This place genuinely deserves it's reputation for cleanliness and good order. It's quite incredible to be honest, it is just about the cleanest place I've ever seen. I had some serious misconceptions about Singapore, thinking that this spotless country was run by some power crazed gestapo like organisation with storm troopers at every corner to ensure: good order, good manners and a hygiene level that could rival many hospitals. It is however not the case. Well not as far as I could see. Sure, there is the unofficial slogan of the country that it is a "fine place" (ooh the wags!)  but it seems that self regulation is the key. Well, self regulation, under cover law enforcement, the ratan, the prisons and of course the fines. The list of things you can get fines for is extensive and humourous. For having possession of a highly stinky fruit called a Durian on the city subway, you'll loose 500 sheets, smoking in public places, similar financial implications, chewing gum, uh, that's a no-no. 500 please. Spitting (and for this one I'm very grateful) that'll set you back the cost of a bungalow in Wales, peeing in a lift (yes there are signs that warn you of the perils of this) failure to flush the toilet, or wash your hands afterwards will bring a sharp rap on the knuckles and be the costliest penny you've ever spent. While it all sounds a tad repressive it is actually really welcome and such laws, which may  sound like they have draconian punishments are really just about enforcing a bit of common decency. That's the plan anyway. And they seem to work here. I don't think we've seen more than two cigarette butts on the street in our time here (the government however were seriously concerned at the level of on street butt disposal and were about to launch a major covert operation to clamp down) So carry on I say, it may be a little bit like being back at school, but what's wrong with that (as long as there's no homework obviously)

We spent about half our time here split between the areas of Little India (where, quelle surprise, there is a large concentration of Indians) and Chinatown (I don't really have to elaborate) in both areas we frankly gorged. While things are certainly considerably more expensive here than in say Indonesia, the quality (and portions) of food are certainly higher and we had much less reticence when it came to buying food from hawkers, well to be honest our bowels were still shot through anyway so it's not as if we could suffer any further! I must say that the Indian food was absolutely fantastic, the Chinese wasn't bad, and I'm delighted to say the beer was good.

Alas, the place we spent the other half our time wasn't quite as high on our priority list as sampling the local food had been. Heide, who to say the least, isn't a big fan of the dentistry profession was suffering from an serious tooth related issue. It was bad enough to prevent sleep (my diagnosis was that the "issue" was an abscess and she should probably just have the villainous tooth whipped out. Funnily enough this didn't help her apprehension. Though I still reckon I'm right. Follow the equation... no tooth... no abscess in tooth) Well I managed to drag her kicking and screaming to the dentist (ok, that's a fib, I managed to persuade her that if she went to the dentist her tooth would be well enough to eat ice cream again, that worked) where Doctor Cassidy's diagnosis was seconded by someone with certificates proclaiming them a member of the medical community. However this Doc wasn't from the "whip it out school of butchery and backstreet surgery" that I had attended in a previous life and instead decided upon many (many) hours of intricate root canal work. On day three the job was complete, Heide's tooth had been patched, the credit card had taken a bigger bruising than Heide's jaw would have if she'd gone to the Cassidy Oral Clinic, I'd made it through "War and Peace" (twice) and we knew the National Dentistry Centre staff better than most of their families did. And of course the ice cream salesmen experienced their greatest sales surge since the much misguided "Eskimo Expo of Singapore, 1984"

Singapore has always been raved about by those who I know that have visited. Even, and I do find this quite peculiar, my brother Paul. I wouldn't have had him down for one who appreciated peace, tranquility and good order (especially back in his Royal Navy days when he came here regularly) but now we can see why it's so appealing as a place. Of course it's clean and orderly etc but it's also got good pubs, great food, interesting temples, fantastic transport infrastructure, a society, that despite its ethnic diversity seems to get on well. It's a great place. I would liken it to Hong Kong, without Hong Kong's madness and teeming, never slowing throngs of people. I know many people (especially travelers who like to talk about how "hard core" they are) will poo poo Singapore as staid and santised, they will allege that it's not like "real Asia" Well, to me, they're missing the point, this is real Asia, it's just done a bit differently, and if you can't enjoy the place for what it is, well Malaysia is only 1 km away! And it is to Malaysia that we'll be heading, gleaming pearly whites and all, tomorrow morning.