Daniel in Singapore

Vor Kurzem im ZDF: Ein hinkender Vergleich zwischen Singapore und Berlin.

Link zur Dokumentation

Many many thanks to all my colleagues and the Koelnmesse management for the memorable farewell lunch in Raffles Hotel and all the goodbye gifts I received. Also a special thanks to all the colleagues that joined me for the farewell dinner last week and treated me for another lunch on Monday. Now you finally get rid of me . Hope to see you again soon.

Wer den Film "The Beach" mit Leonardo di Caprio gesehen hat kennt Phi Phi Island zumindest aus dem TV. Viele der Straende sind aber aufgrund uebertriebenen Tourismus leider nicht mehr so schoen und einsam, wie sie in dem Film zu sehen sind. Dank eines Tipps von Philipp haben wir jedoch einen der noch relativ unberuehrten Straende fuer einen Wochenendausflug zu Ostern gefunden.

Mehr Eindruecke gibt es nur per Photos, da mir die verbleibende Zeit in Singapore bis Donnerstag zu schade ist, um sie vor dem Laptop zu verbringen.

Hier findet ihr mehr Fotos aus China.

Schaut euch das folgenden YouTube-Video zur Geschichte Singapores an. Super lustig, zumindest fuer alle die selbst hier waren und ein wenig Singlish und Kultur mitbekommen haben...



Fuer alle anderen kann die folgende Textmitschrift und -erklaerung helfen. Stammt nicht von mir, sondern wurde im Internet geklaut (daher auch in Englisch):

''Sang Nila, Utama
Saw a lion, alamak
Name the village Singapura, then run very far

Sang Nila Utama was the legendary prince in Indonesia who saw a lion in the island of Temasek (you might want to know that lions are not native to this part of the world!). Alamak is Malay for “O My God!” and is an exclamation similar in use in the western world. Singa is lion, pura is city in Malay, so Singapura means “lion city”. This legendary prince never returned to this part of the world.

Years later, ang mor came
Stamford Raffles was his name
Posed for statues very nice, we kenna colonize

The colloquial term for Caucasians is “ang mor”, from the Hokkien min-nan for “red hair”. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was the founder of the colony, and his statue still overlooks Raffles Quay today. In Malay, “kenna” means “hit” but in the Singaporean context, it could mean “to be”.

Singapura very strong
Big guns all, pointing wrong
Japanese, came on bikes, invade us from our backside

Singapore was the impregnable fortress, and an important lynchpin in the protection of the British empire. Several powerful naval guns were placed at Labrador and Pulau Belakang Mati (today we call that island Sentosa) and would have been a serious threat to any sea-borned invasion. Unfortunately, the Japanese landed in the Malayan peninsula and came speedily using…bicycles. The British were caught totally unawares and capitulated quickly - even though they outnumbered the Japanese possibly 8 to 1. General Percival (Commander of the British forces) was not aware that General Yamashita was playing the bluff - and really believed that he had a Royal Flush in his hand.

War is over, ang mor back
Singaporeans no respect
Commies come, make a fuss, Singapore independance!

The locals suffered a lot during the war (the British were allowed to sail back to the UK). They were badly oppressed by the Japanese and realised then that they were responsible for their own defence, and that the colonial masters would never take them as equals. The communist uprising began during the early 50s, and were the beginning of the end for the British, who finally gave Singapore self-government in 1959.

CHORUS
I live in Singapura
It’s not perfect living
But at least it’s interesting
I live in Singapura
Though it’s kind of crazy
We win other country

Uh…the English here is very obvious, though the grammar is kind of funny. Well, that’s Singlish for you I guess.

David Marshall, Lim Yew Hock
National Anthem starts to rock
Yusof Ishak the big man, guess who’s PM?

David Marshall was our first Chief Minister, followed by Lim Yew Hock. Around this time, our National Anthem begun to be written. Yusof Ishak was our first President, and Lee Kuan Yew our first Prime Minister after the People’s Action Party began to become prominent in politics.

Malaysia say, come join me
Two of us be same country
Then not happy, Then make PM cry

We joined the Malayan union in 1963. It was a difficult time for everyone - UMNO (the ruling party in Malaysia) believed that Malaysia is meant for the Malays, while PAP (the ruling party in Singapore) believed that Malaysia is meant for the Malaysians. The resulting racial riots forced Mr Tunku Abdul Rahman to “invite” Singapore out of the Malaysian union. Mr Lee Kuan Yew actually shed a tear in front of TV when he made that announcement back in 1965. Singapore, a poor third-world country of only 600 sqkm, was on its own.

