Singapore: Cleaner Than Canada!

Singapore is CLEAN and GREEN. Not only can you eat off the sidewalks, you can eat off the dinner plates at restaurants and not go home with the severe intestinal damage you acquire in other countries (ahem...peoplesrepublicofchina). The trains run on time. The cab drivers are perpetually cheerful. The parks are alive with orchids and butterflies and majestic Banyan trees. Indians mix with Malay and Chinese. Everybody speaks Singlish. The place is a model of civility. No wonder they caned that bratty kid for spitting gum.
 

The Durian, a prickly, football-sized South Asian fruit, smells like rotting road kill. It makes you bypass the produce section of the supermarket. In fact, the smell is so intense that it is illegal to eat them on public transport in Hong Kong. That doesn't stop the Chinese from loving them for their taste and for being "heaty" (heaty foods (meats, starches) contribute to yang; cool foods (vegetables, broth) contribute to yin; yin + yang = a balanced chi). For some reason, Singaporeans revere this fetid fruit and even modeled their new performing arts center (above) on its shape.
 

These Indian Sufi dudes tried to pick me up! They said I was "impressive." HA!

Me and B on a kind of tuk tuk outisde the famous Raffles Hotel. Stamford Raffles was the British colonial administrator who founded Singapore in 1819. Somerset Maugham composed most of his stories on the hotel's veranda, under the fragrant frangipani trees. Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling and Noel Coward also found the hotel inspiring. We were inspired to have a Singapore Sling here, it was yummy.
 

More colonial splendor...on the grounds of Raffles.

The Boat Quay (for some reason pronounced "kee") on the river and our hotel, The Fullerton, all lit up.

The restaurant scene on the river. There are numerous South Asian delights to be found in Singapore by the way.

Everybody loves Ganesh! Things get a little more colorful in Little India.

No shoes in the mosque on Arab Street.

Chinatown is all abuzz all the time.

Singapore is hawker food heaven! You can literally make several weeks of just sampling the various street foods. Of course, this being Singapore, they're all licensed and regulated by the government, so no tummy parasites (unlike you know who).
 

But don't forget your mooncakes...the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner!