Singapore Sling

Sitting on top of the world, sipping our Singapore Slings.

Two things come to mind when I think of Singapore: chewing gum and Singapore Slings. We spent last weekend in Singapore, on what we call a visa run which necessitates exiting the country for a short time to come right back in order to validate your visa and satisfy some of Thailand's immigration laws. It's kind of a wacky process, sometimes expensive, but on the other hand, it obliges us to leave the country on weekends and explore new horizons in one of the neighboring countries. This forced weekend jaunt was a great opportunity for us to explore the tiny island-city-state of Singapore, a place I've always wanted to go to, if only to get their Starbucks coffee cup to add to my collection.

Singapore Sling memories...at
$26 a shot, better make that one memory. 

The Singapore Sling, that gin, cherry brandy and lime juice mixture, which by the way was concocted in Singapore in 1915, brings me back to a very special time in my life, my early university life, a time filled with a wealth of learning and growth opportunities, and equally rife with tremendous opportunities to do dumb things. A friend and I had decided to undertake a personal research project that would eventually end up as a review in the student newspaper, an investigative study that would pique and sustain the interest of first year university students and would be relevant to our lives as university neophytes. It was therefore obvious to us that the consumption of alcohol essentially needed to come into play in our research, hence the Singapore Sling. The field work part of our research entailed us frequenting many of the bars and lounges in Winnipeg and consuming and evaluating Singapore Slings, noting their flavour profiles, aromatic characteristics, visual aspects (as in the number of cherries and random little umbrellas), and of course price. Our research lasted 4 days; before we could reveal any hidden repeated patterns of drink mixology and subsequently lay the foundation for a better cocktailian society, we ran out of money. Furthermore, the acidity of the drinks gave us both heartburn. In any case, since then, I have not had any desire to drink Singapore Slings, until last weekend. After all, I was in Singapore. 

And then, there's the chewing gum thing. If there is one thing you can expect foreigners to know about Singapore, it’s that they’ll flog you if you drop your chewing gum. Or that chewing gum is banned. Or something or the other is banned. We were told by a number of our friends who had been there that this country is fastidious as hell. Unless one is really into flogging, one is better to read up on the do's and don'ts while in Singapore. By the way, the experience of getting flogged in a foreign country does not figure on my bucket list, yet. 

When it comes to gum though, the truth is not quite as what we were led to believe. Strictly speaking, the possession of chewing gum, and the chewing of it, has never been illegal in Singapore. What was outlawed back in 1992 was its sale or importation. What triggered this, apparently, was the havoc that gum could cause on the city’s extremely expensive new underground system, by covering the door sensors, or simply making a mess of the seats. The punishment for illegal gum trafficking was never corporal, but even for a first offence, it could include a hefty fine of CDN$10,000!, and up to two years in prison. The effect of the original ban was immediate. Within a few months, chewing gum more or less disappeared from Singapore. The city state became a gum less haven where flattened clots vanished from pavements and train doors opened and closed unimpeded.

As in the past, every time we traveled to a foreign country, we read up on local culture, customs and laws to ensure that we were sensitive to any differences so as to avoid any embarrassing faux pas and thus enjoy a smooth flog free trip. Visiting Singapore was no exception. Although it is considered a contemporary, commercial and cosmopolitan city-state, it has its fair share of rules, taboos, and quirks that one should be aware of so as not to offend no one, or worse, end up with legal issues (as in paying large fines). Being a multicultural nation of Chinese, Malaysian and Indian influences adds to its complexity.  

