A journal of my travels...in Singapore

Singapore 3rd - 6th February 2005

Shopping, dragon-boats and curry

Not since Belem, Brazil have the noises, smells and colours of a market place jumped out at us. However, Singapore is very different, as this modern country is the Asian shopping capital for designer labels and electronic goods.

Everywhere you look there are huge air conditioned shopping malls with flag ship stores from all the big names. The place buzzes from bargain hunters negotiating a few dollars off a purchase and the shops are only too pleased to inform you that everything has 20% off the marked price before you enter.

For me, the new Liverpool Shirt at less than 1/2 the UK price and an underwater camera case (at 1/3 of the UK price) for diving proved enough. For Zoe... she was in heaven and I hardly saw her for the 3 days!

The facts

Singapore is smaller than London, has 4.5 million people. Only being here for 3 days, you soon get a feel for the place. 77% of the population is Chinese, the rest Indian and Malaysian with smaller communities from Europe and Americas. Space is a premium so 87% of the population live in high rise apartments.

With the Chinese and Indian dominant cultures the food is amazing. Curry or duck noodles can be eaten at breakfast and the food courts or street stalls provide a cheap way of eating out. A decent meal with drinks will not exceed 5 pounds.

Dragon Boat Racing

The ex pats from several countries gather on a saturday afternoon to race dragon boats in the Singapore River. Novices are welcome and we joined The British Dragon Boat Team in Singapore for the regular workout. Blisters and sore shoulders not to mention 2 defeats in the races meant that we should not have enjoyed it, but it was great fun and the regulars looked after us in the boat and the bar afterwards.

Time is running short on us now and Malaysia is the next stop for Chinese New Year and some more diving.