Leigh Travel Club

 

 

 12-13 hour flight to get there + GMT +8hrs

 

Flights to Australia (21-24hr) flight all touch down here to refuel. It’s an ideal stopover location.

 

Singapore$

 

Official languages:- Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English

Population about 4.5 million people

 

Streets are clean –astonishing greenery everywhere

 

British visitors do not need a visa to get to Singapore

 

You don’t require any specific vaccinations

 

Average trip to Singapore 3.7 days

Most exotic and diverse food in the world

 

Get round fast with the Tourist network

 

Singaporeons favourite past-times are shopping and eating

 

Raffles was a brilliant administrator, adventurer, botanist and wildlife expert.

In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company landed in Singapore. He signed an agreement with a local Malay ruler that enabled the East India Company to establish a trading post. He declared Singapore a free port with no tax on trade. Each community would be self governing.

In1963 the government  launched a national tree-planting compaign

 

Between 1977 and 1987 the river underwent a huge clean-up and nowadays the bumboat once shuttles bearing cargo , now only carry tourists.

 

Population see themselves first as Singaporeans and secondly as Chinese, Malays, Indians or Eurasians. 75% are Chinese ,  13.7% are Malay and Indians are 8.7%

Although Singapore was virtually unaffected in WWI in WWII there was a turning point in Singapores history

 

Governed as a British colony until 1959.

 

Singapore became a republic in August 1965. Singapore Island and the other 58 smaller islands make up the tiny country.

 

25 miles long and 14miles wide, it’s on tip of Malay Penninsula.  It’s 85 miles north of the equator.

 

Singapore (Singa Pura) – means Lion City after a Sumatran prince encountered one of the lions there.

Singapore has the second-largest port, after Rotterdam.

When to go:- Being so close to the equator Singapore is always hot and humid. The rainy season is between November and January, but short sharp downpours and tropical thunder storms can happen anytime. Average temperature is 31C (88F) dropping to 24C (75F) at nignt

 

English is spoken everywhere

 

Drinking water is safe to drink.

Resorts World is being built – a six-hotel and casino complex with Universal Studios Singapore as the highlight – due to be completed in2010