Sing- a- joy-pore!

Last fortnight i was in Singapore making my biannual visit to see sonny. After all these years the city really feels very familiar which translates into thus: No more wrinkling my nose as i pass Chinese food courts, not minding wearing shorts and mini skirts and walking alongside the shapely and petite singaporeans (i am as slim and pretty as i think i am, what?) and waiting patiently in queues and accepting loose change humbly from taxi drivers. The general opinion of tourists is that the city is rather clinical and not exciting enough. I believe it all depends on your definition of excitement.
Singaporeans are extremely polite and protect their personal space. Life is so orderly that everything works like clockwork and you feel as if you've entered a make believe fantasy world. There's nothing that they wont or cant do, apparently. There's a saying that the city quite often moves around huge monstrous trees and replants them in strategic points overnight. And they actually leave the lights on in the skyscrapers so that the city looks beautiful from the air!!
While you'll probably pass some of the world's classiest shopping plazas you'll also find casual shoppers in shorts and flip flops ambling past you. It isn't brand conscious like Hong Kong or completely laid back like Indonesia or purely touristy like Thailand. But the best thing i like about this city is the complete absence of road rage or any signs of temper or annoyance. Coming from a city where even a hello often sounds gruff and dipped in selfish motive, this 'ice cool' trait gets my vote. It's just the right frame of mind to be on a holiday.

There is no tension of being shoved off a queue, handed the wrong change, fooled into buying a defective object by the shopkeeper and fed stale food on the sly.
But yes, it's an expensive city. The Singaporean dollar (to my utter surprise) is almost running neck and neck with the US dollar. There are very few cheap deals these days and unlike Thailand shopping can drill a gaping hole in your pocket.
But hey- i'm not complaining. Each city to its own. For a stay that promises no eve teasing, no cheating, clockwork timing, picture book surroundings and sumptuous food- it's worth the money!