Well, anyway I'll get started. We started in Singapore. I was expecting your typical third world country with the filth and the poverty. Nope, never saw anything like that. Singapore is a city country and not very big. Singapore has no slums, just groups of high rises. There are the high rises for the rich, high rises for the middle class, and high rises for the poor. There are even high rises for the workers who have come in from another country. All these high rises are built in groups that they call communities. They all have names, marketplaces, parks. It was really amazing. The only differences between the rich and the poor, as far as living conditions go are that the rich high rises are a bit nicer.
On our tour of Singapore we got to go through one of these communities and their marketplace. Wow. It was really fascinating. They were getting ready for the Chinese New Year so the marketplace was full of decorations and special foods for that holiday. You could buy anything you needed at these marketplaces. Meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and clothing; just to name a few. It was colorful and boisterous. This is when I wish I could insert some pictures, poop. The marketplace we were in was called a wet marketplace becaus so of all the fruits and vegetables that are available.
After the market place we went a Buddhist Temple that was gorgeous. Pagodas all covered in brightly colored dragons and intricate glass decorations. It was spectacular.
After the temple we went to Kranji War Memorial. Here is the resting place for many of the Allied soldiers who died in WWII and many of the men and women who were living here before the war and were killed as a result of th war. It is a beautiful cemetery, to me it was reminiscent of Arlington. While I was wandering around the cemetery, I couldn't help but wonder why there were civilians buried here. This was explained at the next stop.
The next place we visited was Changi. Here was a prison of war camp. It was not just for the soldiers captured during the battle that took place on this island, oh no, it held all the women, children, and Allied men who were not even fighting. It is now a museum dedicated to their memories. Some of the stories were horrific. One tells of a woman with three young children who were very sick. She went to the man in charge. She got down on her knees and begged him for some medicine for her children. His response, he took the butt of his gun and slammed it into her face. She survived. Her children did not. So sad.
We also had a typical Singaporean lunch. Think Chinese but less spice. I like it just fine. We also had a Singaporean beer. Again, good but a little bland.
My final thoughts on Singapore is, my heavens it is so clean. There was no garbage anywhere. I think I saw a couple of cigarette butts and three pieces of litter the whole time we were on the tour. I also kept wondering how the Singaporean government managed to wrangle every citizen so they could be put in these communities. Because I know, this country couldn't have always looked like this. I imagine it looked, at one time, like any other third world country.
I think of a city like Chicago and Detroit, that has high rises like these for the poor to live in. We all know what happened there. The high rises became horribly unsafe to live in. Gangs rule. Many people don't take care of the apartments that they lived in. I know Singapore has some very strict laws and the punishments for breaking those laws can be out of proportion for the crime, but still, I don't get how it works here, but can't work in the states. My other question was where did all these people live while the high rises were being built. Frankly, Singapore made my head spin.
Well, it's time for shuffleboard. So I'll leave you now until the next time I can get some computer time :)
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