Singapore

Singapore is widely hailed as the most effective state on the planet. It gets high marks on nearly anything that can be accomplished with good governance: effective regulators despite low barriers to entry for starting a business, low tax burden despite abundant public services, excellent wages despite limitless free trade agreements, the lowest rates of corruption in the world, the highest rates of homeownership in the world (nearly 90%), the best public education in the world, and the lowest rates of crime in the world.

There are limits to what a state can accomplish without the cooperation of its citizens, though, and that's where Singapore really shines. I took a train from the airport to my hostel and instantly fell in love with Singapore's transit system. It's affordable and it goes everywhere, but it's also the cleanest and most orderly system I've seen anywhere.

Everyone stands to the side of the opening train doors to allow passengers to exit first. Everyone stands to left on the escalators to let faster traffic walk past on the right. If people want to watch a video or listen to music on they used headphones. When people sit down on the train, they occupy only their own seat and place their bags at their feet. The seats are wide enough and the people are small enough that every seat can be occupied without sitting unpleasantly close to other people.

When using a glass door, people grab the handle rather than rubbing their stupid greasy hands all over the clean glass. When they browse the selection of a convenience store cooler, they look through the transparent door rather than needlessly opening it and letting all the cold air out. When they need to look at their phones, they step away from foot traffic and allow people to pass.

Unlike every other tourist destination I've been to in Latin America, Europe, North Africa, or Asia, there's no one harassing you to buy shit every time you walk down the street. In areas where that might become a problem, there are signs that explain what "touting" is, that it's illegal, and providing a streamlined way to report the location to the police.

When climbing stairs in Singapore, you can be sure that all of the steps will have the same tread depth, nosing width, and riser height. In the rest of Asia every step is a gamble. It's impossible to get into any kind of rhythm on a staircase because any given step is subject to being randomly higher or lower than the rest or having an unusually long nose that will trip you.

Western foreigners are not an interesting spectacle in Singapore. People in Singapore are inclined to mind their own business, and it was unbelievably easy to blend in. Besides which, I saw a lot of Ivy League college sweaters on the train. These people are doing far to well in life to be impressed by a homeless white backpacker.

Friends at home and fellow travelers have all said you don't need more than a few days in Singapore. I only agree with that because lodging was so expensive, however I would absolutely have enjoyed a week or more if I were traveling on a healthier budget. It was the first place I've been in Southeast Asia where I felt completely at ease. Not on an isolated beach. Not in a forest monastery. The first place I've felt completely at ease is the only place where everything is orderly and predictable. I knew I wasn't going to get hassled by police seeking a bribe, get hit by a scooter while crossing the road, or slip on cooking oil thrown out into the street and crack open my skull.

Cultural Diversity and Success

Some Americans say that various schemes of social support wouldn't work in our country because we don't have the cultural homogeneity of more effective nations. For instance, they say we couldn't employ a rehabilitation-focused prison system like Norway's because of our cultural diversity. That's always sounded like a racist and xenophobic cop out to me, but maybe there's nuance there that I'm not understanding. Either way, Singapore manages to achieve all of its accomplishments as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual nation.

There are four official languages recognized by the constitution of Singapore: Malay (which is also the "national language"), Tamil, Mandarin, and English. The significance of establishing Malay as a national language is not to place one culture in a superior position to another, but rather to signify independence from prior English colonists. The de facto language of Malaysia is English because it's the only one of the four that all Malaysians learn.

On my first day in town, I went out to explore all of the various ethnic enclaves. I started in Kampong Glam, the Muslim Quarter, because it was closest to my hostel.

Kampong Glam

Kampong Glam was an area originally built to house the family of Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor. The Sultan was the disputed ruler of Johor-Riau, which occupied the southern portion of the Malay Peninsula. The British and Dutch were involved in ongoing territory disputes in the region and the Sultan's hereditary right to rule was being challenged, so he accepted a deal in 1824 to hand over Singapore to the British Empire in exchange for their protection of 600 members of his extended family. The region became a home to Muslim immigrants from many different countries, but it was constantly under constantly under threat of being demolished to build a new financial district.

Despite a growing its growing population, the area didn't have a suitable mosque until the Sultan Mosque was constructed in 1936.

Chinatown

I anticipated a Chinese majority in Singapore, so the prospect of Chinatown seemed a little redundant. There's no Chinatown in Shanghai. In broad strokes, the district was created by the first governor of British Singapore, Stamford Raffles. Because of the changing population of Singapore it's no longer an ethnic enclave, but it was home to a high concentration of incredible Chinese food.

Little India

A short walk from Chinatown is another Stamford Raffles-created ethnic district, Little India. It was originally an area for cattle raising (which is hard to imagine in today's built-up Singapore), but it became a village by the mid twentieth century.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

My favorite attraction in Singapore was the open park and Botanical Gardens. It's large enough that you can enjoy some alone time in nature, plus gathering spaces for community events, like this beautiful amphitheater.

Marina Bay Sands

And of course a trip to Singapore wouldn't be complete without some decadent materialism. Amid too-rich-for-my-blood stores like Hermes and Saint Laurent, I witnessed a few goofy Las Vegas spectacles: a gondola ride, and a huge interactive game for this kids.

Next stop: Kuala Lumpur