Figuring out Singapore

The hop-on, hop-off bus:  it hits all the major tourist spots, it comes with a smattering of information about the city you're visiting and you can make unlimited stops.  Such a deal!  (And for just a little bit more, the promise of additional routes, or tickets to attractions.)

The map of Singapore given to us on landing was an advertisement for City Tours, and I succumbed. The ticket is good for 24 hours, which took me from 1 PM Wednesday to 1 PM Thursday.  It was only a few bucks more than a one-day pass on the subway, so I plotted a route and hopped on.

Snake-eye view of Singapore from the hop-on bus

Here are some interesting facts I learned about Singapore.

85% of Singaporeans live in public housing.  Unlike public housing in the US, this housing is comparable to private housing, and only about 30% cheaper.  A "four-room flat" in public housing can cost $250,000, and prices start around $75,000.  I don't know if that four rooms is a 2-bedroom apartment or whether the designation is four bedrooms.

25% of the land in Singapore is reclaimed from the surrounding ocean.

30% of shipping, worldwide, goes through Singapore.  They had better watch where they're reclaiming land from the ocean, because that strait is pretty narrow to begin with.  Beach Road is now downtown.  (So much for owning beachfront property!)

It is very expensive to own a car in Singapore, which is a traffic control strategy.  When you initially buy the car, you pay a tax in excess of 100% of the value of the car.  Then, you have to bid for the privilege of owning it, something that can add another $10,000 dollars.  That permit is granted for only ten years, then you have to bid for another one.  The permits are not transferable, so most people elect to buy a new car rather than reupping for ten more years with the old one.  Singapore exports most of its old cars to Japan, a reasonably close country where the steering wheel is on the right side of the car.  (What's the deal, island countries??  Is there an advantage to driving on the left?)

Another traffic control strategy in place in Singapore is the ERP, an automatic toll system that charges you as you go through checkpoints.  Essentially it's an EZ Pass, but specifically created to discourage people from owning cars, not to improve traffic flow.

Public transportation is cheap and efficient, although the toll structure discourages casual use.  Even on the buses, the fare depends on how far you are going, on whether the bus is air conditioned, on your age (for seniors) and height (for children).  Regular passengers swipe in and out to deduct the proper fare, but paying customers have to know what fare to pay.  The bus drivers do not enforce the zone system, however.  You can also get on at the rear door without paying, even when the bus is not crowded.  A couple of our students told me they had just learned you had to pay for the bus.  Even on the tour bus, I was discouraged from showing my ticket.  

The tour covered neighborhoods for four ethnic groups, the Chinese, Indians, Malaysians, and Arabs.  Historically, Singapore was laid out with neighborhoods assigned to ethnic groups, and these enclaves still serve as centers of the community, although there's no restriction on where people live.  

Civilian War Memorial

Singaporean society is deliberately multi-cultural, with four official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil).  The CivilianWar Memorial in the center of town (nicknamed the chopsticks), has pillars for Chinese, Indians, Mayalsians, and Minorities. (It's in memory of the people who died under Japanese occupation, which was brutal.)  

Unemployment is virtually nil in Singapore, and about one-quarter of the population is foreign, many of them guest workers. There is a controversial plan to bring in immigrants to have babies, since the birthrate in Singapore is too low to fund the social programs in place.  

The unemployment rate is officially 2%, but that includes people who are self-employed, so it's artificially inflated.  (Curious way to calculate it, I think.)

Finally, the Singapore Sling was invented at the Raffles Hotel, a beautiful and pricey property in the "civic" quarter of town.  My boss, Jim reports that it costs $28 now.  (Singapore dollars are $1.10 to $1.30 per American dollar, so it's definitely a pricey drink.)  I also did not try the classic chili crab in Singapore, since that costs around $30.  

End of lesson.  Next stop on the tour:  Burma.