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!

Mandalay & Yangon

Both former capitals of Myanmar (Burma), the cities of Mandalay and Yangon (Rangoon) are two very contrasting places.

Mandalay is located in the northern part of Myanmar with the evenings quite cool. It has a population of about 1 million and feels more like a country town. The city is dominated by Mandalay Hill and the huge Fort, complete with moat, shown below

The hills around Mandalay from the hotel roof looked quite spectacular in the late afternoon sun.

Mandalay is a quiet, unhurried place. The photo below shows one of the main streets of Mandalay with two of the tiny Mazda Taxis that transport people around. It was a tight squeeze in the back for two Westerners!

The U Bein bridge is one of the highlights of the Mandalay area. The bridge is over 200 years old, made of teak and about 1.2km long. There was big crowd walking across as it was the Independence Day Public Holiday, celebrating the end of British rule on January 4, 1948.

Yangon is a biggest and busiest city in Myanmar, but with its wide streets and grand old buidings, a legacy of the British colonial era, it has a very different feel to other Asian cities. Sule Pagoda, shown below, is located in the heart of the city.

Below is abother street scene and some old buildings.

The old British-style architecture in the street below is now the home of many of the Government Departments.

The photo below shows the High Court Building behind Mahabandoola Garden.

Shwedagon Pagoda is the heart and soul of Yangon. The pagoda grounds sit on a hill, and with the stupa of gold rising up a further 100 metres, it is an impressive sight.

The photo below gives some perspective of its size - check out the workers carrying out repairs.

The pagoda grounds full of different shrines, stupas, pavillions and bells. The photos below show some of them.

One final view of Swedagon Pagoda.

Bagan

Located on the plains of central Myanmar on a bend of the Irrawaddy River is the amazing archeological area of Bagan.

Spread over the plains are over 4000 temples, the oldest of which date back to the year 830AD.

Life seems to move at a different pace in Bagan; we travelled through the area by horse and cart, which was a great way to enjoy the sights.

Bagan is located in a dry area of Myanmar which makes the wide Irrawaddy River very important. The cylindrical stupa of Bupaya overlooks the river.

The temples were built over hundreds of years, so come in a variety of shapes and sizes

Most of the buildings are built out of red brick, including these impressive gates and arches

The temples contain the usual Buddhas as well as some impressive artwork on the walls

One of the best experience is to climb up one of the temples and just take in the scale of the area - the plain dotted with so many structures.

Also a great spot to finish the day...