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Many toilets have a spray-hose next to them. Is it a bidet? Meant for cleaning the toilet?(Yes, I can just ask someone.) https://t.co/ObXEfLXmxL
Digital price signs in supermarkets! It's a cool reminder that markets *can* get stuck in local optima. Tech nerds in the US have been scheming startups around this for years but it never seems to happen. https://t.co/XgO3pQhHbJ
Almost all sidewalks are half exposed, half under the adjacent building. Not sure whether this is for squeezing every square foot out of the buildings, or because it randomly rains for 4 minutes at a time. Regardless, it's nice for the latter. https://t.co/TCYmhrM1am
Singapore:US::Chinese New Year:ChristmasThere are decorations *everywhere* (including the elevator at work) and little mandarin bushes have sprouted up all over the place. https://t.co/OEAlEeu4wH
In the US, pushing in the top of a toggle switch turns a light on. In Singapore, it's the opposite. (Both of these light switches are on.) https://t.co/ByqHwo1vh6
Gas stations look exactly like US gas stations ... except they don't post prices visible to the street. Is this because the cars are so expensive people who buy gas are price-insensitive? Less variability? Cultural norms against big price signs? https://t.co/viMOnmJ1Hm
Half&half does not exist here. Not even in Starbucks. (There are many differences around dairy - more later.) https://t.co/odzFDywaQA
Not only does Half&Half not exist, there is only one high-priced option for "European Dairy Cream." It has clearly been imported from somewhere far away (North Africa? Where else do you get Arabic+French on nutrition labels?) https://t.co/O3bADwfmsu
*Everything* is in malls. Including, but not limited to climbing gyms and MRI machines. I suspect it's the combination of the climate and land scarcity. Malls let businesses pool the bill for larger (more efficient) air conditioners. https://t.co/I6OQ6Qa0Zo
Things that an American would expect to be motion triggered are not and vice versa.Many sliding doors have a button (I just stood in front of them for a few seconds the first time)And here is a motion triggered escalator (why? energy savings?)https://t.co/L0xAv30yvi https://t.co/Oako8Q99lw
Many Singaporean kitchens have stove burners designed specifically to hold woks!(Cooked in a Singaporean kitchen for the first time last night.) https://t.co/jBvEV0q8t2
I had some trouble getting the gas stove to light until my host showed me switches in a cabinet above the range. If the 'cooker' light is off, there's no electricity to the sparker for the stove. Is it meant as a safety mechanism? Seems less safe - the gas can flow regardless. https://t.co/QCJTajKXra
Grocery store discoveries! Eggs come in containers of 6 and 10 instead of 6 and 12 in the US. Confusing because I had just assumed that the 6 came from cutting containers of 12 in half ... https://t.co/UpzFOHdR98
Corn is a fast snack you can get in 7-11. https://t.co/DfFCJkYPKA
Like most US supermarkets, they have hot, whole roast chickens. In Singapore they are a little more whole ... https://t.co/KWSR7ybNPW
Instead of towing vehicles that are illegally parked, Singaporeans clamp them. Happens in the US too, but I have *never* seen a sign threatening to tow cars here. Assume it's because there is no space to park the towed cars. Clamping is weird because the car is still there https://t.co/OBaw5e58dR
Many major intersections have crosswalks across only three of the four roads. For traffic optimization?It makes paying attention to the side of the road recommended by google maps much more important if you want to avoid having to wait for three red lights to cross one road. https://t.co/F0NKfU3e8e
You need to press a button to exit most locked doors. (I still forget to press them and fail to open the door.)Two explanations:1) SG had electric locks before sensors were cheap.2) It's a tradeoff with complicated mechanical systems that lock from one side but not the other. https://t.co/eLqI9bsV97
The number of places in Singapore that only take cash is surprising. Feels like many more than in the US. Is this because the fees are denominated in dollars so they're relatively more expensive here? Do fewer people use credit cards so less pressure on stores to take them? https://t.co/JneNk38U8t
There are juice vending machines everywhere. Some of them will even fresh squeeze orange juice for you.Culturally, fruit juice is a much more common drink among adults. https://t.co/d551uEFcLL
In Singapore, all the fiction books are in a single huge section of the library.(For those of you who don't do physical books - in the US Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi are all physically separate sections.)I have no idea why this difference exists. https://t.co/ERLBUS84a2
The lights witch is on the *outside* of many residential bathrooms.This one seriously baffles me. Is it to avoid corrosion from humid post-shower air? https://t.co/W6D7OIwNso
Many buildings have a weird hybrid of centralized and decentralized AC. Like central AC, the chiller is outside but then it pumps the coolant through built-in pipes to a small unit on the wall in each room.Many of these units also have remote controls. https://t.co/8Zp0PIxj8Y
