Bevan, Bon Rouleur
5 December 2005 | Southeast Asia, Part One
"If you touch my daughter again I'll cut your head off. I'll run you down in my car, and cut your head off." But I hadn't touched her! She'd lied to her dad, that witch, but her old man didn't want to hear it. What's really messed up is that I was only four years old, and that's the only encounter from that time I remember word-for-word. Nevertheless, I hadn't thought about that memory for years. Until I reached Laos. Last week, on a late-night walk in downtown Vientiane (Laos' capitol) I had an experience which recalled that memory and the terror associated with it. Before I elaborate on that, I'll explain my trip up until that point, as that encounter is just one of the many cultural challenges I've faced in Asia.
A different world.
I could taste the heat and thickness of the Singapore morning as I stepped out of the baggage claim. In contrast to Sydney's crispness, Singapore was a sauna, even at four in the morning. Burdened by my bike and fifty-pound duffel my body drenched itself in sweat. With humidity approaching 100%, it didn't evaporate but flowed off my skin and soaked my clothes. I felt disgusting and there was nothing to do but wait; my air-conditioned relief idled at the end of a long taxi queue. Surveying the Asian travelers in line, I noticed mine was the only shirt whose hue had darkened since I'd exited the building. The annoying smiles of the taxi conductors and their automatic transition to English upon greeting me were reminders that here, I was an outsider. I'd need to adapt in body and mind to travel alone in Asia.
"Singapore is boring," I was told. The country, like the US, is a wealthy immigrant nation with tons of shopping. A small island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, it's population is made up mostly of expats from China, Malaysia, and India. It's very diverse, ethnically as well as religiously: mosques, temples, churches, and wats abound.
Singapore's strict laws and consequently low crime rate are partly responsible for its being tagged as boring by the young backpacker crowd. In many ways the most advanced country in South East Asia, the island's legal system is nonetheless stuck in the barbarism of a bygone era. The penalty for possession or trafficking of even small amounts of drugs is death by hanging. Similarly strict penalties are imposed for weapons charges and other non-homicide offences. Corporal punishment (caning) is employed to deter lesser crimes. Decisions aren't in the hands of a judge or jury; sentences are automatic and executed in a matter of weeks. In fact, Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world, about twice as high as Saudi Arabia's, the runner-up. In an effort to keep their country free of foreign pollutants, their immigration handbook even prohibits "hippie types" (exact wording from the text, which I was shown when I didn't believe the guy) from entering the country. I'm glad I got a haircut in Sydney!
Those who support the tough legal system argue that it is partly responsible for Singapore's economic success and enviable social order. Most don't mind living with the strict rules, and those who do have the option to invoke change or to move out. Foreigners have the similar option of not traveling there, so they have no excuse if caught. Travelers are of course subject to local laws, as they should be, no matter the lenience they may have been accustomed to.
It's easy to talk about Singapore's legal system's application to foreigners in theoretical terms. It gets harder when someone is hung. A few months ago a young Australian man was arrested with sufficient heroine to warrant the death penalty. He'd been trafficking to get his younger brother out of debt, and the media was fond of showing images of his mother's last visit. His sob story resonated with the world and was all over international news. His defense lawyer stated that everything was being done but the situation was grim: the defendant was "ready for death."
The man was hung a few days ago. The day he died I realized his fate was a lot harder to accept than I'd expected. His situation was close enough to mine for me to empathize with him. I don't do or sell drugs, and I would almost certainly not work in such a backward country if I did. However, his mistake isn't completely out of the realm of possibility; he was a young man out on his luck and needed quick money, and it was obviously a pressing issue given the risk he was willing to incur.
So sell your Thai stick before you come to Singapore. Despite its laws it's a very colorful place, and its reputation of being a sterile environment is not warranted Especially if you're traveling on-the-cheap.
I spent five days at a "rustic" hostel in Singapore's Little India. My room was the size of a walk-in closet and about as comfortable; a rock-hard mattress, smelly pillow, and noisy fan kept me awake at night. Other travelers had scribbled on the walls; "I came on the lightswitch," boasted one C.D. from Churchill Community College in Newfoundland. The other graffiti were in German; I assumed the worst and liberally applied Purell to all suspect surfaces: door knob, fan switch, bed post... That's what I get for using my Lonely Planet!
I stayed in my cell as little as possible; it was so small that my body heat pushed the cramped room's temperature above that of the outside air, so I walked around a lot. This didn't make it any cooler, though. In fact, the weather was unbearable the first few days; I became perpetually dehydrated and spent a lot of time sleeping. Even at night it was hot. Only one bed sheet was included, not that I could have slept under anything in the heat. It was all I could do to just lie there, leaking out a sweat-angel on the mattress. I wasn't the first; pillows and mattress reeked badly, especially when I initially sat down, or moved.
Lots of other differences made my transition to Asia less than seamless. Take the bathroom facilities. Singapore (and South East Asia in general) is want of western-style toilets, especially in but not limited to establishments frequented by the budget traveler. Squat toilets are the norm, even in the big shopping malls of Singapore. Toilet paper is rarely supplied; one must make do with a bucket of water and a cup, or a brown pipe shoved onto a spigot. Soap also seems to be a rare commodity-I hope my Purell holds up!
(Continue to Part Two)
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