Singapore

After the flight from Hong Kong I arrived in the next former British Empire city in this part of the world. The city state is about 100km wide and has an fantastic MRT connecting all the dots. I choose to set up base camp in Little India as a sample for the time in India to come. The hostel was run by an African Muslim, which is not that odd, since Singapore has all the ethnics (42% are foreigners) trying to make a buck in this financial world hub. In little India it is a bit dirtier than in other parts of the city, but still really clean compared with China. Spitting is of course not allowed and concerning smoking cigarettes it is not as strict as you may heard. I ate 2 Chicken Masala per day because you got a lot of (connected) meat. The Indian embassy told me that I cant get a visa here and that I have to go to Switzerland to get. But after I showed them my passport and told them my story, they made an exception.
But I had to stay in Singapore for a week, which was way more than I planed for. So I had time to take care of my blog and check the sights of Singapore. The city it self is pretty expensive, but I was able to keep costs down to 30USD per day.
Among others one interesting person I met was Cambodian girl. She didn't know how to read Latin letters and maps, So she could go around town because you need to use the MRT. Her mother got stabbed some years ago without reason in Phnom Penh. She worked as house maid in Malaysia for 3 years and got hit by the woman in charge. After coming back from Malaysia she had 3000 USD. She lended another 2000 USD from friends and opened a coffee shop. After one year she was doing pretty good and was able to pay back the depth. 3 years into her business she fell in love with a Turkish business man and they married. Because she thought all her financial sorrows were over she sold her business. Now she lives in Moscow, because her husband works there, but eventually they want to move to Istanbul. But since it takes 3 years for her to be allowed to enter Turkey she lives temporally in Russia and doing visa runs to nations such Malaysia, Singapore or Cambodia. We spent quite some time together, I showed her around in Singapore. Even though she comes from a really modest background, she is pretty picky. She wouldn't eat anything, she was extremely unhappy with sleeping in a dorm and switched to a 50USD room and her husband had to change the return flight to an earlier date. In total a sad story which hopefully will end as a happy one.
Interestingly the Singaporen Goverment is not democratic and has been in the same familys hands over decades. Which feels really odd for a country as modern and open as Singapore
Admittedly a bit fed with posh Singapore I finally had my Indian Visa and went north the same day to Malaysia.