Currently residing in South East Asia, we were already subject to a few of this city's quirky but interesting idiosyncrasies, such as not finger pointing and not showing the bottoms of your feet. Pointing an index finger at someone is perceived as rude, but then that seems to be the case in most countries, including Canada, the most chill and unflappable country in the world. Knowing that body language and gestural codes vary from country to country, we just kept our digits to ourselves so as not to make waves. As far as showing the bottoms of your feet goes, this is more of an etiquette quirk than a legal one. Many Asian people think of lowly feet as dirty. When we first arrived in Bangkok, we were told that it was considered offensive to point with your toes or show the bottoms of your feet. My first reaction to this was...point with your toes!, who does that? I have never experienced someone giving me directions by pointing their toes. And then there's urinating in a public elevator. Euhh...am I missing something here? Again who does that? I guess they used to do that in Singapore, because now a days, some public elevators come equipped with urine detection devices that set off an alarm and close the doors when any odour of urine is detected until the police arrive.  I wonder if the doors close when someone farts? I think I just got another good idea for a university neophyte research project.

Madeleine enjoying her Singapore Sling,
contemplating life without gum,  and not
urinating in an elevator.

Another taboo gesture would be patting someone on the head; this is not appreciated in Asia, as the head is considered sacred. I have trouble with that one, I keep patting small heads all the time at school, force of habit. So really, the pointing and the patting on the head, and even the chewing of gum were all non-issues for us as we embarked on our weekend lark to Singapore. It's the other more bizarre quirks that piqued our interest and whetted our rogue 'wanting to live on the edge' appetite. Like “don't walk around naked, even in private”. Ummm... come-on now, how can walking privately around naked, in your own home, be construed as anything bad or obscene, unless you're one of those uber-religious perverted fundamentalist nut jobs? Perhaps slightly raunchy, especially in my case when seeing me parading tout nu may appear offensive, or make that seemingly grotesque, and I do apologize for the unintended eewww nausea inducing imagery here.  In any case, nudity is  a no-no in Singapore, like many other Asian countries.  It seems like a hard one to enforce, but they consider parading around in your birthday suit, even in the privacy of your own home, akin to pornography. In any case, this law has been on the books since 1996, and can actually result in a fine up to $2000 or up to 3 months of jail time. Oh well, to each his own. 

Madeleine in her 'happy' place. There's a sunflower garden in the Changi airport!
Singapore Changi Airport is consistently voted the world's best airport, and we quickly understood why
as soon as we stepped off the plane. Baggage claim is quick and efficient, so is customs clearance, not
to mention the outdoor nature trail, the swimming pool, the gym, children's play area, movie theatres
with first run free movies, inexpensive but clean food stalls, beauty and reflexology centres,
lots of sleeping areas and massage chairs. We almost didn't want to leave the airport.

The other quirk that got a laugh from us was the other renown thing not to do in Singapore that most people had heard about, and that is to not forget to flush. Chalk this one up to the rather “anal” culture, but if you do your doo-doo in a public washroom, it’s your civic duty to flush the evidence away. Now, this is a courtesy that most people would appreciate, but Singapore just takes it to a legal extreme. You can be fined $150 for this offence. Supposedly, they have random spot checks for this. Come to think of it, even though some may feel that this is an over-the-top restriction on personal freedom, you know those ultra-liberal types who will contest any regulation that apparently infringes on their right to choose, all would admit that having a fresh bowl greet you in a public toilet is always kind of nice, as opposed to the alternative. 

Despite it's quirky laws, we really enjoyed Singapore. It may be a strict and conservative town, but it certainly is an efficient (great public transit) and clean city, and surely not a dull one.  Quite the contrary, it’s a fascinating and diverse city/island/nation, full of colour, contrasts and flavours that are well worth exploring. No place does preserved colonial architectural splendour like Singapore. The island is dotted with grand white monoliths, all columns, balustrades and verandas, built by the British in the 19th century. All have been perfectly maintained. Furthermore, Singapore is home to two of the world's three most expensive buildings, one of which is the three towered Marina Bay Sands, from where, perched on its cantilevered surf board platform 200 metres at the top, we indulged and enjoyed every last drop of our Singapore Slings.

Saturday night at the Gardens by the Bay, a 250 acre park of 18 man-made colossal solar-powered
supertrees between 25 and 50 metres tall, each loaded up with intricate vertical gardens. The evening
light show gives us a neon appreciation for Singapore's unique relationship with nature.