Sure I managed by now to adjust to the seven-hour time difference that separates Singapore from the Netherlands. Singaporeans however keep me in wonder about the way they use their time. Some examples…

Orchard Cineplex, one of the biggest cinemas here, screens movies at any time. There is no ‘late movie’ any more: if you want, you can watch a movie at 4.30 in the morning. The building also includes a bowling track which is open throughout the night. Actually, I went there with a group of friends just after we entered the year 2004 and spent most of the evening there.

Many shopping centres and supermarkets are open from 11 am to 11 pm. In Maastricht, some progressive shops (like the C1000 at Brusselse Poort) are open from 8 to 8 … the same total amount of hours. Singaporeans stay up late, and thus wake up late. Call it a city rhythm … people in the Dutch countryside live earlier than Dutch city people as well.

Singapore is famous for its strictness and punctuality. The punctuality should not be exaggerated though: many lectures do start fifteen minutes late, and it’s just as common here as it is in the Netherlands to be (slightly) late for appointments.

Dutch people are used to all shops being closed on Sundays. Over here, most shops are open like any other day. The supermarket at Prince George’s Park Residences is open till 10 pm. At times I notice that I assume the shop is not open, while in fact it is – which is at present a surprise. When I go back to Maastricht though, deception is more likely to follow when I assume Singaporean opening hours also apply to Dutch shops. Why are shops open at any day? Maybe you should rather ask why shops in the Netherlands and some other European countries are closed on Sundays. I guess this is because it’s a Christian rule that one should enjoy Sunday as a day of rest. European colonizers brought Christianity to this place, but it is not at all that engrained in the way society is run.

Singaporean students tend to study at late hours. Some work all night through. I heard that during exam periods, the library is open for 24 hours a day!

Trains and buses don’t run on time at all. They run on frequency. For example, the schedule of the internal shuttle bus tells whether there will be one bus every five, ten or fifteen minutes at a particular time of the day. Hence, I’ve never experienced any public transport delay over here!