I’m told that the Singaporean weather, as it's
close to the equator, runs like clockwork. It's almost always 32 degrees, which
drops to 26 occasionally (locals don jumpers), and there is usually a daily
short, very sharp downpour.
As we left china town, the air became unbearably
close, the threatened rain almost tangible. So we dashed for cover to ride it
out. As you can see, these are no showers; 2 days later we walked through a
similar storm for 10 metres and ended up soaked to the skin.
The other major weather feature was heavy smog. I
was surprised to see the bay badly obscured, as I understood Singapore doesn't
suffer like HK from pollution.
I was fascinated to hear that this is caused by
Indonesia burning off thousands of acres of palm groves. It's apparently a
regional sore point that sparks sophisticated international debate like this:
Malaysia+Singapore: Indonesia, can you pack that
in? It's really manky (and ruins my nice views, Singapore adds)
Indonesia: But palm oil’s a huge chunk of our
national income...besides, you burn lots of stuff too, Malaysia
Malaysia: Oh yeah I guess. Fair enough.
Singapore: Hey, no, not fair enough! I don't burn
anything!
Malaysia+Indonesia: Yeah well you don't need to,
you've got loads of dosh...so you and your precious view can sod off!
The other unbelievable dispute stems from Singapore
getting caught pinching sand from uninhabited Indonesian islands to chuck in
the bay to reclaim land...so what yesterday's boat building stands on used to
be Indonesia.
Understandably, Indonesia is not very impressed.
Now that is fair enough.
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