Singapore

Normally I travel through Europe on my way back and forth between India and the US. I decided to break that pattern and head the other way via Singapore to San Francisco. Never visiting the country I chose to take advantage of the route and stop there for a couple days. I have been doing a lot of research on culture lately and to spend some of my time constructively I coordinated a meeting with an organization I have worked with, have always respected and are world renowned for research in a vast array of subjects, The Gallup Organization.


The name Singapore is derived from the Malay word “Singapura” or lion city. It is a home to around 4 million people comprising of mostly Chinese, Malays and Indians. There is also a big group of expats as many large corporations have an Asian/Pacific hub here. Just to give its size some context its population is 1/5 that of Bombay, India and it is one of the world’s smallest countries in geographic size; the US is about 15,000 bigger. It is also the 18th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP.

I felt like Michael J Fox in Back To The Future as I stepped off my 150 seat time machine from India into Singapore. If there were any potholes in the road, I would have bit my tongue off as I was flabbergasted by pristine and lavish environment Singapore provides.

I was lucky to have a friend of mine who worked with us in India and is now living in Singapore show me around the city. It was great reconnecting with Ozana and she offers interesting perspective on life being from Romania, and having lived in the US, India and now Singapore.

Before I knew it the time arrived for me to board my flight back to the US. Not looking into the details and thinking it was a direct flight from Singapore to San Fran, I almost choked on my peanuts when I heard from the captain that we were stopping in KOREA!?! The most eventful part of my hour in Korea was trying to communicate with the currency exchange lady as I tried to get some Won...

So here I am, back in the US.