4 ms·

Not OP, but I found Singapore to be rather hell-ish. It feels like one giant American mall, with possibly too much money for its own good. HK, as a comparison,

Not OP, but I found Singapore to be rather hell-ish. It feels like one giant American mall, with possibly too much money for its own good. HK, as a comparison, has preserved its character and charm, with life on the streets and many unique neighborhoods. Singapore happens when you think SimCity is realistic: the primacy of the automobile, the belief that one additional Starbucks is always better than one marginal tree, the instinct that any public meeting must be broken up, unless it’s a queueueueueue (a long queue) at an Apple Store, etc. It’s completely identical to Dubai or any of the Gulf metropolis, only with rain. The #1 Thing to Do in Singapour is taking the bridge to Malaysia, and never coming back. They think they can demolish the brutalism, but it’s already too late: it must be in the water supply. Anything built after ca 1980 is still brutalism, only with glass. When you get to Singapore, you take a $50 rise to the city center, and wonder why you are still in the airport. Singapore is what happens when you don’t allow creative people the occasional drag of a joint: they take revenge, and make you live in it.

sjwright 8y ago
The parent is a controversial opinion and one that I do not entirely share, but as a person who has lived in Singapore for a while I am comfortable saying that it's a legitimate, plausible opinion. To the people down-voting it because you disagree, please rescind your vote and supply a rebuttal in words.
- fhe 8y ago
  agreed.
- shaki-dora 8y ago
  It’s fine, I was arguably overdoing it for comedic effect. Still, for Americans especially, I believe there are destinations in SE Asia that are far more rewarding than Sing Sing. If you need the economic environment, HK would be an obvious choice, and maybe Shanghai. If you are doing remote work, the list becomes far longer. I spent three years in different cities worldwide in ca. 3-month intervals before getting stuck in Berlin, and I would recommend Barcelona, Florence, HK, Australia’s east coast, Melbourne, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Rabat, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Beirut (check the local war forecast), and Havanna.
  - tyu1000 8y ago
    No, it's not. Downvotes are not for opinions you disagree with.
    - CaptainZapp 8y ago
      I agree, but will never ever comment on this (in a thread, where I'm downvoted). The worst is being downvoted for the dissemination of fact, ideally supported by sources. Some lesser smart members of this fine forum seem to even downvote comments like this if they dare to go against the party line. Then again, and as the moderators outline correctly, it's often auto-corrective and I, for one, upvote comments, which are unfairly downvoted. No matter their merits. Edit : Clarification
  - Gigablah 8y ago
    At least you didn’t quote William Gibson.
    - kirvyteo 8y ago
      Lol...I was waiting...
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    I've only visited once and for a weekend. My prejudices were not quite reflected in what I actually saw, since I came totally prepared to hate the living bejeezes out of this place. It's not quite as black and white. What impressed me most was the garden at the bay. Where they invested a cool billion to build a garden on the most expensive (reclaimed) real estate in the world. The food is fantastic too. I understand why my parents loved it. It's instant asia without the hangover you get in places like Bangkok, or Kuala Lumpur. That said, and while I didn't totally hate it a weekend is fine and I don't really need to go back. The comparison with Dubai seems apt. If you're not into shopping malls it's mostly a rather drab place. And there's always the slight undercurrent of fascism, which I intensly disliked. I got the strong impression that if you don't go with the flow you're a pariah and a social outcast. It also doesn't help that they charge roughly S$ 20 (and up) for a bloody beer at any place, which is halfway in the city center. It's a place where happy hour really makes sense. So, if I want a huge city with unmatched shopping oportunities, which has still a lot to offer in terms of liveability I rather chose Tokyo.
- newen 8y ago
  Same. I lived in Singapore for a few years and it can be a horrible place to live. Great place to visit though.
  - puranjay 8y ago
