Singapore

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We travelled down to Singapore on the night train yet again, this was the bumpiest and worst train journey of them all but also probably the last one so I'll stop moaning about it now.

We arrived early morning on the 18th, this is Chinese New Year, this wasn't particularly planned but we thought it would be a good time to be there with 75% of the population being Chinese we thought that there would be lots of celebrations going on. Quite the opposite was true in fact, it was probably like turning up in England on Christmas Day, it was very quiet and almost everywhere was closed. The busiest times and the celebrations had been taking place in the run up to New Years day and this was the start of 3-4 days public holidays which was a shame as we were only there for five days in total.

Singapore is one of the most prosperous cities in the world. The guide book refers to it as "a model city" spotlessly clean and with very few shortcomings, and to be fair it does seem to live up to expectations.

We travelled around and saw most of the city while there. We also went over to Sentosa Island, a place that I found to be most bizarre. There are a few options available in order to get to Sentosa Island we chose the cable car, all I knew before I went there was that it was an island with beaches and that it was used as like a weekend holiday destination for locals as well as being a popular attraction for tourists.

When we arrived and stepped off of the cable car it was packed full of people and although it looked at first glance like a typical island with palm trees and exotic flowers etc, we suddenly found ourselves on a run of escalators taking us down the side of the hill to the various levels of weirdness. On the first I saw people running around dressed as giant playing cards, there were floral displays everywhere and perfectly trimmed hedges in all sorts of shapes. I felt like I had walked onto the set of The Prisoner. (That's a TV series from the late 60's staring Patrick McGoohan he's kidnapped and placed on a surreal and mysterious island called the village. Just for those of you who might not know it)

After further exploration though we decided it was more like the artificial world created in the Yule Brenner classic West World (1973). It's just that the whole Island seems to be completely manufactured, there are different themed areas but it feels like everything is being monitored and operated from little control centres everywhere.

They have created beaches and little deserted islands just off of the beaches that you can swim out to and in a way it is very nice but the thing is they have made everything so perfect that it doesn't look natural. A good place to visit but you have to see it to really understand how weird it is.

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Photos

Dragon Dance
As part of the new year celebrations local shops and businesses pay for this traditional dance to be held outside their premises, it is thought to bring good luck and prosperity for the coming year.

Sentosa Island
That lion thing is bigger than it looks in this photo and you can climb up inside it and look out of it's eyes

More weirdness from Sentosa
Don'task me, I couldn't figure out what it was meant to be when I was standingthere in front of it

The lounge
A spacious, multi aspect living space.......sorry just having a brief regression there!

Spot the odd one out
As with the American system some kids are held back in school here until their grades improve