...can tolerate most bad smells because you know you've endured a whole lot worse

...hate the thought of the taste of quinine (malaria tablets) still and will run a mile before enduring the dreaded 'needle'

...remember the amah markets at night after a meal at your favourite restaurant or makan stall.

...find yourself always saying that nothing tastes quite as good as it did in Singapore.

...never seem to find anything that comes close to the tastes of Singapore (especially satay!) yet you still search in hope.

...remember the yum yum man, the icey icey man, the magnolia man

...wondered the past 20 or 30 years why you were in such a hurry to get 'home' and have wanted to return to Singapore ever since. 

...returned 'home' to more of a culture shock than the one you experienced 2 years prior.

... loved juicy sweet rambutans, and slimy tart mangosteens and know what durians smell like (and still don't understand how the locals could possibly like them!)

...have people look at you strangely as you tell them you drank coke out of a plastic bag with a straw.

...would die for a plate of hot chips after a nice cool swim, sharing them with your friends...of course

...have visited the Tiger Balm Gardens, a few times.

...saw ginger drying in the sun

...aren't bothered by the sight of plucked chooks hanging from their still attached feet (you are over the nightmares you had as a child now... finally)

...wish the shops in your area gave bottled soft drinks (green spot, 7up and kickapoo juice) and a stool to sit your restless children on while you looked around the shop. (and wished they sat as still as you Had to at the same age!)

...remember the sounds of mahjong tiles clicking as you walked through the kampongs

...tell your children every December that you once enjoyed Christmas Dinner at the Raffles Hotel as a child.

...see building sites it reminds you of the noisy pole-drivers pounding in the foundations for more hotels, they were everywhere.

...remember the refreshing taste of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice

...take every opportunity to slip in somewhere during a conversation, even to strangers, that you lived in Singapore only to be met with a blank stare and you wondered why you bothered.
How could they possibly understand what that means to you.

...long so much to return to a time and place you know will never be experienced again and wish you had realised it back then.