So
I’m adding Singapore to my “exclusive” list of cities I would gladly see again
(joining San Francisco, Paris, Barcelona, New York, Istanbul, Copenhagen, and
Stockholm). I don’t know that it would
need many visits, but I would definitely like to go again when I have the money
to stay in the Marina Bay Sands hotel! J
Seriously, check this place out – who cares about my vertigo – I want to
experience that infinity pool!
My
China buddies will get a tremendous kick out of this: when I checked into my
funky boutique hotel, they made me sign a statement that I would not smoke in
the room OR bring in any durian fruit!
For real! I didn’t even ask if it
was a joke, coz by gawd if they want to start a war on durian fruit, then I
support it! To emphasize/remind you,
they even had a little card in the room (which I will of course share with my
pics)
While
no one chews gum in Singapore, they ALL seem to smoke! Bleh!
But, still, the city is so clean.
Cleanest large city I’ve ever been in.
Some mainland Chinese guy hawked and spit on the sidewalk and, immediately, a group of Singapore police
pounced on him and beat the shit out of him!
Oh wait, that was just one of my fantasies. Haha.
But seriously, even the Singapore Chinatown was clean – well, at least
the part I went through. And, needless
to say, there was NO Asia smell throughout the city.
Like
Kuala Lumpur, everyone speaks English.
Even more so here – partly due to it being a British protectorate until
fairly recently, and partly due to its multiculturalism. Every now and again, there would be stuff
also translated in Mandarin and/or Malaysian, but really the everyday language
is definitely English. And they drive on
the left, as well – my third country in a row.
Soon, it will seem strange to me to see people driving on the
right. The city state is also very
well-served by the subway (Surprise! It’s clean and efficient!).
The
whole “city state” thing fascinates me. “Technically”
only Monaco and Vatican City are also city states, but there are other places
that like to think they are – or who others consider to be city states. Interestingly enough, when Singapore freed
itself from the UK, they initially became part of Malaysia. That lasted a whole two years before a
unanimous vote in the Malaysian parliament expelled Singapore from the rest of
the county. Their loss. Ha! Apparently, it was just never a good fit, not only politically, but
socio-economically (surprise, surprise, the Malaysians were suspicious of the
disproportionately Chinese population of Singapore and also felt the city would
exercise too much control over Kuala Lumpur).
The
city is VERY eco-conscious, ferociously educated—especially in the Sciences,
and you see evidence of both of these things throughout the city, its parks and
museums, etc. Except for the dreadfully
humid weather, it’s a dream city: smart, multi-cultural, clean, rich (yet still
semi-affordable compared to, say, San Francisco), eco-aware, beautiful, etc.
The
majority of my visit was spent in a couple of their gardens: the Botanical
Garden and their “Gardens by the Bay” – the latter of which is surely one of
THE coolest places I’ve ever been. And
I’ve been to some cool places! I thought
the botanical garden was pretty damn cool on its own, but then when I made it
to their Gardens by the Bay I was blown away.
I took a shitload of pictures, and hopefully for folks they will do some
justice to the place – but, honestly, you need to see it for yourself to truly
appreciate it. The Supertrees, the
various regional gardens, the Cloud Forest – all awesome. And I didn’t even get to see the Flower Dome
– boo hoo, I’ll have to go back. J
Finally,
I also happened to catch THE best photo exhibit I have ever had the pleasure of
seeing. Now, granted, this particular
exhibit (Annie Leibovitz A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005) has run elsewhere,
but man oh man. I saw it in the uniquely
shaped Singapore Art & Science Museum – again, what a cool thing, to marry
these two. On the basement level, I saw
a large, fantastic exhibit of the entire history of dinosaurs (with many I had
heretofore never seen) – with a great walk-through exhibit of the entire early
history of the planet (literal Bible folks don’t go in or your head will
explode), and a VERY compelling exhibit at the end on how we’re all doomed to
extinction ourselves if we keep mucking up our own habitat/environment (oh, who
are we kidding? It’s too late – don’t plan on your grandchildren having any
kind of decent life on THIS planet!).
Upstairs,
was the Leibovitz exhibit. While I’ve
always liked her stuff, most photography of human subjects I find to be (yawn)
a bit boring. Of course, she had other
stuff, too. But items that struck me
included: a very “non-Ellen” photo of Ellen in white face, frowning, with a
cigarette dangling from her mouth and her hands cupping her bra-covered breasts;
a “perfect” picture of Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken seated side by
side, looking typically serious and smirky at the same time; a fantastic large
picture of a seated Daniel Day-Lewis, looking very “Age of Mirth” that was so
well-lit and so realistic it seemed like he was really there, looking at me (I
stood in front of this picture for quite some time); and a VERY creepy pic of
Chris Rock in clown face and circus showman attire, with a big, scary laugh.
Then
there were some of her “war zone” shots.
A picture of the fallen bicycle of a teenage boy just killed by a sniper
in Sarajevo. Apparently, she was there
when the boy was shot, and she helped get him into a car to take him to the
hospital, but he died on the way. But as
impactful as that B&W photo was, the one that knocked me down was a color
print of the bloody handprints and footprints of Rwandan Tutsi schoolchildren
who had been massacred by Hutus. I
literally grew cold and started shuddering just looking at that one –
especially since the bloody footprints appeared to climb the walls. One of history’s most shameful acts that
gives lie to the whole “never again” b.s.
Ooops,
sorry, didn’t mean to end on a downer!
There were also some nice “intimate” family photos. There is a coffee table book for this
collection which I would LOVE to have if anyone is ever looking for a gift
me! Ha!
Just a reminder, it’s called: Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005. J
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