I'm baaaaaack!!!!
Thoughts:
- It feels *great* to be back home!!! *^^*
- Oh my computer... my PS2... my mangas... you're all here... I missed you!! (hugs them all)
- Oh... I missed you guys, too.
To those who had asked me earlier how Singapore was... sorry I really couldn't answer earlier. But now that my ordeal is over, here's my thoughts. Please keep an open mind, as it's not all fine and dandy...
I consider myself a well-traveled person, especially compared to most people I know. I've been to Hong Kong, China, and the US, mostly on vacation, and I usually stay for a month or so. My trip to Singapore had been the first time I had gone somewhere for work, so I don't know if that had made any difference. But here are my thoughts...
- Singapore is a very nice city. Streets are clean, transportation system is absolutely terrific, and I felt incredibly safe the entire time I was there. Food was expensive though. So are clothes. It's not a place I would go to if I wanted to go shopping, that's for sure. But it's a nice place to visit all the same.
- What's not nice about it? As I've said before, I've been to many places. But Singapore is the first place I've gone to where I felt most unwelcomed. I've never felt so much discrimination in my life, just because of my nationality. In a month, I had been scorned and laughed at, for reasons I can't comprehend. It was not a very nice experience at all. And sadly, I've only met a few Singaporeans who were actually kind to me, and didn't treat me differently when they find out that I'm Filipino (I look Chinese, so everyone speaks to me in Chinese first. Which is probably why I felt the difference between how they treat Singaporeans and Filipinos a lot more than other people).
- While reading the newspaper when I had been in Singapore, I saw an article wherein the writer was expressing his disappointment that Singapore's ranking in the world-wide customer service survey had dropped from 11th place to somewhere around 23rd or so. The writer said that perhaps "it wasn't enough to be nice". I couldn't help but think that the rank dropped that low because the sales people weren't nice at all. Atmosphere is terrific. But they seriously need to teach sales people how to smile. Especially at foreigners.
Those are my thoughts on Singapore. I do understand, however, that not all people there are like that, and that perhaps I had only been unfortunate enough to have encountered so many of them in the span of a month and a half. But as I've said... it was a particularly unpleasant experience, and I wouldn't want to go through it again.
Anyway, it's nice to be back home.

I hope I don't have to go anywhere else again anytime soon.