“Sir do you have any cigarette that you would like to declare?” Thanks to Mrs. Hera’s two boxes of church merchandise, all of our baggage had to pass the x-ray tube at the arrival hall. The exit gate to freedom was just about 5 meters away from where we stood. I said, “No”. “But in the scanner I saw you have several packs of cigarettes”. Oops. “Oh, I thought the cigarettes that I needed to declare were the ones that are still freshly packed in the carton?” “When was the last time you were here Sir?” the officer on duty asked gently. “Five years ago”, I replied. “Well, maybe that time you got lucky Sir, because any cigarette must pay cigarette duty upon entering this country. I won’t report you this time since you didn’t understand my question in the first place. But let me tell you this, if you failed to report and we caught you next time, the fine will be $2,000.00 per pack of cigarette. I don’t think you would enjoy that…”
Of course I wouldn’t enjoy that. Then she directed me towards the tax office at the airport. In which there I needed to pay the duty for the 5 packs of Dunhill’s that I brought from home. “The total is $35.00”, the lady said in a slight Indian accent. Inside I was yelling, “What the fuck? Back home that amount would grant me almost 3 cartons of these babies!” Paid my duties and left.
Outside, Mum had a similar experience trying to clear the two boxes of merchandises that Mrs. Hera back home asked us to deliver to her sister. “Crazy, I had to pay $50.00 for those plastic-ky whatever merchandise that would cost less than this tax duty in Mangga Dua!” But then of course, the boxes weren’t for her church or her congregation, so right on she said, “By the way, you owe me $50.00 to clear these boxes darling” telling Mrs. Hera’s sister in a heavy Javanese accent after a brief air-kisses.
The first hour that we landed in this fine city and we were sorta fined already.
I wasn’t lying to the customs officer about haven’t been to Singapore for 5 years. For me the city was sorta boring back then. Didn't have any reason to return. Especially now that you might be able to find most things you would drool over at home in Jakarta anyway. From incredible restaurants (both local and foreign origin), eclectic music and book shops, art & sound happenings, latest Hollywood blockbusters, great local brands to exclusive shopping boutiques, including those obscure brands of fashion items, perfumes and even funky underwear are becoming widely available in Jakarta and most of the Indonesian big cities. And I was only there for part business trip and part family outing, so I wasn’t in the mood for any touristy objects.
But then again there are some experiences that you couldn’t find anywhere else but over there.
My Top 10 Uniquely Singapore entries would be:
1. Leg cramps. After gliding gracefully in the exhibition halls during the Gourmet Summit week, plus walking through endless streets, I started to miss my ride. Anything. Cars, cabs, ojek, bajaj, becak, bemo, andong, metromini, mikrolet, busway. I missed riding something that wouldn’t involve any work on my leg muscles.
2. Singapore Flyer. One of the most boring ride I’ve ever been trapped into. And I was the one who suggested this touristy ride to begin with. Thirty minutes of lame waiting inside a capsule overlooking the contrast between total darkness and the twilights of the city. Thank God I didn’t need to pee as well at the moment. Too bad though, the Beijing Wheel upon the opening of the Olympics will soon dwarf this mega structure. Seemed that the achievement on making it bigger than the London Eye only lasted for a while. Hey, at least I didn’t have to walk
3. Fantastic shopping. True that Ikea and Muji hadn’t yet penetrate the Indonesian market so far. But shoes, Singapore has a lot of great shoes and sneakers begging me to bring home (Onitsuka, I love you). I might actually be able to get them somewhere back home, but heck I was in a holiday mode.
4. Extremely long queue for taxi after 5 PM anywhere in the CBD. Why didn’t these people just use the MRT instead. After some tiring all day long meetings, this princess didn’t enjoy waiting for another bit. Maybe we shall introduce the thousands of Blue Birds, Express, Dian and the gang, complete with old or new tariffs to Singapore.
5. Bell boys. We were pretty cheap in renting a flat on the 45th fl. around Tj. Pagar area. So after the fourth day it became clear that we were going to have a problem getting our ever expanding belongings down to street level. Furthermore, the street level of the building consisted of chic local boutiques and offices, thus adding the embarrassments of having to tow our own boxes and baggage.
6. Specialty Food. Sometimes I seemed to be confused whether I was in Japan or Singapore at that moment. So many new specialty Japanese cuisine seemed to spring up all over the island. Tried the katsu place and the curry place. Wonderful dishes, wonderful service. Even the humble Burger King, would give me some of the ultimate pleasures of chowing down their Chicken Tender. A juicy bun filled with the moistest grilled chicken you’ll ever find in any fast food track.
7. Cuter Guys. Thank God that they had changed the way they dressed within these years. I didn’t enjoy the Chinese harajuku look back then, but the stylishly simple Hong Kong style was in town. But overall, the last time I checked, they were still pretty far from the husky studs of Tokyo and Osaka.
8. Flip flops. Some of us would get thrown out from luxury shopping malls by our own friends for dressing in the wrong code back home. But it was refreshing how the Singaporeans respect the freedom to breath, for our toes at the least.
9. Nice tires. Even the shaggiest car would have some extra cool wheels for show and tell in Singapore. I envied anyone who’d fine any PCD 108-four hole type wheels to fit into their Fords and Jags. Nicely dressed-up Toyota Rush were everywhere. Back home, some people might laugh: Why would you dress up a not so expensive car with some extremely nice wheels? While that wouldn’t even trick the small torque of the miniscule 1.5 lt. engine. With the hefty price tags on automobile tax in Singapore suddenly the high price of cool wheels doesn’t seem to be a big problem for the owners to pimp their rides.
10. GST Refund that would automatically pay your overweight charges. The airline gave us a maximum of 80 kg of total baggage, and ours were like 125 kg. And we still got change from the GST tax refund after paying the extra weight. Great.
Caressing new shoes,
Prof. Utonium
Copyright: Opening Image. Empress Palace, Singapore in the 1960-s. Attic Folk Club © 2008
1 comment:
dengan siapakah pergi kesana? hehehehe
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