All of a sudden I found myself at the Milan airport. It was a building from the eighties and I was there virtually on my own. That didn’t particularly make me feel welcome, and that for a country I’ve never been before. Except for that one aberrance, about 15 years ago, when I took my first snowboarding lesson in Tirol. That was my first and last time in Italy. The country clearly hasn’t made much of an impression on me.
At the Milan airport it instantly dawned on me why Italy is not my cup of espresso. The only other people there were the tarty sales ladies with their sun-damaged skin and too much eye shadow. You say Italian women are beautiful? Not after their 35th they’re not! They scream at each other and at their cell phones on the top of their lungs. You say Italian is a beautiful language? Not if you don’t like drama. But let me stop right here, before all those Italy-lovers with all their drama get on my case...
Actually I didn’t really care that I had to brave Italy for a couple of hours. I was on my way to Singapore. A city that simply cannot leave you unaffected. She attracts you, like a child that wants to play. She pushes you away, like an unrequited love. In Singapore nothing is left to chance. The city is a well-oiled machine. Everything is easy (public transport: punctual. Streets: clean. Scooters and cars: quiet... Fresh food: eat whatever you want). Nothing in Singapore will unsettle you.
At the same time, a lot of things in Singapore will blow you away. Crazy architecture, unbelievably friendly people, a perfectly planned-out city as if taken out of a book, an well-run and efficient economy (something we don’t know), a real melting pot of cultures.
Actually I didn’t really care that I had to brave Italy for a couple of hours. I was on my way to Singapore. A city that simply cannot leave you unaffected. She attracts you, like a child that wants to play. She pushes you away, like an unrequited love. In Singapore nothing is left to chance. The city is a well-oiled machine. Everything is easy (public transport: punctual. Streets: clean. Scooters and cars: quiet... Fresh food: eat whatever you want). Nothing in Singapore will unsettle you.
At the same time, a lot of things in Singapore will blow you away. Crazy architecture, unbelievably friendly people, a perfectly planned-out city as if taken out of a book, an well-run and efficient economy (something we don’t know), a real melting pot of cultures.
You need to see it to believe it. And as my mate Baz says: “Live in Singapore once, but leave before it makes you soft”. (Baz Lurhmann - Sunscreen, free interpretation).
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