travel tip 64 1/2

Live, learn, forget, learn again. Today I relearned the lesson to double check travel garments to be CERTAIN there are no holes or holes pending in the pockets. We bussed back into the city center to walk around and to find a needle and thread. I had a huge hole in one pocket. Nothing was lost, but it was close. I finally found what was needed and the cut was sutured and healed.

 

I asked a guide why 99% of the cars here are new, or nearly new, and all clean. He says it is most onerous to own a car here. There are a limited number of permits to own a car issued each year and they are extremely expensive. He said they have sometimes run as high as $65,000 US and there is over 100% tax on the purchase price. There is another tax that goes up with the age of the car. This means that only the wealthy own a car and have incentive to not let it age too long. Also, Singapore is on an island and there is simply not too many places to drive. There are remote identification devices in every vehicle. When these cross sensors in the roads to indicate use the owner gets billed. The more they drive, and the more they use the downtown streets, the more they pay. And the public transport system is so good that having a car is not really needed.

 

That is all from Singapore. Next stop is Cochin, India.

 

Namaste!

--
Michael & Susan Kuhn
Trip email: indiaadventure2007@gmail.com
Trip blog: www.indiaadventure2007.blogspot.com