SINGAPORE – Village that Roars

The English name of Singapore is derived from the Malay word, Singapura , which was in turn derived from Sanskrit (Singa is "lion", Pura "city"), hence the customary reference to the nation as the Lion City.

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And because it has been a port location, its symbol is the "Merlion".

My last sabbatical year was broken into several parts – one of them took place in Singapore as I was invited by the National University of Singapore (NUS).  NUS is ranked among the top 13 in the world, it is a research-intensive, comprehensive university with an entrepreneurial dimension. NUS's main campus is located in Queenstown, Singapore, entirely within its own subzone, with an area of 1.76 kmsq ^.   The National University of Singapore has 16 faculties and schools across three campus locations in Singapore – Kent Ridge, Bukit Timah and Outram – and provides a broad-based curriculum producing top-notch professional graduates.

Singapore

The city-state of Singapore is a fascinating location. From a colonial fishing village it developed into a global commerce, finance and transport hub, world’s 3^rd largest foreign exchange centre. And most of this development took only the past 50 years !

The story of Singapore is the one of an amazing transformation – from a port village to a high-tech and financial center with a world-based economy. The core principles of this hard-driving and pragmatic nation are meritocracy, multiculturalism and secularism. It is noted for its effective, pragmatic and incorrupt governance and civil service, which together with its rapid development policies, is widely cited as the "Singapore model".

Since the 1970s, Singapore has also been widely known as the Garden City, owing to its extensive greening policy covering the whole island, a priority of its first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, dubbed the nation's "Chief Gardener" – and the originator of its current success. This island city-nation is a lively demonstration of the fact that being BIG is NOT necessary for people to live well.  We live in a democratic world – and I take my hat off to the spirit of this place.
Having had the opportunity to witness the “Singapore miracle”, one cannot help but ask – why the rest of the world could not be like that ?

Following the mainly British colonization since 1819, Singapore gained a complete independence in 1965.  It celebrated its Golden jubilee in 2015 – the same year that its first founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew died. He had 'personified Singapore to the world' for nearly half a century.  This cosmopolitan nation is now home to 5.5 million residents, 38% of whom are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. Singaporeans are mostly bilingual, with English as their common language and a second mother-tongue language. Its cultural diversity is reflected in its extensive "hawker" cuisine and major ethnic festivals—Chinese, Malay, Indian, Western.
 

Beaches

Being an island, Singapore is surrounded by water – where are its beaches, I wondered. No, it is not known for seaside enjoyment. But there are plenty of sun-and-water worshipers like myself. So, when mother nature does not provide close enough in Singapore, they built beaches themselves.
Like those on the little pleasure island of Sentosa. 
And whisk you there also by cable car which originates from Mount Faber and passes through HarbourFront en route to its final destination at Imbiah lookout. It is amazing to float above the city, including its harbor – and end up on a beach.
Of course that there are many other beaches around Singapore – after all, it is a seaside ‘village’.  And yes, I got sunburned, momentarily forgetting that I was almost on the equator.

Eating in Singapore :
Singaporean cuisine is diverse and contains elements derived from several ethnic groups, as a result of its history as a seaport with a large immigrant population. Influences include the cuisines of the native Malays and the largest ethnic group, the Chinese, as well as Indonesian, Indian, Peranakan, and Western traditions

Dining out is a national pastime for Singaporeans who most often eat at hawker centres, coffee shops or food courts rather than restaurants, due to its convenience, wide range of options and affordability. These hawker centres are widespread, cheap and may feature hundreds of stalls in a single complex, with each stall offering its own specialty dishes. The NUS campus where I was had several such student “canteens” as they are called there – large or cozy small, with quite a broad ethnic meal selection.  Niam-niam -