The Pristine City

A view of Alaska from the sky
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I'm in Singapore!!!

The 30 hour plane ride over here was pretty grueling; me and another girl on the trip were lucky though and had an empty seat between us so we had some extra room on the longest flight (12 hours).  We passed over Alaska and got some amazing views of snow covered mountains...then a quick layover in Tokyo and another 7 hours to Singapore! (which i promptly slept the entire flight...)

If cities have a personality, I'm convinced Singapore is OCD.

Me at Ogilvy Singapore!
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Our first morning we woke up early to get ready for the first of our 3 agencies we were visiting that day: Ogilvy, Bates 141 and Saatchi and Saatchi.  We went down for breakfast provided by the hotel and were slightly surprised to see fried rice, vegetables and dumplings alongside the scrambled eggs and french toast.  Apparently it's pretty normal here.  Then we set out to find the metro station...

If cities have a personality, I'm convinced Singapore is OCD.  The city is insanely clean, and everything is regulated.  Even the subways systems and public bathrooms are pristine!  There is a running joke in all the tourist shops that Singapore is a 'fine' city; it's on shirts, hats, you name it.  The reason is though, that you can get a fine for just about anything here--littering, jaywalking, chewing gum, spitting, and many many more.  Everything is written in English too, which is unexpected.  In fact at times I have to remind myself that I'm actually in Asia, as so much of the country is westernized.  It's beautiful though!  Beautiful greenery, sunny, warm weather, and so many different types of people and cultures.

Chinese New Year decorations!
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We spent all day Friday visiting the above-mentioned agencies; it was really interesting comparing the personalites and work processes of the different offices.  Each one gave us a tour and a presentation over what their philosophy and major clients were, as well as general obstacles and issues when advertising in Asia.  I learned an interesting factoid in one of the presentations--apparently Oklahoma has more languages than all of Europe combined!  Talk about diversity...

After the agency visits we headed off for a walk through China town.  It was all decorated for the Chinese New Year; which basically means red everywhere!  We decided to come back later that night because we heard it would all lit up as well.  So then we met back up with rest of our group and headed off to the riverside area of Clark Quay for dinner.  We ate at a pretty decent/way overpriced Thai restaurant with a beautiful view of the river; be wary of these type of restaurants though, they charge you for everything you touch on your table, even napkins, and tack on huge service charges at then end.  Nevertheless it was still delicious, and a good time.  We then headed back to Chinatown, which looked amazing with all the lights, to have a few drinks and do some shopping  I bought a great pearl necklace for $10 from one of the street vendors.  Overall, a great day, and a great introduction to the wonderful city of Singapore!