After attending church this morning, my host family (who I'm staying with for the first few weeks) took me for lunch at the Singapore Country Club. After enjoying some excellent seafood we went for a drive so I could see more of the island.
Things I observed/learned:
a) Singapore has significant amount of reclaimed land, especially along the East Coast.
b) Still getting used to everyone driving on the LEFT side of the road (remembering this too is a commonwealth country with much British influence even still)
c) All the cars are new! The government has a policy that you cannot own a vehicle for more than 10 years, for environmental pollution etc. which makes Singapore one of the largest exporters of used vehicles to surrounding countries.
d) There are beautiful trees along every street! However this is not by accident but I learned has been planned. That's right...the foresight and vision of Lee Kuan Yew of planting trees and plants everywhere is the reason that today it is one of the most luscious, green countries in this region. They are owned by the government, maintained very well (workers everywhere triming them, raking leaves etc.)
e) There is little road congestion. Due to the ERT system, where vehicles are charged to drive in the inner city (which incidentally was the first system...then copied by London and then spread to other world centres) it is very expensive to drive here. As well, it is quite costly for car ownership and registration here.
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