[Leica] Leica M6 & chewing gum in Singapore

[wvl <wvl@marinternet.com>]

I was in Singapore, off and on, for 9 or 10 days last February. I stuck
around waiting for the camera stores to open after the Lunar New Year
holliday. I saw an M6(OT) in a window that was worth waiting for.

During my wait I stayed in an inexpensive hotel in "Indiatown" where the
streets are more akin to Bombay than the rest of Singapore which is more
like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

From my arrival at the airport where there was only a passport control,
no customs inspection at all, to walking the streets at any hour, I felt
secure and unaware of government. I even walked around with the Leica
around my neck, something I was not willing to do in many parts of
Europe. I did not even see a uniformed policeman for five days. A group
did appear directing traffic for the Thaipursam Procession. I noticed
some of their S&W revolvers were rusty! Some "police state". Chewing gum
was for sale with the explanation that the law punished littering, not
sale or posession. I made a number of trips by plane, rail, and bus in
and out of Singapore and was never subject to customs inspection. You
can't even drive from Nevada into California without an agricultural
inspection. Mine was hardly an insider's experience, but, I don't accept
the media image of Singapore as a repressive society.
Best wishes for the Season

Bill Lawlor