Chewing Gum

Was at Bukit Timah Road when I heard 2 Americans talking. The Ang Moh one was saying something about the chewing gum ban. I thought that was old hat, but it still amuses people coming in here from time to time. And the other guy was an Asian American. I thought that was funny that you need an Ang Moh to tell an Asian American what Singapore is like, but I guess I'm reading a biography of Chiang Kai Shek that's written by an Angmoh so I guess that's not that weird.

Don't they have nicotine gum in the shops? I guess they do, said the Angmoh. But I think they only relaxed it so that they can show the world how liberal they are.

I wanted to tell them what the real reason that we're banning chewing gum. Which is that it's made of rubber, and we wanted to show the Malaysians, who are the world's leading rubber producer, that we can do without them. Of course I made them up, but it's very fun to tell all these foreigners things that aren't true, and watch them spread it around.

That's kinda strict, isn't it? Like Singapore is a really strict country, isn't it? Like do they chop off your hands for stealing in here? (I nearly jumped when I heard this question) No, I don't think they do. It's not like that.

Wow, I don't know what kind of reputation Singapore has. And I'd have thought that these guys were idiots who didn't know shit about our country, except that they were also going where I was going - to Adam Road hawker centre, where there was lots of good food. Gotta credit these Ang Mohs for knowing where the good stuff is.