Hello, Singapore

Before I moved, I lazily grouped Singapore with other Southeast Asian destinations I knew only from short trips. I quickly discovered how little that assumption explained.

Singapore is a compact, densely populated city-state with its own architecture, systems and mix of communities. The city is clean, intensely green and full of contrasts: glass towers, shophouses, HDB blocks, parks and bits of almost every architectural era. Its population includes Chinese, Malay and Indian communities, along with people who have arrived from many other countries. English is the common working language, which made my first days here much easier.