must also have some fashion police. Good God, but I am (was) underdressed! I took it upon myself to embrace the local custom and shop until I couldn't look myself in the mirror any more. Everyone was smiling at the doofy little tourist--at least I have a tan now!--and no one (NO ONE) tried to sell me anything. It was like I was in a mall at home, only cleaner and with hipper shoppers. And way, way better food.

Singapore is a very interesting case study, I think. It's 4 million people in 2oo square miles. That's almost exactly half of New York City. But it's not crowded like NYC--my host took me to the Marina Barrage (rhymes with "garage," and he didn't know what it meant, either), one of the nicest parks in town, and there was close to nobody there. There are short lines for everything, nothing like the chaos in India but also not even like the ridiculous lines you get at Macy's in NYC. We didn't have to wait to get a seat anywhere at lunchtime on a Sunday afternoon.

Singaporeans speak English with a Chinese accent as their FIRST language--that's right, they learn Chinese in school! I think I'd have to go to China to start to understand what makes these people tick, because to me their culture looks a lot like their language--accented and very correct. But correct in a way that I'm not completely familiar with. They take pride in following all the rules and being very disciplined. You should hear what makes the headlines here: my host told me to put away the fruit, because the papers said people have been eating on the subways. What will they do next?!

The government of this tiny tiny tiny place has a ton of money. This blew my mind today: 200 square miles, 4 million people, and the country has existed for 44 years. Want to know how much money the government has? Guess. No, I'm serious.* They're response to the recession, which has hit them the say way it hit us, technically, was to pay every 10% of every single employee's wages (not just the public ones). Now the companies have no incentive to let anyone off--it's like they just got a 10% pay decrease. They're putting 20 billion dollars into this project. (That was a hint.)

And so everyone is rich, the food is great, it's all very clean, and there's tons of stuff to do and see, all easily accessible, to boot. But since I have to find something to make it come up short against my beloved homeland, I'll say this: it's a little creepy how Singaporeans follow the rules with PRIDE. It makes even the thugginest guys look pretty lame--they might have long hair, but they aren't eating on the subway.

*140 BILLION DOLLARS. That's how much money ONE generation made.