Same Same, but Different

This phrase is a very commonly heard idiom in SE Asia. It is said by numerous stall hawkers all over this part of the world when they want to convince you that they are selling something different from the stall right next to them.

The city/country of Singapore embodies this phrase for almost everyone who visits here. Everyone will find something that is similar to home, yet the place will be very different from home and other large cities in the region.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

Like a well maintained European or American city, the streets are very clean. Maybe even cleaner than the previously mentioned places. There is a fast efficient subway, which will remind many people of home. There are also giant shopping malls. They are full of stores from major American cities like Guess, Express, Gap, and Banana Republic. They also have European heavyweights like Louis Vitton and Chanel in addition to more common ones like Boots, the British pharmacy. But unlike an American or European city the population is mostly Asian and so looks very different. There is a fairly large ex-pat community here, but they are substantially overwhelmed.

Sultan Mosque

Like everywhere these days there is traffic and lots of it. Like most places in Asia, cars have the right of way and drivers assume that pedestrians will not get in their way. The food is also distinctly Asian although you can see how certain dishes from India have been reworked by the Chinese and vice-a-versa. While almost everyone speaks English, it is the first language for very few and so as you walk down the street you hear a dozen different languages that span geographical homelands from India to Japan to Indonesia.

Sri Veerama-kallamman Hindu Temple

Singapore is a clean, sanitized Asia and an exotic different America/Europe at the same time.