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THAT'S SINGAPORE – WITH AN 'S'
Singapore doesn't have a Sesame Street. It’s a tiny country, almost entirely city, with a population around three million, yet it could easily be subtitled 'brought to you by the letter S', because when you think about this safe and slick city you can't help but get alliterative.
Everyone knows where Singapore is, just a fish-ball throw from the southern tip of Malaysia, linked by a causeway and ethnically similar. Here, you can indulge in fabulous satays and roti, eye-wateringly hot curries and laksa – even fragrance-challenged durian if you dare – yet you can relax and enjoy it all. The hawker's stalls are strictly policed. There’s no washing up on the footpath here. Tap water is safe to drink, and malaria is unknown because they swatted the last mosquito years ago. It's like a sanitised Malaysia. Squeaky-clean.
(finishes…)
Regardless of the always 30-something temperatures, and the steamy climate that sends people searching for pools, or forces them to chill-out in air-conditioned bars or restaurants, the visitors just keep coming to Singapore. And what do they do when they get there?
Well, they happily stay with the Ss. They sightsee, stay in one of the country's hundred hotels (a thirty percent increase in the past three years) and shop, adding yet another 's' – spending. Singapore's statistics tell us that over seven million tourists from around the world visit Singapore every year and they can expect to exchange quite a bit of currency during their average 3.3-day stay.
Whichever way you look at it, that's plenty of S$s – and Ss.
©Sally Hammond 2007
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