    I visited Singapore once to visit a close friend. I had the impression that it was a city designed for work, and that very little of it grew organically. But then, I'm a bad judge of cities since I find comfort in the chaos of Delhi. I did like how walkable Singapore is.
- TulliusCicero 8y ago
  I once had a comment flagged and had dang personally warn me over saying that Germany was surprisingly backwards at consumer tech (I explained in more detail what I meant, of course). HN generally doesn't like 'inflammatory' comments. It's part of both the culture and policies.
  - rdl 8y ago
    I've heard many Germans say that, and it seems pretty obvious from visiting and working with German products. (They love engineering things, but are slow to change once something works, is probably the best description. This leads to really long product cycles and ecosystems of incremental improvement, associated products, etc., which makes it hard to switch. Asia and the US are probably the extreme other end of that (in different areas) -- often not as well engineered, but fast to adopt the newest stuff, and through competition, if one firm's product becomes vulnerable, someone else can replace it, even if the original firm milks their old product for longer.)
  - chillacy 8y ago
    I see what you’re saying, it’s sort of typical west coast culture. But I think you can convey the same content with more gentle phrasing.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
sjwright 8y ago
> HK, as a comparison, has preserved its character and charm I don't think that's entirely fair. The way I like to describe it is that Singapore is Asian-Sydney and Hong Kong is Asian-New York. All are world-class cities, but Hong Kong and New York have deep and diverse layers of culture and subculture that are immediately apparent to the most casual of observer. Sydney and Singapore have plenty of depth which is easy for residents to see but for tourists it isn't nearly so obvious. (Disclaimer: I live in Sydney.)
- mlrtime 8y ago
  I like to use the Singapore=Chicago(downtown) Hong Kong=New York. Chicago is clean with great architecture, New York never sleeps, raw gritty.
- spacehunt 8y ago
  Interesting, when I was living in Melbourne I thought of Sydney as an Aussie-HK. (Before Melbourne I lived in HK until I was 10.) Obviously not fair to both cities.
barry-cotter 8y ago
> Singapore happens when you think SimCity is realistic: the primacy of the automobile, the belief that one additional Starbucks is always better than one marginal tree, the instinct that any public meeting must be broken up, unless it’s a queueueueueue (a long queue) at an Apple Store, etc. My abiding memory of Singapore is of visiting after about five months without leaving Shanghai and feeling like I was communing with nature. Everything seemed to be either a road, a building, a tree or a park. And there was a lot of park. One day I left my hotel at eight or nine and just walked until I got to the coast. It was amazing and there is no way to do anything similar in the equivalent area of Shanghai. For six months afterwards I would occasionally think of what a hideous wasted opportunity Pudong was in terms of urban planning. Thirty years ago it was farmland and now it’s city but it’s the worst kind of horrible car centric two lanes each way hellhole without adequate parks. When I got to Singapore in the airport I saw the slogan, “Not a garden city, a city in a garden”. I obviously thought it was total bullshit but it wasn’t, it was amazing. To be honest I’d rather live in Hong Kong because the food and hiking are better but Singapore is still a great, great place to visit.
paultopia 8y ago
OMG the mallishness. I went there to teach an intensive mini-course a few years ago, and lost my voice in 2 days from the constant air conditioned everything.
exidy 8y ago
I really cannot get my head around this comment. Are you referring to one of the few (only?) cities on earth that caps the total number of vehicles on the road[1]? That has more urban green space than Sydney, Sacramento or Vancouver[2]? That has built 200 km of subway in 30 years[3]? I am not a citizen of Singapore but I am a resident. There are plenty of valid criticisms to be made but I don't recognise the city you are describing. I feel perhaps you never stepped out of River Valley. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement [2] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/not-a-concrete-jungle-singapore-beats-16-cities-in-green-urban-areas https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/not-a-con... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Rapid_Transit_(Singapore) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Rapid_Transit_(Singapore)

