Same time last year I was at home, watching bits of F1 i my parents' living room. Avoiding the crowds in town and preparing to wake at 7am to walk over to my own home and open the doors for HDB contractors. Then, I thought nothing much about F1... just what a novel idea it was to lure tourists to Singapore.
I'm now sitting in Beijing, watching bits of this year's race while trying to finish up some work at the same time. I'm half listening to the Mandarin commentary and it's given me a new perspective on Singapore.
There are things we take for granted in Singapore - the largely smooth traffic, the clean roads, the cityscape. Listening to these Chinese commentators talk about how comfortable it must be sitting by the Singapore river, how clean the water looks and how clean the city is... it's almost as if I'm seeing Singapore with fresh eyes. There was a shot of the race track and Singapore's night view and it really did look quite beautiful - not something you think about when you've lived in the city all your life and gripe about the lack of "character" in architecture and how hot it is to walk a mere 5 mins outdoors.
The commentators discussed how Singapore closed the roads for this race and they had a guest voice whom I suppose is Singaporean or least a journo based in Singapore. The commentators asked if the roads were closed days in advance and if it caused a lot of inconvenience to locals. The respondent was quite horrified. He said, of course not! and went on to explain how everything was done with maximum efficiency ( least that's how it sounded to me lah) and with alternative routes or modes of transport.
That just reminded me of the horrible inconvenience of the upcoming road closures in Beijing for the National day parade and how my colleagues and I were trapped, yes trapped, in the Ritz Carlton one evening because of the closures.
Back to F1 - i just thought it interesting to hear about Singapore from a different perspective!
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