I just spend the last two weeks in Northern Thailand awaiting my Chinese visa. During that waiting period, I decided to go to Pai and met some Singaporeans who educated me on all things Singapore and it’s fascinating. Over the course of our conversation I learned the below:

• All Singapore male over the age of eighteen have to compulsory military service, almost exactly like Israel

• Singapore is the shining beacon of capitalism in an almost exclusively Muslim territory

  • Malaysia is predominantly Muslim, they share a border with Singapore

    • This is significant because Malaysia is starting to become a haven for ISIS members, which makes the Malaysia-Singapore border very contentious. Making Singapore feel like they have to take even more precautions across the board.

  • Indonesia is the worlds largest Muslim country with about 12% of the worlds Muslim population

• There is a huge wealth gap, think crazy rich asians vs. slumdog millionaire. It’s universe of difference.

• There is a test kids take that determines what schools they can go to, what their career will be and a lot of other factors very early in life

• Also they have quota on Indians that can be lawyers, apparently too many Indians are lawyers and they’re taking jobs away from others.