Singapore

A brief interruption

 

One of the best remedies for a trip to Jakarta is Singapore. It is a city of calmness, and public transportation.

 

It was the transition into the year 2013, and a time to glance back at 2012.

 

Trying to remember the highlights of the past year, the names of places, people whom I’d met, and everything is already starting to get mixed up. Just like a dream; they are also becoming a distant memory by then. But feelings of happiness and satisfaction remain always present.

 

I had interesting encounters along with experiencing the humid heat that reminded me of the Middle East.

 

The year changed simultaneously with the colors of the earth; the blue of the Pacific to the red of Southeast Asia.

 

A new quest has begun.

December 2012

Summer 2013

Moments

Did you know...

- You can find the national anthem in microtext on the back of the $1000 note. 

- Singapore is one of three surviving city-states in the world

- There's a 'Hug Me' Coca-Cola machine in Singapore

- Singapore has changed timezone 6 times since 1905

- In 1826, when Sir Raffles Stamford arrived at the banks of the Singapore River, the island had a population of 1,000 Malays and only 20-30 Chinese. Now, the island counts about six million people with a majority of 74.2% being of Chinese origin. 

- Singapore is the second densest sovereign state in the world, after Monaco. It is also the sixth wealthiest and the 20th smallest country in the world. 

- Singapore’s land size was 581,5 km in the 1960’s and has since grown to an impressive 710km. That’s an increase of 22%. Through land filling, the city-state has plans to grow by another 100 km until 2030, nearly doubling the former size of the island.

- Singapore has 4 official languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil and a rich history and culture that comes with the many different ethnicities living here.