Singapore is notorious for all the things that it does not allow.  No littering.  No jaywalking.  No eating or drinking on public transport.  No vaping.  No graffiti. 

Now, most of these prohibitions I agree with, but there was one thing that I couldn’t do in Singapore, which left me feeling sad.  I couldn’t get a stamp in my passport to show that I had visited.  There is no stamping in Singapore.

Upon entry to the country, at Changi International Airport, it is necessary to fill in an electronic Arrival Card, but this does not require any documentation in your passport, and the entire passport checking process is automated, without any necessity to see an actual physical border-control human being.  Even after I had been waved through immigration, I actually went back to try to find a real person to see if I could get my passport stamped, but was told that they no longer do that.

It seems a shame.  I am someone who likes getting their passport stamped; enjoy looking back at all the strange assortment of different stamps from countries I have visited in the past.  The stamp I received from Cambodia is big and bright and colourful and covers an entire page of the passport.  It is a perfect representation of the vibrancy of that particular country.

I don’t know what my ‘no stamp’ says about Singapore.  Or, maybe, it speaks for itself.

© E. C. Glendenny

E. C. Glendenny adds a few stamps of her own.