We're leaving Singapore for Malaysia and the city of Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo.

We had a great time in Singapore but it certainly isn’t the cheapest stop on our trip. However, it is easy to get to and prices are similar to London, so coming straight from there it doesn’t feel too expensive. Eating out in the hawker centres is reasonable but most attractions are regular western prices.

Singapore is a modern city that’s clean and easy to get around. English is spoken almost everywhere and the efficient air-conditioned public transport is good value. We got EZ-Link cards for the MRT and buses, which function the same as Oyster cards. Unfortunately, you can’t run them down completely and when it gets below a couple of dollars you need to top-up by a minimum of S$10, so you’ll be left with some non-refundable credit.

This tiny country feels safe to travel around but it does have a reputation as a surveillance city. There are CCTV cameras everywhere but it actually feels slightly less oppressive than London, where they are even more ubiquitous. This sort of snooping could be easily abused by a repressive regime and although Singapore is classified as a flawed democracy (the same as the USA), we saw no evidence of excessive enforcement in our admittedly short stay. Chewing gum is illegal but perhaps this is a necessary restriction of freedom if people aren’t responsible enough to dispose of it reasonably. One could argue that the events of 2016 show that democracy itself is flawed and a system of benevolent dictatorship has certain upsides.

The colonial history of the state is interesting and contrasts with recent progress. A lot has changed in just the last few years. For example, there is the huge Marina Bay development and an extension to the Downtown MRT line.

Totally Topical Taste

It’s odd spending the Christmas season in a warm climate where the day lengths and weather are fairly static, despite the odd thunder storm. There are lots of decorations and festive songs playing, which makes it strangely topical even though it’s tropical. I’ll stick to the slings over the mulled wine though.

Onwards to Malaysia, Borneo and a Christmas day trek up a 4 km mountain.