Singapore looks different to when I was there about seven or eight years ago, it has grown into a much more modern and bigger metropolis with lot more sleek skyscrapers and wider roads. Its clean, cleaner than before and has a vibe of a major global city. But it is no head to heels hot and wild Hong Kong, classy but classless LA or filthy but crazy, crash and boom like New York. Its neither decaying, but still head to toe stylish like London or Paris or authentic oriental mystic like Beijing, Shanghai or Tokyo. It’s probably their tamed, civilized, in other words subdued but cleanest looking cousin. It’s like one of those all you can eat buffet where there is everything but then nothing that really stands out, in other words has everything but probably deeper into borderline boring, sadly. It feels like a big plate of copycat pieces from all over the place, ‘modern’ Scandinavian buildings – off the same squarish mould, kiddish theme parks, shopping centres with canals on them, artificial water and wildlife parks, basically a me too of everything, it’s a well laid out small city display park with life-size items.
However after going around in its major city centre in a weekend it feels devoid of people in the streets, most of them can be found concentrated in shops around Orchard road or in one place – Marina bay sands!
But honestly, the transport system seems flawless with busses and trains serving the public well. I was able to use the local metro, MRT on my own with the maps and it accepts the credit cards! No need to buy and understand local metro cards like in Sydney or Tokyo to ride. I did not have to spend thousands on taxis as I had to in Kathmandu.
The Changi airport is a massive presence on its own, I actually used it as a base to go around Bali once, and this time on my transit from Kathmandu to Sydney. The addition this time of the big waterfall feature and Skytrain makes it simply the best airport in the world by miles. It has been redone and looks like a wonderland.
Chinatown is a must visit with a network of old streets with heritage buildings preserved and revamped to a mesmerizing cluster of old shops, houses and temples.
There is a huge Buddhist temple in China town which hosts thousands of giant and little Buddha statues and candles, its an awesome sight with serene beauty of peace and ambience of gratitude, well done Singaporeans!
There are plenty of local restaurants serving both Chinese and Indian street foods to choose from. I did not find too many serving more western style foods like burgers etc.
Singapore is in fact a beautiful small cosmos of its own with bit of everything Asia has to offer, a true combination of Western modern, and ancient Asian architecture and lifestyle running all together. In addition and most importantly, I found the people to be nice, friendly and helpful in every single interaction.
Ravi Tandukar 