Finger Food on SIA for China Tourists?

Is there any truth in the rumour circulating in some Singapore circles that tourists from Mainland China will be expected to eat their in-flight meals with their fingers in the future?

The 'ruckus' has been caused by the latest incident involving Chinese tourist were they attempted to steal the "family silver".  In this case 30 stainless steel cutlery sets from Singapore Airlines.

While the inflight staff may not make a fuss about the odd teaspoon that is not returned, wholesale tour group looting made the stewardesses concerned very angry; and rightly so.  The boorish behaviour was compounded by the fact that having been asked to return the cutlery the group in question refused to do so, and it was only the intervention of the tour group leader that changed their mind.

Mind you having personally witnessed the eating habits of Mainland China tour groups in the Genting Highlands I am not surprised by this attitude.

As the South China Monring Post reported:

"The incident follows a number of reports this year on bad behaviour overseas by Chinese travellers. This includes a widely reported incident where a Chinese boy carved his name on a 3,000-year old precious relic during a trip to Egypt.

This prompted China’s deputy-premier Wang Yang to state publicly that Chinese tourists should improve their behaviour overseas.

He said such bad behaviour included Chinese tourists speaking loudly in public, carving characters on ancient relics, and disobeying pedestrian traffic signs.

Last year, US shopping website LivingSocial sponsored a poll which ranked the Chinese at second place, after Americans, as the “world’s worst tourists”. Some 15 per cent of respondents said Chinese tourists were the most obnoxious in the world."

It is little wonder that the 'Singapore Girl' of Singapore Airlines fame is finding it difficult to maintain her balance and composure in the face of such bad mannered and ill-disciplined passengers.  But the 'Singapore Girl' of SIA poster fame is also being gracefully retired from the airline's advertising.

She is being replaced by a new tag line "The Lengths We Go To".  In the light of incident with recalcitrant Mainland China passengers perhaps the slogan should be appended?

"The Lengths We Go To With China Tourists"  has a certain ring of truth to it.

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And A River Runs Through It

It is only fitting that a country that relies so much on its rivers and waterways should have a new exhibit -  the River Safari.


Due to open in a week's time, the River Safari will be a companion attraction to the much-loved Night Safari and will link it with the Singapore Zoo.  There are eight distinctive freshwater habits portrayed in 69 exhibits; all of which the public will be able to enjoy.

The undoubted hit in the new Safari will be the Giant Panda Forest, the largest panda exhibit in South East Asia.  It features the giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia which were gifted by China to Singapore.

Quite apart from the tourist potential I can't help but think what a wonderful educational resource this will be.  If you consider the nature exhibits that Singapore now has in total, the younger generations should be well attuned to the natural environment by the time they reach adulthood; Gardens By The Bay, the River and Nights Safaris, S.E.A Aquarium in Sentosa, Jurong Bird Park, the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the various marine and terrestrial ecology walks that dot the Island.

Add to this the new  Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum that is being built at NUS.  Visitors and students will be able to see 800,000 South East Asian specimens and the nearly complete fossils of three giant dinosaurs.

All in all a natural history "feast" for nature lovers and without doubt a magnet for eco-tourists.  And this market segment is significant.  As far back as 1993 the WTO estimated that nature tourism generated 7% of all international travel expenditure. By 1998 the same organisation estimated that ecotourism and all nature-related forms of tourism accounted for approximately 20 percent of total international travel and by the year 2020 their would be 1.6 billion international travellers. International tourist arrivals surpassed 1 billion (1.035 billion) for the first time in history in 2012.

Coupled with Singapore's Eco-approach to building and public spaces sees the country rapidly becoming the globe's Green Magnet, attracting eco-tourists from far and wide.

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Of Mice and Council Men

I cannot imagine for a moment that the government of Singapore would spend thousands of dollars constructing a bridge for mice.

MICE maybe, but certainly not the rodent variety. However other authorities are not so reticent and news today that a British Council have spent £190,000 for a dormouse bridge over a road.

The Council (which is reportedly cash strapped) constructed the three high-wire walkways to keep the tiny rodents safe as they cross a new bypass.  Not surprsisingly the local residents think the money could have been better spent of fixing potholes and street lighting.

Any passing falcon will view the procession of high wire mice much as we would view a sushi conveyor belt in one of Singapore's Japanese style restaurants.

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• Council's £190k on mice bridges (thesun.co.uk)