Singy

We landed in Singapore and took a Grab (Singapore equivalent and cheaper version of Uber) to our "hotel." Good thing we stayed in a "hotel" because we soon found out that AirBnb is illegal in Singapore and that the housing authorities sometimes raid suspect AirBnb residences. If we had stayed in an AirBnb, the host probably would have told us not to open the door for anyone and to keep a low profile. All hypothetical of course. In December 2017, two AirBnb hosts were arrested and if convicted would face fines of $200,000 Sinagporean dollars, about USD$140,000. Despite it being illegal though, AirBnb still has 8,000 listings in Singapore and you wouldn't know it is illegal based on the AirBnb website. I'm sure buried in the terms and conditions of AirBnb it says that I am responsible for understanding the local laws blah blah blah. Here's a BBC article on it: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42247968

Anyway, here's a picture of Singapore:

Just kidding, that's a picture of future Earth from the show Star Trek. But it does kind of look like this. Singapore is an ultra modern city and it seemed like all of the buildings and infrastructure were less than 20 years old. The subway is listed as the #2 attraction in TripAdvisor Things to do in Singapore. I'm not exactly sure why it makes sense. Yes, it's clean and modern, but #2? Really? Singapore is what you would expect from a world-class city. I remember on my career trek to San Francisco with INSEAD students were shocked at how run-down the city was. There are homeless people everywhere with shopping carts shouting crazy things, the roads are cracked with random metal plates, there is garbage in the streets and an overall grungy feel. My fellow students would ask me, how is THIS the same San Francisco we read about in the paper as the Mecca for startups and innovation?

In contrast, Singapore has no homeless people as they provide public housing for everyone. There is no drug problem because producing, selling, or possessing drugs is punishable by DEATH. They actually write this on the tourist visa as you are entering the country in bold red letters. All the cars in Singapore must be 10 years old or less and you must pay a 40% tax on the value of the car to have the license to drive. In addition to taxing cars heavily, Singapore subsidizes taxis and has a robust public transportation system so having a car is only for the wealthy. Nevertheless, we were  a bit surprised given Singapore's reputation as a green city at how pedestrian unfriendly many parts of the city were. We had trouble crossing streets in many locations as there were no cross walks or stop lights and jay walking is punishable by a $500 fine. Gum and eating or drinking on the subway are also forbidden.

Are you noticing a trend? Death penalty for drugs, high taxes, no gum, no jaywalking. Singapore is an example of a society exchanging individual freedoms for the greater collective good. It seems Draconian not to allow gum or food/drink in the subway, but the effect is an extremely clean city and public transportation system. Have you seen New York's subway that allows food/drink? There are rats and garbage everywhere. Which is better? Similarly, in 2015, 70,000 pedestrians were struck by vehicles in the United States. Many of these were probably due to jay walking. Would it make sense to enforce stricter jay walking penalties to reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities? Maybe yes, maybe no but I understand Singapore's stance. Certainly for large societal problems like global warming a collectivist society is much better equipped than an individualistic society to respond. In fact, we are seeing this in the United States with China suddenly emerging as the leader in tackling climate change and the United States withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords. I still don't get the AirBnb thing though.

Anyway, the first day in Singapore we saw 8 of the 10 top things according to Trip Advisor.
1) Gardens by the Bay
2) Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)
3) National Orchid Garden
4) Singapore Botanic Gardens
5) Cloud Forest
6) Zoo
7) Marina Bay
8) Battlebox museum
9) Singapore Flyer
10) Marina Bay Sands Skypark

Pretty good effort for one day. See some of the pictures from this day below:

The famous infinity pool at Marina Bay. The world's most selfie'd location, allegedly (Eiffel tower must have more). It was pretty much a constant stream of people getting into the pool, taking a selfie, and then getting out. I'm pretty sure Timmy took a picture from this pool. 

 Got to get the correct perspective:

Avocado (left) and kiwi/dragon (right) fruit smoothies

Chinese restaurant where they pluck the seafood orders directly from the tanks behind you. You can almost hear the screams...

INSEAD Singy campus

View from Marina Bay

Dinner in Little India at a South Indian restaurant. We had no idea what we ordered but it included mutton/chicken massala, chappathi, parta, cheese parta, beer and it was served family style on a giant green palm leaf. We were the only white people in the restaurant and when we walked in it was like the record stopped and everyone stared at us. It was probably one of the best and most affordable meals of my life.

The next day was INSEAD graduation. We took a group photo in front of the Singapore skyline and the graduation itself was at the Ritz Carlton hotel. Speakers were very good, especially an INSEAD alumna and VP of Asia and Latin America for General Mills. She spoke of the challenges of managing a career and a family and said: "You can have it all, but you have to define what 'all' is." The Dean of INSEAD had a nice speech about how business is a force for good. 1 billion people in Asia (primarily China) have been lifted out of poverty not because of advances in technology or medicine, but because of economics. He also mentioned that society demands more of business leaders than it used to. Maximizing shareholder value is not enough anymore and business leaders must consider how their business impact the environment, society, and profits. 

Here's the video they played at graduation to celebrate the year: https://vimeo.com/248951040

After the graduation, there was an INSEAD sponsored party at Bar Rouge on the 73 floor of a building overlooking Singapore. Pretty nice view

Our last day in Singapore we decided to check out Chinatown.

Singapore has great Hawker markets across the city with food stalls. It would be a hipster's paradise as it is essentially like a bunch of food trucks with different styles of cuisines. We found the mango smoothies and laksa soup to be the best.

Once again, everyone was exhausted from the activities in Singapore and passed out on the airplane.