Just arrived in Singapore - and boy, it's a strange place. I mean, I have heard before that this city is very, very clean. But this really is ridiculous. I mean, it's clean to the point where it looks...fake.

I never realized this, but I think that in the same way that small imperfections make us human, the not-so-pretty parts of any place make it, yes, real and hospitable. I'm not saying that I'd rather live in a dirty city but the odd cigarette butt on the street or dirt on the wall just show you that there are actual humans living in the place you are walking through. I suppose the same way that a spotless room can make you feels less comfortable then one that is a bit messy - where some CDs are scattered near the stereo, you see some papers in the garbage bin and where a sock or a t-shirt (or many) are lying around.

In Singapore the houses look like they've just been painted yesterday! I mean, not even the normal grey dirt that you get in any big city has dared to settle on these houses. And I had to walk for hundreds of meters before I found my first cigarette butt on the street. Actually when I saw one I saw another four within ten meters of the first one and even a sheet of paper lying on the street, which I suppose means I've just crossed through the Singaporean equivalent of a slum.

All right - I'm off to the famous Night Safari now. People have been telling me about this ever since I came to Asia, so I'm really curious whether it's really that good.