Singapore. A full moon just before New Year’s Eve (taken from my hotel balcony). Is it safe to walk around at night by yourself? Considering the country/city is one of the safest in the world, probably.
Not only is there a mandatory death penalty for many drug offenses (you definitely get a feel for this when you enter the country and your embarkation card has “death to drug traffickers” stamped on it), but over 30 offenses carry caning sentences. Caning as in flogging? Wow.
The person sentenced to caning is laid, naked, over an apparatus that looks like an A frame and caned on the buttocks. Offenses include vandalism, rape, murder, and oh, overstaying your visa by more than 90 days. Only men under 50 can be caned so no women which I find very interesting.
You might remember the young American, Michael Fay, who was sentenced to 4 canes after being convicted of theft and vandalism in 1994 (and trial is by judge, there are no juries for minor offenses). Even President Clinton tried to intervene on Michael’s behalf. But Singapore said sorry, he broke the law. So 4 canes were administered. Ouch.