Tossing noodles in Singapore

The beach at Sentosa, Singapore, March 2015

I'm just back from an amazing conference in Singapore.  I have Mosquito bites on my arms and a burnt forehead, achieved after less than two hours of (wait for it) "being outside" during the day. I now have a cough I can't shift and I have vowed never to do long-haul travel again.  Well, until next time that is. 

Singapore was a surprise.  Not like Hong Kong, where it feels like you are attending some Douglas Adams' style party at the "end of the universe" [see earlier blogs] and not as scarily avaricious and contradictory as Shanghai.  It's no criticism of those great inspiring places, but Singapore had a certain zing and zest which I did not expect, in addition to all the instantly borne-out cliches of manicured pavements, strict order and civility.  They have also seemed to have found a solution to global warming.  

England has the Eden Project, hidden away in excavated fields in Cornwall. Singapore has turned the idea up to 11 and created an artificial arboretum on a grand-scale: maybe 20 times the size of Cornish idyll, planting and preserving much of the world's foliage and fauna in Marina Bay and then bolting on a Michelin starred eatery for good measure. Here you can wander through a small section of Chilean woodland or German forrest and feel like you are on the set of Silent Running.  At dinner we celebrated the 14th day of the Chinese New Year (a kind of Valentine's style tradition) with five of the world's best golfers at a Lo Hei supper; throwing noodles high into the air, with all hopes for the rest of the year dependent on the height achieved.  

Singapore is damn hot, so I headed for the beach.  The sand and sea provided some sense of cool - even a breeze featured momentarily.  And there across the water a small glimpse of why the place booms.  It's not just the trade of the dealing room or banker's terminal screen.  It's real trade, on a vast scale with a capital T.  Out in the sea, there in front of me: I reckon 200 plus ships/tankers/freight carriers and oil supply ships within a few hundred metres of the shore.  In an hour there would be more and over the course of a few days, there must be thousands: passing through, anchoring, docking, loading and un-loading a billion tonnes of "stuff" - up from Australia, or across to India, towards and around a horn, or through a man-made canal, but always finding these wide waters the place to briefly pause, replenish, restock and move on.  The scale of the docks and super-sized cranes that surround the city state is astonishing.  Trade created Singapore and it sustains it, while the booming city retains that colonial, litter-free, heritage with an élan I had not imagined.

Despite the journey, I hope to get invited back.