PM Lee lead country
Build jurong and HDB
Made the country clean and green, opposition cannot win

Jurong is the major industrial estate of Singapore. The Housing and Development Board is in charge of public housing (which houses 80% of Singaporeans!). The country became so clean (here clean refers to corruption) and green (Singapore has so much greenery that it has often been referred to as the “Garden City”). The state of the opposition parties in Singapore is…well…negligible if you want to say it nicely, and pathetic if you want to be frank about it.

JB Jeya no more funds,
Chee Soon Juan won’t eat his buns
Lim How Doong, what a goon, “Don’t talk cock” in parliament

JB Jeyaratnam is a very seasoned opposition party leader (of the Worker’s Party before Low Thia Khiang took over) who has been sued in courts for defamation till he was bankrupt many times over. Persons in bankruptcy are not allowed to stand for elections for government in Singapore. Dr Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party has also been sued many times, and had been in jail (threatening hunger strikes many times) for his brushes against the law. Lim How Doong from the Singapore Democratic Party got elected into parliament in the 90s but proved himself totally incompetent at running a ward, and was well known for spouting rubbish during parliament sessions. The colloquial “talk cock” means to spout nonsense.

Kick out from Malaysian Cup
Michael Faye pain in the butt
S-League, Tea Dancing
Ah Bengs love Modern Talking

The Malaysian Cup was the highlight of many Singaporeans and a focus of nationalist pride, as the Singaporean team would play against the other Malaysian states. Unfortunately, again we got “invited” out over alleged match-fixing issues. The S-League was created to take its place, but with the tiny domestic market, it was doomed to fail.

Michael Faye was an American vandal who got caned (and created a diplomatic furore) when he fell foul of the law. Tea-dancing among youths also began to be popular (because of the rule that says only those 21 and above can enter discos). Modern Talking was a German Eurobeat duo who sang very lovely songs. Ah Beng is the colloquial term for any “lower-classed” Chinese (from the fact that Beng is a common name given to Hokkien Min-nan children…I’m a Seng ). Apparently Modern Talking is very popular among them…but I like their music too!

MacDonald’s Hello Kitty
Everyone drink bubble tea
Crushing cockroach Margaret Chan
James Lye is The VR Man

The Hello Kitty toy given by MacDonald’s for each meal bought created a craze and long queues outside many stores. I remembered having to specifically hunt for MacDonald’s in obscure places to grab a meal - and buy the toy. The bubble-tea craze from Taiwan also caught on in the island and soon they were sprouting all over the place.

Margaret Chan is a local actress whose character (I can’t remember which show) sprouted this line, “I’ll crush him like a cockcroach!” As for James Lye, the handsome beefy model, the TV series VR Man (yeah, super-heroes in Singapore) was best forgotten. It was canned after a few episodes of cheesiness.

Reclaimation, Tuas Causeway
Malaysian water buay ho sei
Mahathir’s friend Datuk Anwar
Mahathir says he’s Chow Ah Quah

The issue of land reclaimation by Singapore was also another cause of complaints by Malaysia, who insisted that we had infringed upon international rights. Hague would clear us of that charge. On the insistence of Dr Mahatir (Prime Minister of Malaysia then), both nations built a second Causeway at Tuas - a super white elephant with minimal traffic. We also extended our water lease with Malaysia till 2061, ensuring that they would sell us untreated water till then. The colloquial buay (sell) and ho sei (very good, or definitely ok) is derived from Hokkien Min-nan.

Malaysian politics also featured prominently when Dr Mahatir’s protege Anwar fell out with him. A campaign accusing him of homosexuality was waged and Anwar later jailed (homosexuality is a criminal offence in Malaysia). The colloquial chow (smelly) ah qua (little shrivelled one - could mean either an effeminate person or a homosexual) is derived from Hokkien Min-nan.

NDP, aunties rush
Everyone it’s fun to flush
Bubble gums are all banned
Ask your friends buy from Thailand

The National Day Parade (NDP), held once a year, is meant for all citizens of Singapore. Citizens would need to queue up for the complementary tickets. Such queues normally attracts a lot of old ladies with nothing to do (we call any older lady an “auntie” in Singapore). Most of them, I suspect, are after the “goodies” given out with a nice bag at each parade.

