This is what I am saying:
In my experience;(these points)…are all things I have never seen or even heard of in my many visits. The friends and families I know in Singapore would be embarrassed to be portrayed in this fashion. Perhaps there was a time when this was true, but in the 20 yrs I’ve been visiting I have never heard tell of such things.
And I’m quite confident when you return you will agree!
I came into this thread late so I’ll not pile on to what others have said. But I must point out this post:
Absolutely!!! I’ve been to a couple of places in Asia and the quality of food you get in Singapore is the best in the East, and even challenges many of the places in the West! Enjoy!
Of course this might have been a scam by the owner of the barber shop,you know put your own sign up by the border and boost business,with or without the collusion of the border guards. 
Jeez. I have neatly cut hair all around but a pony tail that when dry drops about…hmm… 5 inches below my shoulder line.
I do NOT want to get forced to cut that off in order to visit Singapore for 8 days. OTOH I cannot very well tell my superiors I won’t schedule this training because I might have to cut my hair. :dubious:
The politics? Meh. It’s their country, their rules. I can stomache a lot, as I am a big fan of free speech. I clearly get it that I cannot retort. --shrug-- It ain’t my country.
No answer as to whether or not this will come down yet. Time is a-wastin’, too.
How’s the weather there in mid-November? I suspect balmy, but is it a rainy or monsoony season?
I am now!
Er - you are not allowed to take cigarettes into Singapore at all. Not even an opened pack
Some tips for visiting Singapore
Thats all
Carry on and enjoy
I lived there for several years during the 1990’s, and I’d have to agree with elbows that you’re off base with a lot of your claims about Singapore.
On a political level, I’m not fond of the Singapore “fake parliamentary democracy with one ruling party” system. The net effect is that the country is run like a sort of idealized benevolent dictatorship. There are opposition groups that try to reform things, and they are prevented from exercising free speech, and eventually thrown in jail for trying to distribute political newspapers that go against the ruling party.
But if you don’t care about that, or can put it aside for your visit, everything else about Singapore is superb. Great food, great culture, great nightlife, great city, etc. The main problem will be trying to experience it all in one trip. Elbows covered most of the good stuff you’ll want to check out. One other thing I could toss in is that Chili Crab is better on the east coast than at those over-commercialized touristy “Quay’s” mentioned earlier. Just hop in a taxi and tell them to take you to east coast seafood for chili crab, you’ll get there.
– Brandon
Singapore doesn’t really have seasons due to being (a) right by the equator and (b) right in the crosshairs of two different annual monsoon rain patterns that generate rainy/dry seasons in other nearby countries. As a general rule, it’s always hot and always raining. Very high humidity. I guess a typical day would be 85-ish F and some mild showers or sprinkles off and on. Sometimes they go a few days without rain, but then sometimes they get torrential downpours to make up for it.
I’m Singaporean. Spoleto is crazy.
Does anyone want a point by point refutation, or will “he’s crazy” suffice?
Regarding the long hair, no, we got over that “hippie” thing, thankfully. You must remember, that was an era where Communism was a far bigger threat, and with the Chinese community having such close ties with Mainland China, it was far from certain we weren’t about to have problems with communism. I don’t disagree that we over-reacted, but it’s easy to criticise in hindsight, and I wasn’t around then, soo…
But no, nobody will tell you to cut your hair. 
An old thread on the subject…
November is right in the middle of the monsoon season, so expect cooler weather and afternoon “showers”. More like thunderstorms, if you’re used to gentle sprinkles.
In fact, I can give you a weather report for November right now!
“Temperature ranging from 25-32 degrees, light showers in the early and late afternoon. Relative humidity from 60-95%.”
… that’s about every day. Bring an umbrella, and sunblock. I see too many Caucasian lobsters walking around as it is…
“Acts against the order of nature” are still against the law, technically. There’s been an amendment going through decriminalising HETROSEXUAL oral/anal sex, but homosexual oral/anal sex is still technically against the law, to my dismay. Ah well. Baby steps.
If it’s any consolation, the law is rarely if ever enforced, and generally as an “add on” charge against rape and other offences. Lesbians and Gays are in the streets, although not in great number, and are generally rather discreet, although people will generally mind their own business.
Public snogging is frowned upon, but that’s more due to our reserved nature rather than anything else. If you’re willing to take the stares, snog away.
For those who may be interested in widening their knowledge, I humbly offer the following small history lesson;
Most of the subjugated nations of SE Asia achieved independence following the second world war. The colonial powers would have us believe their consciousness had been raised, times and attitudes had changed. But that is an exceedingly generous view, in my opinion.
