Daddy goes to Singapore (April 2010)

In April 2010, one of my colleagues in trust research, Don Ferrin, invited me out to Singapore, where he is based, to collaborate on some research we're doing into the MPs' expenses scandal and the various thieving buggers' trust repair tactics...

In all, I spent a week there, and we had a productive time working out how on Earth we were going to gather the data properly (still ongoing!)

Singapore is an intriguing place - not as pristine and regimented as I had imagined from its reputation, though much cleaner than big cities in the West. It also didn't strike me as obviously authoritarian in atmosphere, either - again, contrary to its reputation. There is a mix of the modern and yesteryear, though the former clearly dominates. In my meanderings, I came upon one or two enclaves of what looked like the older local architectural style, before high finance and tax evasion became the country's economic solution... These pictures try to capture both.






I rather liked the place, especially its legendary restaurants - although there didn't seem much else to do in the city centre than go to the malls. I confess I didn't look very far, though, being there on business, so I'm doubtless doing it a disservice...

Each night I walked down to Clarke Quay down by the river, and can therefore recommend Brewerkz, a micro-brewery serving passable nosh too, and Khmer Delight, a Cambodian restaurant that worked for me.

Best bit of the trip - definitely the sailing excursion on Don's own boat, with Professor Gary Johns and his wife as well. Don plainly had a rush of blood to the head, and decided he'd let us have a go at steering, which was excellent fun, if bewildering.

The basic process is to take the tiller [the rudder stick thing at the back] and wiggle it about, while looking at the 'tell-tales' (red and green strings stuck on the sails). If they are flapping wildly, this indicates you're sailing against the wind and hence may encounter turbulent resistance and struggle to progress, but if they are in blissful repose - as these are (well, sort of) - then you're sailing optimally with the wind, and you can really pick up speed when you do so. You can feel it in the tension on the tiller, too: it's looser when you're with the wind.

You might glean from the startling angle of the boat in the picture below that while I hadn't fully mastered the technique, I nevertheless felt confident enough in the swimming proficiency of my crew members to pose recklessly for the camera.

A great week...