Day 22: Singapore

I wonder what the Romans would have thought of Singapore – a mainly reclaimed island full of novel architecture?  I saw some of these on a free 2 hour tour of the city.  Examples are the buildings include the three towers with a boat like structure bridging them and the office towers with sharp edges.

We arrived in Singapore at 5.30 am local time after a smooth 11 hour flight from Rome. Having booked into a transit hotel for the day, I left Maureen to sleep and went on the tour to kill some time.  We stopped off at China town which was gearing up for Chinese New Year and also passed through the Indian quarter.  I picked some interesting information about Singapore:

• Being just north of the Equator , Singapore sits between 25-34Degrees C all year around and between 75-95% humidity
• The process of reclamation of land so it is ready to build on takes 20 years.
• Singapore was a State of Malaysia for 2 years after independence (1963-1965)
• Everyone lives in high rise towers most of which is public housing.  Howver to qualify for public housing you need to be 21 or older, married and have children – no place here for singles or single parents.
• If children are not at school without good reason, their parents may be gaoled.  Also chewing gum is banned!

We will arrive in Adelaide at 9 am- looking forward to muesli and toast for breakfast!