Singapore Slings

I spent 8 months working in Singapore once. Interesting country, drinks in the Long Bar at Raffles surrounded by discarded peanut shells, Night Safari at the Zoo, Sentosa island, hawker centres.

And.

Top of the charts for the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in maths, reading and science. With other Asian countries in top places too, it's Estonia that leads the way for the West followed by Finland and Ireland. The UK is in 14th place, higher ranked than most EU countries.

In 2022 PISA introduced a creative thinking assessment. Singapore came top of that too. Maybe less expected.

I liked my time there, could have stayed longer but I felt it just wasn't my kind of culture. And equatorial weather is pretty stressful.

Previously, in or around 2001, I travelled by train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. It was a relaxing, scenic journey although pretty slow, 7 hours or so. Not one of the world's grand, exotic rail journeys. Since then a high speed rail link has been proposed, agreed and cancelled a number of times due to cost concerns and changes of government in Malaysia. An agreement in 2013 should have led to completion and operation in 2026 but it's now back to 2031 I think. Shades of the UK's HS2. And a similarity in distance: Singapore to KL is about the same as London to Manchester. There's a joke about bats in there somewhere but I can't quite work it out; any suggestions?

BTW, just in case you want to know, a Singapore Sling contains gin, cherry liqueur, orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier), an herbal liqueur like Benedictine, pineapple juice, lime juice, grenadine, bitters, and is topped with club soda, garnished with a cherry and orange slice. Yes please!

I did some research and sourced some bottles and cans of this cocktail. Pretty pricey and definitely not the same experience as ready mixed at a bar. I need to find an occasion. Maybe transiting Singapore on the way to Australia.