By All Means, a Fine City!!!

Singapore was pretty much how I'd imagined it would be. Very clean, spotlessly so! However, what amazed me is the amount of greenery that has been preserved! High rise buildings and stylish malls may be aplenty, but it was heartening to see that the importance of having lush trees hadn't been forgotten! To me, it almost felt like a civilization inside a jungle! Not kidding, lovely forests bordered both sides of almost all roads that we drove across, on our way to the hotel, from the airport! Barring the abundance of plants and trees, being in Singapore felt a lot like being in Dubai. Similar stringent laws, similar proliferation of shopping malls and stylish buildings, and the like!
The new year just having begun, and our hotel being in one of the most happening streets, Orchard Road, rendered it possible for us to see the myriad decorations and lights that were strung high up, almost everywhere we turned! Singapore definitely has all the trappings of a first-world country. Another interesting thing about the place is that everywhere we went, we were told how fines were a part of every day life! "Singapore is a fine city!" is a dictum we heard over a hundred times while we were there! Apparently, Big Brother keeps a close watch on everyone's activities and the moment you litter or make a nuisance of yourself, down swoop the cameras and catch your every guilty move; and believe me, cameras were all over the place! What a nice concept, eh?!? I remember our guide telling me that even loudly banging a door could lead to a fine! I'm not sure how true that is; maybe Mush or Idah can clarify this!
In the neighbouring country of Malaysia, and even in Singapore itself, we saw quite a bit of ridiculing of this fine policy by means of cheeky writing on tees, other apparels, coffee mugs and the like! It's always good to see a sense of humour in things that are not funny on the outside!