I haven’t been publishing for some time now. But rest assured, I wrote some stuff up in the mean time. Here are my thoughts about my trip to Singapore 2.5 weeks ago.
Two days before we flew to Singapore, there was a presentation in our hall about some neighboring countries, Singapore among them. I figure that Singapore is in a lot of way like Apple products.
Singapore is restricted, but nice and clean. Essentially, Singapore follows one narrow, clear path. And I happen to just like this path. Just like Apple. All their products are very restricted and even closed in quite a few ways (in spite of Apple supporting a number of open standards).
You can not:
- Buy chewing gum
- Smoke in many places (same as most of Hong Kong and China)
- Eat or drink in the subway
- Litter anywhere
- Consume non-mainstream drugs (i.e. not consume any other drugs than Ethanol, Tobacco and light medicine)
Contrary to other countries, punishments are extreme. Consumption of illegal drugs has the death sentence on it. Breaking most of the other laws named above will incur a fine of 250 – 1000 Euros.
All that Singaporean restriction leads to a very clean, safe and enjoyable place.
I have heard some people saying that Singapore is too sterile. Maybe. If you’re into seeing poverty and chaos, Singapore is just not the right place for you. And seeing poverty and chaos is an educating experience. Same as reporting from war zones. For everything else, there’s the nicer places. Like Singapore.
Instead, Singapore is probably a great place to start technology companies or enjoy relaxing holidays (as opposed to adventurous holidays).