Singapore carried out a long and successful campaign, with posters all over the toilets in Singapore encouraging the people to flush after use. With a SGD1000 fine hanging over those who were caught not flushing, people learnt in a hurry!

Chewing gum was banned in Singapore in the 80s, and are still banned today (except for medicinal use, like cigarette patches…and that requires a prescription!). Those who try to get around the ban by importing from other countries like Thailand face risk of fines if they were caught!

Driving car, not funny
Bid on cars with C-O-E
E-R-P, Road Tax
PARF until I want to barf

Cars are ridiculously overpriced in Singapore. To own a car, you’d need to bid for a licence to own one (the Certificate of Entitlement, or COE). For many small capacity cars, the COE to own one is almost as expensive as the car itself. The duties (Additional Registration Fee) levied on the car is another 200%, that the dealer would pass to the customer.

Each year, the owner has to pay a Road Tax which varies depending on the capacity of the car (several hundred to thousands of dollars). Gantry points are also placed at strategic locations throughout the island, and motorists passing through these gantries have to pay tolls of several dollars each time (automatically deducted through a device in the car).

And finally, after 10 years of usage, a car can be scrapped to redeem part of its import duties (Partial Additional Registration Fee - PARF). Most owners would prefer to do that and buy a new car. These “scrapped” cars normally ended up in overseas used car markets!

IR locals have to pay
Foreign talents are OK
Housing estates upgrade by
Contractors who go pok kai

The Integrated Resorts is a plan by Singapore for our very own casinos to compete with those in the region (like the one in Malaysia). Locals who want to go into the casinos have to pay an entrance fee of SGD2000.

Singapore has very friendly policies for foreign expatriates - termed “foreign talents”. There’s a reason why people like to work in Singapore! Singapore was also hit in recent years by a spate of bankruptcies (pok kai - colloquial term meaning empty pockets, not too sure where it’s derived from) among housing contractors, leaving unfinished projects that the government has to mop up.

IMF come must smile more
Want to protest go indoor
L-R-T, not so fast
NeWater they laugh at us

When the International Monetary Fund came, Singaporeans were exhorted to smile at the delegates. Many NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) and interest groups wanted to take the opportunity to protest, but Singapore mobilised the police (including the riot guards!) and insisted all protests take place indoors in designed areas! Chee Soon Juan tried to take the protest outdoors and was promptly arrested.

The Light Rail Transit system (LRT) was supposed to solve the problems of transport in the housing estates, but it kept breaking down and creating problems. I wonder if the issue has been solved yet.

Singapore’s R&D position in water research is world class (the only R&D thing we’re world class in I think!). We had technologies to desalinate water cheaply, to create water from the existing water vapour in the air, and with NeWater - to recycle sewage and convert it to (prepare to gasp) drinking water! By the time the treaty with Malaysia expires in 2061, Singapore would be self-sufficient in water. Yes, and we really were laughed at in many countries’ media when we finally perfected NeWater.

Baby bonus, maid levy
Singtel shares give out for free
Jack Neo, Kit Chan
Sexy pastor Ho Yeow Sun

To arrest the decline in the number of children born, the government decided to give out the Baby bonus for couples with their first to fourth children. Not too fantastic, at just several thousand dollars, but it’s a sign of the social engineering being attempted. The Maid Levy is about SGD345 monthly for residents who want to hire a maid (on top of the maid’s salary of about SGD300-500 each month, agent fees and a SGD5000 bond placed with the government). Singaporeans with children below 12 can enjoy a maid levy of “only” SGD295.

The government created a bull run in the Stock Exchange of Singapore when they privatise and gave out shares of the local telco SingTel (before others like M1 and StarHub came in) to all citizens.

Jack Neo is a director and actor who has helmed several acclaimed local productions. Kit Chan is one of our earliest entertainers to make it in the overseas market (she got her start there). Her contemporary is possibly Stephanie Sun (she got her start overseas). Ho Yeow Sun was the Associate Pastor of City Harvest Church (the largest church in Singapore) when she entered the entertainment scene (she got her start overseas - are you getting the pattern already?). She created a furore with a sexy red dress she wore for an award presentation.

