Singapore is as western as Asia gets. It's a great little city for a stopover but you wouldn't stay much longer than a couple of days.
Singapore for us was the last stop on the trip home after Thailand & Cambodia. We arrived at about 3:00pm with Singapore Airlines & stopped over on a Singapore stopover package which gave us cheap accommodation at the Carlton Crest & included most of our entry fees to the main attractions.
After dropping off the luggage we made our way down to Raffles & checked out some of the shopping in the mall across the street. Raffles Hotel is one of the most famous landmarks in Singapore. It's named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore. It was built in 1887 & it's the place to try Singapore's other most famous treat... a Singapore Sling.
The next day we decided to take it easy & just wander around the city with no real direction. We ended up down at the harbour right near the statue of Singapore's logo, the Merlion. This trademark symbol is depicted by the body of a mermaid with the head of a lion. Just behind us was another of Singapore's famous sights, the Singapore Opera House. We decided to switch directions & headed North for a little before coming to the area known as "Little India". This is normally supposed to be a happening & busy spot, but I think we hit it on the wrong day as it was pretty well dead. It's still nice to wander through though as it is all brightly coloured.
That evening we headed out to the world famous Night Safari. Once we arrived there we saw a few of the shows on hand & I even participated. I was chosen from the crowd to dance around flexing my muscles whist the local tribal dancers used blow darts to burst balloons. After a few minutes I joined the crowd & we headed of for the train journey through the park.
The train ride was good & we did get to see a lot of animals but it is actually quite dark. So whilst this is the best time to view most of these animals as they are running around & hungry, the dimly lit lighting makes it hard to actually see very much at all.
The next day we just wandered up & down Orchard Road looking at the modern shopping malls & street front shops. It's a little cheaper to buy things here such as camera's & DVD's than back home, but the savings are probably not worth the hassle you may have with customs (not that I've ever had any).
In the evening we booked a local tour company called Hippo Tours. We booked the "Singapore By Night" which included the "Red Light District". This was one of the most interesting things we could have done here & something that I think is worthwhile. It was hard to tell that we had even arrived in the red light area as it just looked like any other area in Singapore but not as modern. We all filed off the bus & were told to walk one block down off the street front then turn left & just walk for about 6 or 7 blocks. Once we got back on the bus we would be able to see who got the biggest or most offers.
It's amazing how everything can change within one block. All of a sudden we were wandering through dimly lit streets with dozens of plastic ladies eyeing you off ready to take your money. We were told it was completely safe but don't take any photos because most of the girls are watched by the gangstas of Singapore & they will take your stuff if you take photos. So as we walked through possibly the most illegal area in Singapore it became obvious that these people didn't even like each other. On one corner all the Singapore girls would work, than the next corner would be the girls from Malaysia & the next was Japan, followed by Vietnam, Thailand & so on. It was basically an Asian buffet waiting to be had by anyone with a little money.
A few other sites we saw on the dimly lit back streets was the illegal casino's & betting that goes on. Here it is illegal to gamble on any sport. So in the dark of night there would be 50 men watching the game on a big screen TV in the back street. Even if police came by which would be unusual, they would just hide any evidence of the wrong doings & act like it's a few mates watching TV.
Whilst on this tour we learnt some really interesting things about Singapore.
1. If you want to drive a car in Singapore you have to be one of the lucky few who can get a permit. In Singapore there is only so many cars allowed & once they have met their quota, that's it.
2. If you want a licence you can get it but they are usually at crazy prices. Even as high as $50,000.
3. You are not allowed any cars older than 10 years as it is bad for the environment.
4. Everyone knows that Singapore is a clean city & if you spit, throw rubbish or chewing gum on the ground you will receive a big fine.
5. The house or apartment you can buy is dictated to you by the government. The cheaper housing that the government builds & sells can only be bought by the lower paid working people. 6. Driers are a waste of time as you can see driving around, most people just hang their washing out the window.
We spent our last evening doing a harbour cruise & then chilling our at Clark Quay, which is a really nice area for restaurants & pubs. It also rained on our last day which made it very easy to just relax & not worry about seeing anything.
Singapore is worth a stopover for a few days, even if it's just to break your journey.