The buildings in Singapore are the kind you'd expect - standard steel and glass business-type structures. Nice and tidy buta bit boring, however, there are also a lot of grand old colonial style buildings and some very wacky looking modern ones which add interest to the cityscape.

There is a lot of Chinese influence in the architecture and these doors on a traditional merchant house are just one example. We stayed in a converted Chinese shop-house in the Chinatown area and as it was almost Chinese New Year, the streets were lively and colourful at night. There are some really cool shopping centres in the city. You don't need to buy anything to enjoy them.

We took a walk along the riverside and found some interesting bronze sculpures.

It's easy to escape the city using public transport. We took a metro train and then a bus to reach a wetland nature reserve in the north of the island. It was a very peaceful place. Not many people around at all. We spent the day wandering around trails amongst the mangroves and I got a chance to look at some colourful tropical birds.

On the last full day, we visited the most southerly point in continental Asia. This is a bit of a cheat. Johar Baru in Malaysia should really the most southerly point since Singapore is an island. It seems they count bridges as land and then not only is Singapore considered part of the continental landmass, but so is the tiny island of Sentosa, which is connected in turn to Singapore by a flimsy rope bridge. I think Sentosa might be a totally artificial island. If not completely, at least everything we saw was artificial. The sand is from Indonesia and the rocks are made from cement on a wire frame.

There is an impressive aquarium on Sentosa where you can see all the fish whose natural habitat has probably been ruined by the pollution from the millions of tankers which surround the island waiting for a berth.