Singapore City Guide

If you want to boast that you managed to visit an entire country in only a week or so, you should go and visit Singapore. Actually, there are several reasons why anyone would want to visit Singapore. It is a city-state, granted, so it lacks much of the geographic diversity inherent to other countries, but its culturally diversity can easily compete with any other country on the planet.

Singapore is a neon city mixed with healthy doses of Chinese, Indonesian, Indian and Malay influences, a city that never sleeps, which has been jokingly described as the only shopping mall in the world with a seat in the UN.

Before you arrive to Singapore, there is some basic info that you should know about it. At the first sight, it might seem like nothing more than an affluent city teeming with commercialism, far removed from the poverty of other South Asian countries. However, there’s another side to Singapore, one that cannot be easily discovered by following only the beaten tourist trails.

However, Singapore is one of the safest cities in the world, and even lonely travelers won’t get into trouble unless they actively seek it. Singapore is quite aware of where much of its income comes from, so it treats its visitors nicely.

It is also conspicuously clean, and some kinds of behaviour which are natural in other parts of the world (jaywalking, spitting, eating and drinking on public transport) can land you with a hefty fine. Also, don’t chew gum, because in Singapore it is banned except if its for medical purposes (nicotine gum for example). Don’t litter by any means, it’s bad for the environment, and it could get you a few days of  ‘corrective work’ (picking up trash, that is). More severe offensive (doing drugs, being gay – which in Singapore is theoretically still illegal) are punished by caning, or in the worst case, death.

Now, to the fun part. Beaches are notorious tourist traps, but they are really quite nice. There is a surprising number of museums and monuments, and a large number of temples (on a related note, if you see monks on the street begging for donations, chances are that they are scammers). Places of worship of all kinds abound in Singapore (the major religions here are Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam).

Even though Singapore is small, you can event find some opportunities for nature-exploring, for example in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Pulau Ubin is a village where you can see what life used to be like in the city before the technological boom, and it is basically the last remaining village in the country.

The two most popular activities you can do in Singapore are shopping and eating. The city is almost like one, gigantic shopping centre where you can find anything your heart desires. Food is a delicate matter in Singapore, and the people pride themselves with their mouth-watering concoctions.

Singaporean food is a clever mix of the particular cuisines of all the various peoples living there, so you can expect a real explosion of taste and colour. There’s even a festival dedicated to food, celebrated every year in July. Don’t miss out on the fish head curry, mee goreng or the famous laksa.

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