Singapore

If you are taking a bus, the train or a cab to work in the morning, it is always useful to search for the following hash tags on Twitter first: #smrtruinslives, #comfortruinslives and #sbsruinslives

They refer to, respectively, SMRT, the corporation that runs the national train system, ComfortDelgro, the biggest taxi company here with a fleet of 15,000 cabs, and SBS Transit, one of the largest bus companies here and also owned by ComfortDelgro.

If there is yet another train delay, or a bus has broken down on the expressway, or there simply aren't enough cabs on the road, you are more than likely to hear about it on Twitter. Then you'll know which one to avoid.

The vast majority of Singaporeans rely on the public transport system, given that cars are simply too expensive. This is largely due to the fact that you need a Certificate of Entitlement, better known as a COE in our acronym-crazy country, to own a car. Anyone wanting to buy a car has to bid for one through the Land Transport Authority via monthly bidding exercises, with different grades of COEs for different types of vehicles. The cost of a COE for a 1,000cc car in the latest exercise - $54,887. Combined with petrol, road tax, parking and more, you end up paying installments of about $1,000 every month for the average car.

If there is such a thing as a hot-button issue in Singapore, then the transport system certainly qualifies. A lot of it has to do with our burgeoning population. The numbers speak for themselves - in just 10 years, the number of people on the island has shot up by about a million to just over five million, much of it fueled by immigration. All of this translates to overcrowded buses and trains, a paucity of cabs during rush hour and lots of angry tweets. It seems to have taken the powers-that-be a while to realise this though, perhaps best reflected by SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa's infamous comment last year: "People can board the train - it is whether they choose to."





The transport system has certainly been in the news a lot this year. The 36km long Circle Line, our fourth MRT line, opened. The historic Tanjong Pagar train station, a hub for railway transport to Malaysia since 1923, also closed in June, triggering a wave of nostalgia and a crowd of hundreds on the night the last train pulled into the station.



Foreigners living here, especially those from the West, often praise the efficiency of Singapore's transport system. But I take the train and the bus every day, and I have seen the rush hour crowds for myself. The transport system has already shown signs of strain, and while it is not quite at breaking point, I do find myself wondering: how much more can it take?

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I must confess: I'm not exactly qualified to write about fashion.

This is what my personal get-up typically consists of: striped polo tee/short-sleeved shirt from HnM, dark Uniqlo jeans and brown Ecco shoes. On the weekends, I tend to regress to T-shirt (often portraying some comic book character I like), Levi's jeans and white Asics sneakers. The colours are inevitably dark and sober like black, blue or white. In other words, boring.

Fortsätt läsa "Sashay, Sashay: Singapore's in Fashion" »

There's an old joke in Singapore that goes: to be successful, you must attain the five Cs - car, cash, credit card, condominium and club membership.

While I would hardly refuse more money or material possessions, I find that what was said in my church sermon the other day resonates far more - while chasing the five Cs, beware of the other five Cs: crash, collision, challenges, competition and crisis.

Fortsätt läsa "Singapore: It's all about the money" »

It seems highly appropriate that this month's theme concerns green issues. After all, Singapore is widely known - at the risk of parroting official dogma - as the Garden City, and with good cause.

This has much to do with the fact that, despite our size - a total land area of 778 sq km - , almost half of the island is covered by greenery. This means that there are more than enough parks and gardens for us to roam, picnic, jog, cycle and explore. Even the expressway that leads to the airport is lined with shrubbery and trees, meaning that the first thing visitors get upon arrival is a green eyeful. And of course, there is a government agency that plays a key role in this - NParks, or the National Parks Board. Fortsätt läsa "Singapore: The Garden City" »

One of my favourite places to go in Singapore is the Esplanade, our leading performing arts venue that hosts everything from art installations to concerts to musicals to plays. In November, it will even stage American director Sam Mendes' production of Richard III, with Oscar winner Kevin Spacey in the title role. But highbrow and high-profile performances aside, you can always catch a free concert, such as this jazz performance I saw the other day.



Fortsätt läsa "The Culture of Singapore Culture" »