Their man in Singapore

Sign — Penin­sula Plaza

“Our man on the inter­net”, Lancer­lord sends a link to a short Times UK arti­cle by a Ben Kiggell list­ing things to do and places to eat at in our great city.

Some of the attrac­tions and sug­ges­tions he lists are noth­ing short of hilarious.

Eat here

A meal at one of the many open-air hawker cen­tres is a great way to try local food. For a top-end expe­ri­ence, we love Flutes at the Fort (www.flutesatthefort.com.sg).

Must do

The Botan­i­cal Gar­dens are amaz­ing. Less obvi­ous, but a real gem, are the walk­ing tours detailed on www.singaporewalks.com. There’s a dif­fer­ent one every day of the week.

Avoid

A lot of what pass for tourist attrac­tions in Sin­ga­pore — the Mer­lion at Marina Bay and the world’s largest foun­tain at Sun­tec City — are point­less. Don’t waste your time.

Top shop

Lim’s Art & Liv­ing in Hol­land Vil­lage (00 65 6251 5151) doesn’t look like much as you walk in, but is absolutely burst­ing with dec­o­ra­tive, func­tional buys.

A to B

Taxis are inex­pen­sive and usu­ally plen­ti­ful, but call and book at peak times and when it’s raining.

Insider tip

At night the lit­tle side street next to Lau Pa Sat hawker mar­ket is closed to traf­fic, filled with tables and chairs, and turns into “Satay Street”, where a dozen stalls grill satay in the open air.

Flutes must be so top-end that I’ve never heard of any­one else say any­thing good about it. And Lim’s Art & Liv­ing? Haha­ha­hah­ha­haha. Dude! The full name of the shop is “I am Mr Lim and I make a Liv­ing pass­ing these things off as Art to Ang Mohs… Pte Ltd”.

But alright, a cou­ple of cor­rect tips: Mer­lion and Foun­tain of Wel­fare at Sun­tec are pointless.

For a sort of inter­est­ing “walk” though, I had a chance on Sat­ur­day to walk through Penin­sula Plaza, and was amazed to find that it’s become “Lit­tle Burma”. There are Burmese shops on every floor, sell­ing all man­ner of Burmese goods, ser­vices and high-speed inter­net access.

And it’s just great, the sights, the smells (omigod the build­ing needs proper ven­ti­la­tion), the sounds. And don’t you just love it when the city gets divvied up into dif­fer­ent eth­nic enclaves, just like in days of Empire?

The Indi­ans on Seran­goon, the Chi­nese on the River, the Fil­ipinos on Orchard, and the Amer­i­cans and Euro­peans at Lim’s Art & Living.

Ah… Gotta love this city-state.