Laws of the Land

Yesterday I got taken around by someone who works in the Singapore offices here. We went to what he called the dirtiest/most dangerous part of Singapore. It is considered dirty because the roads are not in as good as shape as the rest of the roads, but they are comparable to most roads in Portland. I'm amazed at how clean and safe this place is.

The most dangerous part of Singapore for me is crossing the road. As a child I was taught to look both ways when crossing. Left then right, then left again. In Singapore if you look left first you're gonna get hit by the car coming at you from the right. (The drive on the left side of the road here)

The reason Singapore is so safe is because of how strict their rules are. When you get off the plane you are handed a customs form to fill out to enter the country. On the back of the customs form is a notice about drugs. The penalty for dealing drugs in any capacity in Singapore is death. DEATH! If you threaten harm with anything that can be used as a weapon during a robby...DEATH! So if you hit a guy over the head with a loaf of bread and take his gum, then get caught, you will be put to death.

That would never happen though because they don't sell gum in Singapore beacuse it is illegal to chew it. If you get caught chewing gum here you get a fine, if you get caught spitting the gum out, that is considered at least littering and you face a possible caning. It can be classified as vandalism wich carries a prison sentence and caning.

Caning is the fun one to talk about. Me and a couple of co-workers took the time yesterday to talk to the locals about caning. We really wanted to see one happen, but learned that they are done in private. The use a long bamboo rod that is sharpened to a point and then dipped in warm water. You drop your drawers to expose your bare bottom. They cover your kidneys and calfs with rubber pads, if they strike you in the kidney during the caning there is a likelihood of death.

After each strike of the cane a doctor has to inspect the area to be sure that you are fit to take another strike. If you are unable, you are returned to your cell to wait until you are able to take more strikes until your sentence is fulfilled. Those who get caned usually can't do anyhting but lay on their stomach for a month. It is safe to say that repeat crime in this country is almost zero.

Needless to say these people don't play around. To be honest I'm pretty fond of it. At home you got all these people freaking out over whether or not you should spank your kid with your bare hand.

Pictures below (not pertaining to caning)...

This is what visibility turns into when it rains here. You can comapre to the picture of downtown from my previous post. Being from the Northwest I thought I new rain. This is a completely different monster.

This is the Merlion. Half lion half Mer. On the trip over my co-workers kept telling me about the Merlion but I thought they were playing with me. Turns out Singapore means Lion City. When settlers first got to the area they encountered lions, since Singapore is an island they figured they must have first had the bottom half of a fish and the Merlion was born.

This is the canopy that goes over a mall about the size of Washington Square in Beaverton. Thing is while Washington Square is a mall of retail shops, this is a mall made up entirely of bars. And since there are so many bars next to each other the competition is super fierce and each bar tries to differentiate itself, the result is that every bar is a theme bar. One bar we passed you sat in a wheel chair and drank your drink from an IV bag. Believe it or not there was also a Hooters, counterintuative to have a Hooters in Asia if you ask me.