I will not speak of a thousand wonders/but come again, stranger,
come again and discover/these isles of songs and poems. --Naadaw iti ” Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger”, antolohia dagiti dandaniw ti autor.
SINGAPORE—Sumagmamano a minuto kalpasan ti alas kuatro iti malem, pinanurnoren dagiti pilid ti Tiger Airways airplane ti tarmac ti Diosdado Macapagal International Airport idiay Clark, Mabalacat, Pampanga. Tinarimaanmi ken baket dagiti seat beltmi. Addakami iti maikapat nga intar dagiti tugaw manipud iti sango, ni baket iti denna ti desarming a pannakatawa ti eroplano. Iti makannawanko, nakaul-ulimek nga agngatngatingat ti maysa nga agtutubo a Filipino a nagbakasion iti Filipinas ket agsubli iti trabahona iti isla nga estado.
Pekpek ti lugan. Tallo wenno uppat la ngata a tugaw ti bakante iti likud. Kaaduanna a Filipino dagiti pasahero. Adda innem nga Indian nationals (nangisit-kayumanggi a Tamil wenno dagiti patneng ti Southern India)—tallo a nalulukmeg ken nataengan a babbai a nakaarruat iti nakaisigudan a pagan-anayda a dagiti sari naibalabal kadagiti abagada, ken talllo a lallaki a nakapolo ken nagpantalon iti maong. Adda met sumagmamano a Singaporean ken maysa a Puraw ken ti girl friendna a Filipina. Nakatugawda iti maikadua nga intar ti sango iti kannawan a paset ti eroplano.
Nagin-iniin a nagpangato ti eroplano iti baet ti wanerwer ti makina, ket in-inut a nagkalma ti tayabna idi makadanon iti 35,000 a kadapan iti ngatuen ti taaw. Nakusnaw nga asul ti tangatang, sumagmamano dagiti naingpis nga ulep nga agam-ampayag. Manipud iti peephole, maaninawmi dagiti isla wenno puro a nalabit a paset ti probinsia ti Palawan.
Naannayas ti biahe, awan nadalapusmi nga air pockets a mamigerger koma ti panaglayag ti eroplano. No kuan, mailibayak bayat ti panagbasak iti “The Secret”, ti US best-selling a libro ni Rhonda Bryne a ginatangmi ken ni baket itay napan a tawen idiay New York.
Agarup alas siete ti malem iti relok a Fossil idi nagkarasakas ti intercom. Timek ti kapitan ti Tiger Airways: sumanglad ti eroplano iti Changi International Airport iti sumagmamano a minuto. It is 29 degree Celsius in Singapore, impakaammona. Agpada ti time zone ti Filipinas ken Singapore, ngem nalawag pay laeng iti tangatang uray no nalneden ti init.
Alas siete y media idi bumabakami iti rampa a bitbitmi dagiti hand-carrried a bagahemi. Nagsasarunokami a pasahero a nagna iti runway. Simrekkami iti pasdek ti budget terminal, nagpangatokami a nangpanurnor iti atiddog a pasilio, ket bimmabakami iti immigration booth a nangidatagan ken nangdeppalanda kadagiti pasaportemi. Iti lobby, innalami dagiti check-in luggagemi iti agpulpuligos a conveyor.
Napankami ken ni baket iti duty-free shop iti uneg ti budget terminal ket gimmatangkami iti pasarabomi kadagiti dua a lallaki nga annakmi nga agtartrabaho iti maysa a Singapore multinational company.
Iti ruar ti budget terminal ti nagurayanmi iti maysa kadagiti annakmi a mangsukon kadakami. Rumimatrimat dagiti silaw dagiti pasdek, nadalus ken naurnos ti aglawlaw. Sumarungkarkami iti maysa a bassit a pagilian ti Asia (tulnek laeng iti mapa ken kabassitan iti Southeast Asia).
Ngem yarigmi ti Singapore iti maysa a siudad ti America nga addaan kadagiti skyscrapers ken efficiently-run transportation system. Maipalagip kadakami ti maysa a lugar idiay Amarillo, Texas a masansan a paggatangami iti groseria ken dadduma pay a kasapulan idi simmarungkarkami iti Estados Unidos idi 2006-2007.
Dimteng ni Christoffer, binagkatmi dagiti gargaretmi ket naglugankami iti maysa kadagiti agur-uray a taksi iti abay ti terminal. Iti uneg ti erkon a lugan nga ingget dalusna, nabanglo, spic and span, kas kunada iti Ingles, baro a kasla nagatang laeng iti paktoria ti kotse idi kalman, binuyami dagiti malabsanmi—berde a kaykayo, dagiti sumilsilap a kotse, well-manicured lawns iti sango dagiti natatayag nga estraktura nga agan-andap iti silaw.
“Kasla addata met laeng idiay America,” kinuna ni baket bayat ti naulimek a panagtaray ti lugan iti naunday ken sementado a kalsada.
Dimtengkami iti Serangoon Avenue North iti Hougang residential area iti akindaya a paset ti Singapore. Nagpondo ti lugan iti parking area iti asideg dagiti agkakadaeg a pasdek.
“How much, Uncle?” sinaludsod ni Christoffer no mano ti pletemi manipud iti eropuerto agingga iti Hougang.(Kas iti dadduma a paset ti Filipinas, “uncle” wenno “auntie” ti awag dagiti baro a henerasion a Singaporean kadagiti nataengan a kas pakakitaan ti panagdayawda kadakuada.)
