I used to admire and like Singapoor - having passed through its gates many times. Now - I find it revolting.
Has Sinapoor changed or have I? I don't know - but what is clear is that my opinion of it has changed. And I'm not the only one.
But first, what is the origin of my revulsion?
Simple. I hate arrogance unbacked by substance in anyone or anything. If you're going to be proud - even arrogant - you'd better have the goods to back it up.
'Put up or Shut up' I think the saying goes.
Singapoor used to be a place i admired for its order, cleanliness, safety and welcoming spirit. Not to mention the great eating and shopping. I don't feel that anymore. Now - on arrival - it feels like I've just landed in the Nazi-Republic.
Two incidents i personally endured [and will share later in this posting] and one my seatmate on the outgoing flight shared, should illustrate this point well.
Then there is the question of Value for Money. Singapoor used to be a great place to stop over - have a good meal at a fair price and continue on. Or if one had more time - exit the airport into the country and enjoy more of the same. Good food. Good accommodation. Good shopping and entertainment. All first-world quality at most reasonable prices.
No. I didn't say things were cheap. But by the price/quality standards you'd find in Western Europe, North America or Japan, things were reasonable. It was a haven. An oasis of civility and safety with a charm and welcome to match.
The operative word here is WAS.
One illustration:
It's a real small thing, but on this most recent trip I did as I've always done on arrival in Singapoor. I purchased a local SIM card for my mobile.
Though it had only been 6 months since my last visit - the price had tripled. Last time, there were phone cards available for Sing$10. Now the cheapest were 28 and 33, depending on your choice of carrier.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
I bought that card, spent the money as I always do - why? To avoid roaming charges on my home-country card. Quite expensive. Not to mention - it's just so much easier and more convenient to have a local number.
I soon made the horrible discovery that my card was being debited every time i took a call - Every time I took a call my mate had already paid for.
Keep in mind - I had a local Sinapoor card. Within the city all calls should be a local call charge. That's the way it had been just a few months earlier. And any calls from outside, should be free to receive. After all - isn't that what it means to have a local card?
Anyway - that's how it's always been in the past.
But now - every time my partner called and PAID THE CHARGES at the initiating end, MY Local Singapoor Card was debited.
This had never happened before.
And the charges were quite substantial. For just under 5 minutes - I had to pay nearly as many Sing dollars. Meanwhile, my partner had ALSO paid for the call on the other end.
UNBELIEVABLE.
I would really be interested to hear the lame excuse some drone from Singapoor Telecom might attempt for this.
And it's not just that. Hotel rates have gone through the roof.
Some might say I shouldn't compare countries, but since Bahrain and Singapore share some similarities in size and location next to much bigger countries. Since both are transit points and centers of entertainment, I think the comparison is more than fair.
Recently in Bahrain, my partner and I stayed in an apartment-like hotel. It was really a suite with a full kitchen. And a beautiful rooftop pool and sauna to boot. High-speed, unfiltered in-room internet was free. Truly - it was like a little home away from home. For that we paid 90US. And the service was responsive and friendly.
No special discounts. Standard price from booking.com.
In Singapore - for 90US - you'll be lucky to find something with a simple bed and bathroom. Forget any thought of a living room suite or kitchen or finding a even hotel which is not not in the Red light district or a hotel frequented by tour groups from China.
There will be no balcony or pool. The walls will be paper thin. And there will be no extra services. Even asking for help with your bags will earn you incredulous stares of indignance. In Singapoor, their look and attitude say it all: 'I'm Sinapoorean. I don't carry bags. I'm too good for that.'
And any other services come at substantial prices for sub-par performance. [On this most recent trip, I paid 5 Sing dollars for 2 hours internet access from the hotel, but because of filtering in their system I could not access a site I needed for work. In the end, I found myself lugging my laptop to a local internet cafe in desperation.]
But for most visitors - every trip to Singapoor begins or ends with Changi. So - let's elaborate on the wonderful Singapoor Un Welcome.
On my most recent trip to the Nazi Republic, we were treated to a shocking reception. Instead of a warm welcome as we exited our flight, it was military hardware and hard stares.
As everyone was grabbing their bags, eagerly exiting the plane in anticipation of the delights awaiting them at the gates of Singapoor - we were instead met by at least 15 armed security guards directing us to a check point. Not pistols i mind you. The had serious, military rifles. And hardened suspicious looks to match.
The area where our elephant trunk emerged had been cordoned off in an isolated, empty stretch at the very end of the terminal. The rest of the gates were empty. No one but us. And the angry-looking guards.
"What's up" was my first question to myself. We're ARRIVING. This is not a departure hall. We already went through two separate checks BEFORE we boarded this plane.
When i asked one of the armed menaces, he countered with some weak excuse about a random check.
Haaa!
Ramdom my ass!
The guard might have been stupid enough to believe that. I was not.
