Things To Do in Singapore

• Go shopping in Singapore City's Orchard Road - the ‘Fifth Avenue' or ‘Oxford Street' of Singapore, and just as bustling, with its vast luxury malls, shops ranging from megastores to vendors of souvenir tat, as well as cafes and restaurants.

• Take a trip along Singapore River aboard a bumboat. These were once used to ferry goods to and from larger ships moored in the harbour, and nowadays offer an excellent way to see the contrasting historical and modern architectural styles of the city.

• Prop up the bar at the Raffles Hotel (website: www.singapore.raffles.com), one of the most famous hotels in the world. A ‘Singapore Sling' (a head-spinningly good cocktail) in the Long Bar is almost de rigueur; to sober up, drop into the Writers' Bar.

• Take the short trip across to Sentosa Island, with its many and varied attractions ranging from theme parks to an aquarium, a cable car ride, the Sky Tower, nature trails and plenty of bars and restaurants.

• Explore the National Orchid Garden in Singapore's Botanic Gardens (website: www.sbg.org.sg), which has the largest collection of orchids in the world. The Botanic Gardens have over 52 hectares (128 acres) of landscaped parkland and primary jungle.

• Enter the fascinating world of nocturnal wildlife at Night Safari (website: www.nightsafari.com.sg), a little over an hour by bus from Singapore city. Regular animal performances complement the park's extensive zoo collections.

• Take to the water and canoe around the island - there are a number of operators hiring out canoes at Changi point, East Coast and Sentosa Island.

• Hang out with the trendy locals in Chinatown's Club Street, a smart playground for advertising and banking types, with numerous bars and restaurants housed in narrow and historic streets.

• Remember the dark days of Japanese wartime occupation at the Changi Museum and Chapel (website: www.changimuseum.com), a symbolic replica of similar chapels built by prisoners during WWII.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.