On a recent trip to Singapore I was annoyed to discover so many of its retail outlets - stores and restaurants and so on - no longer accepted cash. Nearly everything is now electronic. I have always been a fan of cash because, well, a week prior to our flying into Singapore more than ten million Optus users in Australia were offline for a day. All those small businesses that were reliant on tap-and-go technology lost a lot of money. So, having both systems: cash and tap would seem to be the best of both worlds surely? Besides the obvious fallback position during an Internet blackout, paper or plastic money can be quite beautiful in its own right plus, in some circles cash is becoming increasingly popular as a way of keeping track of expenditure...
In Singapore where, even to pay for a cold beer, you are more than likely required to log into the business's website first (by scanning a bar code located on the table) before you get your drink. Even if, as happened on several occasions, the waiter was standing only feet from the table.
In one food outlet we visited in Tiong Bahru the waiter obviously had me down as an old codger before I'd even opened my mouth - he came over and scanned and entered the order details for me. Clearly having a computerised ordering system has its benefits - what gets ordered is clear to see after a night's revelry, plus it's a sophisticated inventory control, plus it can act as a safeguard if you think that your staff are a bit dodgy (very unlikely in this rules-driven island nation).
But what I really dislike about this system of ordering and payment, aside from the assumption that everyone is always OK just to 'jump online' before you can read the menu or to buy a drink, is that it also leaves you open to possible scams, plus it takes longer to get that beer (compared to just asking a waiter for it). And when you get home, don't be surprised to see you have accidentally signed up for the Blah Blah Restaurant's weekly newsletter...
We flew Qantas on a leased Airbus from Finnair (which was old and cramped) so were not feeling very sociable as we arrived at Changi Airport. Staff were posted around the numerous arrival gates telling everyone that Singapore now had a new electronic entry process that had to be completed online before entering passport control. On previous visits to Singapore airline staff would hand printed boarding cards to passengers well before they disembarked so they could be filled in a timely fashion. We saw a lot of people (mostly in our age bracket) rushing over to the displayed bar codes to scan and download the required immigration forms. Others were obviously struggling a bit because their smartphones hadn't yet been set up for global roaming.
We activated ours as we waited 20 minutes for the one door in the plane to be opened to allow disembarkation. Honestly, airlines spend around 90 million dollars on a plane, but then only use one of its many doors to unload its paying passengers?
So, planeloads of people are staggering about in the arrivals area, trying to activate global roaming, then downloading the tediously long immigration form, filling in too many questions, then queuing to have the passport scanned and then your thumbprint and face recorded. It was all a bit frantic. Passengers were frazzled and the system, which apparently had only just been installed, creaked around the sides. It would have been more acceptable if passengers had been told about the new technology before disembarking. I have been travelling into and out of Singapore for more than 34 years and never had any immigration issues - until the system went electronic. A few days later I get a (scam) phone call telling me that there 'were serious errors with my visa and I should call this number immediately...'. I don't think it was from anyone in Singapore as my wife got the same call a week after returning to Australia, still, food for thought...
Younger generation folk might laugh at this but I can see that alongside this digital payment revolution, there's potentially a dark side. We ate one day in Jewel at Changi. It's an interesting place with dozens of shops, restaurants, cafes and activity centres. There's even a Dyson store - never thought anyone would buy a vacuum cleaner in an airport, but then, it is Singapore and locals often go to Changi for a day out. We ordered pasta - actually we had to do this several times as the cafe website that I'd "jumped on...", kept losing my order. Eventually it went through. Instead of a proper waitperson we got an untrained 15-year old kid who just about managed to bring our food from the kitchen hatch to our table, then take the empties from the table back to the kitchen.
On the flipside I recall a memorable evening in a very raucous German pub in Swakopmund (Namibia). The waitress took our order - starter, main and dessert, plus drinks. I was impressed because she didn't write anything down. I foolishly asked if she needed a pen. She looked at me as if I was an idiot (I was) and said 'Nein'. We got everything, at the right time, in the right order - a true professional and unfortunately a great profession that's being killed off by an electronic mimic.
From our fifth level restaurant view, I watched waves of airport passengers walk to and from terminals and car parks to the centre. In the midst of all this were cleaner robots. Dalek-like electronic machines trundling slowly up and down the pavement keeping the surfaces free of litter. Considering the large fines levied on anyone littering in Singapore, it's a wonder these robots find anything to collect.
As if Jewel was not enough shopping, the Orchard Road area is still awash with high end, designer stuff to suit most appetites...
Despite my reluctance to join in with the electronic age, our trip to Singapore was enjoyable and we discovered several places that we'd not visited before such as the Sungei Buloh Wetlands and the awesome Mandai Bird Paradise, part of the Singapore Zoo complex.
But, despite all the hassle jumping on and off websites, battling with connectivity and generally being worn down by the humidity, it was a good trip. Despite our complete lack of interest in the trappings of Western luxury, we still found lots of stuff to see and to buy. Natalie scored some great deals on fabrics in the extensive People's Park Complex in Chinatown and I landed a few goodish bargains in the shape of reissued vinyl. Believe or or not, since about 2012 the market for selling new and second-hand vinyl records has blossomed - you can find vinyl retailers deep in the basements of several big shopping centres around town. Some vinyl is ridiculously pricey - SG$120 for a second hand Cream disc, for example, but at other stores I found a few good deals on bands - mostly with re-issued titles - that said, there are few real bargains to be had - it's easy to forget that the Singapore dollar is worth more than the Aussie dollar!.