Singapore

Visa regulations are quite tough for Bangladesh especially when applying from the United Kingdom the exact reason I originally entered the country on a tourist visa until a work permit was applied for a an upgrade to a business visa. I ran out of time with the tourist visa so booked a flight to Singapore to meet the directors of my school, apply for a business visa and to do some site seeing. The visa took one morning and I picked it up in the afternoon. I couldn't believe how easy the application was this time around. With that done I had a round three weeks to play with so I did the tourist thing and took lots of photographs and spent time talking with other teachers and travellers from around the world.

New Years Eve was a blast with 80.000 people enjoying a party on Sentosa Island with live DJ's and acts. I managed to meet the nights DJ's just by look at the end of the evening walking up the beach and took some photographs together. It was a great night apart from the drinks been expensive and the amount of people waiting to get served. Three weeks in Singapore in enough for anyone unless your adapted to the weekend lifestyle. I think Singaporeans work very hard and often late in the evenings, although they can party quite hard. I went to Clarke Quay which hosts a whole array of bars, restaurants and night clubs under one huge umbrella. It's a trendy place with fountains in the centre of the courtyard.

Singapore is the cleanest and safest city in South East Asia, something that real reflects the place when you arrive. There isn't much to do once the tourist attractions have been completed apart from hit the bars which are open until the early hours of the morning in Clarke Quay. I enjoyed my vacation there but wouldn't take a three week break there again. It's much better to spend a few days in Singapore and move through Malaysia and into Thailand. It's a cheaper alternative avoiding the big city tax. Thailand and Malaysia are much cheaper and seem to be catching up in terms of cleanliness.