Hello peeps, I recently visited Singapore with my family. It is such a lovely place, but there are many things about Singapore that tourists may not know. We got to know about these things through the locals, so I thought I should share it with you guys, so that you get to know Singapore better.
Singapore in ancient times was known as Temasek or Sea Town. It has been a busy trading centre since then. Temasek was destroyed at the end of 4th century A.D. and was rediscovered again by Prince Sang Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya Empire in 11th century A.D. Upon landing in now Singapore, Sang Nila saw a strange animal which he thought was a lion and therefore named the island 'Singapura' a Sanskrit word for Lion City. This story is not confirmed and might be a myth just like the Merlion which is half mermaid half lion mythical creature who is said to protect the land from all bad things, but the locals go by this story to tell how Singapore came to existence.
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| Singapore Merlion |
Our driver said, Singapore is a very 'fine city', why so? Because the government fines you for almost each and every wrong thing you do. You cannot eat or drink in a vehicle, bus or MRT, no littering, you know how in India we heedless just run in the middle of the road to cross it? Just like that CEAT ad 'yeh hai Mr. Haathdikhao', don't even think of doing that in Singapore. There are crosswalks on every street and you have to cross your path using those and following the signals or else be ready to be fined. Unlike India you won't see traffic police there to control the situation (except for some occasions which I am going to tell y'all later). In Singapore the CCTVs and citizen patrolling do the work and if you are a tourist be extra cautious because these citizen patrols will have a keen eye on you.
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| the super clean MRT station and my mom :-P |
What are citizen patrols?
They are the citizens of Singapore who care for their country (which basically means every citizen of Singapore). They see you not following their laws, they will hand you to the police. Now I don't exactly remember how much fine is taken for what, so I don't want to quote a wrong number, but the fines are above 100S$.
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| and the super clean MRT |
A few years ago people were facing a problem with chewing gum in Singapore. People would eat chewing gum and throw it or stick it somewhere and then that chewing gum would end up on the jeans or shirt or shoes of some other person. So what did the government of Singapore do? They banned chewing gum from Singapore.
If you look at the streets of Singapore you won't hesitate to sleep on it, they are so clean. And now you know the reason why. The laws in Singapore are very strict and no matter if you are a tourist or a local you have to follow them. But don't let this thing scare you, people are very sweet and helpful and you will find yourself knowingly or unknowingly following the laws when you are there.
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| clean and green roads of Singapore |
Now let me tell you about the punctuality of Singaporeans. Man these people are punctual as hell. So if you go there and the driver says be here by say maybe 9 AM, be sure to be there at 9AM or the driver will get super mad at you. Because if you get late the driver will get late for another pickup which might cost him to loose his job. So be super punctual just like the Singaporeans. If the driver says he'll be there by 6:30, he will be there at 6:25, 5 minutes before the time he told you. There is no 'yaar 5 minute hi to late hua hai, kya farak padta hai' thing there. In Singapore time is money and people follow time like nothing else in the world.
Talking about drivers, the blue and yellow comfort cabs in Singapore are a good option to commute. If you are looking for a cheaper option MRTs and buses are available, but if you are too lazy to walk up to the MRT or bus stations, opt for the comfort cabs. These cabs are owned by the government and to be a driver of this cab, one needs to be Singaporean citizen and a permanent resident. So each and every comfort cab driver has an experience of at least 15 years of driving and know Singapore in and out. They know what place is where, which is a shortcut, at what time will you find traffic in which place, so if you are not sure about a certain thing, comfort cab drivers are your best friend. Don't hesitate to ask them for help and 99% of the times these people will be happy to help you. These cab drivers never take a day off. If they need a holiday their cab gets toed, they then have to pay a fine and get the cab back.
