Singapore

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Sun 29th - Mon 30th January

SINGAPORE

Our experience of Singapore differed from our expectations. Singapore is known for its extreme laws governing public order and cleanliness. The city was cleaner than other cities we have seen in Asia, yet besides the scary signs threatening massive fines, it was common to see dirty sidewalks and litter.

This city-state is straightforward to visit. There is the condensed downtown of large skyscrapers (banks) and then a few colonial buildings (including a bridge built by Glaswegian Engineers) mark what remains of the original 1819 masterplan layout of Sir Stamford Raffles. Fiona visited the famous Raffles Hotel but declined a Singapore Sling (their renowned house cocktail)!

Other than that, shopping and eating out are the main attractions. The sweltering heat, like KL, makes the visit difficult during the day unless you stay in the shade or indoors. If you are a high-tech gadget enthusiast, you can get a few deals here.

The city is also amazingly expensive. We searched for a reasonable hostel and finally settled for dorm rooms. Hostel prices are akin to Western hotel prices.

One highlight of Singapore was “Little India”. We felt transported to the subcontinent and had to remind ourselves that we were still in SE Asia. We sampled some fantastic Indian food—served on banana leaves—along with Indian lassi drinks and sweets. We window-shopped the area and had a look at Indian clothes, music, jewelry and literature.

The Singapore airport was a tourist attraction itself. There are a number of restaurants and small cinemas to keep you entertained while you wait for your flight. There are also free Internet access terminals. Despite this we preferred Hong Kong airport with its fantastic city centre check-in facility and speedy airport express train. If you happen to venture out on a similar trip to ours and are given a choice of stopover destinations we highly recommend you fly via Hong Kong.

We said our farewells to Asia and headed for the new world of the South Pacific …

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