Singapore boasts one of the highest living standards in the world. It had attracted, and also surprised, me and my husband on our first visit there almost four decades back when we had a chance to explore this island state. It was our first stop on our honeymoon to the Far East, which was then uncharted by most Pakistanis.

While there are parts of the city that retain links to its past, Singapore offers the most Western of all Asian experiences; it is one of the world’s flattest islands, the highest point being the forested Bukit Timah where I went a few times to watch my granddaughters’ after-school riding lessons as our son and his family call Singapore their home now.

In 1959, Singapore was granted internal self-government by the British. Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) was its first prime minister. In 1963 Singapore united with Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah to form Malaysia, but on Aug 9, 1965, it separated from this federation to become an independent state.

The Chinese, Malay, Peranakans (Singaporeans of mixed Chinese and Malay marriage) and Tamils form Singapore’s 3.25 million population, of which the bulk are Chinese, while the rest of the 2.2m people — of a total of around 5.2m — are immigrants from the world over, making it a truly cosmopolitan society.

A foodie’s paradise

It is not only the diversity of the people but also the variety of food available in Singapore that a foodie like me is attracted to.

Let me begin with my favourite drink, teh tarik — foamy at the top, it’s a mixture of black tea, condensed milk and the skill of ‘pulling’ the tea, pouring it back and forth in two vessels. The carrot cake, a must-have, has no carrots! It’s a stir-fried and slightly charred savoury dish made of white radish, eggs and rice flour.

Then there’s the tofu salad called tauhu goreng; crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, served on a bed of boiled bean sprouts with a tasty sauce of tamarind, dark soya sauce, ground peanuts and chilli drizzled over it. Laksa, a rich, spicy noodle soup, added with quail’s eggs, tiger prawns and scallops is to die for. However, the chilli crab (red chilli or black pepper crab), considered to be Singapore’s national dish is served with the hard shell and the crab’s sweet, succulent meat covered with thick, spicy gravy.

All this and much more can be savoured in the ubiquitous air-conditioned food courts or the open-air hawker centres. Singaporeans navigate these at rush hours by making sure they ‘chop’ a table before ordering food. This means simply to leave a packet of tissue on the table and its reserved for you.

It’s a small world after all…

There are China Town and Little India in Singapore; also an Arab Quarter. China Town has churches, an old Hindu temple called the Mariamman Temple, a Jama Mosque and a Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. The stalls sell the usual kitsch from China but its food streets are packed with customers.

As a South Asian it is also nice to stroll along Serangoon Road — the main road for Little India, and browse in the shops selling saris, bangles, incense, handicrafts and jewellery. Little India also offers a variety of Indian and Pakistani food. There is a large department store called Mustafa Centre that has every imaginable item under one roof, but it is quite a clutter.

When you enter the Arab Quarter, you see not only quirky boutiques and cafes but also the golden domes of Sultan Mosque. This is a conservation quarter of the city and retains its ‘old world’ atmosphere. There is a grid of narrow streets fronted by attractive ‘shop houses’ — a local term that quite obviously means a shop downstairs and the living quarters above.

One can find Javanese batiks, checked lungis, carpets, rattan and leather ware here and a variety of eating places with shisha-smoking men and women in the coffee shops. However, it is Orchard Road which is to Singapore what Oxford Street is to London and Fifth Avenue to New York. It is lined with malls and hotels and tall trees, and pedestrians zigzag from one mall to another.

Wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, I opted to go on a river cruise; one of the things most tourists enjoy doing and which also provides a great overview of Singapore’s history. The captain of the boat pointed out some of the key areas of the city from the time it was a small fishing village to today, ending the 45-minute ride at the water-spewing statue of the iconic merlion facing the Marina Bay Sands towers.

The Garden City

Close by, right in the heart of the city, are the Botanic Gardens, spread on a 57-hectare (140 acres)area. The gardens are exquisite not only due to the flora and fauna but also because of their layout, presenting charming views wherever you may be walking. Large monitor lizards can also be found slithering into the thick undercover. There is an old bandstand that has had music played from it since the 1930s. It made me nostalgic about Karachi’s Frere Hall which, as a child, I regularly visited on Saturdays to listen to a band that performed there. Now even the bandstand at the Jahangir Kothari Parade has been deprived of its iconic presence.

This isn’t the only green space in the city that stands out. Singapore’s modern and impressive National Library that opened in 2005 is an innovative ‘green’ building designed as a ‘Library for the Tropics’ using bioclimatic design techniques. And the Gardens by the Bay is also worth a visit.

At the Gardens by the Bay, we went up for a stroll along the 22-metre-high OCBC Skyway, for an aerial walk on a bridge that connects two of the supertrees for a spectacular view of the gardens and beyond. Between 25 and 50 metres tall, these iconic tree-like vertical gardens are designed with large canopies that come alive with an exhilarating display of light and sound at night.

“If only the overall temperature was less by about 10°C, this city would be the ideal place on earth to live in,” said my son, while we explored the Gardens by the Bay. This tropical city lies just north of the equator and remains hot and humid for most part of the year, with frequent thunderstorms that help the government’s strategy to transform Singapore from a ‘Garden City’ to a ‘City in a Garden’; by enhancing greenery and flora in the city, the government’s aims to raise the standard of living.

All in all this was a remarkable visit that had several facets to it. Attending musicals, classical dance performances, movies, showjumpings, etc. with my family added to some of my truly great cultural experiences.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 17th, 2016