Beckham parties with models
Has affair but no one knows
S-League, go World Cup
Can come true if they don’t suck

I’m not too sure about this Beckham thing - anyone can enlighten me? The Minister in charge of the S-League declared that by 2010, Singapore will enter the World Cup. Nobody dares to even speak of that in whispers now - our S-League was such a miserable failure that we could not even garner sufficient talents to win the SEA (South East Asian) games, much less the World Cup.

Mahathir then Abdullah
Bar top dancing at the bars
Budget airlines start to pak
Stop speaking Singlish lah

Adullah Badawi became the new Prime Minister of Malaysia after Mahatir stepped down. Bar-top dancing (where you dance on the bar-top) became legal in Singapore. I know it sounds ridiculous, but yes, it used to be illegal to dance on the bar-top due to “safety concerns”!

Budget airlines began to fly from Singapore. The colloquial pak (to hit, but in this case it means to move) is derived from Hokkien Min-nan.

The government also (rightfully they should!) began to be worried over the ability of our citizens to speak proper English - the creole Singlish has become so much a part of the landscape that foreigners find it difficult to understand our speech. A campaign (goodness!) was set up to encourage citizens to speak proper English.

Gay is OK say PM
SM Lee go be MM
PM Lee the same name
Here we go all over again

The new Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, son of Lee Kuan Yew, who took over from Mr Goh Chok Tong, proved to be somewhat more open than his father. He allowed homosexuals to come out from the closet but it would be a long time before Singapore would open up further than that. His father became the Minister Mentor (MM) when Mr Goh took over his former title of Senior Minister (SM). I’ll leave the readers to figure out why the lyrics say “here we go all over again”. ''

Seit Donnerstag bin ich fuer 10 Tage in Guangzhou in China. Um einen Blogeintrag nicht wieder an meiner Bequemlichkeit scheitern zu lassen, versuche ich gleich mal die ein oder andere Besonderheit Merkwuerdigkeit aus China zu beschreiben.

Jetta rules Guangzhou

Bereits nach unserer Ankunft am Flughafen wurde schnell klar, dass VW irgendwann vor langer Zeit in China mal einen riesen Verkaufsdeal gemacht haben muss. Mindestens 80% aller gesehenen Taxen sind von der Marke VW Jetta. Sie zeigen Deutschland allerdings nicht gerade von der besten Seite, da diese 80% zu 99% sehr alt und ausgelutscht sind.

Guangzhou selbst

Ebenso wie die Taxen sieht auch Guangzhou sehr alt und ausgelutscht aus. Viele graue und alte Gebaeude gepaart mit permanent smoggiger Luft ueberall machen es nicht gerade attraktiv. Viel konnte ich allerdings aufgrund der extrem langen Arbeitszeiten bisher nicht sehen, von daher besteht noch Hoffnung auf Besserung.

Chinesen

Meine Kollegen und Bekannten in Singapore reden immer recht abwertend ueber Chinesen. Aussagen wie "People from China cannot make it lah" (Engl.: People from China are weird / Deutsch: 'China Chinesen' sind ein komisches Volk) sind keine Seltenheit. Und sie haben recht. Ich kenne zumindest eine Person in meiner Familie (Hallo Mama) die es hier nicht lange aushalten wuerde. Es wird an jeder Ecke kraeftig die Nase hochgezogen, geruelpst und gespuckt. Sogar in den Ausstellungshallen auf den sauber gefliesten Boden (uebrigens neben meinem Hotelzimmer der einzig saubere Boden bisher). Ausserdem wird man oft von einem recht strengem Geruch begleitet, besonders wenn man morgens aus der MRT kommt und die Menge von Messearbeitern passiert.

Sprachbarriere

Anfangs war ich der einzige nicht chinesisch sprechende Mitarbeiter von Koelnmesse. Haette ich meine Kollegen nicht gehabt, waere ich echt verloren gewesen. Man findet wirklich nur sehr wenige Leute hier, mit denen man sich auf Englisch unterhalten kann. Besonders Taxifahrer haben mit Fremdsprachen gar nichts am Hut. Das Positive an der ganzen Sache ist, dass ich dadurch, dass auch meine Kollegen oft Chinesisch sprechen, ab und an mal das ein oder andere Wort aufschnappen kann. Um meinem Lebenslauf neben der in den letzten Monaten erworbenen dritten Fremdsprache Singlish aber auch noch Mandarin hinzuzufuegen, reicht es aber noch nicht.

