It's
popular to dismiss Singapore as
a kind of Asia Lite
- blandly efficient and safe, a boringly tasteless, disciplinarian and
unadventurous place where citizens are robbed of their cherished freedom to
spit on the street and chew gum. Utter nonsense.
Singapore is
in fact one of the most enjoyable cities in Southeast Asia. As you zoom in from
one of the world's best airports along the lushly tree-shaded expressway or on
the zippy MRT train line, you'll quickly realise this is no traffic-snarled Bangkok.
And as you stroll through the fashion emporiums of Orchard Rd, poke around
antique shops in Chinatown or take a walk around one of the dozens of beautiful
city parks, you'll know the city bears no comparison to crime- and
poverty-ridden Manila or Jakarta.
Then,
as you are drinking and dancing until dawn in the city's pubs and clubs, or
sipping a cocktail surrounded by the colonial elegance of a Raffles Hotel
veranda, think of your fellow travellers in Bangkok,
who are being turfed onto the street at midnight.
There's
no law that says an Asian city can't be well run. It may have been a long and
difficult haul from swampy colonial outpost and notorious den of vice to
powerhouse industrial nation, but those who say that Singapore has
lost its soul along the way couldn't be more wrong.
Few
cities in Southeast Asia can boast Singapore's
fascinating ethnic brew. Where else in the world can you dip into the cultures
of China, India and
Muslim Malaysia all
in one day, against a backdrop of ultra-modern Western commerce? Not only has Singapore's
history of migration left a rich cultural and architectural legacy that makes
wandering the streets an absorbing delight, it has created one of the world's
great eating capitals.
Food
is the national obsession - and it's not difficult to see why. Sitting out
under the stars at a bustling hawker centre with a few bottles of Tiger beer and
diving into an enormous array of Asian dishes is one of the iconic Singaporean
experiences. Sambal stingray, char kway teow, oyster
omelette, chicken rice, clay-pot seafood, fish head curry, beef rendang…the
list is as long as it is delicious.
And, of course, if your credit card
hasn't already taken a battering in the shops, the city's restaurants are some
of the most stylish and innovative in the region.
If
there's one thing more stylish than the bars and restaurants, it's the
boutiques that have made Singapore a
byword in Asia for
extravagant shopping. Away from the Gucci and Louis Vuitton onslaught of
Orchard Rd, however, there are bargains to be found on everything from clothes
to electronics - and a range of art and antique shops that few Asian cities can
match.
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| Singapore Night Safari |
But Singapore is
not all about shopping and eating. Nor is the notion of Singapore as
completely urbanised anything more than popular myth. Adventure activities
include diving with sharks at Underwater World on Sentosa, mountain biking
around Bukit Timah, leopard-spotting at Singapore Zoo's
magical Night Safari, waterskiing or wakeboarding on the Kallang River,
go-karting and rock climbing. And if you want to retreat from civilisation
completely, the centre of the island retains large tracts of forest where the
only sound you can hear is the monkeys swinging through the trees. In fact, Singapore is
one of only two cities in the world that still retains a patch of primary
rainforest, in the form of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.
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| Light Show at Gardens By The Bay |
It's
a fascinating place - and a remarkable achievement. No-one is denying that
Singaporeans have had to sacrifice some level of freedom in their island's rise
from racially divided, resource-starved port town. But you get the feeling that
if Western development aid had ever matched Singapore's
strides in poverty reduction, education, infrastructure and health care, they'd
be patting themselves on the back and saying that political freedom was a small
sacrifice to make.
Besides,
it's not all strait-laced conformity. You don't have to look far to find echoes
of the island's colourful, rakish past, or evidence of a thriving and
creatively unfettered artistic community. Singapore's
soul is alive and well - and it is unique.
Text from: Lonely Planet
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| The Singapore Flyer |
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