Where did all the White people go?

Remember that old ditty from the early 80's? Neither do I... The best way I can describe this place is this: imagine the cleanest and most modern part of a metropolis in America, then replace all the White people with Asians. That's what this place is like. It's like no other Asian city I've visited. I am totally thrown off by Asians on Western-style advertisments. This has the feel of a Western city, but the people are Chinese. And they speak Mandarin and Fujianese, similar to Taiwanese. The local English dialect is a pidgin-English called Singlish. It is a mix of English with some Malay and Chinese. I find it difficult to understand, but it's neat to watch a Singaporean Chinese and Singaporean Indian speak to one another in Singlish. But if you come here, don't worry, they also speak English.
Singapore is a pretty amazing city. I have been here a week, making it the longest I've been anywhere at one time since leaving Taiwan. It is a strange mix of different cultures, mostly Chinese, Indians, and some Malays, as a result of the British establishing this place as a trading port 200 years ago. Before then, this was just a small muddy village. It was briefly part of Malaysia in the middle of the last century but then parted ways because the Singaporeans did not want to allow "apartheid-like" preferential treatment toward Malays like the rest of Malaysia. And Malaysia didn't feel comfortable having a huge Chinese population (almost half penisular Malaysia's population) within their borders. Singapore has since impressively developed into an immaculate modern city.
Before coming here, all I knew was that this city-state was known for its fascist rules (no chewing gum, no jay-walking, no rated-R movies...), and it had the reputation for being boring. Reality has proven to be quite different. There is chewing gum, just none smashed on the ground (and none sold in stores, but it's not illegal to chew). I've been jay-walking around. And there are rated R movies. But all these rules have created quite an orderly society. The metro is the most shiny and cleanest one I have ever seen. It gives Taipei's metro a run for its money. The downtown are has been renovated into a beautiful tourist area with riverside restaurants and bars. There are some enclaves of different cultures like Chinatown, Little India, and the Arab district where you can get some great food. The food courts have taken over in a culture that used to have food carts and hawker stalls. You can get a fantastic meal for $3-$5 (Singaporean dollars, which is about $1.80-$3 US Dollars). This is a shoppers paradise. There are malls everywhere, some of which are connected by underground air-conditioned mall passageways, so you never have to go outside. It's a great way to take a walk in the evenings. There are lots of electronics gear for sale, but it's also a little dodgey. I ended up not buying a videocamera, but there are great deals to be had just the same.
There is an awesome Asian Civilizations Museum which covers all the different religions and cultures in Southeast Asia. It gives a fascinating and open-minded overview of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Singapore is definitely worth a few days if you're ever flying out this way.
I got my visa business taken care of over the Easter weekend. I am headed north into Malaysia tomorrow.