{"id":14029,"date":"2016-03-21T16:22:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flavorsandsenses.com\/en\/?p=1696"},"modified":"2019-02-21T18:00:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T18:00:04","slug":"singapore-love-at-first-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flavorsandsenses.com\/en\/singapore-love-at-first-sight\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore – Love at first sight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"singapura<\/a>Part of the astonishing view from The Fullerton Hotel<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Singapore was the biggest surprise I ever had in a trip, I can\u2019t tell you exactly if it was the place I most liked to visit (probably not), but certainly it was the most surprising one.<\/p>\n

Usually my favourite kind of travel is a more historical destination, with a quite rich past and still with visible marks of it, my passion is, for sure, essentially, Ancient and Medieval History, although Modern and Contemporary history also arouse my curiosity.<\/p>\n

That said, Singapore is part of those cities filled with skyscrapers, too modern and apparently not with a much relevant history, so in advance it wouldn\u2019t be on my Top 10, but\u2026<\/p>\n

Singapore stole my heart!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0The genius architecture of Gardens by the Bay<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Why then?<\/strong> \u2013 You ask yourselves with curiosity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Because at each step, and each discovery of the city, or country (yes, it is both!) the only reminder coming to mind was one of the most beautiful songs ever: Imagine<\/em>\u00a0of John Lennon, in which the world is described as a utopia (unfortunately) and everybody lives in harmony.<\/p>\n

And Singapore is almost that same utopia!<\/p>\n

It is the cleanest, most organized, safest and most civilized city I ever got to know. It\u2019s the combination of several communities with different behaviours, traditions and religious ideologies, living in perfect communion.<\/p>\n

Sincerely, I could live in this paradise, and I rarely, (or never, to be honest) say that! Despite everything, I love Portugal and I like living in my country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0The main Mosque in Singapore<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And how did this small paradise appear?<\/strong> \u2013 You keep asking.<\/em><\/p>\n

Everything seems to have started in the XIV century when prince Iskandar Shah anchored in a small fishermen village running from a storm. The legend says he spotted a lion, which in Sanskrit is named singha and therefore the name of the country, Singapore \u2013 City of the Lion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the crucial point takes us a bit forward in history, into the XIX century, when the Engilsh Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles established in the Island with commercial purposes. Therefore, the strong British influence, like driving on the left, having a parliamentary democracy with a Westminster<\/em> system, among others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The British Empire got complete sovereignty of the Island in 1824.<\/p>\n

Singapore was then occupied by the Empire of Japan during World War II, but came back to the British domain after the conflict. Becoming self-governed in 1959.<\/p>\n

The territory United to other ex-British territories and formed Malaysia in 1963.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0The famous Raffles Hotel, the 1st of Singapore\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After two years it became a completely independent State. Which seems to have been the best decision possible to the people! Once from there on, it had a severe increase in terms of richness and quickly became one of the four Asian Tigers.<\/p>\n

The economy is essentially dependent of industry and services and the country is world leader in several areas. It\u2019s the fourth main business centre in the world, the second largest casino market and the third biggest oil refinery centre. Its port is one of the five busiest in the world (it\u2019s amazing to see all the boats around the island while flying over Singapore).<\/p>\n

And like that\u2019s not enough, it\u2019s home of the largest number of millionaire families in dollars per capita, seems like 1 in every 10 inhabitants has more than a million Singapore dollars!<\/p>\n

The World Bank considers it the best place in the world to do business.<\/p>\n

If you still haven\u2019t got it: Singapore is one of the richest and agitated countries in the planet!<\/p>\n

\"TheSouthBeach<\/a>The business center of Singapore<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Seems like all this is due to, mainly, Lee Kuan Yew, of Chinese ancestry and socialist philosophy, considered the \u201cfather\u201d of Singapore, elected prime minister during thirty years, succeeded by his son, Lee Hsien Loong, still in power.<\/p>\n

By now you\u2019re thinking \u2013 \u201chmm another dictatorship<\/em>!\u201d \u2013 but, you\u2019re wrong, there are several parties, elections and a government that developed a country instead of enrichening themselves. Something quite patent when you listen to some locals speak about their politicians and their work (wish I could say the same\u2026).<\/p>\n

Nowadays, Singapore has a population of over 5 million, from several ethnicities. The main three are the Chinese, Malaysian and Indian. In terms of religion, there\u2019s a bit of everything. Which makes Buddhist (over 50% of the population), Muslim and Christian (around 15%) and Hindu (around 4%) temples live side by side. Living side by side doesn\u2019t always mean in communion, but here it is, and life is so, so good!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Hindu Temple –\u00a0Sri Veeramakaliamman<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Deep down, there\u2019s an immense respect for everybody\u2019s cultural differences, of course there\u2019s also a rule formatted system, quite defined and rigid (very rigid), but the truth is it works to perfection, and so I say, and I\u2019ll repeat it quite a lot, Singapore is quite perfect!<\/p>\n

What you need to know when travelling to Singapore:<\/strong><\/p>\n