Singapore!

The smallest nation in SE Asia, a city, and a country. It needs to be seen to be believed. Having visited in 1989 I was dying to return to see how things had changed (and my perception of them) and as H had not been, I was curious to see what he thought. It has a reputation of being quite an uptight kind of place where there are too many rules and regs about where you can walk, eat, chew gum, breathe... especially compared to other countries in the locality. What I found was although there are signs everywhere for fines for your misdemeanours (e.g. selling or importing chewing gum S$1,000 (£370), dropping gum or litter S$1,000, smoking in most public places S$1,000, hawking without a licence S$500, vandalism S$5,000 and public speaking without a permit S$2,000 to name but a few!) but because the laws have been in place for so long, people just 'behave themselves' and don't do those things- there are hardly any police around and no-one there to tell people not to spit or drop cigarette butts, people just don't do it. When I went there the first time there were guards at the tube station, who stopped me from taking my Coke on the train (!) but that whole generation of people who were kids then are now bringing up their kids and they all just look after the place and don't litter! Consequently, it is one of the cleanest, sparkliest, most efficient, least polluted (heavy taxes on private cars and abundant, cheap public transport) places I have ever been. Some say it is clinical but it didn't feel that way to us. Add to that a rich mix of cultures (who seem more Singaporean - lots of groups with one national identity, than in Malaysia where it is very much Malays, The Chinese and The Indians) and it is very exciting place. Of course there isn't a free press and other civil liberties are curbed, so it's not all roses!