Republic of Singapore

Singapore in a nice small island which is a country ;) Since the first time i moved in to Singapore to find a job, this city, this country is a pleasant place to live in :)

Actually the name of Singapore is derived from the Malay word, which is Singapura. Which is formed by two words: singa (lion) and pura (city).

According to the Malay Annals, this name was given by a 14th century Sumatran Malay prince named Sang Nila Utama, who, on alighting the island after a thunderstorm, renamed it Singapura after spotting an auspicious beast identified as a lion.

Even the anthem song originally was in Malay ;) It's "Majulah Singapura" or "Onward Singapore" ;)

Many Singaporean people can sing the anthem, but only some that really understand it's Malay language :P Kinda funny i think :P But no worry, there's some translation for the "Majulah Singapura" :P

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Singapore is famous for it's Merlion statue. On the left is a picture of Merlion statue that I took using my S88 :) (with final editing in photoshop of course :P )

This is the Merlion statue on the Merlion Park, there's a larger an taller one at the Sentosa island, I must visit there when I have a time :)

Merlion is a statue with the head of a lion and the body of a fish (mermaid). Thus came the name Merlion ^^

It is so popular for Singapore, the first thing in my mind when hearing Singapore is this Merlion :P Because everytime someone, a friends or families, who got back from Singapore and bring some gifts, it was always a key-chain with the Merlion picture on it :P

There are other interesting places in Singapore. Lots of interesting places. From sports & recreational, to Arts, Museum, Park, so many of them. Still haven't got the chance to visits them all :P

Meanwhile, you can browse through my photo in flickr, some of the places i have been on Singapore :P I'll try post more photo when i visit another interesting place ;)

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As for the language here, mostly people in Singapore can speak English, since it was one of the primary language here. But i must say their English is quite awful ! Here we called it Singlish, a Singapore-English. The accent are mixed with Mandarin/Chinese language, and often the grammar too :P Kinda translate directly from Mandarin to English :P

I mean, I once saw a campaign on every Library in Singapore, about speaking a proper and good English. It was called the Speak Good English Movement, which is a nationwide movement to encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English that is universally understood. It is to get Singaporeans to speak English with confidence at work, at home and at play.

Some funny poster is saying that people in Singapore often speak "You want what?" which wrong in proper English :P
Those are only a few of a Singlish version :P

At first, it's very difficult to hear the English words that come out from Singaporean people :P not to mention from an Indian people here also :P

Singapore have a wide range of race and culture :) With Chinese as a majority, there are also Indian, Malay, Eurasian, Peranakan, Westerner and so on :)

Luckily they all (mostly) can speak English ;)

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Another thing I like from Singapore is it's Transports Services. I mean the domestic transports of course ;)

The domestic transport infrastructure is well-planned and well-built ! I must say you can go anywhere using this transports with minimum walking distance from the dropping point ;) The domestic transport has a well-connected island-wide road transport system which includes a network of expressways. The public road system is served by the nation's bus service and a number of licensed taxi-operating companies.

One of the well-connected are the SMRT trains. You can go almost anywhere in Singapore riding SMRT :)

We know that time is of the essence in today's busy world. That is why we have gone the extra mile to make your MRT journeys as fast, convenient, comfortable and affordable as possible.

With 51 stations covering all four corners of Singapore and trains arriving every few minutes, you can be assured of a speedy and enjoyable journey.

And yes, it's very fast to travel with SMRT :) you only need to wait a few minutes, for the next train to arrive. The longest is around 7-9 minutes, with the shortest wait time is around 3 minutes on peak time.

A little bit of un-comforting on SMRT is, the usual public transport problem. If you pick up on a peak time, and on area which is around work area / city area, you'll have to fight yourself trough the crowd :P Is was so crowded ! The chance you will get a seat is below 10% i guess :P

SBS Transit aims to provide world-class public transport which is safe, comfortable, affordable, reliable and friendly. Today, SBS Transit operates 217 route services with a scheduled fleet of more than 2,700 buses. The buses serve 16 interchanges and more than 3,000 bus stops.

Another options for domestic transports is the bus-services, the SBS Transit. It's a little cheaper on the fare. But sometimes it goes round, so you will travel a little bit longer compared to SMRT ;)

So, combine these two, then you're ready to travel across Singapore ;)

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Anyway, tomorrow, August 9th, is the National Day for Singapore ^^

Singapore became a self-governing state in 1959 with Yusof bin Ishak its first Yang di-Pertuan Negara and Lee Kuan Yew its first Prime Minister. Singapore officially gained sovereignty on 9 August 1965. Yusof bin Ishak was sworn in as the first President of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew remained prime minister.

NDP is short for National Day Parade. It is a celebration held once a year in Singapore on the 9th of August to commemorate Singapore's independence. This year's NDP will be held at Marina Bay ^^

Unfortunately the tickets for the show is only for Singaporean or Permanent Residents. So if foreigners want to see the show, they'll have to catch up on the live broadcast :|


But then again, tomorrow is a holiday :) so I gonna to take a break from blogging :P

Happy holiday, and happy independence day to all who celebrate in Singapore ^^