Going back as far as I recall, my very first passport was one that was attached to the passport of my Mom. I had a very sulky picture that I did not like. But it didn't matter because it brought me places.

My very first step outside of the country was to Singapore at the age of about 6 or 7. I don't recall exactly when. My Aunt lived in Johor Bahru (JB) and every school holiday we would take a train or flight from Kuala Lumpur to JB. While there was nothing much to do in JB, a trip to Singapore was always on the plate. We packed ourselves with enough food stuff, water and warm clothes for us kids and set off in Uncle Tony's old faithful car, Datsun.

The places I remember we always went were CK Tang and Johnny Little. I think there was also a Metrojaya where Vicky and I went crazy Barbie Doll hunting. We would drool over the dolls while our moms shopped.

Once in a while we would return with some toys, other times clothes. When we were all tired from walking the streets and malls, we would take a slow drive back to JB. Most times we would stop at Woodlands to have dinner first.

Then, just before crossing immigration and custom check points, Mom and Aunt would be busy cutting off price tags from our shopping. For some time, I thought that it was wrong to buy a lot of things from one country to bring into our own!

Since Singapore isn't much different from KL in terms of weather and people, I never really took those trips as international travels. It felt like going into yet another state in Malaysia. The only difference I knew back then was that we needed a different type of money to shop in Singapore.

Those were the days of naivity.

Today, over 20 years from my childhood visits, I've returned to Singapore many times. Not so much for holidays or shopping, but for work. Things have changed, my perceptions are different and I now know why we need to use a different type of currency...