Short Report on a Trip to Singapore

I was in Singapore for a 2 day business trip (Monday night to Wednesday afternoon). Other than a meeting on Tuesday, I had some free time on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Initially I was planning to go to Queenstown shopping complex to buy the Saucony Progrid Triump 4 shoe but I had decided to buy it from Choi. After lunch on Tuesday, it was too hot to walk around so I stayed in the hotel until 4.00 pm. After 4.00pm, I took the MRT trains to City Hall station which was near the Funan IT mall. My destination was the "Running Lab" shop.

In Kuala Lumpur there are no specialist shops for runners and triathletes. I spent about one hour in the shop and bought a few things:-

1. One Sorbothane Elite insole
2. Two race bib belts
3. One Wright Coolmax sock
4. One wallet that can be clipped to a short (Nathan brand)
   

After leaving Funan IT mall, I went to HMV in Orchard Road to look for CD and DVDs. I bought the Malaysian banned DVD "Lelaki Komnunis Terakhir". It was almost 7.00 pm when I left HMV and I walked about 500m back to the Royal Plaza Hotel in Scotts Road.

After a shower and rest, I felt a bit restless and so went out to the Borders bookshop about 100m away from the hotel. I spent one hour there and bought 2 books and a LED reading light.I was a bit hungry as I had not eaten dinner and by the time I left Borders it was almost 10.00 pm. I made a quick stop at McDonalds to get a Fillet-O-Fish which I took with me to the hotel.
Lights out at 11.00 pm.

The next morning I had a late breakfast at almost 9.30 am. Loitered in my hotel room and decided to check out at 11.00 am. After checking out, I went to Bugis and Arab street using the MRT. Walked around in the hot mid-day sun to have a look around the area. The area is a backpacker hangout but it is unlike many such places around Asia. For one, it was spotless clean. I guess the Singapore authorities have "sanitised" the area. I did not sight a single grubby back-packer nor were there any whiff of an easy availability of illegal substances a.k.a ganja, pills etc.

I had lunch at Raffles hospital food court. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped by a shop to buy some CDs. I collected my bag from the hotel and took a taxi to Changi airport. I managed to get on an earlier shuttle flight at 3.25 pm. I reached home at 6.00 pm.

As usual, Singapore has always impressed me with its efficiency in doing most things. Buses and MRT trains arrive on time. The streets are free of litter. There are none of the chaos and disorder found in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. The efficiency and order are good for business and makes life predictable for most people living in Singapore. I have say that the more trips (this was my 3rd trip in 3 years) I made to Singapore, I could be live there for a while.

However what I discovered is Singapore is not a forgiving society/country. In Singapore I have always come across various people who lived on the margins. The elderly woman at the Orchard Road MRT selling various cheap goods for a few Singapore and a blind man selling tissue at Funan IT mall. For a country listed as the 21st wealthiest in the world, should such people be left behind and be forced to live at the margin ? This article has something to say about "Survival of the Fittest"mentality amongst Singapore leaders.