Escape from Chaos

After five weeks of navigating the food, traffic and hustle in India, I found myself ready for a break. And ready for a steak! So off I flew to Singapore for a quick stopover on my way to Thailand.

After an overnight flight (only 4 hours) from Hyderabad on Singapore Airways, you find yourself at Changi International Airport. This really is a high end shopping mall posing as an airport. And Singapore Air is really a top notch carrier. Their economy service is better than most domestic first class service I've had in the U.S. They still give you a hot towel that is actually made of cloth and serve free French wine.

First thing I noticed about Singapore was I picked the first day it'd rained in weeks. Second thing was how clean it was. The taxi had a working, digital meter and a friendly driver. The roads weren't filled with potholes and cars actually stopped at red lights. I was shocked.

I walked around town and visited the famous Raffles Hotel, home of the Singapore Sling aka Fruit Suicide. You can drink 2-3 of these and not realize you've just consumed a bottle of booze. Very dangerous. They also let you throw peanut shells on the floor, which in Singapore is a big deal. You might get a heavy fine (or caned) if you littered outside, so I think locals drop by here just to throw a little caution to the wind. The bar also hosts a number of birds who just fly around and eat the crumbs off the floor. Not a bad life for those birds.

Singapore is a former British colony that became independent about 40 years ago. The population is very diverse, with big populations of Chinese, Arab, Indian and expats from the west. Two sites worth a look are Arab Street and Little India. Arab Street because it is cleaner than any part of the Middle East, and Little India because it's more orderly than any part of India. If you haven't figured it out yet, Singaporeans like order.

I capped the day off with a visit to Morton's. Yes, the chain has found its way here and serve the exact same menu. Exactly the same the exception of the prices. And it is not cheaper here. Gorged on steaks and salad (first one in five weeks) and had a hilarious, if deceitful server. She explained to us that bankers were crappy tippers and that they didn't charge a service fee (a built in tip). So when the bill came - and this was after the GM gave us free glasses of port - I didn't even look at the details. Gave her what I thought was a generous tip and left. Only later did I look at the details: Service Charge S$46! So she managed to get me for a total tip of over S$110.

Apparently bankers are bad tippers, but American consultants are just stupid.