Just arrived in Singapore around 11pm local time,

Right after customs (free visum), it’s a good idea to get some liquor as the taxes in the city are extremly high! To give some examples, here you can get absolute vodka for 26 singaporese dollar or bombay gin sapphire  (1l) for 25 dollar. A real bargain for here! There are of course some limits to avoid abuse, for example you cannot arrive from Malaysia (to avoid smuggling). Without realizing I exceeded the amount because of all the duvels and kriek I’m carrying as presents… but they didn’t notice any of it 😉

My first impression was the kindness of all the people here! Including no hassling of taxi drivers or travel agencies.

There are several ways to quickly get to the city center. You can take a shuttle bus for around 6 dollar or just take a subway for 2,50. The last subway connection is around 11:16pm. The shuttle bus agents are even very honest by stating that the subway is cheaper if you ask :). The (very modern) connecting network is very good from what I can tell right now.

Before boarding the subway, I had issues at the ticket machine using 50 dollar bills, a random stranger offered to give me help and payed for me (which made me feel very uncomfortable, he even refused to accept some Belgian chocolate!). It just confirms that first impression 🙂

On the subway, I got to talk to a retired couple (they looked very young! But it’s Asia right…). Apparantly this week the first minister died at the age of 91. He was the godfather of what is singapore today, the full week Singapore will be mourning.

Another fun fact: people often don’t have car, since it can easily cost 40.000 dollar a year (depening on the CO2 emission). Buying a car will cost you at least another 40k for a simple model.

2 more full days to come!