Chinatown

The entrance to Chinatown- all set for Chinese New Year

In Singapore- a city seemingly based on a combination of cultures melded from the surrounding countries, and somehow whitewashed of all of them with its modern skyline and clean-swept utopian streets - I found it hard to single out a unified cultural identity, until I went to Chinatown at the end of my first day. Large cartoon characters decorated the streets in anticipation of the following week’s Chinese New Year. I was almost disappointed that I was a week too early, until I walked through the hot Chinatown bazaar with stall upon stall of counterfeit merchandise. Here though I must give credit where it’s due- the items looked far more genuine than the “Nikey” (complete with a backwards “N”) jacket I saw on the back of a cyclist on the way to work one morning in Delhi. Odd though that they could all be sold so openly in a city where dropping a gum wrapper on the ground earns a hefty fine, vandalism as we all know from what happened to that guy in the 90’s gets people caned, and where an Australian was hung about three months ago for drug trafficking. Not that I’m advocating any of the above, but it is strange to me how a country can pick and choose what constitutes a major vice and what doesn’t so arbitrarily. Counterfeit items- ok. Jaywalking- big penalty. Prostitution- that was ok also, according to the cab driver who kept trying to convince a friend and me to visit some “girls he knew”. Still, the backpack I bought at the market was pretty cool. I guess the lesson is choose your vice and then travel accordingly.