TL;DR – There’s nothing quite like this little red dot.
I spent the best part of my twenties living it up in Thailand and while I’ve moved back, I still often commute to Bangkok and other cities for work – last year I think I’d spent more than 200 days abroad!
While I love experiencing different cultures and seeing the world, there are some things that make Singapore uniquely Singapore and can never be replaced, no matter what.
1. The Food
Ask any Singaporean living overseas and chances are this is the first thing they’ll say! Satay, carrot cake, laksa, prata, chilli crab, nasi lemak and the list goes on. I’m sorry but pad thai cannot replace char kway tiao and there’s nothing, absolutely nothing in this world like OUR chicken rice.
2. Singlish
Oh the joys of bumping into some tourist on the streets and hearing Singlish. No matter what they say about it beginning grammatically unsound and how we should try to speak good English, “Excuse me, could you please make way for me?” just doesn’t quite cut it as well as “Siam lah!”
3. The Singaporean Efficiency
This is something you’ll REALLY truly appreciate once you’re not here – everything is online, renewing your passport takes you 10 minutes tops, you do not have to spend half a day at some governmental administrative office getting directed from one department to another just to get something simple settled – we even beat several first world countries at this! In fact, there was once I was on the plane and when the passenger next to me found out I was from Singapore, the first thing he said was, “OMG you guys are the most efficient people around!” #ProudMamaMoment
4. Getting around
Sure, our trains break down sometimes but we do have a pretty mean public transport system, plus everything is just somehow 10 minutes away. You do not have to drive an hour to the nearest supermarket to get milk and even if you get hungry at 3am, there’s always a plethora of options available that you can opt for – without worrying about getting mugged on the streets and having your kidneys harvested.
5. $1 Ice Cream
From the ice cream Uncle on Orchard Road – best savoured on a slice of rainbow bread. Such simple pleasures of life, mmmm!