Direct translation / News on CCP, Singapore
Editor : Li Dongqi / Source : Phoenix Weekly / https://www.aboluowang.com/2024/0219/2019821.html
The Chinese New Year holidays with "extremely long standby time" have come to an end.
How many people are working unmotivated at their workstations?
How many people are still immersed in the aftertaste of their New Year travel and unable to extricate themselves?
This past Chinese New Year, Singapore became one of the popular tourist destinations. The visa-free agreement that takes effect on New Year's Eve sends a strong holiday signal.
Before departure, the first-tier middle class fantasized about the good days of walking in the garden city City Walk during the day and feasting in the business district at night.
After setting off, my fantasy was so shattered that only four words remained:
"Lost on Journey".
By the way, the first scene in Singapore during the Chinese New Year is the sea of people we are familiar with.
According to Ctrip data, as of 8 February 2024, during the Chinese New Year holiday, the number of bookings from Chinese tourists booking trips to Singapore has increased by more than 960% year-on-year.
The nearly 10-fold increase in tourists is already astonishing. In addition, Singapore is a multicultural and ethnic society that attracts far more tourists than just Chinese.
So, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a heavy rain caused everyone who had originally watched the drone show at Marina Bay to crowd into the Sands Mall.
People of all colours begin to doubt life among the crowd. While everyone was worried about a stampede accident, they also felt deeply what the "greenhouse effect" is in the crowd, the kind of globalization.
Crowding is not the only reason for "Singapore is great, I won't come here next time". Another more critical reason is:
expensive.
How many people have been stabbed in the back by convenience stores selling mineral water worth more than 10 RMB before they even left the airport?
Thinking of saving some money, I went to take the subway. After getting on the train, I unscrewed the expensive mineral water and took a sip. Suddenly, a staff member said that there was a fine of 500 Singapore dollars for drinking water in the subway.
It’s about RMB 2,650, a real fine.
I got out of the car and took out my cigarettes, wanting to pay homage to the RMB that had just "evaporated". Unexpectedly, I was fined another 1,000 Singapore dollars, which is about 5,342 yuan.
Before the journey even started, netizens who lost 8,000 yuan had no choice but to write a three-line poem full of blood and tears on the Internet:
Visa exemption is not free. There is only Singapore between the middle class and bankruptcy.
“If you don’t have money, don’t go to Singapore”
Singapore’s expensiveness is reflected in all aspects.
High-sugar drinks that are daily despised by the middle class in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are out of reach in Singapore.
A small bottle of Coca-Cola costs about 11 RMB.
If you want a cup of healthy freshly squeezed juice, it will cost you 42 RMB.
The street snack Dai-style chicken feet costs nearly 70 RMB for the smallest portion.
As for the dinner, it was even more bittersweet.
The netizen only ordered one of Singapore's famous dishes, Dungeness Spicy Crab, and spent 1,222 RMB when checking out.
It is said to be a vacation, but most middle-class people do not dare to spend as much as they want during travel.
A colleague from the editorial department, Moren, took a trip to Singapore during the holidays. The hotel room price was only 1,000+ RMB, and the buffet breakfast was 50+ SGD per person.
A breakfast costs about 300 RMB per person.
Having learned the lesson from breakfast and going out to eat in the afternoon, Moren became cautious when ordering food.
A dish of white pork with garlic paste, a cup of pork ribs soup, a portion of steamed dumplings, a plate of shrimp and egg fried rice, and a portion of stir-fried spinach with garlic.
When I got the bill and converted it into RMB, I was still surprised:
Five dishes cost more than 600 yuan, including 10% service charge and 9% consumption tax.
As of 16 January 2024, the exchange rate between Singapore and the Chinese yuan was 1:5.32.
When not converting into RMB, looking at the 13 Singapore Dollars a plate of stir-fried spinach with garlic, Moren felt that the price was fair but when he thought about it, he still took a breath of cold air when he thought that he had spent nearly 70 RMB to only eat a small plate of spinach.
Expensiveness is like a knife stuck in the body of every middle-class person who travels to Singapore.
Taking a taxi casually, the distance was less than 7 kilometers, which cost the netizen 82.6 RMB.
In previous years, prices in Singapore would have been a slightly expensive trip for the middle class.
But this is 2024 after all, an era that pays attention to cost-effectiveness.
Perhaps the terms Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. When the middle class people who are considered "expensive" by Singapore always think of Thailand, which has high quality and low price, when they look back on their spending trip in Singapore, they make comparisons with it.
Singapore is also known as the “least cost-effective tourist country in Southeast Asia”.
