Singapore, you’re my second home behind Australia, but as a regular visitor and a friend we need to talk. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a wonderful place to live and visit, being a mixing pot of cultures, food and an excellent hub to travel from but some things are starting to irk me and other travellers.
Taxis
Please for the love of tourism and anything else, fix your taxi culture. You would think that getting a taxi at 11pm on a Tuesday night from the CBD would be a difficult thing, but it is and its so much worse each night of the week approaching the hell of finding a taxi on the weekend.
Tourists want to be able to go out, enjoy themselves and then walk to the roadside, spend at most 5 minutes attempting to hail a taxi to take them back to their hotel. It wouldn’t be so bad if the taxis were all booked, but a too high number of them with green “available” lights turned on just drive by.
The others just ask “where you going?” and decide its “shift change” and its too difficult to take another fare.
When did being a taxi driver become such a prestigious occupation that its common place for them to choose their customers?
Singapore, when your taxi drivers can choose their customers, you have a problem!
Shopping
Stop building every new shopping centre with the same formula of shops, almost every shopping centre along orchard road has the same set of boring cheap and overpriced shops. Its boring and it looks like its taking its toll, with a lot of the newer centres looking quite empty, even on friday and saturday.
How many Mont Blanc shops do you need on Orchard Rd?
The Haze
What is the best way to ruin a SGD$700 a night room for a new bride and groom? A nasty haze!
How do you expect people to want to travel to singapore, spend their hard-earned money on “high-end” outlets, theme parks and the casinos if every time they step outside they might as well be in Hong Kong?
