Business Asian Style

Yesterday I decided I wanted to have a suit dry-cleaned before my working week starts on Monday. What I didn't know is that for some reason dry-cleaning here still takes about a week to get done. Pretty much everything else from ordering a cab by phone, having your cable installed to even having an MRI scan happens at the speed of light, but for some reason the mysterious science of dry-cleaning takes more time for the Singaporeans than to build a new part of town (actually that might be one of the things they really do fastest here). The problem was however, I simply did not have that time. The lady of the dry-cleaners told me it would be ready on Monday or Tuesday and they'd give me a call. I asked if there was no way they could get it done any faster, she pointed to racks of clothes behind her and said they were swamped and they really couldn't get it done on time. Then my Asian blood kicked in; "How much does the dry-cleaning cost?" "S$ 13, sir." "Alright fine, I'll give you S$ 20 if you can make sure you can get it done before the weekend." She then took my suit pushed a bunch of clothes aside on the rack so mine was first in line, turned back around with a smile on her face and said "Ok sir no problem, you pick up tomorrow at 5pm?" HAHA isn't that great! In Holland people would probably depict this as a direct bribe, but Asians see it as what the market is prepared to pay for an 'express service' even though at first this doesn't even appear to be an option. I prefer the latter interpretation ;) So people, I'm off to pick up my dry-cleaned and nicely pressed suit now! Bye!

The West and the East put in a blender

The best roads I've ever seen, filled with cars with some of the worst driving I've ever seen. A super modern, efficient metro system, but anyone above 1.80 meters will have to keep their head down to fit in. An ueber-hip and trendy restaurant filled with people following a 'day at the beach' dress code. A hefty fine for not wearing a seat belt in the back of a cab, while construction contractor's pick-up trucks race by with 10 passengers sitting on top of each other in the back with not even a roof, let alone seat belts. Singapore is probably the most irrationally mixed country in the world. As it is much richer and much more developed than all the other countries in the region it looks more like a 'Western' country than most countries in the 'real' West do. But even then it still has such a clear Asian identity through these examples I mentioned above. I could go on and on, but I think you pretty much get the idea. It's as though somebody dropped 4 million South East Asians into Switzerland, added palm trees and turned up the heat. It's the strangest thing and that's what also makes this place so amazingly unique. In many countries the various cultures live along side each other or they are mixed so extensively that one can not see the differences, but here it's as though the blender lost power half way. For those who have no clue what I'm talking about...come visit this great town.

Finally arrived in Singapore

(not the typical Sing skyline pic, but the view from the balcony)

At last the long wait is over and I actually am in Singapore. It's great to be here again. Today I woke up at around 12.30 after a horrible jet-laggy night of waking up and falling a sleep again for short periods. After that I went for a walk down Orchard Road to soak up capitalism at its best, Starbucks here, Gucci there, Prada over there, D&G accross the road, Mc Donalds everywhere haha, but it's cool as there's definitely A LOT to do. I can already see the slight changes Singapore has been experiencing over the past years. One example is that in Watson's (like Boots, or Etos for the Dutch readers) the Durex condoms are in a rack next to the cash register in plain sight WAAAA soo progressive and liberal, lah! ("lah" = common suffix here by the way just like in Malaysia). Wanted to pick up a simple Singaporean Singtel sim card for my phone and even for pre-paid they need a passport so have to go back to get one. Will pass it on asap to those who want it. Tonight I'm going to meet up with Giovanna who will be room mate for the rest of the year. She's busy all day with a La Perla fashion show somewhere in town, I better get an invite next time... :) Alright gonna head back with my passport this time.


(My new best friend :) haha)

Singapore, here I come!

I know times passes quickly, but this is high-speed supersonic stuff we're talking about. I'm moving to Singapore in less than 3 weeks!! I remember the time when I still had months and months ahead of me... So going to pack up my stuff here, say bye to my friends and then move to the Switzerland of Asia for half a year. I'm actually especially looking forward to the food :)