The Best Time in Singapore: Night

When I think of all my motivations for travel, the food, people, fun and experiences to be had, I find it difficult to find a specific motivator greater than the awe-inspiring cityscapes of Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Specifically, seeing these places at night has probably been highest on my list of travel goals since first seeing photos of them. I've yet to see all of the places I'm hoping for in Singapore but I did recently get the chance to explore Clarke Quay, an upscale district lined with restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.

Used about a 5 second exposure to create the blurring effect on the water.

We spent a few hours at Brewerkz, a pretty cool brewery that's known for its Tuesday night "trivia nights". If you are ever in the mood to feel stupid, check it out, the questions are brutally difficult (at least to me - some of the teams seemed to handle them somewhat well).

Despite losing terribly at quiz night, there was a bright side. The lighting in Brewerkz was pretty awesome for photos, or so I thought.
This is Melissa and her two friends, Tanya and Ann. 

Ann, master of Cold War history and other topics, trying to keep the team alive.

Afterwards I was feeling pretty sick so we were planning to head home, but decided to do a bit of walking around first. It's amazing, really, how a place so crowded and busy can be so clean. Littering is fined heavily in Singapore, but the reality is that it's a cultural thing. The fine is $500 for littering, but the U.S. has pretty hefty fines for littering too, and from what I understand there really is no one there to enforce the littering laws of Singapore anyway. Even so, if a piece of trash falls to the ground, you're sure to see someone bending down to pick it up right away. That's a refreshing sight.

Since there isn't much more to talk about that relates to these photos, I'd like to address one question which has come up in response to my first entry from Singapore. That is, how do people afford to live here, where costs are so impossibly high for cars, homes, and in other areas?

Well, there are probably two answers. Singapore is a highly desirable place to live. Safe, clean, and filled with things to do and friendly, smart people, it's a place that those who have earned fortunes might choose to live. If business takes you to Asia, Singapore is known to be the most expatriate friendly country of all. So, for those who need not worry about money, the costs of living here don't much matter. But, for everyone else, there is a key component that makes life here much more feasible. The Company.

Singapore is home to a huge number of expatriates from the U.S. as well as other powerful countries around the world such as Great Britain and Japan. These people have relocated to Singapore for the purpose of their work, and are usually employed by companies based in their home countries. These companies are aware of the costs of living in Singapore, and thus provide substantial allowances for housing, cars, and even the hefty tuition bills one faces if sending their kids to Singapore's world-class international schools. It is far from the strictly salary based pay that we're used to here in the States. 

I could talk forever about Singapore, and in particular, the expat lifestyle, but I don't want to do that as I'm not completely confident in my knowledge of it. Spending time around Melissa and her friends here has really opened my eyes to the unrecognized differences that people in this lifestyle face, but I don't want to pretend that I really understand it all yet.

Heading further into the heart of Clarke Quay, we found this awesome shop selling, well, whatever these are. Melissa
pretended to be interested in buying one for me so that I could take a few pictures.

What place could be complete without color changing fountains...

These will be the last Singapore photos I share for a little while, as I'm now putting together a pretty big backlog of photos from my time in Koh Samui, Thailand, where I'm writing this from. Recent experiences here have defined ridiculous, I guess you could say, and I'll elaborate on that when I write again soon.

Despite how stupid I look making this pose, I've pretty much accidentally turned it into a
habit of mine. I guess I'll be embracing it moving forward, and will take photos like this
all over the place?

Night really is my favorite time in Singapore, and it's my favorite time to take photos too. I made a few mistakes when I was out shooting these, so I'm glad I still have some chances to go out and take more. Until next time, I hope you enjoyed them anyway and I will do my best to keep posting quickly. Please feel free to leave me feedback in one way or another, negative or positive.