The difference between Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore is more vast than any two places on Earth that we could imagine. Although we took 2 days to sail between them, you could fly it in 65 minutes. HCMC is squalor, chaos, and poverty; Singapore is civility, refinement, and prosperity. Both cities were ashes after the War in 1945, but HCMC has hobbled and suffered continuously, especially for 30 years between 1955 and 1975. Singapore, on the other hand, broke free of its colonial harness in 1963, and evolved over the following 45 years to become a regional powerhouse for finance and management. That different leaders made such significantly different political choices to fulfill their visions about what each of these two places should be, and then, as a result of these choices, SO affected the lives of millions of people for either the better in Singapore, or the worse in Viet Nam, is a concept we will not forget. Imagine Viet Nam without years of occupation and war, and instead a vision had been put into place to organize agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. With those revenues, education and social institutions could have been built, and people would have had hope and opportunity. A 65 minute flight, and worlds apart.Singapore [literally Lion Island in Malay language] is a mere one degree above the Equator, and is a sovereign city-state, which means the city and country borders are the same – like only Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City. More comparisons: Vietnam is 86 M people over a land mass that is one half the size of Ontario; Singapore is 5M in an area slightly bigger than Toronto! Singapore has the world’s 5th biggest GDP at $50,000 per person (just behind Qatar, Luxembourg, Norway and Brunei, and just ahead of the USA’s $47,000; Canada is 12th at $38K). Vietnam languishes at #128 with a GDP of just $2,600 per person.
It also is an international hub of shipping container traffic with over 400 commercial vessels a day dropping or picking up cargo there. Our cruise ship docked in the commercial port because we were too large for their present cruise port, and the entire horizon was filled with working cranes and hydraulics moving the world’s cargoes. They also had a vast range of high tech security to inspect the arriving cargoes quickly, and accurately. When we asked one of the port officials if there ever were inappropriate cargoes when shippers knew about this security, he said more often than you would think. What dangers could befall us by not having these security measures in our home ports?
From the dockage, we took a modern subway system over to the famous and beautiful colonial masterpiece Raffles Hotel - home of the Singapore Sling, incidentally - but even in 90 degree heat, could not get in wearing shorts!
We had a brief city tour by taxi with Steph and Peter, with the main highlight being the rebuilt chapel from the infamous Japanese prison camp called Changi, near the modern-day airport.
A museum and a well-messaged bulletin board attest to the atrocities endured and bravery sustained of the British POWs held captive there by the Japanese. When asked about the present day attitude towards the Japanese, our taxi driver blithely responded that people in Singapore get along because they don’t harbour grudges. On the way to Changi, we noticed very close by, a private Japanese school which prompted us to ask about the unusual proximity. “Madam,” he said, ‘while we do not harbour grudges, we also do not forget!” This attitude of common sense and adherence to the rule of law typifies much of why this city state has been so successful.For lunch, we met up with Travis Chernichen, one of the sons of Calgary friend Nina [see Vancouver entry].
Lovely lunch – the best chicken satay with peanut sauce we have ever had – right along the river bank in sunny, humid Singapore. Travis is with Scotiabank in Singapore, lending big money to companies. Smart, smart young man. Even in extreme heat, he and other people here are attired for business. Very disciplined and orderly. Very little crime. No homelessness.
A quick hike around the waterfront to the Merlion, a half mermaid, half lion statue/fountain - and the Singapore Tourism Board’s trademark symbol - 
quickly confirmed from the architecture along the waterway that this was a city who knew where it wanted to go, and had already arrived. A very impressive place.
No comments:
Post a Comment