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Singapore is a “Fine” City…
My apologies for this post for some reason Wordpress is having a meltdown as far as formatting, my team is on it. Hello from Singapore, Singapore the city state, country “Island” with the cleanest streets on the planet. 
So as I touched down from Hong Kong I could have been landing on Mars for how long I had been flying but it wasn’t so bad I guess. Anyway as I approached customs there were the usual warnings about bombs and weapons, drugs and gum….GUM? As in chewing gum.
I have to admit I knew about this before I came here but I still find it funny to see in print as you go through customs. It’s no joke here… but there are some funny dichotomies indeed. … Take for instance that if you’re caught throwing a cigarette butt on the ground you can be fined pretty hefty, yet prostitutes walk the streets pretty openly….hmmm. Let’s just say we’re not in Kansas anymore ToTo.… So I figured since caning looks like it hurts and Singapore has one of the highest death penalty rates in the World, I better look up quickly on the Internet some of the things to avoid doing…Here is what I found …
” In addition, there is a perception that Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalization of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use,[6] littering,[7] jaywalking,[8] the possession of pornography,[9] the sale of chewing gum,[10] and certain forms of sexual activity such as oral and anal sex.[11] Singaporeans make fun of this –
A common slogan on T-shirts sold to tourists is “Singapore is a fine city” (the word ‘fine’, of course, meaning both ‘great’ as well as ‘a monetary penalty’). Nonetheless, one of the results of such heavy regulation is that Singapore is one of the safest countries in the world, with a low incidence of violent crimes.” … …The list went on and on but I needed to get through customs, so I took my chances. So once at the hotel I got some sleep and then woke up bright and early to head over to CNBC Asia’s studios to talk about commodities and especially Palm Oil. A car came to pick me up and we headed over. The driver was very nice and had lived in Singapore for 45 years. He showed me the open air markets and a secret street where I could go to get “real food” not the stuff by my hotel. I thanked him and as I entered the CNBC building all his talk of real food made me real hungry. I figured I had time so why not grab a coffee and bagel in the lobby of the building and chill out it was around 6 am. As I walked into where people were eating breakfast it was very interesting to see everyone eating rice and noodles, fish, dim sum, etc. Not a bagel, donut, yoo hoo, cereal eater in the bunch. I know what you’re thinking “Ugly American right”…No, I lived in Asia briefly and I have travelled a lot so I was not so shocked. It’s just that my mother used to be one of those types who would eat cold leftover Chinese for Breakfast so there is still some trauma for me…lol Nah! ………………………. Anyway sure enough outside and around the corner was a Starbucks…Life could continue!As I was crossing the Street I realized I was jaywalking and I suddenly felt like that guy in the movie Midnight Express, fear and sweat waiting to be busted, but alas I made it to Starbucks. … 
… Ok well here is a link to my interview on CNBC Asia, the YouTube post is much better than CNBC.com cause we can embed it. Unfortunately the disc isn’t here yet so check out the video at this link. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=695001020
