Day 247, Singapore
One can’t visit Singapore without walking down the shopping extravaganza that is Orchard Street. Singapore has many affluent people, reflected by the hoard of high end stores. The New Year’s Day decorations are everywhere, some rather extravagant. The colors and symbols focus mostly around hopes for wealth and prosperity in the new year. There is an entire section with various backdrops to take your picture for the new year, a country lane, a picket
fence surrounded by flowers, a wooden bridge.
Our uber guy had lots to say about the past and current government. There is no minimum wage in Singapore, nor social assistance programs. For people who have money this is manageable, but for the working class or those who struggle to survive, it can be difficult. With one exception, the same party of government has been re-elected since their independence. The small country as a whole has been prospering, but it’s a very expensive place to live, even visit.
Some of the North Americans Paul has spoken to say there are here for 2-3 years. Most companies pay for housing,
private schools for their kids, and increase their pay for the expensive cost of living. The one guy said, you still don’t realize how expensive everything is, and end up just working and eating at home.
I find this entire country fascinating, how it came to be the way it is all within my lifetime. One of our taxi drivers said the country is comprised mostly of people from Malaysia, China, and India. The forty percent international workforce is thus; Americans mainly for their media and marketing skills, Indians and Filipinos for banking and IT expertise, Chinese for business. He said it’s a great place to do business, but not a great place to raise a family because it’s so expensive. I get what he’s saying. For me the cost of living may as well be simplified to the cost of ice cream. I’m ready to go to a place where we don’t have to pay $16 for a small Häagen-Dazs, although that may not happen where we are headed next, in Sydney or Tokyo. I guess that’s why we’ll eventually have to head back home.