1.11.25 10:10 a.m.
Happy New Year! First public entry of 2026.
Greetings from the one and only country of Singapore.
I’m calling this home for the next 5 months, and in the spirit of living out the modern-day Grand Tour, I’ll be documenting my adventures here.
This entry will be about my first impressions:
Singapore is an incredibly small city-state.
In fact, it’s roughly ~60% the size of Hong Kong. Yet, both cities stand on the global scale far beyond their physical size.
Singapore’s story is fascinating.
I’ve spent hours digesting autobiographies of Lee Kuan Yew (see HTTOW). How he turned a poor fishing village expelled from Malaysia into a thriving, first-world metropolis – that’s one hell of a run.
If I could sum up Singapore’s vibe:
It feels like Shenzhen, but multicultural. More touristy, international, socially structured. And of course, English-oriented.
On the order-to-chaos spectrum, Singapore feels 85% orderly. 15% of its rawness comes from its hawker centers, ethnic districts – but it’s by far the most “orderly” city I’ve been in.
From the moment you step into Changi to the tropical greenery dotting the landscape, everything you see in Singapore is very intentionally crafted.
This country certainly knows how to put on a show for first-time visitors.
The Jewel at Changi (waterfall at maintenance)
I went on a bike ride with one of my local Singaporean friends, and she told me how the entire Eastern green corridor was all manmade.
In fact, both Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay sit atop reclaimed land.
This is why I say orderly – the atmosphere feels disciplined, stable, and consistent. Even the climate is, too: highs 32ºC, lows 24ºC the majority of the year.
Perhaps first-time visitors to Asia will find Singapore to be more of a novel experience.
However, from all my travels in China, Hong Kong, and Japan, you get a lot of the same things in Singapore:
Clean streets
Impeccable safety
Huge shopping malls
Excellent public transportation
If there’s one thing that feels viscerally different than all the places I’ve visited in Asia, it’s this:
Singapore’s atmosphere feels a bit too rigid. It lacks looseness.
This goes back to the order-to-chaos spectrum. On paper, if I were to design the most “perfect” city, it’d probably look a lot like Singapore.
It has everything you could ask for in a first-world, modern city.
View of Singapore from Marina Barrage
But if there’s something I miss about other cities, it’s the nitty-gritty rawness that adds this feeling of “aliveness” to a place:
The alleyways of Hong Kong
The cyberpunk maze of Chongqing
The historical might of Beijing
The romantic aesthetic of Tokyo
Singapore works so well that it can sometimes work “too” well.
Everything is so logically thought out that it squeezes out any room for organic, natural growth. It begs the question:
How “utopian” can you make a city until it becomes too sterile?
However, I ought to be more kind with my initial assessment of Singapore.
After all, I’ve only been here for 5 days. Perhaps my impressions are wrong. But the beauty of travel is this: we learn where we most feel alive.
Some cities pursue order because they have no other choice.
To defy all odds to create a nation where citizens don’t have to worry about living off scraps – at the expense of a slightly more orderly city?
That’s a tradeoff many would take, and rightfully so.
There is much to boast about Singapore:
Tap water is drinkable (+ actually great water)
A literal tropical urban paradise
Super convenient (metro, bus, taxi, bike)
Southeast Asian food is amazing
Very walkable + spacious for such a dense city
Personally, I think it’s one of the best cities to lock in and get work done. The city offers little friction. Less novelty, more streamlined.
And for this chapter of my life, I believe that’s precisely what I need.
Because huge plans are coming up.
Behind the scenes:
There’s nothing more special than the beginning of abroad.
Very different from Beijing, but it’s been a trip so far. ❤🔥