Two coupled things:The vast majority of large roads are one-way and intersections with crosswalks are far apart. The former makes the latter less of a problem because it becomes safer to jaywalk, which seems more prevalent. https://t.co/w7uPG64K7u
Nifty system of gym id+locker distribution that seems common here and nonexistent in us:At the desk you trade your gym card for a towel, gear, and a locker card. This card lets you lock and unlock any unused locker. You trade locker card back for gym card when you leave. https://t.co/2WWzJ1nNlQ
Prices reflect the fact that the country is also a tiny island:Chicken and eggs (which are raised here) are cheap, canned goods (which are easily shippable) are comparable prices to the US, and dairy (which is hard to ship) is much more expensive. https://t.co/ZKEOO3ZPsM
Many people joke about how Americans like everything bigger. It's often true, but I have never seen bars this size. The thing had about 550kcal - that's 1/4 of some people's daily food. https://t.co/OMyutuy18E
Every city has its "stereotypical architecture" - in SF it's the Victorian. In Singapore it's the Shophouse, with these sweet spiral staircases in the back. https://t.co/hgx6fRTlSy
In Singapore, cleaning staff work during the day while everybody is in the office. In the US they normally come in at night after everyone has left.It's interesting 1) having someone vacuum around your chair while you're working.2) feels like it stigmatizes the work less. https://t.co/T4Qm0EQc13
Everybody talks about how clean Singapore is. (A+ branding.) That is in large part thanks to a legion of people who go around wielding these two implements: https://t.co/Z0GP0L0mzg
Apparently cupholders are not the default in cars here. https://t.co/Gy4oNxLgNq
Construction crews set up these mannequins next to road work sites. Hard to get across in a picture: the lights next to them blink and they make you do an uncanny-valley double-take. I assume they're to draw attention to work crews for safety. They totally do that job. https://t.co/gAJN0IU6nJ
Things that are the same as the US: many grocery stores have cheap hot pre-cooked chickens as loss leaders!Things that are different from the US: they are tiny! I do not have large hands. Also in the US they're always rotisserie cooked while here they're baked. https://t.co/96VcWOnBNj
Getting into the realm of things that are hard to capture in pictures ...People don't ask "where do you live?" They ask "where do you stay?" It's a subtle difference but weirdly jarring: it implies a kind of impermanence that might be good *or* bad.
The culture here biases towards authority-mediated-confrontation. There are many small instances of this, but one story is that instead of asking "hey, will you please turn down the music" neighbors immediately call the police on loud parties.
Motorcycles are treated more like bicycles than cars, parking-wise. They're parked on the sidewalk and signs usually say "no bicycle or motorcycle parking." It feels like small motorcycles fill the "ecological niche" occupied by bicycles in other cities. https://t.co/nM3RnKoDYB
There are tons of fancy cars here. It's a great example of economics at play: the government puts a huge fixed tax on cars, so the % difference between a Porsche and a Corolla is much smaller. https://t.co/7YxizKOb7P
The common method of cleaning the bathroom seems to be "make sure all the surfaces are sealed and then hose literally everything down." Definitely more efficient. https://t.co/DsDyytM43h
At Casinos like the Marina Bay Sands there is an entrance fee for Singaporean residents but not for foreigners. It's explicitly designed to incentivize incoming foreign $$ while minimizing the 'moral impact' on citizens. First of many ways the country seems run by economists. https://t.co/hI1ZMEldOn
You see the term "Pax" everywhere, especially in the context of meal prices like '$40 Pax.' Basically it translates to "persons" or "per person." Learn more here:https://t.co/Xz91HpTlbH https://t.co/UefiKvyJ7p
THERE ARE LIBRARY ROBOTShttps://t.co/9cZ9tIUjpV
Christmas Decorations go up on November 2nd in Singapore, apparently. Makes sense - no Thanksgiving to interrupt the Halloween -> Christmas transition. https://t.co/e6z25oD2cK
Just discovered that the Singapore Government runs a science discussion group. That's pretty cool.https://t.co/Vlkc9tBvIzAlthough it does have a "save to pdf" button on a website 🤔 https://t.co/iDOfOye11I
(1/n) Diversity works differently in Singapore than in the US. I think it's captured by this picture. https://t.co/AIg6zhhgwl
(2/n) Pictures I don't have:- Middle school classes all dressing up in each other's traditional clothing- The woman in a headscarf with one of these on top: https://t.co/9cDUPbkAWw
The Singaporean Government lets you know that it has your back on twitter during a pandemic https://t.co/Kr5rQFocvl
Hee hee this is the best url for a Singaporean Quantum research group:https://t.co/7zpzvLhtD6
@Ben_Reinhardt have you been to vietnam yet https://t.co/EmhqBzWEC0
