Singapore may unban chewing gum. Huh. You know, when we visited last year I was so impressed by how clean and nice the city was, I kinda found myself agreeing with the ban. Of course, I was being a criminal at the time (since I had a pack of Wrigley’s buried in my backpack that I chew on planes to keep my ears from popping). Now I can go back and be a law-abiding visitor. 🙂
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Yeah, the cleanliness is nice, but it’s almost sterile. I’m not saying Singapore lacks character, but that’s the sort of dull road you’re going down when you do ridiculous things like ban chewing gum. Long live PK:)
Ah, see, after two years in London, I’ll take “sterile and character-less” over “historical and filled with putrid stinking garbage” any day. 🙂
Claire, Singapore is not so sterile once you get beyond the thin veneer that has been created for transiting tourists! Orchard Road, The Night Safari, the MRT – sure they’re all pretty clean – but venture out to a proper hawker center (not sure Newton Circus and Lau Pa Sat really count) or have a wander round an out of town, non-Orchard shopping area, and you’d get a slightly different view.
Kristen, you’re destroying my image of Singapore as the perfect litter-less consumerist utopia. Some of us like that type of thing. 🙂
Sorry Kris. You guys are right really, Singapore is pretty damn clean, even in it’s not-so-nice areas. I wouldn’t call it sterile though. Not having seen the rats racing around in the gutters at night. *Shudder*