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| comfort cabs (Image Courtesy: google images) |
Now being an Indian like every other Indian even we were attracted to Little India. On the first day we tried China Town for our lunch, but come on, we all know that there is a major difference in 'desi Chinese' and 'authentic Chinese'. My brother loves pork, so in China Town he ordered some pork dish and he had just two bites of it, because he didn't like how it tasted. Now obviously we Indians have a habit of eating all 'maal masala', so mostly we don't like the taste of bland food. So when it came to food Little India was our holy grail. We would gorge on the tasty Pratas (Singaporean word for parathas), butter chicken, paneer butter masala and biryani. As Indians we loved having food at Little India.
Also we were in Singapore during Diwali, so the streets of Little India were lit up with lighting. We actually felt like we were in India, no crackers though, which I really liked, because I hate the noise they make. In Singapore they have an off on the second day of Diwali. There was a market that was put up for Diwali on an open ground where sellers were selling everything from eatables to clothes to electronics and Indians were flocking there. This was the only time we saw some 20+ police officials controlling the crowd. Upon asking we got to know that there was an accident which happened last year during Diwali in Little India which injured almost 20 people, therefore, this year they had police to control the crowd and traffic.
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| lit up streets of Little India |
Now let me tell you about shopping in Singapore. I mean shopping ke bina trip adhuri reh jati hai na. Mustafa centre is a shopping centre or say mall in Little India. We saw Indian tourists flocking there to shop. But according to me, Mustafa is not for tourists, it is for Indians who live in Singapore and want Indian stuff. Because what I saw there was, stuff that we get in India at double the price. So as a tourist if you want to shop and save money Bugis is the place you should be at. Bugis which is just about a kilometer away from Little India has better quality items, better variety and better prices when it comes to shopping. We purchased 3 t-shirts from Little India for 10S$ whereas in Bugis we got 4 t-shirts of better quality (see pic below for reference) at 10S$. Little India had 6 keychains for 10S$, Bugis we bought 24 keychains (same quality) for 10S$. Souvenir lighters were 3 pieces for 15S$ in Little India and in Bugis they were 4 for 15S$. And if you are good in bargaining, way to go, because Bugis is a bargain street. Not all shopkeepers bargain, so don't feel offended if you start to bargain and they say 'no discount, thank you' literally asking you to leave. But most of the shopkeepers do bargain, you just need to be good at it. In Bugis you will find high end shops as well, looking at the shop you get to know that this might be a high end shop, so enter a shop depending on your budget. Its ok to take a look but don't expect to get a high end piece at a street price. So now you know from where to shop (till you drop). For Indian food Little India zindabad, but for shopping, Bugis street zindabad.
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| (L) bought from Bugis: good quality thick material (R) Bought from Little India: see through quality thin material |
Next I am going to talk about Singapore Pools. These are state owned lottery shops. There is a draw every week and the price money is in millions. If no one wins the price in a particular week the price is carried forward and added to the next week price making that price money greater. When we were there the price money was 7 million dollars. We purchased 10 tickets (1S$ each) worth 10S$, but we weren't lucky and didn't win anything. But if you want to try your luck sure buy a ticket. There was an Indian man who won the lottery. Then Singaporean government invited him to be a Singapore citizen, because if you have money, Singapore will welcome you with open arms. But that man rejected the offer and said he would like to use that money for his country. I don't know if he used it for his country or not, but his thought is praise-worthy.
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| Singapore Pools (image courtesy: google images) |
Now why did I say that if you have money Singapore will welcome you with open arms, because Singapore has got nothing of its own. Even the water in Singapore is imported from Malaysia. But still there is no shortage of water and you can find drinking water at every step in Singapore. Plus the water purification process is so advanced that you can even drink water from the toilet. Import export is the first source of income for Singapore, tourism is fourth. So if you are ready to invest in Singapore, they will be happy to offer you a citizenship.
So these were some things that we got to know about Singapore from the locals. Sentosa, Universal, Gardens By The Bays and so on are all well known tourist attractions, so I wanted to tell you'll something different about Singapore. Hope you'll got to know a few new things about Singapore from this blog. So now you have a mini travel guide when you visit Singapore.
Is there anything about Singapore that you know, which I might have missed? Let me know that in the comments down below, so that I get to know Singapore even better.
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