Singapore 2

Being such a densely populated island, Singapore has needed to build upwards to accommodate everyone, but there is lots and lots of green space amongst the concrete, with everything growing so quickly in the tropics.

There are plenty of people around as you can see in this photo of the shopping district of Orchard Road.

Orchard Road is a shoppers paradise, mall after mall, all the top brands and pretty competitive prices. The mall in the photo to the right looks more like a gallery. Each shopping centre has a different feel and there were lots of performances going on to coincide with the start of the Chinese New Year Celebrations, including the musical troupe below.

There are also some colourful districts in Singapore holding onto their heritage. Kampong Glam (the Muslim quarter), Little India and Chinatown, all with their own flavour, had lots of interesting back streets to stroll through.

Singapore is known as the city in a garden and one of the most beautiful places is the National Orchid Garden. A bit of it's colour finishes this week's blog.

Singapore 1

One of the benefits of living in Bangkok is that the rest of Asia is so close. I was fortunate to enjoy a weekend in the city, island and country of Singapore.

Singapore was founded when Sir Thomas Raffles claimed the island for the British in 1819. Life revolves around the Singapore River, with restaurants, hotels, the financial centre and the colonial district flanking both banks.

At the mouth of the river is the Singapore mascot - the half mermaid, half lion called the Merlion.

Raffles is well remembered throughout the city; the photo below commemorates the spot where he first came ashore.

Although the city has a repuation of being over regulated, organised and too sterile, Singapore is actually suprisingly vibrant and interesting. A couple of cool sculptures on the riverbank are shown below.

The Raffles Hotel, opened in 1887, is a Singapore institution and the Singapore Sling is the drink that everybody has to try at the Long Bar. Sipping slowly is the best way to do it - at $25 a pop your not going to have a second!

The Singaporeans seem to poke a bit of fun at themselves over all the rules and regulations that they have to follow. We were careful not to cross the road at the wrong spot - jaywalking is a $50 on the spot fine and littering would cost you even more. There are lots of signs around designed to help everybody get along. The one below was at a bus stop.

More on Singapore next week!