Do not blame us middle-class people for being stingy. Singapore has been named "the most expensive city in the world" for nine consecutive years. Even locals complained on the Internet: "Singapore is crazy expensive."
Although food and accommodation are not cheap, considering the old saying that "poor people are rich," the middle class just complains and complains online.
When traveling in Singapore, you do not have to spend any money less.
What can really drain the pockets of the middle class are unplanned expenditures in foreign countries.
“If your quality is not good enough, don’t go to Singapore.”
As soon as the news about Singapore’s visa exemption came out, the hot search topic “I will become pauper if I am not careful” hit the top spot.
High prices are not enough to bankrupt the well-prepared middle class.
The real “king” is Singapore’s strict and detailed fine system.
Singapore's legal system is strict, everything is fine, and law enforcement is extremely strict.
Feeding pigeons in Paris represents a timeless relaxation but in Singapore, feeding pigeons a handful of corn will result in a fine of S$500.
After conversion, 2,660 RMB, the price of a pigeon meal is enough to cover the food expenses of a single middle-class person for a month.
In the Guangzhou subway, although there are signs prohibiting eating and drinking, people still lose their tea eggs on the crowded Line 3 every now and then.
But when you come to the subway in Singapore, eating and drinking are not impossible but you have to pay a fine of S$500.
Singapore will create equal opportunities for everyone who is not a guide.
Yes, the most economical decision before coming to Singapore is not to make a travel guide, but to study local laws and regulations.
If you are not careful, a huge fine is waiting for you.
Most hawker centers in Singapore have implemented a complete smoking ban, with only some designated smoking areas remaining in public areas.
Smoking in a no-smoking area will result in a fine and a loss of S$1,000.
In other words, the value of a puff of cigarettes is approximately equivalent to 5,320 yuan, and its purchasing power is almost as much as 12 grams of gold.
Singapore’s fines radiate into every aspect of a person’s life.
Failure to flush the toilet after using the toilet will incur a fine of S$150. Not much, just 798 RMB or 1.5 grams of gold.
Warm reminder: If the toilet is not flushed cleanly, it can easily be counted as unflushed.
In Singapore, the risk of going to the toilet is as high as 800 RMB, and crossing the road is also a high-risk behaviour.
Once you cross the road illegally without looking at the traffic lights, you will be fined S$50, and you will lose 266 RMB every minute, which is about the same as the basic salary of some friends for a day.
It is illegal in Singapore not to clear the table and cutlery after finishing the meal.
When searching for Singapore on the Internet, the most common posts seen in the comment area are posts about fines.
The netizen did not know how much RMB he spent on the meal, but the fine for not clearing the table and tableware was as high as more than 1,500 RMB. Two fines are enough to pay the monthly rent of a bedroom in Beijing.
That is not all. Singapore is a country that promotes environmental protection and recycling, and there are very few trash cans on the road.
But the price for littering or spitting is heavy, ranging from a fine of S$300 to a hefty fine of S$2,000.
The range of 1,500-10,640 RMB is enough to cover the mid-to-high-end products of Lulu, Raff, and Arc'teryx.
Singapore is well aware of the frailty of human nature. Every harm you cause to the environment or the public will hit your wallet or freedom with equal force.
When traveling in Singapore, writing "xxx is here for a trip" is a tycoon behaviour, and can result in a fine of up to S$2,000 or 3 years in prison.
Have fun, but if you disturb others by singing in public places, you will also face fines and jail time.
Arguing with others while playing, intimidating or threatening others during a quarrel may also be considered a crime in Singapore, with a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison, ranging from a fine to imprisonment, or both.
Using other people's Wi-Fi is also a serious illegal act in Singapore. It will be defined as hacking and will be fined S$10,000 or sentenced to 3 years in prison.
The cost of using the Internet once is 53,200 RMB, which is close to the average housing price in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in 2022.
Singapore's civilization goes deep into every detail.
Even if you are naked at home and your buttocks are seen by your neighbours, you will be fined S$2,000 or imprisoned for 3 months.
Of course, if you are seen naked in a hotel, you will be punished.
The most detailed thing is that you will be fined for buying, selling and spitting gum in Singapore.
In order to satisfy their chewing gum addiction, it is said on the Internet that locals take buses to Malaysia to eat chewing gum before returning to Singapore.
As soon as details about Singapore's fines came out, they became an Internet spectacle.
Fine City Singapore also has its own pun:
It is a "city with beautiful environment" and also a city of "fine".
The middle-class people who were punished to the point of bursting into tears wrote down their travel experiences with regret:
"Singapore is very good, I won’t come again next time."
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