Dear Cadence,

I am very excited for your visit. I already have some things planned that I think you might like to do. I know some great restaurants I know you’ll love. But there are some things you need to know before you come here to Singapore.

One thing you need to know is that we have some serious laws. I have to tell you some of the laws that might apply to you. One law is you can’t sing or hum in public. If you do, you can get up to 3 months in jail and/or a fine. Connecting to another person’s wifi can get you a fine of $10,000 or three years in jail. There are free wifi spots for tourists to connect, so you should be good. Feeding the pigeons can cost you $500. You can get a fine up to $500 for not flushing the toilet, so make sure to do that. You will have to pay $300 or do community service for littering. Don’t bring gum with you. If you do, you could have a fine of up to $100,000. It costs billions of dollars to cleanup the mess gum makes. Without it we are a happier, healthier community. Never, ever, ever spit in public. You could get $1,000 in fines. A fine is something that you pay as a punishment for a crime. You’ll have to be really careful, and remember that your laws are different from mine.  

We do have some amazing foods. One that I’m sure that you’ll like is our Chicken Rice. Our Hainanese Chicken Rice to be more accurate. We consider it to be one of our National Dishes. One of your destinations to visit should be the Hawker Centre. You might know it as the Hawker Center. It is an open air complex with rows and rows of stalls filled to the brim with vendors “hawking” their wares. See what I did there? The Hawker Center is an explosion of color, races, and food. Just to warn you ahead of time, the vendors may be a bit standoffish. So you’ll just order and wait for your food. Unless they say that they’ll bring the food to you, you’re going to have to wait for it. But on the bright side, most of the food is already prepared.

You can get around really easily. You could take a train. The trains are affordable and reliable. They are air conditioned, clean, and safe. Or you could take a cab. The cabs won’t scam you. They are easy to find. With clearly visible taxi-stands everywhere. A Uber may not be as safe as a cab, but they are still reliable. There are also subways. Our subways are the best. They are so clean you could eat off of the floor. The subways are driverless, so don’t be alarmed. They have virtually no noise and there are no glitches in the system. Our subway stations were made for huge numbers of people so we never experience breakdowns or malfunctions. Choose whichever you think would be the best for you, Cadence.

You can do some more research about Singapore if you like. There are so many interesting facts and tidbits that I want to share with you but feel like you would like to experience them firsthand. I wish you safety and happiness with your journey. If you ever need advice or a clarification just call me. Tell me what you think about Singapore in your next letter.

Sincerely your friend,

Chan Hui Ling