I am back from Papua NG.After a stop in Singapore, te situation in PNG hits you like a sledgehammer.Singapore is a big city of 6 million inhabitants, 88 % Chinese with also a large Indian minority ; when going to Little India, a metro station in the perfectly organized metro, you switch from China to India as if you change worlds via a teleportation machine.Yet it is spooky to see the unexpected similarity of the endless market streets just interchanging Chinese for Indian culture, two versions of the extreme consumption society.So after a visit to China town and Little India you understand the meaning of globalization.Then you make a walk staring at Clarcks Quay towards very modern buildings of amazing architecture making you think of Sydney to the tenth power.Everywhere a remarkable cleanness, the whipping you get for throwing something on the streets does work, the whip and high fines clean the streets. You see the petro industry of the harbor in the distance. Back near Clarcks there are romantic waterfront areas with hundreds of restaurants and over-friendly waiters luring you in (like in the beenhouwersstraat in Brussels before it was forbidden by some law!).In the warm evenings( Singapore is almost on the equator) the many lights create a cosy atmosphere and the restaurants are crawling with people, a pint of beer costs 10 Euro or more but nobody seems to care. Then you can go to Harbour Front,passing the site of PSA ( port of Singapore Antwerp) with the containers protected by heavy security fences and armed guards.A trace of Antwerp in the tropics!The orgastic climax of artificiality is the entertainment parc on the Island Senega, a stunning mix of Disney land ,the Universal filmstudio site in Los Angeles, that made me feel sad,the globalization of entertainment consumption selling childrens happiness at serious prices. I had a drink in the Hard Rock café thinking about artificial reality and virtual happiness consisting in spending money on nothing !You can jump flawlessly to the luxuruous airport , a giant shopping mall connecting the gates with the famous brands of useless products fighting for your last Singapore dollars. Does all this show-off propaganda really characterize modern people, why do we adore this golden idol ?...we are sleeping in the warm arms of extreme capitalism, till the hostesses wake you up with tax-free products from the trolley version of the supersuper shops,as if the consumption monster reaches at you in the sky with long skinny arms and claw-like monstruous hands...you cannot escape. Will Papua be another world?come see tomorrow in Part Two.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 21:28:42 +0000
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