Singapore:

Singapore a kind of bizarre place-like one of those cities in a movie about the future where everyone lives in a plastic bubble on another planet (think of movies like  “Elysium”, “Avatar” or “The Giver”). Even their man-made rainforests have air conditioning.

If you have a lot of cash, Singapore is a worthwhile 2-3 day trip. It is a very expensive place to visit. Average hotel rooms are $500-$800 per night, about the same as New York City, but it is dining out and drinking that hits your wallet hard. The average cocktail price is $25-$35 and you can expect to spend about $150 a person for dinner in a restaurant in a touristic area. This can be avoided if you seek out the local markets or Hawker Centers. This is where you will get the most authentic Singapore dining experience. The food is amazing and delicious, but you must have an adventurous palate. Check out Anthony Bourdain’s Layover Singapore for some great locations and dishes.http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/the-layover/episodes/extra-miles-singapore.

Singapore is a very new country – only 50 years old – and has a wide variety of cultures represented. Different ethnic groups are encouraged to speak their mother tongue – Mandarin, Malay etc. – but everyone learns to speak English as well. It is not hard for a visitor to experience the city since there is virtually no language barrier. Culturally they are more modest than Westerners, but unless you are visiting a religious building like a temple, you do not have to excessively cover yourself. Remember, though, only Americans wear shorts in public and that just screams “tourist”. At WTF we like to blend in when traveling so I would discourage shorts anywhere except the beach. Jeans can be terribly uncomfortable in the oppressive heat (Singapore is on the equator and it is never not oppressively hot), so opt for hiking pants that wick, or long linen pants in a dark color to hide the inevitable sweat stains.

If you go:

Where to Stay:

Raffles Hotel is a great place to stay and it is priced within reason (about $700 a night). It is a colonial style hotel with lush courtyards and a rooftop pool. The customer service is top-notch, but the on-site dining is nothing exciting. Raffles Hotel boasts the Long Bar, which is home to the original Singapore Sling. Do not waste your time or money on the Singapore Sling. It costs $35 and tastes like cough syrup. They make one of the best mojitos, however, and even at $35 apiece, they were totally worth it.

What to do:

In Singapore you have to visit the tourist sites, they are simply too outrageous not to see in person. The Gardens by the Bay Cloud Forest is literally a rainforest contained within a bubble complete with air conditioning so the tourists are comfortable, and the Super Trees exhibit which happens nightly is a total trip. These electronic “trees” are planted with native flora, and actually serve a purpose to reduce CO2 from the air and produce solar energy. At night they come alive in the form of a cosmic light show accompanied by post-Independence Nationalist Singapore anthems that remind you just how much like Avatar this place really is. The Cloud Forest just became a UNESCO World Heritage site this year.

Most Interesting Cultural Nuance:

Talk to any local about the government and all they can tell you is “Singapore is great!” Ask the why there seem to be no homeless people, no handicapped people, no poor people etc. and the answer is the basically “the government takes care of them”. While this seems refreshing at first, and we did learn that there are a great deal of government subsidies for local people in Singapore, we were left wondering where the homeless really did go and how and why they seemed to hide anyone deemed less than desirable from the tourists. The extreme laws do make Singapore one heck of a safe place, but with chewing gum, drugs of any type and homosexuality still criminalized it’s hard to call this a democracy. This obvious script the people seem to live by and the apparent fear of reprisal for speaking against the government serve to remind you that in Singapore, Big Brother is always looking. It’s a wildly amusing place that is completely man-made, which is marvelous, but hardly sustainable. One wonders what will happen in the next 50 years.

Are we glad we went? Yes. Could we skip it? Yes, probably.

Bottom line – if places like Disneyland and Las Vegas are your speed, and you are on that side of the globe, give it a chance. Otherwise keep going to Bali.