Kinuna ti draiber, maysa a lakay ken ubanan nga Insik, a $15 ti pletemi (Singaporean dollars, 32 peos ti exchange rate)agraman ti $3 surcharge a makolekta kadagiti pasahero nga aglugan iti taksi manipud iti eropuerto iti dayta a tiempo ti aldaw.
Innalami dagiti kargami iti luggage compartment ti taksi ket nagturongkami iti maysa a 14-story a pasdek a pangab-abangan dagiti annaklmi iti maikalima a kadsaaran. Adda pay dagiti natatayag nga estraktura iti aglawlaw nga addaan iti bukodda a numero a kas iti 542, 543, 539. Kas iti papanami a pasdek agpapada ti disenio-arkitekturada ken pintada a derosas ken krema (duyaw).
Idiay Filipinas, dagitoy a pasdek ti mangbukel koma iti Philippine housing area a maaw-agawan iti subdibision a kas iti Legaspi Village. Ngamin, gapu ta limitado ti kalawa ti daga ti Singapore, kasapulan a mabangon dagiti pasdek a pagtaengan ken dagiti balay ti negosio iti uneg ken ngatuen ti daga.
Iti asideg, nakitami iti maysa a children’s park, ken kaykayo iti nagbabaetan dagiti pasdek—Indian neem, algarrubo, ken dadduma pay a kita ti berde ken nasasalun-at a pinuon, ti dadduma agsalumpayak, ket dumanon dagiti aringgawisda agingga iti maika-6 a kadsaaran.
Nakaad-adu ti makapikapik a buya ken maadal iti daytoy 725 a kilometro kuadrado nga island-state, a paset idi ti Malaysia, ken pagnaedan ti 4.5 a riwriw a tattao. Ditoy ti pagtaengan ti nadumaduma a puli—Malay, Insik, Indian, Indonesian, Caucasiano, Americano ken dadduma nga Asiano a pakairamanan dagiti Filipino. Kaaduan nga inhiniero dagiti kailiantayo (electronics communications, civil), construction workers, ken domestic helper nga adu ti Ilocana, a sumagmamano kadakuada ti taga-Echague, Isabela a nakaam-ammomi iti maysa a Domingo iti Church of Alphonso iti asideg ti Velocity, maysa a mall a kapada ngem narangranga ngem ti Center Mall idiay Baguio.
Part 2
SINGAPORE--Lee Kuan Yew became the first Prime Minister of Singapore when Ferdinand Marcos was in his second year as president of his country. That was in 1965. The Philippines was then far more economically advanced than this rules-based island-state. We were second to Japan in economic development whereas Singapore, along with Malaysia and Indonesia, were just backwaters.
Lee and Marcos had one thing in common: they ruled with an iron hand. But the similarity stops there. Undoubtedly, they had different agenda as evidenced by what we see now in Singapore compared to the pitiful state—economically and politically-- of the Philippines.
Whatever Marcos dreamt for his country, we never knew. (But he should be credited for building infrastructures, the North and South Expressway, the Heart Center, and cementing roads from Aparri to Jolo. The LRT represented a vision of his country’s modern transportation system.) He is already dead, the most hated president of his country, after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose government, it is claimed, is the most corrupt in the history of the Philippines.
But Lee Kuan Yew, now pushing 84, is still alive and kicking, providing advice and guidance to the Singaporean government. In fact, he has a title—Minister Mentor. His son, Lee Hsien Loong, is the incumbent Prime Minister.
Under the elder Yew’s aegis, this nation with practically no raw materials to speak of and the tiniest country in Southeast Asia in terms of land area is now the 6th wealthiest in the world. Lee Kuan Yew’s achievements speak volumes of his mind-set and noble goals for his beloved Singapore.
We ride their MRT underground train network, public buses and cabs and we could only gush at the efficiency of its transportation system. We have already written how clean and good-smelling these transport vehicles are. The trains are air-conditioned and are always overcrowded, especially on week-ends, but there is no hustle and bustle, no fear of delays or sudden stops or a stranger picking your pocket. (Such overcrowding could be attributed to the growing population and the spike of foreign workers, a big number of them Filipino professionals and domestic helpers. The local paper, Straits Times, also noted a squeeze at the malls in Takashimaya City, The Plaza at Orchard Road, Vivo City and Velocity and even at Compass Point.)
This is also true to their cable cars, some 90 of them running from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, crisscrossing from mainland Singapore at Harbour Front (note the spelling of harbor, a remnant of Singapore’s British cultural and language past) to Sentosa. This little island, some portion of which was reclaimed from the sea with earth fillings from the Singapore hills, is a tourist paradise that could put to shame our own Boracay. (There is a beach here called Palawan, where natives and expatriates play volleyball on the clean yellow sands.)
One bright afternoon in Sentosa, arriving here via a cable car overlooking the sea, we climbed a rise of land to the 10-story statue of the merelion (from the words mermaid and lion). This circular creamed color structure, Singapore’s symbol, is also a fixture, at the Singapore River Bank, forever spouting water from its lion mouth into the river. There is a shop at the base of the structure where they sell souvenir items and give tokens for tourists who scale the summit via an elevator. My wife, Christoffer and his girlfriend, and I joined a group, who gawked and gushed at the sight from the top, which is actually the head of the merelion. We saw as far as our eyes could see the narrow Straits of Singapore which separate the island-state from the Indonesian island of Batam, now being developed as a tourist and commercial area.
We saw a lot of activities in the sea—boats, ships, barges plying the ancient waters. The straits are the confluence of shipping lines which make the port of Singapore the busiest in the world.
eng_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn ilo_Latn lmo_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn eng_Latn