More to singapore than shopping

May 30 2006

I've just spent three nights at the best city hotel in the world. I flew with the top airline to the highest-rated airport. So where have I been? 10 out of 10 if you guessed - Singapore.

Those ratings aren't mine.

Singapore won over readers of a main British newspaper, and it is consistently first in the holiday polls. My trip showed why.

I've flown with Singapore Airlines and been impressed with the food, like duck with noodles for breakfast going to Sydney.

This time we sat in the plane at Heathrow for more than two hours, while a spare part was found for an engine, adding to the 13-hour flight.

But these things happen and the food was as good as I remembered.

Award-winning Changi Airport is almost too good to be true. Your baggage appears almost instantly. There is no queue at immigration. And, if you're changing flights, or on your way home, there's free internet access in departures. It's certainly my favourite airport.

Which brings us to the hotel. And yes, the Shangri-La makes it three out of three for Singapore for me.

We stayed in its Garden Wing, which is even more luxurious than the rest of the 750-room complex close to Orchard Road, the top shopping street, and set in 15 acres of landscaped gardens.

Two highlights of our stay there were a midnight cocktail in BLU, the bar on the 24th floor, and a buffet lunch in The Line restaurant, where for about £16 you can eat as much as you like from state-of-theart mini-kitchens in which chefs prepare dishes from 16 styles.

So, what should you do in Singapore? Most guidebooks suggest shopping - every other building in the city centre seems to be a vast mall - and drinking a Singapore Sling cocktail in the world-famous Raffles Hotel, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the man who put the city on the map.

But even that landmark building has been almost swallowed up by a shopping arcade, and cherry brandy, one ingredient, isn't my tipple. So we went further afield.

First stop was the beautifully landscaped botanic gardens, at the end of Orchard Road. This is home to the national orchid garden, which has 60,000 plants, the most exotic being named after visitors to Singapore including the Queen and Lady Thatcher.

Then we caught an MRT underground train - cheap and airconditioned - to Raffles Quay, to wander along the restaurant-lined Singapore River and around the colonial district, with its Victorian buildings from the days of British rule. But for me, the highlights of Singapore are three areas: Chinatown, Little India and the Arab Quarter.

Chinatown's bustling 19th century streets are lined with terraces of shophouses, shuttered buildings with living rooms above. Some locals complain there has been too much development, such as the modern, concrete Chinatown Complex building. But inside it is a fascinating, teeming market selling everything from kimonos to mah-jong sets.

Little India is just as lively and its shophouses are even more colourful. It has its own conservation area, housing an enthralling arcade of shops and stalls. You could fill a suitcase with bargains. Our favourites included jewellery and astonishingly cheap saffron strands.

The nearby Arab Quarter is much smaller and quieter, but just as interesting.

This area has some of the most interesting street stalls, perhaps because the food is a change from Chinese or Indian.

Singapore has often been written-off as an over-sanitised, over-regulated city only worth a stopover for its shopping. But it's clean, safe and has so much more.

A perfect example is Emerald Hill Road. Once this was the site of a nutmeg plantation. Between 1900 and 1930, beautiful shuttered houses in the Chinese baroque and Art Deco styles were built up the hill by the Peranakan (Straits-born Chinese) community.

Somehow they have survived the development of the area. Most visitors won't find them, but they demonstrate that Singapore is worth exploring. Even if you don't like cherry brandy. 

* Three nights' B&B at the four star Scarlet Hotel in Singapore currently starts at £535, or from £605 for three nights' room-only at the five star Shangri La Hotel. Extra nights from £30 per person on offer which runs through June until June 30.

Thomson Worldwide reservations: 0870 160 7427 or at www.thomsonworldwide.co.uk