dotesgee - day 6

I guess the strangest thing about dotesgee is the fact that the people semm to have willingly and happily given up their liberties for some temporary freedom. This seems so weird to me. In any society there HAS to be some kind of pressure valve so that people can let off steam. I still haven't found it here. Does it mean that it doesn't exist? I have problems believing that. The suicide rates, the substance addiction rates should tell us more. I guess that is yet another thing I will have to look into,

Speaking to a few people it seems to be that there is a low suicide rate, but the smoking rate is pretty high. And they seem to start smoking at a young age, despite the high official age of smoking. The fact that the people are indoctrinated from a young age to nfollow the rules and be nice little robots also seems to help. This could have some serious repercussions in the future.since these people are the ones who lead the innovations that lead countries away from stagnation and into development and evolution.

There seems to be quite a lot for singaporeans to do. Other than the obvious things like East Coast Park and the zoos and other attractions, there seem to be a lot of parks available. Head towards the Esplanade and you'll see an underpass that has been expanded sideways. In the evening and at night there are kids there practicing dance moves, showing off. I guess that is one way to allow them to let off steam. But there seems to be a large amount of teenage smoking as well. I guess I would have to spend a long time here just looking at things and talking to people before I can understand what makes dotesgee tick.

People keep saying "Sri Lanka could have been another Singapore if the Indians hadn't destabilised us." What the fuckever man. Dotesgee has some serious advantages over dotelkay. A 660km2 area, a four million person population, and the dictatorial, almost tyrannical, rule of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. It was his measures that brought dotesgee to where it is today. His measures making English the official language, a proper, well planned city, ambitious plans, and, of course, an iron fist in a velvet glove all helped bring dotesgee to ehre it is today. In the meantime we spent our time going further and further along the path that dotesgee eschewed.

And yet our politicians never seemed to realise it. After all, the path that dotesgee took was the path of the "kalu suddas" and the late great (and I say that with the greatest bitter sarcasm mind you) Anagarika Dharmapala said that to be true Sinhalese we have to destroy the kalu suddas.

Dotesgee is a study in contrasts. you can walk down a street and see block after block of towering office and apartment complexes. Glistening monuments to the gods of architecture and engineering. And then all of a sudden you find a throwback to the Old Days of the British Raj. Walking past the Raffles Hotel you can almost see the people of a bygone age rolling up in their carriages to sip Singapore Slings (which, as a matter of fact, was created there) in an all-white enviorenment while they plan ventures that willchange the world. Blink and you'll see that it is the jet set of the IMF rolling up in their BMWs and Mercs to sip Singapore Slings. The hands gripping the glasses are more multicolored, and the owners of those hands (or their tribesmen (in the social/national sense not the tribal sense)) would have been chased out of the hotel less than century ago. But the gossip is pretty much the same and the decisions that are made are the same too. A shifting of wealth from one country to another. The only REAL decision being who would benefit

Today is my last day in dotesgee, I have spent almost a week here, and, frankly, I am NOT ready to go home. I haven't yet been to Sentosa Island, or Club Quay, or gone blading at East Coast Park, or done any of a hundred things I want to see and do. There is so much to be done, and I haven't had the chance to do anything yet. I guess one day when I have the money, I will do just that. Come here for a week, and spend it doing holidayey toust-type stuff. Of course it is unlikely that I will see dotesgee looking quite so beautiful, since a lot of work was done for the IMF meetings this week. But you never can tell of course. Dotesgee seems to have a penchant for becoming beautiful and staying that way. They have built up a "momentum of beauty" in the sense that when you have achieved beauty, it takes very little to maintain it.

This is an awesome and excellent country. The people are friendly and polite. Personally though, I think it is a great place to visit, but I doubt I would want to live here.