Notes on Singapore

Just wanted to make a few random notes on singapore, b/c I mainly just talked about my time with the Carlisles. I didn't experience "true" singapore much, at least not the true singapore that backpackers are supposed to see according to guide books. But then again, I think I saw a very true part of singapore, b/c a lot of singapore is indeed expats working there.
It's a very, very clean city, unlike any other asian city I have been to. It's very modern and laid out nice with big streets, sidewalks, open space, and excellent commuter transportation. It's no longer true that you can't chew gum, but it is true that you can't buy gum there. They have trash police that are on the look out for litterers. It's also an extremely overprotective place and have warning signs for absolutely everything. Every body of water has signs that mention drowning. The mtn bike trail had signs warning for every little obstacle and even telling you to walk your bike on steep ups and downs (yea right!). There just seems to be a warning sign for everything.
One thing I found interesting was the expat sort of community. I have always been in love with East Africa and have read lots of books on it, almost all from westerners that live there (out of africa, born free, the green hills of africa, the man-eaters of tsavo), and I alway found that highclass western society living in africa quite interesting and amusing. Well, here in singapore it often felt sort of similar, except obviously much more modern and of course I was disappointed that the majority of the expats seemed to drive toyota SUVS or bmw's instead of land rovers...haha. But all the same, I still found that to be quiet interesting.

Today Caroline and Frida and I went to Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. It's a np made up of 5 beautiful islands. We went to Pulau Mamutik, which was tiny and very beautiful. Snorkelled around a bit and I swam around the island as well. There were several other people I recognized from the mountain relaxing there too. And you could always tell who they were b/c they would be walking funny and having trouble on the stairs. Tonight we are taking the night bus to semporna b/c we have decided to do the diving at Mabul and Sipadan