The first time the British fleet was ever defeated was off the coast of Malaysia, as the Japanese began their march across peninsular Malaysia the British retreated to Kuala Lumpur and Penang. As the Japanese grew nearer they, with their wives and children, jumped on the last train to Singapore. Leaving the Malays to fend for themselves.
Once in S’pore it became clear the Japanese were still advancing on them. So they prepared to do the same, getting the last boat to Australia with their families. Only this time they did not want to leave any resources that could be of any use to their enemy. So they went about destroying every factory, etc, and the only source of fresh water. Having destroyed the island they jumped on the boat and high tailed it out of town.
The war ended shortly thereafter but not before thousands of S’poreans died not just at the hands of the Japanese but because there was no water, hospitals or resources left to support them. An entire generation of S’poreans grew up not knowing their grand parents, all dead in the war. A very big deal in an Asian culture.
An eye opener for all the subjugated peoples of Asia who would never allow themselves to be colonized again, and rightly so. From the ashes of what was left of S’pore there rose a young man, who claimed he had a vision that could lead his people into prosperity and peace.
That man was Lee Kwon Yue (sorry about the spelling). Not without his faults he did what he promised. Within 30 yrs S’pore was the tiger economy of SE Asia, it’s people enjoying a standard of living still the envy of most of Asia. They enjoy education, full employment, access to world class health care, the worlds third largest port and prosperity, to this day, largely because of that man’s vision. This is a small island nation with few natural resources that runs now, and largely always has, at a surplus.
Did he suppress opposition during this time? He did, not with troops or death squads, but he had big visions and knew it would slow him down, right or wrong. Will their be a cost to the nation without a history of balanced opposition to government, very likely. But these are their choices to live with.
They just kept on electing him because he kept improving, substantially, their lives. Asian culture is very different from the west, it works more on a father child relationship rather than one of equals that we hold in such esteem. When he said, ‘I want you to speak more Mandarin’, they did it. If he said, ‘Eat more brown rice’, they did. They continue to have politeness campaigns and the like to this day. And the west, largely misunderstands it all.
Often the west is want to foist democracy upon nations ill prepared to make it work. Moreover they love to stand in judgment of the democracy of other nations in whatever detail it varies from their own.
Asian culture is very different from ours, spraypainting an automobile may be considered a childhood prank on our side of the pond. But in their culture nothing is considered as vile as waste. And to destroy a piece of personal property worth thousands of dollars, just for giggles, is viewed very, very differently.
As to criticism of the government, again, the Asian view is more father child. Do not criticize the father, it shows the worst manners and is a terrible sin. Whereas here in the west we often elect leaders and then spend their entire term tearing them apart, and placing obstacles in their way to keep them from actualizing their goals. Witness Republican President, Democratic congress. In Canada, we have minority and coalition governments who can achieve little, more often than not these days. So tell me who is better off for these ‘freedoms’? We have leaders we don’t respect, hell, many of us think they are morons. Is that really a better system?
Truth is there is no perfect form of government. But it’s time for the west to understand their way is not the ONLY way. If the citizenry of other nations are happy with their form of democracy or other government then I say we shut up and stay the hell out of it. Bob Dylan said it best, “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand,” !
A mighty fine read. I think it’s rather accurate…
I would like to add one point.
The West tends to think in terms of “systems”. Government in the West is more about checks and balances, about making sure that the people in power can’t abuse their power, not to give any one person too much power, accountability, transparency, the works.
And then in this system, they pit people against each other, hoping that in the end the checks and balances cancel each other out and you get left with a more or less fair system.
This is why, when Westerners look at our governmental system with immense powers in the hands of not many people, barely any relevant checks and balances, a president that hardly even does anything, you gasp in horror. That’s understandable. After all, a Parliament with the opposition holding 5 seats out of 90 is far more of a rubber stamp than any Bushite could hope for.
However, Singapore has had the good fortune of having good people in power. Instead of checks and balances through conflict and opposing interests, we believe (perhaps naively) that if you have good enough people at the helm, we shouldn’t be second guessing them. And so the PAP (the party in supermajority) constantly culls its own, those who are not absolutely squeaky clean are kicked out.
Even Lee Kwan Yew has been in court to answer charges of corruption, for possibly accepting a discount of 10% on the purchase of a condominium (he was acquitted).
There may come a day when the benevolent dictator becomes less than benevolent, and perhaps that day we will clamor for more checks and balances. If nothing, the recent public outcry against the National Kidney Foundation Scandal shows that the people are not entirely subjugated…
This is what I meant by an Asian utopia.