Some random thoughts on Singapore

In Singapore, they drive on the left. This isn't going to be news to anyone, but it always catches me by surprise. Something inside me sort of expects that when I get off a plane, they'll be driving on the right. This even happened when I visited Ireland, so having sat on a plane for 13 hours, to find that they have double-decker buses driving on the left brought me up a little short. This, of course, is something I'm going to have to get used to; only 1 of the 4 countries I'm visiting on this trip drives on the right.

In Singapore the condensation is on the outside of the windows.

Perhaps I've been around Americans too much in Amsterdam, but the first sentence of this sign caught my eye:

Whether you read it in British or American English, you can't help agreeing with it.

Singapore has a curious mix of British Colonial, Chinese and ultra-modern architecture:

Most of the population live in blocks of flats because of the pressure of space. The wealthy can still live in swanky villas.

Some things are very British – the electrical plugs, for example, and they even have belisha beacons by the zebra crossings (flashing orange lights atop stripy poles for the non-cognoscenti).

There are 5 million people squeezed on to Singapore. That's roughly the same as the population of Scotland. Whereas in Scotland we have 30,414 sq mi (78.772 sq km) in Singapore, they have 272 sq mi (704 sq km). (Those areas were not random thoughts - I Googled them. I'm not that sad.)

In the UK (and NL) cats find the warmest sunniest spot to lie. In Singapore, they choose the shadiest place:


There doesn't seem to be a problem with insects here. I don't know why not, but there are a lot more mosquitoes in Amsterdam than in Singapore.

Every time I saw the stretch of water to the south of Singapore (the Straights of Singapore) it was full of large ships, apparently just waiting for something. Not sure what. The tide perhaps?