Lion City

My five days in Singapore last week passed smoothly enough, visiting customers Mon-Wed after the weekend rest. I didn’t explore much Sunday, preferring to relax at the lovely Grand Hyatt. I did sample the reportedly authentic Malay breakfast one morning called kaya toast, thin squares of buttered and sugared toast made with coconut milk, served with barely-touched-the-boiling-water, runny-as-can-be poached eggs…not bad. A wealthy, sweltering Malaysian island-city-state of almost 5 million people, Singapore’s fame derives mainly from its strict societal organization, e.g., immaculately clean, no gum chewing, extremely safe, brutally caning vandals, etc. (Singapura means "lion-city" in Malay). No surprise then that the authorities relegated heavy industry, of which Singapore as a major historical trading hub hosts plenty, to a fascinating place--a series of small islands off its south coast.

On both Monday and Wednesday we dutifully jumped the paperwork hoops through the crowded, boring security checkpoints to enter Jurong Island (pictured above); Wednesday we entered a sub-industry campus called the Singapore Petrochemical Complex, a compound containing the enormous plants of eight major petrochem companies. The complex maintains its own police force, security measures and driving regulations. Massive parallel and diverging metal pipes sprawl everywhere, also bending upwards amidst mazes of scaffolding, peaking as spikes of towers across the horizon. Kinda cool in a massive industrial way. Too bad our attempt to close a sale there turned into a way-too-technical 4-1/2 hour long meeting.

Tuesday required registering, queuing and waiting for a 10-minute ferry to Pulau Bukom, a smaller island entirely owned and run by Shell Oil, their single largest worldwide oil refinery. The ferry that transports thousands of workers, contractors and visitors (like us) back and forth to the refinery every day reeked incredibly of diesel fuel (workers used to live on the island, but no longer). One of many shuttle buses drove us to and from our appointment. Funny that after fifteen years as a chemical engineer--a profession born from the petroleum and petrochem industries--I finally visited my first refinery and first petrochem plant, in Singapore and in fine fashion no less.

A few industrial pictures are attached, snapped at great risk from my cell phone, but actually nothing too exciting: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=2hd8fyj.3s224cyn&x=0&y=4ot1va&localeid=en_US. Overall, Singapore and especially the people receive high marks, nearly every bit as friendly as the world-friendliest Thais. As I type, we’re nearing the end of our 13 hour flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, where I catch puddle jumper to Zürich. Back to the continent of espresso over tea. Nice indeed to be home with NO international travel plans for all of three weeks, although I must admit that a guy can get used to hanging out at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.

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