First Impressions of Singapore

The bus ride to the Allson took about 45 minutes. The first thing that struck me about Singapore is that it feels like a tropical rain forest – with palm trees, a rainbow of flowers and humidity that would cause even a camel to pant from thirst. I thought Durban was bad – believe me, Durbs is like antarctica in comparison. It’s even made worse as all buildings and buses are airconditioned so when you have tog go out into the open, it is as if you’re hit with this oppressive wall of damp heat. Maybe it just takes some getting used to.

Another thing that occurred to me was that the country was now where close as clinical as I expected. I always imagined Singapore to be this spotless, characterless place where everyone moved in robotish unison. Not so. Singapore has a lot of colour – there are some dilapidated areas and ones that are gaudy and bustling, juxtaposed with the lavish shopping centres and high-rise hotels and modern sky-scrapers.

And I can’t not mention the haze. I read the Singapore Sunday Times on the plane and I noticed that the weather report includes a haze factor. I can understand why – it really does feel as if the country is drenched in a fog. I was looking up in the sky when I suddenly noticed a round ball which looked very much like the moon. But now, it was actually the fiery sun which was so covered by the smog that you could actually look straight into its eye without being blinded.