Oh, Singapore, you are a welcome home.

We landed in Singapore on the 20th, planning on staying just a few days. But we’ve loved it so much that we are now slated to depart on my birthday, the 25th. I want to copy The Private Eye and have a passport stamp on my birthday.

Singapore, a glittering, urban metropolis where everyone meets in hawkers plazas, food courts serving fantastic street food and dishes from China, Indonesia, India, and more. After 20 days in Bali, Jakarta, and the Gilis, the best Indonesian food I’ve had was here in Singapore. Admittedly, it cost $5 rather than $2, but still, it was vibrant and spicy and sharp in contrast to the comforting but ultimately a bit boring I found in Indonesia.

Singapore, a nation so small and dense that most people do not own a car, and so subway rides across 20 km are $2. Where the primary language is English in theory, but in day to day interactions it’s Chinese and many seem unable to speak much English. There are four official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. So many signs are big and have three different alphabets on them. It’s illegal to sell chewing gum, spit on the street, or bring a durian into the subway.

Singapore, with an enormous zoo so fantastic it deserves a post of its own. Panda bears quietly napping, red pandas looking down at you from their den, flying foxes soaring above your head, false gurials, orangutans holding hands with keepers, Komodo dragons lazily sunning, and so much more. We arrived at noon, thinking we’d have plenty of time, and were some of the last to be shooed out at 6:30.

Singapore, whose Chingay parade began in response to the banning of firecrackers in 1972 and is now watched by over 1.5 million Singaporeans. Ten thousand participants, stilt walkers, floats, fire breathing dragons, visiting participants from other countries, all under the neon skyline and slowly rotating Singapore Flyer.

It is exhilarating to see Southeast Asia through a lens of ultra-modernity and prosperity.

— The Professor