Our Around the World adventure continues in Singapore.
Singapore is yet another Asian delight that we have discovered on our journey around the world. This city has proved to be a beautiful brew of Malay, Chinese, Western and Indian culture. Although most of the folks speak Mandarin at home, you can pretty much manage if you’re familiar with one of the official languages – English, Tamil, Malay or Chinese.
Where East meets West
This ultra modern city lies just 100+ km away from the equator and houses over 5 million people who have collectively made Singapore one of the richest per capita nations in the world. A glimpse into history reveals that this country was ruled by the British till 1963. Although they were briefly reunited with Malaysia, there were several ethnic, linguistic and religious differences that led to their separation towards the mid 60s.
Today, Singapore stands as an economic stronghold and contains both urban confines as well as getaways of natural beauty. Here, you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to high quality shopping malls and electronics stores and you’ll find that almost everyone has a mobile phone! In fact, the mobile phone penetration rate stands at 1,400 mobile phone subscribers per 1000 people.
Friendly locals, sizzling cuisine, formidable laws!
You’ll love the locals just as much as the city. They are friendly, polite and well-mannered and they seem to follow all the strict regulations that govern the country. These laws draw heavy penalties so do read up on prevailing rules before you step out.
All in all, you’ll find that the city is clean, safe, very well-organized and easy to get around especially when you travel with kids.
Singapore offers a grand buffet of mouth-watering cuisine filled with flavour yet amazingly affordable. For less than $10US you can get a whole lot of stuff. On the flip side, accommodations are expensive so you may have to dust off your wallet to get a small room.
The perfect playground for your kids!
If you plan to travel with children, then you’ll love the Singapore airport. The child-friendly venue was designed to make parents happy as it comes with custom line-ups, playgrounds and lots of attractions to keep kids entertained.
Niko thoroughly enjoyed the Singapore Zoo. In fact, we did too! This world-class facility follows an open concept so the animals are not kept in sad concrete confines.
You’ll find them wandering through beautiful greenery almost like in their natural habitat. The lions and tigers were only separated by specially designed water canals!
Things to watch out for … tips for your Singapore stay:
- Whether you travel with children or not, do check your luggage thoroughly before you enter the country or you may end up becoming ‘criminals’ like we did, as we unknowingly ‘smuggled’ chewing gum and a bottle of beer! Yes, they thankfully did let us go after a lot of explaining!
- If you’re looking for a hotel room, book well in advance. A last minute booking comes with a very heavy price tag!
Singapore is the perfect Asian base!
Being centrally located, Singapore is the perfect Asian base from where you can fly to other Asian countries nearby. Visit Singapore, especially if you want to travel with children as there’s plenty for them to see and do. You’ll never have a dull moment in this modern, clean, child-friendly and warm country which promises to be the ‘West’ of the East!
