Switzerland of Asia🇨🇭

Day 59

After almost a month, we are closing the "book" on Malaysia and picking up the next one from the shelf: Singapore!

The city-state at the southern tip of Malaysia is incomparable to the other countries. We realized this already on our arrival. We took a bus through one of the two land entrances. At the customs, everyone had to get off and go through a security check, like at the airport. Luckily, there were no problems. (I smuggled in an apple, cunning fox)😂

Inside, we caught sight of the huge cranes that load the container ships at the port. Tremendously large. Due to its geographically advantageous position on the Strait of Melaka, Singapore is one of the world's most important transshipment hubs. Founded in 1963 or made independent, Singapore is still a relatively young country. However, you don't notice that in the city. Enormous modern buildings fill the skyline of Singapore. By modern, I don't mean ugly concrete blocks, but rather nature-covered architecture of superlatives! The residents are 70% Chinese, which surprised me quite a bit. I consider it a peaceful, war-free occupation of a part of the country. Only 10% of the population are Malays. With nearly six million inhabitants, Singapore has one of the highest population densities in the world.

The city is referred to as the Switzerland of Asia, many banks have their headquarters here and conduct their financial transactions with an existing banking secrecy. The cleanliness of the streets immediately catches one's eye. I read about many prohibitions in advance, but it's not as bad as it seems, and it tends to be exaggerated. Smoking is only not allowed around the shopping centers and train stations. Eating and drinking in the trains are not allowed. I wouldn't spit at a police officer's shoes in Switzerland either...

The city is very well connected by public transportation and everything is quite easy to reach. Nevertheless, we got a ticket for a hop-on-hop-off bus on the first day to explore the city and its sights. The most impressive was probably the Marina Bay with its "garden" which rather resembles a gigantic well-groomed oasis. Everything is lavish and represents a love for detail. However, we had to dig deep into our pockets for the view from the platform of the super building, we had to cough up 25 Swiss francs for the view. We saved ourselves another 10 bucks for the beer and enjoyed the view of the city sober. But the expanses of the city were also so awesome. On the last evening, we visited Singapore's casino. For locals, admission costs about 80 Swiss francs, luckily it's free for tourists. Hundreds of slot machines and gaming tables are located on two floors. The mostly Chinese visitors hammer away at the screens like possessed by the devil. After about 15 minutes and $100 less, we went back to the hotel.

Exhausted (after the last pint at the airport for 20 dollars) but happy, we flew back to Bangkok to our Thai family, where chilling and relaxing are on the agenda and we can make plans for northern Thailand! Peace out

Lars 

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