Singapore has to be one of the smallest countries we’ve visited. Afterall, it’s just one small island – about 42 by 24km in size. With a few mini islets off its coast. That’s all. But it’s one of the richest places in Asia per capita.
OK, it doesn’t have the spectacular location of Hong Kong, or the intriguingly vibrant districts of Tokyo, but it is well worth seeing at least briefly. If you can get over the slightly restrictive nature of the place. This is ‘Fine City’ – tie your shoe laces in the wrong part of town and risk a $500 billing. Ouch! Now I’m all in favour of stopping littering and smoking in public places, but you’re not allowed to cross the road anywhere within 50m of a pedestrian crossing, and then ONLY WHEN THE GREEN MAN IS LIT! It might be 04.00 in the morning. There may be no cars moving within a radius of a mile. But you have to wait for the green man or they WILL get you! Oh, and leave the chewing gum behind – it is completely illegal in Singapore. Really. I don’t know what they do if you’re caught in possession, but I’d rather not find out!
Saying that, I don’t mean to be too harsh. It’s a nice city. Clean, modern, and with lots of thoughtfully planted trees and green areas everywhere. They really do make an effort to keep the place nice. And if you like shopping malls, Singapore is heaven. I’ve never seen so many. In fact, in central Singapore it can be hard to find a shop that’s not in a mall. There are hundreds of them – all modern, gleaming, and packed with expensive designer shops. Not a place to visit on a budget, especially as there are more than a fair share of Haagen Das and Ben & Jerry’s Cafes.
Singapore island may be mostly built up, but in the middle is a really nicely preserved area of rainforest. It has a pathetically sweet ‘Park’ in a small section of the forest, where very friendly paths lead you between huts and view points that are barely 10 m apart. But the bonus here is the monkeys – they are really tame, and are happy to sit only a few meters away from you (even Mothers with young babies – we watched one as she breast-fed a tiny snip of a young one)! The rainforest outside the park area is a bit more like it. You can walk through trails up to the summit of the highest point on the island – an impressive 163m above sea level! OK, it felt quite high after traipsing up the slope in tropical conditions and rainforest humidity. We’re not that pathetic. Really!
OK, it doesn’t have the spectacular location of Hong Kong, or the intriguingly vibrant districts of Tokyo, but it is well worth seeing at least briefly. If you can get over the slightly restrictive nature of the place. This is ‘Fine City’ – tie your shoe laces in the wrong part of town and risk a $500 billing. Ouch! Now I’m all in favour of stopping littering and smoking in public places, but you’re not allowed to cross the road anywhere within 50m of a pedestrian crossing, and then ONLY WHEN THE GREEN MAN IS LIT! It might be 04.00 in the morning. There may be no cars moving within a radius of a mile. But you have to wait for the green man or they WILL get you! Oh, and leave the chewing gum behind – it is completely illegal in Singapore. Really. I don’t know what they do if you’re caught in possession, but I’d rather not find out!
Saying that, I don’t mean to be too harsh. It’s a nice city. Clean, modern, and with lots of thoughtfully planted trees and green areas everywhere. They really do make an effort to keep the place nice. And if you like shopping malls, Singapore is heaven. I’ve never seen so many. In fact, in central Singapore it can be hard to find a shop that’s not in a mall. There are hundreds of them – all modern, gleaming, and packed with expensive designer shops. Not a place to visit on a budget, especially as there are more than a fair share of Haagen Das and Ben & Jerry’s Cafes.
Singapore island may be mostly built up, but in the middle is a really nicely preserved area of rainforest. It has a pathetically sweet ‘Park’ in a small section of the forest, where very friendly paths lead you between huts and view points that are barely 10 m apart. But the bonus here is the monkeys – they are really tame, and are happy to sit only a few meters away from you (even Mothers with young babies – we watched one as she breast-fed a tiny snip of a young one)! The rainforest outside the park area is a bit more like it. You can walk through trails up to the summit of the highest point on the island – an impressive 163m above sea level! OK, it felt quite high after traipsing up the slope in tropical conditions and rainforest humidity. We’re not that pathetic. Really!
Anyway, now we leave Asia, and move continent (and therefore blog page) to Oceania. We’re a bit sad to be leaving, but we’ve spent nearly half our year doing loops around the continent, so I suppose it’s time to move on. I hope Australia is nice! The posting will be on www.catch-up-with-the-sun-oceania.blogspot from now on (as this site is running out of storage space for photos). And on the main page of course for general things. Like comments on leaving Asia…
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