six: sameness.

there's one scary thing about Singapore. it's a small nation. it's a strong nation. it takes about 45 minutes to get from one end of the island to the other (one of the fastest ways, at least). crime rates are extremely low here. but there is one thing that scares me. it used to be comforting to me, but now it feels like i'm trapped.

i used to have a strange love for franchises because whenever you go to a foreign country, as long as there is a Subway chain or even McDonalds, you feel that something familiar has followed you from home to this brand new country. you feel comforted because it's something you know. it's not something you are completely strange or unknown to. that's why seeing a franchise in a different country has always warmed my heart a little, because it feels like 'hey, there's something i know about this strange, new world after all'.

Singapore though, Singapore live on franchises. if you don't have a franchise business, you won't be able to survive as a business. that's how it works here. so, unlike Malaysia, Singapore doesn't have its fair share of roadside stalls or even independent stores. here, it is franchise after franchise after franchise. every city or town you go to, there is bound to be something you have seen on the other far side of Singapore. there must be. perhaps due to its considerably small size also that it is why Singapore encourages this culture so heavily. instead of creating competition between hawker stalls or stores, why not just create one brand, make a franchise out of it and create equal job opportunities for others? (in turn, eliminating the competition as well)

actually, i wouldn't know. this is just my speculation.

it's scary to me because it feels the same everywhere you go. turn right and there's a mall. turn left and there's a park. everything seems so predictable and business-like. there are no more secret treasure troves, no more hidden good food. all there is to Singapore is Ya Kun Kaya Toast, Koi, Mackers(McD's) and God knows what else. 

although, there is a contradiction within Singapore. it's peculiar for a country which promotes sameness and mass production, to have a striving art scene. food-wise, they have all sorts of independent cafes (who may or may not be associated with one another somehow); art-wise, Singapore has a flavourful array of musicians, visual artists, and pretty much everything and anything you can name. Singapore allows the freedom of art here, but controls it and suppresses it somehow with this repetitiveness of the nation's system. same buses, same tv channels, same food, same clothes, same shoes--all the same.

we live in a continuity of sameness and difference. 

clash and crash.