Canary Wharf writ large...

Before I arrived I had heard that Singapore was like a big western city. This may be the case, but certainly not one that I have been to! Quite a lot of it is like a really big Canary Wharf. Not a bad thing, but it is very surreal. To make it more so, the whole city is covered in tacky Christmas decorations, including fake snow and Christmas songs, very incongruous with the 30 degree temperature. The food and hotels are amazing though, right down from the lowliest backpacker hostel. I've quite enjoyed my kaya toast and coffee for breakfast.

It is also weirdly clean and efficient - even the escalators seem to move more quickly than anywhere else I've been! The MRT (tube equivalent) warns you which side you are going to get off at in advance and directs people to stand where they are getting on/off. I have spent a lot more time trying to cross roads using the underpass through an MRT station that actually using it, my sense of direction seems to disappear underground.

To be fair, there are more lived in bits and Canary Wharf doesn't have lots of Chinese buildings or Hindu temples, nor a cricket pitch surrounded by colonial buildings. Though given that most of these buildings were surrounded in scaffolding, they slightly lost their impact. I'm also pretty sure there aren't many restaurants in Canary wharf where you bump into the waitress carrying live crabs. There is also a good botanical garden, although equally efficient and organised as the rest of Singapore.

Singapore also has a good selection of museums. I went to the Asian Civilizations Museum, which was extremely well done and absolutely vast. I concentrated on just the S E Asian bits, as I couldn't manage all of it and, despite having spent two months here and thinking that I had a pretty good idea about its history, I got completely confused and frustrated trying to keep track. There has been so much movement of cultures and it's such a diverse area. Still, I definitely know more than I did.

Surprisingly good museum was in Raffles Hotel. I didn't have a Singapore Sling here, as it would cost more than a third of my daily budget, but the hotel itself and the museum were hysterical! All the stereotypes of British colonialism were there and the museum was full of china/uniforms/photographs of the hotel's past and included Noel Coward's mention of it in his autobiography.

Anyway, I am off to Perth this afternoon and my Asian part of the trip is complete! All round very successful. Particularly the crocs purchase. Good call Phili and Jo.