It was obvious to anyone with a brain, that this flight had been specially routed o this unused or evacuated bit of terminal at the very end. And the artillery?
How would YOU feel?
You're expecting to see lots of people and activity. Hustling and bustling by. Carrying or pushing carts of Carry-on. Dashing to the toilets. Flights departing. And people like yourself emerging out of the elephant trunk - getting their bearings - and moving on toward the transit area or baggage claim.
The last thing you expect is ghost town-like emptiness, silence and the excessive number of guards in goosestep with such an array of military hardware on display.
At this point, you realise this was planned with a specific intent. That of instantly inducing fear in order to produce sheep-like compliance. The element of surprise was in their favour. Planned. Not random.
Humiliation endured - I was on my way. But the bitter taste remained.
But really, this shouldn't have been such a big surprise. Just less than 6 months before we had been passing through Singapoor on our way from the Middle East back to Asia.
Remembering what a shopping paradise Changi is - I had done some research ahead of time and even reserved a laptop. We also purchased a designer bag, some booze and a few other knick knacks.
But when we arrived at the gate - even after the humiliating search and seizure, they couldn't stop with insult. They had to add injury.
Suddenly we were in violation of the amount of Carry-On allowed. Hmmmm. Funny they didn't say anything about that at check in. Nor during the search and seizure. Or when they were Oh-So-Glad to take our money at the various shops.
But the most ironic part, was that the offending item - the part that made us irretrievably bad citizens and obnoxious seat companions - was not what we had packed and brought with us. No. The offending contents were the items we'd bought right there in Singapore Airport.
The very thing they encourage people to do. Some might even say, the very raison-d'etre of Changi Airport: Fly BUY Singapoor. [Actually, I've taken a bit of poetic license with the slogan used by Dubai back in the late 80's: Fly Buy Dubai.]
But i guess it's not so much that they said something. It was the way they treated us like criminals for daring to take our purchases home. Shame on us.
To be fair - I don't like it either when fellow travelers have entered the plane with clearly too much in their hands and cause everybody around them hardship as a result. That I understand. But the point is - ours was still within reason.
Let's get specific: I had a laptop and a case of important papers no one was going to separate me from. My partner had a simple, small backpack with emergency clothes in case the airline DID lose our baggage.
Actually this is another reason I feel more and more of us are carrying more and more than ever before into the cabin. Maybe more reliable, secure baggage services might alleviate the need to carry so much into the cabin in the first place...
It certainly would make life easier if we didn't have to schlep all that around the airport - into every shop and restaurant and then onto every security belt.We would love to be able to give the airline our every item and await them safely and securely on the other end. But alas, that is not the reality of flying.
So, according to their own policy we had one bag each as laptops and purses are considered exempt. And one audacious bag of goodies. Shame on us.
After a very heated and unpleasant exchange, we were allowed on the flight. But the damage was done. We vowed right then to find another transit point whenever practical. And that IF indeed there was a need to go to Singapoor or use it as a transit point, we would do our shopping elsewhere and make any stop there as short as possible.
If these 2 incidents seem small - and they are - they are nevertheless indicative of an attitude which we don't remember encountering in the past. In fact, we used to revere Sinapoor because they had found a way to maintain a first world experience without the invasion and humiliation so common in other republics of the West.
But not anymore.
Now - this city that lives and dies on trade and tourism is taking on the attitudes and ways of its more paranoid brothers in other parts of the world.
And, as I mentioned earlier, it's not just me. Other anecdotal evidence is emerging that something is very wrong in Singapoor.
My seatmate on the outgoing flight FROM Singapoor shared the following. Apparently this young university graduate had traveled with her 3 friends all over Europe and Asia this winter. Sinapoor was one of their last stops before returning home to the snow in England.
She showed me her passport and asked me the question of the day: Do you think I look like the picture in my passport?
'Why of course' was my incredulous answer. Mind you - this was a positive outgoing girl. Not the whining, complaining type in my estimation.
Well - apparently some official sitting at one of the immigration counters in the Nazi Republic had put her through the nineth degree because he didn't think she was the person in the passport. An incident she said really shook her. And not a great way to start her Singapoor leg.
Of all the countries she passed thought this winter, many with serious problems of illegal everything to deal with had not found her picture or passport to be a problem. Why only Singapoor? Why only in the Nazi Republic? What has gone wrong in Lee Kwan Yew's perfect Dreamland?
That's a question the discerning reader will have to answer for her or himself. But as for me and my mate, we believe Sinapoor is trying to imitate its more paranoid brothers - not realising it's life blood comes from its visitors.
In the final analysis - Mr. Yew's Dreamland is no longer value for money - nor is it welcoming. But rather has become the overpriced Nazi Republic. They might as well hang a sign at the gates to the city saying : Be prepared to surrender your freedom and your money upon entering here.
That at least would be more accurate and honest.
At any rate, we will be avoiding Singapoor until further notice...
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