The city of Singapore sparkles. The streets are clean and owing to the daily rains, the leaves on the trees are washed clean of the dust and grime and which on a sunny day dapple brilliantly in the gentle breeze. With the deepest of blue skies and white puffs of clouds, the Island has an air of a permanent holiday destination.
You still find long sloping tiled roofs-some bright orange in color and the others dulled into pale brown color by constant rain. The long wooden shuttered brightly painted windows reminds you of an era gone by - the colonial Raj. The days when William Somerset Maugham and Joseph Conrad and others spent their youth, writing the novels and short stories.
Majority of the people in Singapore are of Chinese origin. Indians had migrated mostly from Tamil Nadu, as plantation or dock workers. Take the case Marlon, a Tamilian, whose parents migrated from Chennai in 1938 and sought work in the Port area. The port then and now is a cauldron of ethenic confluence. There are Chinese, Malays, Indians, Sinhalese and from the middle-eastern region. Marlon, a first-generation citizen of Singapore is happily married to a Chinese woman and now cruises around in a Mercedes.
Little India town is a typical ethnic settlement. Many Indian shops can be found here. So is Chinatown -a quintessential Chinese settlement. A wonderful place to buy exotic Chinese items and artifacts. Don't be taken by their charms else they will rip you off. Bargain! Haggle! They will sigh and relent!
The Orchard Road is brilliantly lit at night starting from Deepawali to the Chinese New Year. The color gaiety and the ambiance in the shops pageant of the colorfully lit streets is something that i have not seen in India. The gaiety is infectious and carries you along.
Give a Chinese a square meter of space and he would install a table and a chair ready to serve you food. Food courts are there just about everywhere. The food courts are a pleasure to eat in. Most of them are on street level bordering the side walks. You can just sit and laze around chomp your way through squids, crocodile meat, pig organs, turtle soup etc etc (will refrain describing further in deference to the squeamish).
The Singaporeans teens move around the city in their smart skimpy dresses with gay abandon. This obviously has been bred owing to high level of security maintained throughout Singapore. The police though they keep a low profile, have a very efficient surveillance system. The favorite color dress code among the teens, especially the Chinese (as I have observed), is black and white. It is not for them to sport the colorful apparels that the Indians normally indulge in.
The beach on the east coast of the island is a good place to visit. The sea is littered with Tankers and Container vessels waiting to take berth. You can take cycles on hire and cycle along the track skirting the beach or just skate along. Campers come and pitch tents and stay overnight.
The travel brochure to Singapore confidently states that the "tap water is fit for drinking"! That just about sums up what Singapore is all about- a clean, sanitized and a modern city.
You still find long sloping tiled roofs-some bright orange in color and the others dulled into pale brown color by constant rain. The long wooden shuttered brightly painted windows reminds you of an era gone by - the colonial Raj. The days when William Somerset Maugham and Joseph Conrad and others spent their youth, writing the novels and short stories.
Majority of the people in Singapore are of Chinese origin. Indians had migrated mostly from Tamil Nadu, as plantation or dock workers. Take the case Marlon, a Tamilian, whose parents migrated from Chennai in 1938 and sought work in the Port area. The port then and now is a cauldron of ethenic confluence. There are Chinese, Malays, Indians, Sinhalese and from the middle-eastern region. Marlon, a first-generation citizen of Singapore is happily married to a Chinese woman and now cruises around in a Mercedes.
Little India town is a typical ethnic settlement. Many Indian shops can be found here. So is Chinatown -a quintessential Chinese settlement. A wonderful place to buy exotic Chinese items and artifacts. Don't be taken by their charms else they will rip you off. Bargain! Haggle! They will sigh and relent!
The Orchard Road is brilliantly lit at night starting from Deepawali to the Chinese New Year. The color gaiety and the ambiance in the shops pageant of the colorfully lit streets is something that i have not seen in India. The gaiety is infectious and carries you along.
Give a Chinese a square meter of space and he would install a table and a chair ready to serve you food. Food courts are there just about everywhere. The food courts are a pleasure to eat in. Most of them are on street level bordering the side walks. You can just sit and laze around chomp your way through squids, crocodile meat, pig organs, turtle soup etc etc (will refrain describing further in deference to the squeamish).
The Singaporeans teens move around the city in their smart skimpy dresses with gay abandon. This obviously has been bred owing to high level of security maintained throughout Singapore. The police though they keep a low profile, have a very efficient surveillance system. The favorite color dress code among the teens, especially the Chinese (as I have observed), is black and white. It is not for them to sport the colorful apparels that the Indians normally indulge in.
The beach on the east coast of the island is a good place to visit. The sea is littered with Tankers and Container vessels waiting to take berth. You can take cycles on hire and cycle along the track skirting the beach or just skate along. Campers come and pitch tents and stay overnight.
The travel brochure to Singapore confidently states that the "tap water is fit for drinking"! That just about sums up what Singapore is all about- a clean, sanitized and a modern city.
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