Singapore is widely touted as an "easy" introduction to south east asia, with good levels of hygiene, and lots of western food and comforts available. In many ways, its perhaps gone too far, as the strict rules and regulations are apparently backed up by officious police who are a little trigger happy with fines and worse.
 |
| Arty Farty Shot of Marina Development Tower Behind Sun Grill |
Its also probably the most intensely high rise city I've ever visited, with prolific development where every building site seems to be trying to out elevate its neighbour. Not only are the boundaries of height being pushed, but also the imaginations of the architects. I don't think the Gerkhin in London would have got past the drawing stage, as it would be far too conventional.
 |
| Singapore flyer - largest observation wheel in the world |
 |
| Chinatown in front of CBD |
The improbable shapes of some new high rise architecture often reminds me of the monty python sketch (hence the blog post title): Anyone unfamiliar with the sketch? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pBTK-pdMP0 Maybe all this travelling is getting to me!
 |
| Singapore GP street circuit |
Despite all the modern stuff, there is of course some interesting older parts of the city to view, including the authentically busy and noisy "little india", and the few sections of chinatown that have survived recent developments
 |
| Chinatown temple |
We stayed in a Chinese run hostel which was very different from the modern chain hotels that are the norm. The room was tiny, had no windows and featured one bunk bed complete with winnie the pooh sheet and pillow sets. It was cheap though.
 |
| Raffles Hotel |
There are of course many colonial buildings still present, mostly these are high price tourist destinations now.
 |
| Christmas parade |
No comments:
Post a Comment