Essen

Bevor ich her kam, habe ich mich gefragt, ob es stimmt, dass Chinesen wirklich nahezu alles essen, was man so finden kann! Gibt es wirklich Hund und Katze? Schaut euch einfach die folgenden Bilder an...





Nein, sie wurden nicht im Zoo aufgenommen. Die Photos stammen aus einem Seafood Restaurant, in dem man sich den Fisch bzw. das Krokodil, die Schildkroete oder den Wasserkaefer frisch und noch lebend aussuchen kann. Den Hund auf der Speisekarte habe ich dann einen Abend spaeter angetroffen... Unglaublich. Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass man ebenso nicht lange suchen muss, um eine frisch gefangene Katze serviert zu bekommen. Guten Appetit.

Hotel

Um aber auch noch was Positives Berichten zu koennen, hier noch ein paar Fotos von meinem echt ordentlichen 5 Sterne Marriott Hotel.

Am vergangenen Wochenende ging es wie die Photos ja schon zeigten mit Crystal nach Tioman. Da ich Donnerstags und Freitags meine beiden letzten Urlaubstage gluecklicherweise doch noch nehmen konnte, konnten wir uns schon Freitags morgens auf den Weg in das verlaengerte Wochenende machen. Mit dem Linienbus ging es morgens um 6 in Richtung Johor Bahru (JB) und von JB aus dann widerrum im Bus nach Larkin, einem groesseren Busbahnhof nahe der singapurisch-malayischen Grenze. Dort hiess es dann erstmal erfolglos nach dem verlorenen Handy fahnden. Um neben dem Handy nicht auch noch wertvolle Zeit zu verlieren, entschlossen wir uns dann von dort aus ein Taxi nach Mersing zu nehmen, was man seinem Geldbeutel bei malayischen Preisen durchaus zumuten kann (110 MYR, das sind etwa 25 EUR). Zwei Stunden spaeter in Mersing angekommen ging es mit der Faehre weiter nach Tioman, wo sich die Suche nach einer geeigneten Unterkunft schwieriger als erwartet herausstellte.



Einige Zeit spaeter wurden wir aber im Salang Sayang Resort fuendig und der Urlaub konnte schliesslich richtig beginnen. Den Rest des Tages verbrachten wir erst mal mit in der Sonne liegen sowie Schwimmen und abends ging es dann zum Seafood BBQ am Strand. Anschliessend noch ein wenig Musik in der Haengematte direkt am Strand und dann mit reichlich Moskitostichen ins Bett, um am naechsten Morgen frueh zum Tauchen aufzustehen. Tauchen ist der eigentliche Grund, warum Tioman einen so guten Ruf hat. Die gut erreichbaren Straende dort sind fuer malayische/asiatische Verhaeltnisse naemlich nicht mehr als durchschnittlich, die Unterwasserwelt dafuer aber umso besser. Waehrend unserer Tauchgaenge sahen wir neben einer recht grossen Schildkroete mehrere blaue Stachelrochen (trifft man sonst vorwiegend auf dem Teller beim Foodcourt um die Ecke), eine Riesenmuraene sowie zahlreiches anderes Zeug, dessen Namen ich aber nicht kenne. Und das Beste daran ist, dass man dies alles in so warmem Wasser findet, dass man nicht mal einen schuetzenden Neoprenanzug braucht.



Das Ende des zweiten Tages bestand dann wieder aus Entspannen am Strand und anschliessendem Abendessen. Sonntags machten wir uns dann gegen Nachmittag wieder auf den Rueckweg nach Singapore.

Der Trip war auch wegen der kleinen Reisegruppe sicherlich mit der Beste den ich in meiner Zeit hier gemacht habe. Daher freue ich mich auch schon auf Phi Phi Island vom 06. bis 08. April.

Diejenigen die meinen Blog regelmaessig lesen erinnern sich wahrscheinlich an diesen Eintrag. Da ich am Wochenende meine Handy verloren habe, habe ich nun "gluecklicherweise" endlich die Chance mir ein neues zu kaufen. Juhuuu. Das fuer mich groessere Uebel an dem Ganzen ist aber eigentlich, dass saemtliche Kontaktdaten verloren sind. Also her damit (Festnetz- und Handynummer, Email) per Email. Naja, wenigstens meine Kollegen hat es gefreut, da sie sich nun fleissig auf die Suche nach einem neuen Handy fuer mich machen koennen.