Rules

               I think the most appreciated thing about Singapore was the drinking fountains. It has been a long time since I have seen drinking fountains in a country, and given my stomach’s current predicament, I have come to appreciate that whereas cleanliness isn’t necessarily next to godliness, it is next to good health and lack of nausea.

               After arriving to our hotel around 2 PM, we set out to explore the city. We figured we would try to walk to the downtown section because Googlemaps estimated about an hour of walking. Google was wrong. To be fair, it probably didn’t know that everything was under construction which caused us to be caught in a rat maze on our way to the cheese at the end of the path. We could see the buildings, but it took us a while to get there.

               The next day, we decided that taking a dollar subway ride might be time better spent. We first went to Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. Both were pretty cool, and I definitely got several opportunities to “get my flower on” as I was taking pictures of just about every kind of flower imaginable. Brace yourselves for the Facebook pics. They also had a section of the building dedicated to global warming and information about it. I guess they power the whole place via “green” methods. It was a bit ironic seeing as you can kind of see oily residue in the water around Singapore. For those of you who don’t know, Singapore makes most of its money on the shipping industry. I heard that about 200% of their GDP is obtained through exports. This is only possible because they pay for the imports so that they can export them. If you look at Singapore on a map, you will see why it is in an advantageous position for the shipping industry.

               Singapore does have some amazing architecture. It honestly reminded me of being in Chicago. Of course, this version of Chicago is really hot and has palm trees everywhere, but then again, palm trees next to the Sears Tower (or I guess Willis Tower now) wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. You could enjoy a coconut as you take in the view of the city. Anyway, it was really great to see both the interior and exteriors of these buildings. For being such a small country, they are quite wealthy and have chosen to display it in some cool ways.

               Another thing you probably didn’t know about Singapore are its strict laws. On the back of the immigration slip we had to fill out on the plane it read, “WARNING DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW.” It definitely makes you do a double-take and wonder if in fact you are carrying any drugs. Even gum is banned from the country because they want to keep their streets and subways clean. Thankfully, it’s only a thousand dollar fine for chewing gum. Eating or drinking anything on the subway is a 500 dollar fine. This is the country that was founded by an OCD father of 4 who came home every night to find the house a “pig sty.” People follow the rules: no jaywalking, follow the signs, and no crying. OK, the last one might have been just me, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if I saw a sign listing the possible fines for crying. Sniffling might only be half the price.

               We did make another trip to the doctor while here. Unfortunately, I haven’t been feeling that well. I have had a persisting lack of appetite, and whenever I do feel hungry and eat, it is followed very closely by a strong feeling of nausea. Since we are only here for a day, the doctor said that she couldn’t really do anything about a diagnosis, but she did give me some pills to treat the symptoms. I have anti-nausea pills, anti-acids for the heartburn from burping, and pain killers for the stomach cramps. Hopefully, they’ll work and I’ll be back on my two feet that I used to walk a total of 63,000 steps during the 2 day stay in Singapore.