Singapore day 2

Singapore is an incredibly clean place, extremely efficient, great standard of living. The buildings are often built around the good weather: open malls (with coverings for rain and sun), out-door escalators, things like that. The subways are paved with marble, look brand new, and the trains are fast and smooth. Singapore reminds me a lot of Hong Kong actually. I went to the national museum today, and got a good sense of the history here. It is no surprise that it has been successful given its perfect location for Asian trade.

There is another way in which Singapore is like Hong Kong: consumerism. If there was an Olympics for places that epitomize a culture of consumption, Hong Kong and Singapore would win gold medals every year. There is SO much shopping here it is ridiculous (really). Coming from someone who has spent a lot of time in NYC, it's saying a lot that New York doesn't hold a candle to Hong Kong or Singapore as far as obsession with 'things' go.

On the flight over, I saw a documentary called "the Light-Bulb Conspiracy" which was very interesting and touches on these subjects. I guess my parting thought would be that if China's 1.3 billion people want to someday behave like the rest of us have (not to mention India's billions), and especially like the people in Hong Kong and Singapore do, we (humanity) may be in a lot of trouble unless we make some serious breakthroughs in physics.

I think our species could use a good deal of soul-searching, but its easy to preach as a Westerner who has had a lot of opportunities. Fighting against consumerism is sort of like abstinence-only education. Both are bound to fail because you are trying to combat fundamental human urges and instincts by encouraging reason and restraint. Anyway. Tomorrow am I will wake up and take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Will be a 6 hour ride or so.