may 1992

Here a month in the relative calm of clean and ordered Singapore and i’m enjoying it. If i looked for a starker contrast to the bustle of Bangkok i couldn’t find a better one anywhere. The college is situated on the west of the island quite a way from the city centre and i’m living on campus but such is the efficiency of public transport it takes just forty-five minutes to reach Orchard Road by bus and train; an equivalent journey through Bkk would take an eternity.

From the campus i take a #199 bus, there’s one every seven to ten minutes between 5:00am and midnight, and ride to the MRT station at Boon Lay. I call it the Boonies as it really is an outpost but one with shops, a newsstand, telephones that work and a working man’s cafe with excellent Malay food, the mutton curry’s delicious.