sjwright 8y ago

The parent is a controversial opinion and one that I do not entirely share, but as a person who has lived in Singapore for a while I am comfortable saying that it's a legitimate, plausible opinion. To the people down-voting it because you disagree, please rescind your vote and supply a rebuttal in words.

fhe 8y ago
agreed.
shaki-dora 8y ago
It’s fine, I was arguably overdoing it for comedic effect. Still, for Americans especially, I believe there are destinations in SE Asia that are far more rewarding than Sing Sing. If you need the economic environment, HK would be an obvious choice, and maybe Shanghai. If you are doing remote work, the list becomes far longer. I spent three years in different cities worldwide in ca. 3-month intervals before getting stuck in Berlin, and I would recommend Barcelona, Florence, HK, Australia’s east coast, Melbourne, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Rabat, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Beirut (check the local war forecast), and Havanna.
- tyu1000 8y ago
  No, it's not. Downvotes are not for opinions you disagree with.
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    I agree, but will never ever comment on this (in a thread, where I'm downvoted). The worst is being downvoted for the dissemination of fact, ideally supported by sources. Some lesser smart members of this fine forum seem to even downvote comments like this if they dare to go against the party line. Then again, and as the moderators outline correctly, it's often auto-corrective and I, for one, upvote comments, which are unfairly downvoted. No matter their merits. Edit : Clarification
- Gigablah 8y ago
  At least you didn’t quote William Gibson.
  - kirvyteo 8y ago
    Lol...I was waiting...
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  I've only visited once and for a weekend. My prejudices were not quite reflected in what I actually saw, since I came totally prepared to hate the living bejeezes out of this place. It's not quite as black and white. What impressed me most was the garden at the bay. Where they invested a cool billion to build a garden on the most expensive (reclaimed) real estate in the world. The food is fantastic too. I understand why my parents loved it. It's instant asia without the hangover you get in places like Bangkok, or Kuala Lumpur. That said, and while I didn't totally hate it a weekend is fine and I don't really need to go back. The comparison with Dubai seems apt. If you're not into shopping malls it's mostly a rather drab place. And there's always the slight undercurrent of fascism, which I intensly disliked. I got the strong impression that if you don't go with the flow you're a pariah and a social outcast. It also doesn't help that they charge roughly S$ 20 (and up) for a bloody beer at any place, which is halfway in the city center. It's a place where happy hour really makes sense. So, if I want a huge city with unmatched shopping oportunities, which has still a lot to offer in terms of liveability I rather chose Tokyo.
newen 8y ago
Same. I lived in Singapore for a few years and it can be a horrible place to live. Great place to visit though.
- puranjay 8y ago
  I visited Singapore once to visit a close friend. I had the impression that it was a city designed for work, and that very little of it grew organically. But then, I'm a bad judge of cities since I find comfort in the chaos of Delhi. I did like how walkable Singapore is.
TulliusCicero 8y ago
I once had a comment flagged and had dang personally warn me over saying that Germany was surprisingly backwards at consumer tech (I explained in more detail what I meant, of course). HN generally doesn't like 'inflammatory' comments. It's part of both the culture and policies.
- rdl 8y ago
  I've heard many Germans say that, and it seems pretty obvious from visiting and working with German products. (They love engineering things, but are slow to change once something works, is probably the best description. This leads to really long product cycles and ecosystems of incremental improvement, associated products, etc., which makes it hard to switch. Asia and the US are probably the extreme other end of that (in different areas) -- often not as well engineered, but fast to adopt the newest stuff, and through competition, if one firm's product becomes vulnerable, someone else can replace it, even if the original firm milks their old product for longer.)
- chillacy 8y ago
  I see what you’re saying, it’s sort of typical west coast culture. But I think you can convey the same content with more gentle phrasing.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

sjwright 8y ago

> HK, as a comparison, has preserved its character and charm I don't think that's entirely fair. The way I like to describe it is that Singapore is Asian-Sydney and Hong Kong is Asian-New York. All are world-class cities, but Hong Kong and New York have deep and diverse layers of culture and subculture that are immediately apparent to the most casual of observer. Sydney and Singapore have plenty of depth which is easy for residents to see but for tourists it isn't nearly so obvious. (Disclaimer: I live in Sydney.)

mlrtime 8y ago
I like to use the Singapore=Chicago(downtown) Hong Kong=New York. Chicago is clean with great architecture, New York never sleeps, raw gritty.
spacehunt 8y ago
Interesting, when I was living in Melbourne I thought of Sydney as an Aussie-HK. (Before Melbourne I lived in HK until I was 10.) Obviously not fair to both cities.

barry-cotter 8y ago

> Singapore happens when you think SimCity is realistic: the primacy of the automobile, the belief that one additional Starbucks is always better than one marginal tree, the instinct that any public meeting must be broken up, unless it’s a queueueueueue (a long queue) at an Apple Store, etc. My abiding memory of Singapore is of visiting after about five months without leaving Shanghai and feeling like I was communing with nature. Everything seemed to be either a road, a building, a tree or a park. And there was a lot of park. One day I left my hotel at eight or nine and just walked until I got to the coast. It was amazing and there is no way to do anything similar in the equivalent area of Shanghai. For six months afterwards I would occasionally think of what a hideous wasted opportunity Pudong was in terms of urban planning. Thirty years ago it was farmland and now it’s city but it’s the worst kind of horrible car centric two lanes each way hellhole without adequate parks. When I got to Singapore in the airport I saw the slogan, “Not a garden city, a city in a garden”. I obviously thought it was total bullshit but it wasn’t, it was amazing. To be honest I’d rather live in Hong Kong because the food and hiking are better but Singapore is still a great, great place to visit.

paultopia 8y ago

OMG the mallishness. I went there to teach an intensive mini-course a few years ago, and lost my voice in 2 days from the constant air conditioned everything.

exidy 8y ago

I really cannot get my head around this comment. Are you referring to one of the few (only?) cities on earth that caps the total number of vehicles on the road[1]? That has more urban green space than Sydney, Sacramento or Vancouver[2]? That has built 200 km of subway in 30 years[3]? I am not a citizen of Singapore but I am a resident. There are plenty of valid criticisms to be made but I don't recognise the city you are describing. I feel perhaps you never stepped out of River Valley. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement [2] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/not-a-concrete-jungle-singapore-beats-16-cities-in-green-urban-areas https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/not-a-con... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Rapid_Transit_(Singapore) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Rapid_Transit_(Singapore)