Fruitcake Day
2007-12-27 @ 5:51 p.m.

It gets dark really early in Shanghai. I'll have to get used to it, since it'll be the same in the UK. I imagine public transport here must be hellish. It isn't until you go overseas that you start to really appreciate how safe and efficient the PAP has made Singapore. I think part of their success has to do with scale. However much land reclamation occurs, Singapore is never going to be more than one tiny island accompanied by a multitude of even tinier islands and rocks. (Incidentally, I hope we get to keep Pedra Branca. That's my inner patriot speaking!) This is both a boon and a bane when it comes to urban planning. It's good because you have a limited land area to work with, but it's bad for precisely the same reason. When I travel abroad, I always end up comparing the layout of wherever I am to Singapore's. I think most of today's big cities grew organically, with not much in the way of stringent planning until quite recently. There are exceptions of course, but few places are quite as orderly as Singapore, where development, for better or worse, has been controlled by the government. (I do think we should be less hasty in demolishing old landmarks though. I'd never been to the old National Library and now it's gone. I've hardly ever been to the National Stadium, and it's soon to be history too. Well, I've been to Fantasy Island in Sentosa, when it still existed. Haha!) My point? Most tourists want that order, and I think that's part of the subconscious appeal of Singapore in terms of a tourist destination. Personally, I've yet to fall in love with Shanghai. It's a curious blend of rural and urban scenes, but overall, it gives off an air of chaos, which really turns me off. You can scoff dismissively at me, but believe you me, families on vacation want order. I know mine does. After all, there's probably disorder enough where they came from. Getting lost and wandering about are for when you're surrounded by peers, as my experiences in Prague and various German cities and towns taught me. I don't mind if a bit of grit in my vacation, just not when I'm with family, please!